Guild Wars 2

Either I’m not looking hard enough, or there hasn’t been an explanation behind this yet.

I thought I heard somewhere that there would be lore behind the Monk Profession being absent from the game (the lore not necessarily needing to be in game).

Do one of the GW books talk about this? Is there a blog post or article? Did Monks really blend with the Paragon to make the Guardian?

From what I have read from lore experts like Konig and Drax, I think it has something to do with the absence of the gods. I could be wrong, but that does seem logical.

Monks draw power from the bloodstones like other spellcasters, I don’t think this is related to the gods at all. Ofc they are related at some point, but only humans ans with this reason, mesmers and necros should have disappered as well. It is realted to the removal of healers. Face it :p

Gandarel.5091:

Monks draw power from the bloodstones like other spellcasters, I don’t think this is related to the gods at all. Ofc they are related at some point, but only humans ans with this reason, mesmers and necros should have disappered as well. It is realted to the removal of healers. Face it :p

Mesmers and Necros didn’t really have much connection with the Gods though, while Monks and Dervish definitely did.

Gandarel.5091:

Monks draw power from the bloodstones like other spellcasters, I don’t think this is related to the gods at all. Ofc they are related at some point, but only humans ans with this reason, mesmers and necros should have disappered as well. It is realted to the removal of healers. Face it :p

We all understand the reason they did it. The OP was asking what the lore behind it was.

Lore-wise, monks are still around. There is at least one case where a priest of Dwayna speaks of “we Monks”, indicating the the profession still makes up the bulk of Dwayna’s priesthood (every member is trained in the healing arts) and quite possibly the others as well. They do still seem to be serving human communities- it’s just that the demand for them among adventuring guilds has been usurped by the guardian (who, yes, combine aspects of the monk and paragon professions, as well as a few other things.)

jheryn.8390:

Gandarel.5091:

Monks draw power from the bloodstones like other spellcasters, I don’t think this is related to the gods at all. Ofc they are related at some point, but only humans ans with this reason, mesmers and necros should have disappered as well. It is realted to the removal of healers. Face it :p

We all understand the reason they did it. The OP was asking what the lore behind it was.

And that’s all the lore behind it.

Actually Gandarel, I have a feeling that Aaron’s explanation is closer to the truth of in-game lore. I have a feeling that it will be much in tune with if we ever see the Dervish or Paragon professions out and about. They will only be seen as NPC’s and we will not have the opportunity to be them ourselves.

Narcemus.1348:

Actually Gandarel, I have a feeling that Aaron’s explanation is closer to the truth of in-game lore. I have a feeling that it will be much in tune with if we ever see the Dervish or Paragon professions out and about. They will only be seen as NPC’s and we will not have the opportunity to be them ourselves.

Thanks Narcemus. That makes much more sense than “we don’t know anything” from Gandarel. I believe Aaron has it right too. After his post I remembered that line in-game. Just because we don’t have something glaringly obvious or written in stone, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use the brains we were given to put clues together that are presented to us.

Well, I’d say those “monks” don’t really wield any magic. The term “monk” is more likely to be used as a lifestyle than a profession.

And if they do, that’s not “monk-magic”, like a city guard is a warrior or guardian by profession not a City Guard, I don’t think these monks can be considered a separate one.

You can encounter ghost monks in AC for instance, but the profession disappered, not only as player character. But this is probably a reason of the fall of humanity rather than Gods, and it is possible that real monks still exist in Cantha, but i don’t see chances, and not because of the lore, but because of the removal of their class from the game mechanics.

Hope this is something more useful for the topic

The Ascalonian monks, IIRC, use elementalist abilities. Mechanically, yes, they aren’t monks, but lore-wise, they are. Same goes for the living ones.

Meili Ying.3820:

Did Monks really blend with the Paragon to make the Guardian?

Yes. When the Sunspears and Paragons spread their teachings to other lands, Tyrians adapted these teachings with the monks to make a more combat-ready healer. Thus the guardian was born. The actual lore description by Jeff Grubb is on the GW2W site for Guardian:

With the turmoil in Elona and the spread of the Order of Whispers into other lands, more Paragon teaching showed elsewhere in Tyria. These teachings melded with other traditions, and over time, the guardians and their abilities can be found throughout the world and among all the races. They are not tied to a particular race, philosophy, or group of gods but rather to a larger concept of proactive defense, of taking the fight to a foe and protecting those you fight alongside while appealing equally to humanity’s defensive nature and the charr’s desire to rule the battlefield.

“other traditions” including – perhaps among other things – the monk, as seen a bit in the interview this came from, and the in-game skills like Healing Breeze and the like
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guardian#Background
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/31/behind-the-scenes-with-the-guild-wars-2-guardian-massivelys-in/

Regarding the discussion on the priests – Gandaral, they do use magic… well, maybe not all of them. The thing is, they’re monks not by the tense of the mechanical profession of GW1, but by the tense of being people of holiness. Priests of Grenths are monks, but their profession is that of a necromancer. Priests and Priestesses of Dwayna are known to have healing magic, as well as healing alchemy in some cases, or just basic medical/first aid skills, so they may be “guardians” mechanically and “gw1 monks” lore-wise. Hard to really say.

Either way, the combative monks were irregardlessly merged in with the paragon to make guardians.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

The Ascalonian monks, IIRC, use elementalist abilities. Mechanically, yes, they aren’t monks, but lore-wise, they are. Same goes for the living ones.

Ranged Guardian abilities, actually, IIRC – although their Healing Breeze seems to be mechanically more similar to Cone of Cold than the guardian HB.

On the original topic:

There was another interview around the time the guardian was released that did, in fact, confirm that monk traditions rolled into paragon to form the guardian.

Another factor that I recall being said by an ArenaNet representative is that the withdrawal of the gods – and the weakening of other divine figures such as the titans – means that the degree of faith that is required to be a monk is less common nowadays. Most of those who do have it become guardians (especially if they’re inclined to fight for what they believe in), or have some other profession (such as ranger or another spellcasting profession) more appropriate to their faith. Thus, the number of monks, particularly monks that go onto the field of battle rather than hiding away in a shrine or hospital, has dwindled.

Certainly, mechanically speaking, even modern priestesses of Dwayna do not appear to be monks, mechanically – they throw lightning orbs when caught in combat.

Maybe they’ve just progressed as a culture.

A more extreme example from RL – not many medical doctors would describe themselves as medicine men anymore :P The two professions may have largely the same purpose, but use different, better, more advanced tools and have a broader range or skills.

Strictly speaking, though, monks were better at healing – especially healing others - than anything we have currently.

Haven’t been able to find the original reference for guardian absorbing monk (stuff from 2011 isn’t easy to find, although there are a few places yet for me to look) but one thing I did find from the recent TowerTalk special on the professions was Jeff talking about how with more professions being able to handle their own healing, there was less demand for a dedicated healer.

(Which, incidentally, is probably a better explanation of what actually happened than ‘monks becoming guardians’ since strictly speaking that doesn’t do anything to stop there from being monks AND guardians – after all, guardians haven’t rendered warriors obsolete.)