Looking for advice from the monks out there..Follow

Alright, here's the story.

I find the monk very appealing, and I'm on the road to making one myself (16 Brawler at the moment). I was just curious about some of the details on the mid to higher end game for those of you who have actually reached it. Most of what I am curious about is the "tankability" of the monk, primarily in the 25+ timeframe. They do come from the fighter archtype, after all, and I find the monk's style most interesting to me out of the various available archtypes.

I see and group with very few monks with my 24 Fury, so I don't have a lot of first hand experience. The one that I do remember was during 22 I believe, and while things were a bit shaky ((I kept her alive, but her shortcomings were mostly due to incompetence, as we have all experienced =) )) we managed.

I've done a bit of reading and research, and from what I can reason we can tank, but in all honesty, not as well as others available. I certainly don't expect to be able to tank as well as a Guardian, hehe, but can we do a suitable job for most exp groups 25+?

I understand that later on we get great enhancments in dodge that allow us to do pretty well. 10-19 I've found that pretty much any fighter can tank, but afterwards things start to change a bit. How is that working out?

Since I don't have much hands on experience with monks, I was just looking for a little input before I start advancing. Are we suitable tanks for most experience groups, or only if there is absolutely nothing else around? If not, what ends up being your role in most groups that you run into 25+, and is it difficult for you to find a group? I've actually had members of two groups in the Steppes bidding silver pieces against each other to get me to join them because I was the only healer LFG at the time. I don't expect it will be that easy, hehe.

And also, I'm not trying to turn this into a "Which class is the best tank?" discussion, I'm just looking for advice on the (monk)'s abilities, potential and roles later on.

Thanks in advance. =)

Monks should not be a main tank but only if a time in need. I currently have a 24 monk and yes I dodge about 50-75% of the attacks but when you get hit, you get hit hard. I wouldn't suggest having a monk really be MT from 25-30 (not sure about after) but just a backup tank like if the healer gets aggro, throw a nice hand clap and all will be well.

Everything changes once you hit 30+, but attitudes don't....

For me, I could hardly solo a white 26-29 as a Monk. After 30th, I can solo oranges, and still have over 50% hp.

At 30th I tanked the EL boat, when my group had been wiped twice with the 31st SK tanking. At 33/34 I tank 40th ^^ mobs on a regular basis with no problems for the healers. I've tanked Nek Castle all the way through, including killing Lord Everling.

Now there ARE cases where I am not as good as a heavy tank, mainly when cleric types are the only healers. It works the other way too, when a group only has Ward-type healers, I'm far superior.

That Monks are second-class tanks is a total misconception. We're SITUATIONAL tanks. Heavies can do the job with any type of healer; I can do BETTER with the right healer.

We can hold aggro as well as any class except Guardians with Hold the Line series, another misconception. Whether you take the stance that aggro is determined by dmg done or number of hits, we 're better than any other tank class in both, excepting our evil Bruiser brethren.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling. We can tank, people just think we can't. Form a group and show them.

I've been in brawler/monk-tanked groups (me healing) - and w/ regro I had no prob keeping them alive. But they had big problems holding agro. Maybe they just didn't know how. Can monk types really taunt well? If so pls talk about what they use so I can sugget it to them. Thx much.