First impressions: monks

So I've been playing a monk lately, in between trying to slog my way through the first quests of Pandaria.  He's human, and I've just moved into Redridge.  Here's my impressions.

I want to preface this by saying that I understand.  I understand that this is an oriental-themed expansion, and the "fighting monk" is a well-known and beloved archetype both in the source material and in whatever's made it into the west over the last hundred years or so.  If the expansion was going to be oriental, the introduction of a monk class was inevitable and logical.

It was also wrong.

Another preface: this is coming from a guy who loves martial arts, martial arts movies, Kung Fu, and just about everything there is to love about Japan and the orient.  You'd think this class would be a natural fit for me, and in many ways it is.  I'm not thrilled about the "drunken master" angle that the class has, since I don't drink and don't get giddy about alcohol references in-game, but still.  Martial arts are cool, etc.

I say that introducing the monk was the wrong choice because it adds nothing to the game.  The monk is essentially a duplicate of the rogue -- same gear, same playstyle.  Sure, they can tank, and the stagger mechanic is somewhat novel, but I'll be honest -- I had more fun leveling my rogue through the same content, and even though at the time I was using the worst available rogue spec (subtlety, during Cataclysm), it seemed to go much faster.  And I'm using the same heirlooms, leathery things that are probably still damp with the rogue's sweat.

It's just slow.  Leveling my warlock through the same content was fast.  Leveling my rogue and hunter through the same content flew by.  The monk ... not so much.  Walking everywhere, no speed increase, no sprint.  Having nothing that can be easily used at range.  No self-heal yet, not that I need it.

I can't quite put my finger on what it is.  I mean, I think it's a solid class, but I'm still somewhat dissatisfied.  I'd identified a long time ago that a rogue, especially a combat rogue, was already basically filling the role of the monk archetype (while sub rogues are clearly ninjas).  So why did the game need something new?

Well, that's a dumb question.  The game needed something new to stay fresh.  And, as I said above, the monk was a natural choice in an oriental-themed expansion.  Particularly because all of the other well-known archetypes are already in the game (samurai = warrior, shugenja = shaman, shrine girl = priest, ninja = rogue, wu jen = wizard, etc).  But the problem is, the monk isn't new.  Not really.

I don't know if there's really room in WoW for another class.  Demon hunter springs to mind, and whenever we have another Burning Legion expansion we'll probably see exactly that, but how different is a demon hunter?  What would be their unique trick?  Ditto for the other "anticipated" class, the bard.  I love bards even more than monks, but do they offer anything that paladins and shamans don't already have covered?  There might be room for a swashbuckler class, who deals in wielding single one-handed weapons, but how different is that, gameplay-wise, from a combat rogue or arms warrior?

These are my initial impressions.  I might get to a higher level and find out I've been wrong this whole time.  I might try to level as windwalker once I get my second spec.  (Leveling as melee DPS?  Ugh.)  But in the end ... I guess I wish Blizzard had come up with something novel, rather than giving us another rogue.