In World of Warcraft one class suffers the most. Because monks are by far the least popular DPS characters – and there are many reasons for that.
Basically, World of Warcraft is doing quite well right now. The new season is successful, many players are diving into raids or dungeons, and generally most are quite satisfied with the gearing system or their classes. But aside from frustrated shadow priests (like me!), there is another specialization that has hardly received any attention since the launch of Dragonflight: the Windwalker monk, the probably least popular specialization in the game.
The trailer for the current patch:
How is the Windwalker doing? In “Mythic+” content, the monk is currently the DPS class with the lowest number of players. Only 2.6% of all DPS characters are monks (via raider.io). For comparison: Paladins are at 8.8%, demon hunters at 9.6%, and hunters (all specializations combined) even reach a good 14%.
Only shadow priests are doing similarly poorly, currently sitting at 2.9% – and that’s considering they were part of the “God Comp” last season.
What is the problem with Windwalkers? To call this “a problem” would probably be an understatement, as there is currently a lot going wrong with Windwalkers.
A big problem is the contradiction of the Windwalker’s identity. Because actually, the monk is an extremely mobile class that can quickly change position and thus evade danger. On the other hand, the Windwalker has (almost necessarily required) talents, like “Feyline Stampede”, which makes it necessary for the monk and the enemies to move in a very small area – meaning they should ideally be static.
Currently, there are also many conflicts in the rotation of the Windwalker. Windwalkers must use strong AoE capabilities but still rely on single-target attacks. Conversely, to deal good single-target damage, they need to use AoE abilities again. A problem that is only exacerbated by the new tier set.
In addition, there are many other issues, such as boring tier sets and comparatively uninspired talents – at least as the community sees it.
What does the community say? For months now, there has been a lot of constructive but also emotionally charged criticism in the official forums and on the WoW subreddit. Windwalker monks are becoming rarer, and the remaining players who have actually found their favorite class are becoming increasingly frustrated. Here are some excerpts:
Please, if anyone from class design at Blizzard is listening. Please acknowledge all these problems with the specialization at least. Say SOMETHING. There are dozens of feedback posts from Windwalker theorycrafters who are much smarter than I am and address all the details. Please change something about it. It’s my favorite specialization in the game and I’m tired of switching from my main character every season because the problems are being ignored for an entire expansion.
– |1sowski on WoW subreddit
I played Windwalker as my main in Warlords of Draenor. That was the most fun I had with the class, and since then, it hasn’t been fun at all.
-Dull-Ad-793 on WoW subreddit
There are currently no signs that Blizzard is reworking the Windwalker. However, if there is a specialization that desperately needs a rework, it is this one.
