Monk Race/Twinkage...

[Deckk]

So, in my never ending quest to experience pretty much every class that I want before choosing which I'm going to roll with... (I'm currently leveling my druid, who I REALLY think is going to be my money making character)...

I've decided that I do want to play a monk at some point. For craps and giggles I rolled one on Live (silver membership) to play while I have med time on p99. Went Froglok. LOVED it. I played EQ in 99 and monk is one of the classes I never really experienced.

I realize things like stone throw and elbow strike aren't in the p99 version of the game, but still, monks are pretty fun.

So, my question is a tired one that's been asked... But I think I'm asking from a somewhat different angle...

What race should I make?

Let me explain why I'm coming at this from a different angle:

Iksar is obviously the better overall choice. AC bonus and regen plus forage is pretty awesome for a monk. The strike animations don't bother me much. The problem with the iksar is accessibility... I can't really leave the region because I need to train my skills in Cabilis (though the same can be said for human needing to train in Qeynos/Freeport only). I'd be KoS virtually everywhere on the iksar as well. And, for twinking purposes, getting items to Field of Bone is a much larger hassle than Qeynos or Freeport. And of course, the xp penalty.

So, to all of you monks out there... Is all of the hassle worth rolling an iksar? Humans are definitely more boring and less optimal, but it seems that the ease of travel, lack of town restrictions and the lesser xp penalty are a major bonus to going human.

As far as the second part of my question is concerned:

For twinking purposes, I was thinking about getting a FBSS (it'll be awhile before I can afford one) and maybe a couple of Wu's staves and then just letting my character acquire the rest of the items on his own. Anyone tried anything similar?

[Donruss]

Ya. I played a druid to twink a monk. You literally listed all the info about monk race's needed to make an informed choice. It doesn't look like you are missing anything.

For what it is worth. I wish I had made my monk an iksar. On a high enough lvl druid, (with eggress) I can make it to cabalis and qeynos in about the same amount of time. That regen is no joke. My human monk got a fungi at 55, but if he were an iksar it would be like wearing 2.5 fungi's.

Use Wu's sticks or fighting batons till 20 then WQS young grasshopper. And fbss day 1 if you can afford it.

[Donruss]

Also, you may be able to train at brother z / brother q in karana and rather mountains. Not 100% sure if Iksars can do this, but I would guess they can with some combination of fd and sneak.

[Lojik]

If you can give your twink a fungi then the iksar regen is negligible and you'll probably level faster as a human, at least until 50. If you can't afford fungi then you'll probably miss the iksar regen.

[Deckk]

If you can give your twink a fungi then the iksar regen is negligible and you'll probably level faster as a human, at least until 50. If you can't afford fungi then you'll probably miss the iksar regen.

Even if I could give him a fungi, wouldn't the fungi + iksar = domination to the point that the xp penalty was negligible?

I don't know... The xp penalty is a MAJOR hurdle to playing an iksar monk. Even when Velious removes the class ones, race ones are still in effect, right? Glad I have some time to think about this...

[fennixad]

So, in my never ending quest to experience pretty much every class that I want before choosing which I'm going to roll with... (I'm currently leveling my druid, who I REALLY think is going to be my money making character)...

I've decided that I do want to play a monk at some point. For craps and giggles I rolled one on Live (silver membership) to play while I have med time on p99. Went Froglok. LOVED it. I played EQ in 99 and monk is one of the classes I never really experienced.

I realize things like stone throw and elbow strike aren't in the p99 version of the game, but still, monks are pretty fun.

So, my question is a tired one that's been asked... But I think I'm asking from a somewhat different angle...

What race should I make?

Let me explain why I'm coming at this from a different angle:

Iksar is obviously the better overall choice. AC bonus and regen plus forage is pretty awesome for a monk. The strike animations don't bother me much. The problem with the iksar is accessibility... I can't really leave the region because I need to train my skills in Cabilis (though the same can be said for human needing to train in Qeynos/Freeport only). I'd be KoS virtually everywhere on the iksar as well. And, for twinking purposes, getting items to Field of Bone is a much larger hassle than Qeynos or Freeport. And of course, the xp penalty.

So, to all of you monks out there... Is all of the hassle worth rolling an iksar? Humans are definitely more boring and less optimal, but it seems that the ease of travel, lack of town restrictions and the lesser xp penalty are a major bonus to going human.

As far as the second part of my question is concerned:

For twinking purposes, I was thinking about getting a FBSS (it'll be awhile before I can afford one) and maybe a couple of Wu's staves and then just letting my character acquire the rest of the items on his own. Anyone tried anything similar?

Hi, iksar are better ofc.
i would do iksar for main (ac+regen+cool) and human for alter (better exp).
FD+sneak+hide > kos.

When i started to play my iksar monk i took him to cb at lvl 5. to get new skills i just ask someone for /duel then rezz =)

[Lojik]

Even if I could give him a fungi, wouldn't the fungi + iksar = domination to the point that the xp penalty was negligible?

Not really, as standing regen is i think +1 until 50, so human monk is 16/hp a tick and iksar 17/hp a tick standing. If you're leveling with a fungi as monk (at least until around 40) and have to sit and rest, you're doing it wrong. I got 1-45 on my monk in roughly 45 hours playtime, no pl no bonus xp.

[Deckk]

Not really, as standing regen is i think +1 until 50, so human monk is 16/hp a tick and iksar 17/hp a tick standing. If you're leveling with a fungi as monk (at least until around 40) and have to sit and rest, you're doing it wrong. I got 1-45 on my monk in roughly 45 hours playtime, no pl no bonus xp.

Interesting. The fungi won't be likely for me... Even with leveling a druid cash cow. Is the iksar regen close to the human + fungi regen? (forgive me for my ignorance).

EDIT: Looked it up... Fungi tunic is +15 hp regen/tick.

That's absurd for either race. It gets more absurd for iksar at 51...

51 Iksar monk without Fungi = 6 standing
51 Iksar monk with Fungi = 21 standing
51 Human monk without Fungi = 2 standing
51 human monk with Fungi = 17 standing

[Lojik]

Interesting. The fungi won't be likely for me... Even with leveling a druid cash cow. Is the iksar regen close to the human + fungi regen? (forgive me for my ignorance).

Fungi adds +15hp/tick regen,on the following page is the chart for iksar/troll v. noniksar regen rates.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Iksar

[jolanar]

It's pretty easy to get around the faction issue for Iksar, especially as a monk (sneak).

Iksar can bank in the Qeynos sewers and sell with sneak. Once you get sneak you can sell to any vendor (assuming no guards preventing you). There are also neutral vendors in tons of zones including East Commons, West Freeport, South Ro, North Karana, South Karana, Highpass Keep, Rathe Mountains, Lake Rathetear.

Additionally, you can become non KoS in Neriak to the guards and vendors very easily via the redwine quest. Just take an inventory full of red wine and ask for an invis in Nektulos get to the npc, sneak, take off invis and then start turning them in.

One you get Neriak faction you can use a cloudy potion to train skills in Freeport. Ask for an invis in WFP, run behind the trainer on the second floor, sneak, train, and then use the cloudy potion to escape. It costs about 10p to do it this way.


That being said, IMO, the biggest not to choose an iksar (or any class) is how they will look in armor. Personally I think humans look way better in leather armor. Flying kick animation looks slightly better on Iksar, but the FK on Human isn't terrible either. I think the robe graphic looks the best on human female. That's pretty important since you will probably be spending a lot of your time wearing a robe. Attack animations look equal to me on both races.

[Adcid]

Iksar is obviously the better overall choice. AC bonus and regen plus forage is pretty awesome for a monk. The strike animations don't bother me much. The problem with the iksar is accessibility... I can't really leave the region because I need to train my skills in Cabilis (though the same can be said for human needing to train in Qeynos/Freeport only). I'd be KoS virtually everywhere on the iksar as well. And, for twinking purposes, getting items to Field of Bone is a much larger hassle than Qeynos or Freeport. And of course, the xp penalty.

Keep in mindy training isnt limited to Cabilis as an Iksar. Example: Brother Zeph in Rathe Mountains will allow you to train. Honestly its not a huge deal. Field of bone is a great place to level till you can hit Lake of ill Omen. After Lake of Ill Omen you can typically find at least one group in Frontier Mountains or Overthere.

If your goal is to achieve max level as quick as possible as a twink, then having a friend Power Level you should be just as easy as gearing out your low level monk. Dont worry about the xp penalty and enjoy the game.

Qeynos has easy starting zones till mid teens, then youve got to run through the Karans, you're better off starting in FreePort as a human for access to east commons and the large amount of groups typically there. Mid to late teens you'll find yourself going to Lake of Ill Omen anyway.

[jolanar]

Keep in mindy training isnt limited to Cabilis as an Iksar. Example: Brother Zeph in Rathe Mountains will allow you to train. Honestly its not a huge deal..

Additionally, once you get FD at 17 it's not the end of the world if you don't train intimidation (a mostly useless skill it almost never goes off on dark blues these days) eagle strike or tail rake and disarm is useless. You could easily wait until 30 to train again when you have Flying Kick available if you wanted.

[Ramathorn]

getting to field of bone as a druid is super easy. Evac to EJ, then its one zone away. Should take you no more then 10 mins from a dl port.
You can also Bank while fd, so you shouldn't have a problem banking. And sneak you can sell and buy from any merchant in game without a problem.

To me theres no reason to make a human monk, unless for some reason you want to make a human. The iksar is better in every way.

Just remember the ikky regen is only 2 standing up until level 50. Its only 1 more regen then human. Sitting regen is higher also, but again not drastically. Don't expect the regen to be a complete domination over human.

and like others said you can train from brother Z in karanas.

And worst case scenario if you want to train in cab, you need to get an evac then run for 3 minutes to zone line.

[jpetrick]

You can train anywhere by using sneak

[Frudrura]

Wolf form in west freeport has allowed me to train there as an Iksar Monk.

[Kender]

are iksar monks better? yes
are human monks terrible? no

if you havd a fungi that largely negates the iksar advantage post 50 (iksar still better)
Human monk with adamantite club is still as good as a warrior tank 50+ (excluding disciplines) except for the lack of taunt.

so yes iksar is better (they get racial ac too) but human is still viable

[fiveeauxfour]

the difference between iksar and human standing regen is 8hp/tick at 60. That takes one minute to regen an additional 80hp for the iksar. With fungi and regrow, that 8hp/tick becomes a smaller % of a difference. 92hp/tick and 100hp/tick vs 1hp/tick and 9hp/tick. Still an 8hp/tick difference but it gets marginalized.

When a mob can hit you for 140dmg and double, that +8hp/tick will take a long time to feel the "advantage"

[Korain]

So I'm going to slightly derail the thread here, but Froglok Monk? What?

[Deckk]

Yup. New race/class combo on live as of late last year I think.

[Kender]

teeanage mutant ninja frogs

[webrunner5]

You do realize that Iksar regen and Fungi regen stacks. :p Iksar Monk or go home as they say.

[Doors]

On blue it really doesn't matter. PVE content is so trivial it's a joke. Iksar for min max, human for faster bare hand delay, faster leveling etc.

If you can afford the best twink gear or even a peace bringer and fungi leveling to 60 won't be hard at all.

[nicemace]

the only considerations when making a monk that is needed is this.

do you want optimal stats and to look cool.

or

do you want to look fucking bad ass when doing fly kicks and moving forward after starting the animation.

i think the answer is simple.

[Mordyth]

So, to all of you monks out there... Is all of the hassle worth rolling an iksar? Humans are definitely more boring and less optimal, but it seems that the ease of travel, lack of town restrictions and the lesser xp penalty are a major bonus to going human.


Yes. I love my iksar monk. You can shop all over the place and getting faction for good cities is much easier than getting faction for evil cities. Dont need any training after like level 35, and you have heaps of time to get back for that. Plus, you'll want to kill in kunark anyhow, its better xp. Kill gobbos in WW for FV faction and you'll own 2/3 of kunark banks/shops

[Delvesh]

I struggled with this to and agree with that you should play what makes you happy and not get stuck on the min max crap.

Look at the regeneration chart linked above. Sub 50, which are your prime solo levels, the regeneration difference are not that big. It's only in your 50's and really 60 that regeneration comes into its own. And ull likely be grouping at those levels.

And at 60 ull have 2000-4000 hp. So every 3 seconds you will have a .5%-.25% of you hp regeneration advantage as an iksar. That is only helps in a really long pulling effort and with this servers FTE rules ull never bounce a boss around long enough for that to really matter that much.

Regardless if you can afford a fungi, the regeneration is a nice bonus but I don't think it's so class defining you should play an iksar if a human is what would make you happy.

That being said I like iksar monks so that's what I made. =)

[Sage Truthbearer]

The human flying kick animation is awesome. The iksar one is terrible.

Just saying.

[Spyder73]

40% Xp penalty is a kick to the nuts 55+. I have a 59 human monk and I'm glad I went human. You should be duoing anyways, not soloing, and then the hp regen doesn't mean anything.

[Sajan]

40% Xp penalty is a kick to the nuts 55+. I have a 59 human monk and I'm glad I went human. You should be duoing anyways, not soloing, and then the hp regen doesn't mean anything.

The exp penalty only matters while leveling 1-59. After you hit 60 it is a non issue. HP regen is fairly significant anytime you're taking damage considering it's equivalent to having extra gear slots with raw HP in them. The longer the fight, the more extra HP you have. If you're soloing or duoing these fights will last longer and longer. The same can be said for going all STA at character creation. Before STA is maxed, it's like having a third Platinum Fire Wedding Ring equipped. I have leveled several Human monks on P99 during the Account Sales Era, and I finally play Iksar now that I know I'm in it for the long haul. I can honestly say I, personally, regret wasting my time with Humans when I would've been better off forgetting about that sweet custom dragon helm in Velious and rolling the master race.

[Swish]

the difference between iksar and human standing regen is 8hp/tick at 60. That takes one minute to regen an additional 80hp for the iksar. With fungi and regrow, that 8hp/tick becomes a smaller % of a difference. 92hp/tick and 100hp/tick vs 1hp/tick and 9hp/tick. Still an 8hp/tick difference but it gets marginalized.

When a mob can hit you for 140dmg and double, that +8hp/tick will take a long time to feel the "advantage"

I think that advantage looks better in certain situations - if you accidentally pull half the 2nd floor in Hate and flop on 5% health, your regen bonus is going to help you recover that bit quicker.

I've got an iksar monk on red (53) and recently made a human monk on blue to test the difference... I think for the most part I'm not going to find any difference :p

[Era'viss]

Wanted to mention something that I confirmed last night. Nothing new, but didn't see this mentioned in the thread. If you are an Iksar monk and want to train at Freeport without faction grinding first, you can have a Druid cast Share Wolf Form on you while in West Freeport (zoning takes the buff away) allowing you to run past guards and train unmolested. :D

[Larkverdin]

As others have already stated, the selling/banking issue isn't a hassle once you effectively learn to sneak and FD properly. The regeneration is nice, but that's about all I'd call it at 32. I love playing an iksar, for many reasons. One of which is that I don't give a rip what my faction is with 99% of the game. I just kill stuff because it hates me already. As far as training goes, I didn't really leave Kunark until about 25 except to sell in EC. The trip back isn't a hard one.

TL;DR - enjoy the game, play what you want.

[Kowalski]

What about the Ikky AC bonus? How much, and is it a driving factor?

[Spyder73]

Iskar hybrid scum has nothing on Human - Qeynos 4 life

Serious though, Iskar monk is 40% penalty - Yikes!!!!

[Sizar]

Yes but just 20% more than human monk. You make up for that in soloing, not as much in group. An ikky monk can probably kill 20% more mobs solo than a human due to the regen

[fiveeauxfour]

There is only 1 reason why iksar could be considered the "min max" choice --> Stone of Morid.

[Beinen]

There's still no reason to leave kunark except to get twink gear. I found leveling my iksar monk it was easier to stay near cabilis. Training, selling, banking and FOB put was fine til 12 or so for Kurns then warsliks for Giants. Then you're basically lvl25. And you have flying kick, sneak, a strong fd skill and you'll be set to go whereever you wish to from there.

[Beinen]

the difference between iksar and human standing regen is 8hp/tick at 60. That takes one minute to regen an additional 80hp for the iksar. With fungi and regrow, that 8hp/tick becomes a smaller % of a difference. 92hp/tick and 100hp/tick vs 1hp/tick and 9hp/tick. Still an 8hp/tick difference but it gets marginalized.

When a mob can hit you for 140dmg and double, that +8hp/tick will take a long time to feel the "advantage"

When you're stranded being the puller or dragging corpse it makes a difference.