Hi all,

I am very new to this game and was hoping I could get a bit of help with starting out info. I play/played EQ for many many years and still do off and on as the fit takes me, so I have a general idea of how all this works. I started a paladin as my first character in nevergrind and he had been leveling fairly well, the issue I perceived was that my kill speed was very low (as I would expect with a paladin). I wanted to try something a little faster so I started up a monk. Now I am only level 6, but it seems to me that the monk's kill speed is significantly lower than the paladin was! It is possible that I am playing him completely wrong, so if anyone has some good tips on how to play a monk in the early levels I would love to hear them...=)

In addition to that I had a few other questions I was hoping to get some help with.

1. Is there a way to move from machine to machine and retain my same set of characters? As it is now I am moving between 3 PCs and 2 tablets all day and I now have several different sets of chars...=/
2. My monk seems to be able to wear plate and the armor is being applied in the stats, but I thought monks could NOT wear plate and the word plate on the armor is red, which to me would indicate that it could not be worn. I did read, while searching the forums, that characters could wear armors that their class should not be able to but that there was a cast/skill time penalty. Is that still the case?
3. I read in one of the updates that monks could only wear cloth, I remember them being able to wear leather as well in EQ, and I do not see red on my monk's leather gear in game, are they able to wear leather as well as cloth now?
4. do monks have a weight penalty in this game?

Thanks much for reading my post and for your help with my newb questions.

See below:



1. Is there a way to move from machine to machine and retain my same set of characters? As it is now I am moving between 3 PCs and 2 tablets all day and I now have several different sets of chars...=/

Yes, but it requires moving the cache files in your browser directory.

2. My monk seems to be able to wear plate and the armor is being applied in the stats, but I thought monks could NOT wear plate and the word plate on the armor is red, which to me would indicate that it could not be worn. I did read, while searching the forums, that characters could wear armors that their class should not be able to but that there was a cast/skill time penalty. Is that still the case?

You can wear anything you want, but haste skills will be affected. Monk rule is this: Max skill haste first, max attack speed second, max crit third and crit damage fourth. Do not worry about resistance, life leech or anything else. Once upon a time ago, Life Leech was one of the most important stats, but it is rubbish now.

3. I read in one of the updates that monks could only wear cloth, I remember them being able to wear leather as well in EQ, and I do not see red on my monk's leather gear in game, are they able to wear leather as well as cloth now?

You can wear cloth, leather and mail with the reduced weight tag without penalty. The best monk boots in the game are reduced weight mail boots with around 113 armor called Shadow Dancer (level 54 or something) and because your kicks (your bread and butter) are pretty much all your damage, you want to get as big of a number in armor rating as possible on your boots. Since i already had a lvl 99 when I started my monk, I was able to get some elite rares that had really high armor on boots and leveling was a breeze because of it.

4. do monks have a weight penalty in this game?

There is no weight penalty outside of simply wearing armor heavier than your class was designed for. Sometimes it benefits to wear armor outside your class range. Best in Slot items are a hodgepodge of mail, plate cloth and leather. For instance, my shaman, Schmexy, wears tons of plate because she is a Melee shaman and casting is for chumps. I just focus on attack haste and crit stats and that's that. Most classes are really easy to max out their primary haste to the point of absurdity (60% is really easy to hit, especially with cast speed). So you end up wearing whatever stat you need. For casters, crit and crit damage is really hard to find on cloth, so you usually wear mail or leather to make up for it.


As far as a monk, this is the highest, most constant DPS class in the game right now. Max out crane kick and you will be fine. Keep up cobra strike for heals. Don't worry about casting eagle strike or cheetah once you get decent haste skills. Those are literally just low level leveling skills, and even then its not that useful. Spam dragon strike and tiger strike, keep cobra up and spam crane kick when you can. You can literally go hours without stopping. I have 700+ chain pulls in Hell Plane of Hate and Fear and Kedge keep like this, and I'll hit 99 tonight with him.

Monk is going to be your bread and butter class that will gear all your other classes. Before it was ranger that was the bread and butter, but monk is the golden child at the moment.

Thanks Goats, great info there!


Regarding #1 I use Chrome, which specific files do I need to move? Looking through my Cache I am not seeing anything which would specifically lend itself to be what I am looking for.

Regarding #3 I have been trying to keep the AC on my boots up, should I go for plate vs, other types if I find a high AC plate boot even though I get a penalty? I am sure the calculus changes as I level and have better stat gear to offset the penalties, but for now how much does AC impact damage on my kicks and does it offset the 12 (?) percent penalty for that single piece of plate?

Regarding the #4, Crane kick is what I am using primarily now for damage, but it is tough to keep it up since my spirit generation just does not keep up, and the damage on it falls as my spirit falls. I assume that will take care of itself as I level and gain new abilities or gear?

Regarding weapons, Should I stick with hand to hand or will 1hb/2hb be the way to go? Does it matter? what is the approximate dmg/dly ratio on bare fists at low levels?

Thanks again!

Here is the location on Chrome http://i.imgur.com/8iWe5K5.png

I went with chain boots that had a very high armor increase. You have less of a penalty the closer you are to your weight class.

Spirit will come with your crit % increasing. Here is an example of spirit gen at the higher levels: http://www.twitch.tv/goatsgoatsgoatsgoat/c/4302535

Don't bother using your fists. Many of your skills are determined by a ratio. Since the only 1hb items that are close to 1/1 ratio are level 68 or so, 2hb is where it is at.

Thanks again Goats!

Where is this cobra talent?

Cobra strike is a skill that heals you for 4% of the damage you do over 15 seconds or so. I dont think it has a talent.

There are a shit ton of useless talents in the monk tree. Really all you need it to max out crane kick, tiger strike and the one that makes you immune to fear.