To stop DMFs simply give "every class" a dispell "action". Sort of how everyone can "Search All". Make it not count as part of the total spells you can learn. You dont get enough slots as it is and most people dont waste a spell slot on dispell because not everyone uses DMF or hell sometimes even a monk in a formation period.

Have the dispell "action" cost 150 or even 200 AP. Not something you would really throw around. Make it usable only every 2 or 3 turns. But at least this way everyone can nullify this strategy equally. I think nerfing the skill in any way is not the answer but simply giving everyone else more counters instead of just the melee classes.

Very typical of many MMO's they dream up spells, but forget to provide counters to them.  And then they wonder why players complain about the pvp.  Sadly this pervades the genre. 

I have to agree, MMO dev's need to "Make" additional features to counter the current issue, not NERF the damn issue itself. Give players a way to counter it.

Even Square-Enix on ffxi has made the mistake of Nerfing jobs and each time 1 out of 4 or 5 of my friends quit right after. Even the hardcore 3 4 5 year players..... it wasn't until the 6th year S-E finally figured out to stop nerfing players classes and give the gimpier classes boosts instead......

Giving other jobs ways to counter it may be a nerf in the end, but not up front in view because it is still possible for them to do it if the other player is bad and/or just don't know about it. When the other players learn about it, it will become something fun for them instead of something that pisses current players off.

Don't nerf.....give others a counter...... traditional developer mmo mistake if this is done.......

I mean the debuff sounds good but what if you give other players a spell that "turns" HG into a debuff instead of just making HG a debuff itself? that way it is technically not a nerf either just a counter....

You have to let current players have the option of doing what they do at least once in a while, thats what it comes down to.

If you add a new spell that turns into a debuff current players will view it as "ah more competition for us now" instead of "gdi i wasted all this time and money on monk dmg blah blah and now its all completely useless" by going the nerfing route  There go they end up quitting.

 3) Increase the Duration of Holy Guard

I just wanted to point out that this is a very bad idea. Increasing the duration would mean that if you HG, the mercenaries that you cast it on will just get stunned before the HG expires.

Some of your options are very good points, though. This was definitely a good read.

DMF DMF yawn..maybe it's because free leauge is so stupid to begin with that I don't care...lol FL in Atlantica is so rediculous I have never thought the DMF mattered anyway. The fact that FL PVP is totally in the hands of the computer for the most part makes the whole argument rediculous...it randomly chooses between the two players as to who is gonna get uber stunned, then it adds a random choice of who is gonna get Nike's Spellbook or Dark Forces cast on them by the computer AI and THAT is the issue that decides almost every FL battle. Now if they took out the random spells and let players face of against one another on their own talent it would be different. Countless times I've seen myself or the opponent fall to these spells and in the end IT decides the winner, not the talent of me or my opponent. How the hell is that PVP? It's actually PVP-V-AI.

As long as any nerfs or further retarded moves by the banana squad at NDoors (AKA the developers) is kept soley in FL and does not effect the rest of the game then 95% of the players won't care (As that is about the accurate percentage of those who do FL ONLY because they are forced to, to be able to enter most high lvl dungeons). As to the whiners about the DMF, well, get one yourself then or pressure NDoors into making more d-mercs, perhaps some with abilities that make the Monk not quite as attractive or essential. So far they have only introduced B mercs (90+% of players cant get them and never will) and another c-merc (only for lvls 112 and over which is a laugh in itself). Messing with the Monk isn't gonna solve the problem, as the problem is lack of choices for mid-range average players NOT the DMF....the DMF works, and so most average mid-range players use it because there are no other choices if they want to compete with the 5% who can get the B mercs and the lvl 112 HaWrang.