Quote from Deshiba >>

Quote from CaptKrilups >>

Optimizers out here missing the purpose of the AOE. Its not to have a spammable fireball replacement so that you stop using your martial arts. Its a way for Monks to overcome the obstacle of a horde of low HP enemies it can't make enough individual attacks to take down.  Seriously, why play any other subclass or use youe focus for anything else if they can drop fireballs for free on short rests.

So, 2 things about this.

1. Hopefully no one is expecting this thing to do actual fireball levels of damage. However the biggest complaint on the feature is the Ki (or focus points) cost and the full action requirement. At the cost of 2 points each times means you can do this 3 times at level 6. at that level you could be doing 6 flurry of blows for a total of 12 extra attacks as a bonus action on top of the attack action. So either 3d8 times 3 for a total of 9d8 in 3 rounds, or (1d8 times 2 in 6 rounds) 12d8 + (1d8 times 2 in 6 rounds) 12d8 = 24D8. You'd have to hit 3+ enemies each time you use it to justify the action and ki (focus) point economy to exceed the damage you'd do just... punching.
It will really depend on your DM if this will ever get used, because the simple math is more then 2 enemies within 20 feat? Elemental Burst. Less then 3 enemies in 20ft? no elemental burst. But what campaign are you playing? And how smart does your DM has the mobs act? Is it a lot of caves with lots of swarming creatures? Yea, then this feature will feel really good. Is it a lot of open space with a very small amount of high health bosses? Well, when will you ever use this feature?
It even gets worse at level 10, because the dice for damage is the same, but flurry of blows increases by 1 extra attack for a total of 5d8 each round for 10 rounds vs the 3d8 in aoe each round for 5 rounds. (50d8 single target over a longer time, or 15d8 per enemy in 20 feat over 5 rounds(15 times 3 =45, so from level 10+ you need to hit 4 creatures to make it worth)
Let alone the percentages for hitting and missing, 5 chances on a dex save or 10 chances versus AC? Statistically you'd be hard pressed to not take the 10 chances here*. (* it is unknown what a failed save does. If it's half damage on a failed save, then it gets better. If it's 0 damage on a failed save, then it's hot garbage).
Over time you have to hit more and more creatures to make it worth the points and action economy.

2. You're not contesting other sub-classes. You're contesting other monk base features. Flurry of blows? Well shit, I took a magic action not an attack action, none of that. Stunning strike? Well shit, I didn't strike anyone, none of that either. Deflect attacks? Well it takes 1 point so 1 less elemental burst.
You're trading out versatility and potential for AoE damage. It's really hard to justify taking this action.

Is it all bad? Nah.
However, is very dependent on campaign and DM to get any effective use out of.

A third complaint on this would be that it is really not as versatile as the 2014 Way of the Four Elements monk. No defensive casts, No crowd control casts, No utility casts. However I won't make this argument, as the (ki/focus) Point Spread and complication on the 2014 subclass was horrid and a lot of those options got rolled into the subclass for free. It's a pity the 2024 feature doesn't also give something like "elemental wall" and "elemental defense" to be equal in versatility while still being less complex. I personally feel it's a missed opportunity and am slightly disappointed. 

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*All math has been done without odds calculating of success or failure, the comparisons between Attack vs AC and Cast vs Save gets too messy to calculate from my head. I think the amount of attacks gives you a higher chance to succeed then the dex save does, and it would probably scale better per level, as your hit chance does increase but your spell save doesn't (Could be wrong on this). 10 chances to hit vs 5 chances to save at level 10 seems highly in favor of attacks. Let alone critical strike chances. But this also includes amount of targets hit, which makes it even more complicated.*

It’s not all about numbers. Flying enemies or enemies out of reach with your fist will be hit with your blast. Flurry of blows does not rely on using the attack action for the 2024 monk. Flurry of blows and bonus unarmed strike no longer requires the attack action. Deflect attacks does not require focus points to use unless you refuse the damage to 0 and what to redirect the attack. Monks are not spell casters. If you want fire ball and wall of fire, play a wizard or sorcerer or light cleric or land druid or bard.

Lastly, you do get elemental defense with deflect energy which allows you to deflect all damage type attacks, and elemental attunement upgrades to give you elemental resistance that you can change at the start of your turns. What more do you need? Elemental attunent is so ridiculously strong, versatile, and gets better as you level up but does not get more expensive to use. Having elemental burst just gives the monk one more option that other monks don’t have.

It’s not all about numbers. Flying enemies or enemies out of reach with your fist will be hit with your blast...

Oh for sure, theme is a big part of it too.
As for flying enemies, now that monk gets access to all simple weapons and light weapons you'll have decent ranged options. So it's not that big of a thing.

Flurry of blows does not rely on using the attack action for the 2024 monk. Flurry of blows and bonus unarmed strike no longer requires the attack action.

This isn't the case. There's no mention of any of this in the monk article. In fact out of the 3 options only Patient Defense and Step of the Wind have seen improvements. And as they mention each article. If it's not mentioned it's not changed and we have to assume 2014 functionality.

Deflect attacks does not require focus points to use unless you refuse the damage to 0 and what to redirect the attack.

Correct, that was the point. If you want to use the redirect part (which is thematic and awesome) you'll be vying for points with elemental blast.

Monks are not spell casters. If you want fire ball and wall of fire, play a wizard or sorcerer or light cleric or land druid or bard.

Correct, Monks are not spell casters. But that doesn't mean you have to compare to full or half casters. I was just comparing to the 2014 monk of the same ilk. That monk was more complicated and the ki expenditure on some spells were out of whack. I'm happy most of the spells they used have been ported over to features. I am lamenting the versatility they lost though. No gasseous form, no gust of wind, no wall of fire/stone.
To be clear, I like this iteration and feel that the elemental blast feature is a bit lackluster. it's definately a more streamlined monk that is less complicated in a good way. Personally I'd prefer the "casting" portion to be a bit more

They mentioned the flurry in the video that you didnt have to make the attack action first to use it.

It's a shame they limited the attack range so much from the playtest.

Monks are only proficient with simple melee weapons and martial melee weapons with the light property. Elemental blast is a monk’s only ranged option besides daggers.

Quote from Titanium_Mage >>

Monks are only proficient with simple melee weapons and martial melee weapons with the light property. Elemental blast is a monk’s only ranged option besides daggers.

 Other subclassed get a ranged option as well. Dragon gets a breath weapon, Kensei gets longbow, Sun gets a couple of ranged attacks.

Monks are proficient in all simple weapons, not just melee

Quote from JohnDonghammer >>

Monks are proficient in all simple weapons, not just melee

 
I think the One D&D playtest materials were a little ambiguous on this point, but the more recent post on the 2024 monk suggests otherwise :\

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1758-2024-monk-vs-2014-monk-whats-new

"All Simple Melee weapons are now considered Monk weapons, as well as Martial Melee weapons with the Light property."
"... Monk weapons have been simplified. Now any Martial Melee weapon with the Light property qualifies as a Monk weapon. All Simple Melee weapons are also considered Monk weapons."

Which I'm a little bummed about since this excludes darts and slings.  Slings aren't an iconic monk weapon, but I wish they had darts.  "No shuriken, just kunai."

I think the disconnect is the difference between being proficient and being able to use them as monk weapons, which is different. 

Monks are proficient in all Simple Weapons and all Martial Weapons with the Light property. 

Monk weapons are classified as Simple Melee Weapons and Martial Melee Weapons with the Light Property.

So a Monk can add proficiency to the use of a Hand Crossbow but it would not scale with their Martial Arts Die, and anything else that activates when you're wielding a Monk weapon.

How cool is it that the monk is going to fly using elemental stride and hitting the enemies below with Elemental burst

Would the anti magic field or silence affect the four elements monk abilities? I know Elemntal Birst is, for example, technically stated as "Magic action", but there were some comments before about it being a some sort of background magic without the use of the weave and I don't know if they need a verbal component for it.

I'm not sure if it's been pointed out yet, but your amount of reach is incorrect in this statement: "Having a reach of 10 feet on your Unarmed Strikes plus a consistent Fly speed will make you almost impossible to pin down in combat."

The PHB explicitly states that "When you make an Unarmed Strike, your reach is 10 feet greater than normal," meaning that your normal range (5ft) is increased by 10 feet, or 15 feet in total.

I also have a question on the mechanic of grappling with this extended range: 

"If you're looking to spice things up, the new Grappler feat combines exceptionally well with the Warrior of the Elements' extended reach and the 2024 Monk's ability to grapple using Dexterity. With the Grappler feat, you can attempt to grapple a creature you hit as part of the same Attack action you use to make an Unarmed Strike.

Seeing as being Grappled reduces a creature's Speed to 0, you can easily hold them out of reach and wail on them with your elemental strikes, which you'll now get Advantage on thanks to Grappler."

I wish it did work this way, but it might not. For the turn that you're grappling the target, you get the advantage mentioned here. i.e., an Unarmed Strike with an Attack action, landing the grapple, then following up with a Bonus Action Unarmed Strike with advantage. But once your turn is over, is your extended range reduced to 5ft, thereby breaking the grapple because you are no longer making Unarmed Strikes?

How does that translate to Opportunity Attacks - do you still have 15ft of range on Opportunity Attack so long as it's an Unarmed Strike? What about if I have a Monk Weapon that triggers at 5ft? Can I still use Unarmed Strike, or do I use the weapon that triggers the Opportunity Attack?

How can I get the Elemental Attunement to show under Actions Other with the toggle on/off. Instead of having to go all the way to the Features and Traits section of the character sheet?

Reach Out and Grab 'Em is an incorrect conclusion of the rules. The grapple would break at the end of the attack as the reach returns to 5ft (with the exception of the target being pulled within range before this happens.

This sub class is awesome since if you get a flying race or wait until you get to lvl 11, you can fly above enemies attack them from 15ft (since element attunement make your attack range 10ft GREATER[I swear if some of yall try to deny this....lmao]) you can straight up pull enemies 10ft above in the air and have them take an addition 1d6 bludgeoning dmg while also making them prone, which gives you advantage on your next to unarmed strike when within 5ft of the enemy. Furthermore if your a high risk= high reward type of person you can just keep doing that, however after the first attack you will make your next unarmed strikes for your turn with disadvantage since you will still be in the air, however that can be completely mitigated by land a stunning strike with the creature failing (while also making said creature automatically fail the next strength saving throughs, plus you can do flurry without worrying about getting disadvantage), or partially mitigated if the creature succeeds, giving you advantage on only your next strike (which is still useful), or you can get grappler which will also completely mitigate the disadvantage but it depends if your dm will allow you to grapple from 15ft away (which lets be real alot will try to say no).

And if you do land druid or spore druid sub class (with magic initiate), while utilizing wild companion ohhhh boy your gonna have fun :} 

Why would anyone deny the reach is increased? It only lasts for the attack but it absolutely happens. 

They can still deal Bludgeoning with the extra reach, I guess that's Earth attacks?