GW: On being a monk

Through most of the game, monks get little respect. A monk is comparatively lightly armored, and deals less damage than most other professions. Even the much-vaunted 55 monk (elite solo smiter) is not exempt -- such a build takes little to no advantage of Divine Favor, a monk's unique attribute. Thus, a character built solely to maximize the 55 build would be much better off as a secondary monk with either an Elementalist or Mesmer primary, in order to benefit from the former's Energy Storage or the latter's Fast Casting.

But from the Crystal Desert onwards as the missions become increasingly difficult, monks become essential to the survival of a team. In some mission areas a level 20 monk will be spammed with invites as soon as s/he appears. And the main channel is rife with monk ads: "GLF 3 more - we got monks!" or, more commonly, "GLF monk 7/8 -- you join and we're off".
Warrior/monks (or "tanks", as they are commonly called) still tend to take monks for granted. "REZ ME" they cry, after taking on too large a group. It's so nice to be able to tell hotheads that they'll have to stay down and wait because I can't resurrect them just yet.

Patrick and I finally finished the game with our main characters. On the second-to-the-last mission a fellow monk complimented me on my playing style: my first such compliment, and doubly special because I play a monk. S/he even wanted to send me a guild invite!

Patrick gets that sort of attention all the time, which I feel is well-deserved since he's been a gamer for so many years, and is quite the pro. I've just had the one person's comment, but it's still a very, very good feeling.