The Monk was a somewhat left-field announcement. Given the difficulties Blizzard had with trying to balance Death Knights (not to mention the incessant cries of people saying they shouldn't be balanced, they're a hero class), it was not widely believed that a new class was in the works. When the trademark for Mists of Pandaria was sneakily filed by Blizzard with no comment or information like the torrent of Cataclysm leaks prior to its announcement, there was some speculation of brewmaster hero classes and a few whispers of a monk class (and if you read the comments in that link, you'll see me saying that it is likely a red herring; consider this sentence the equivalent of inserting my foot into my mouth, quite gladly too I might add).
But the Monk was announced nevertheless, and now the hype train is a' rolling. With a new class on the way, let us evaluate the importance of class roles and niches in World of Warcraft.
Class Roles: Where Are All My Tanks?
Anyone who plays primarily DPS classes will lament with me that HOLY SHIT OUR QUEUE TIMES ARE LONG. This isn't surprising; tanking is a thankless chore that is only commented on when being disparaged. Further, it's not an easy role to fulfill - it is contingent not only on your own ability, but the ability and awareness of all the others in your group. Tank toolboxes are noticeably large, as well, and this is rather intimidating. In the end, it makes tanking a very underrepresented role. But let us not give healers the short end - healers have a tough, underrepresented job as well.
Giving the Monk the option to do either of these roles was, I think, the right decision. Anyone around for the early days of Wrath surely remembers the massive influx of Death Knights (of which I was unashamedly a part) to the point that 90% of Outland groups consisted of four Death Knights (or in some daring cases, five - I was there as well! Five DK Hellfire Ramparts was fun times). Channeling this into a class that can fulfill any role is a good decision, and while it is unlikely that many of them will stick with their Monks and further unlikely that they will tank, the pool will somewhat increase and will go a long way to making them more abundant.
More importantly, however, the Monk appears to be a very revolutionary class as far as mechanics go. The lack of auto-attack and dependence on abilities like Jab and Roll to generate Light and Dark Force is - while somewhat similar to combo points - a very intriguing combat system. While we do not yet know how tanking will work with Monks, the possibilities are very intriguing. A high-threat version of Jab to constantly build threat while building up to a defensive Light Force finisher and a debuffing Dark Force finisher sounds like an interesting tanking rotation, personally. At any rate, the Monk presents a new style of tanking that may attract those who want to tank, but who do not like the current tanking styles (I fall into this category).
Class Niches
Mr. Chase Christian, the wonderful Rogue and Holy Paladin blogger at WoW Insider was fortunate enough to ask a question at BlizzCon. In his most recent column, he discussed this question and the reaction to it, which can be summarized thusly: Chase: "Hey Blizz, why should we bring Rogues?" Blizz: "Because you can stun and slow enemies with poison." Players: "So can other melee DPS, and they do it better."
So the question stands: Why SHOULD we bring Rogues to the raid, other than to get our guild a shiny legendary? Well... there really isn't a particularly compelling reason. But to that point, nor is there a compelling reason to bring a Death Knight DPS, or an Enhancement Shaman or an Arms or Fury Warrior. Ghostcrawler's oft stated mantra of "Bring the player, not the class" has apparently come true - each class can bring similar things.
What does that say for Monks? Will there be a compelling reason to include the influx of new Monks into your well-established raid line-up? And if there IS a compelling reason, what reason will there be to prevent you from stacking your raid with Monks (after all you bring like 15 Druids for H-Ragnaros)?
I predict we'll see the emergence of some new debuff or buff for the raid that will be provided by Monks, but ALSO provided by other classes. This will allow the mantra to persist, but will also provide Monks a place in currently rigid raid line ups.
Monks have a chance to be a great class that will be lots of fun as well as address role imbalances. How exactly this will pan out has yet to be seen, but I am optimistic.
Coming up on Inner Peace: A look at the three Monk specs, how they may play out, and how they fit into the current class makeup.
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