I think people would find it far too annoying to have to give up their character, and Blizzard would end up having to DOUBLE the amount of classes already in the game for not very much benefit, and then try and balanced all 20 classes! They're finding it hard enough when they've only got 10!
It's one of those ideas that sounds good in your head but then if you think about it a bit actually isn't that great at all.

If Blizzard felt that a new class would help retain its playerbase and/or attract new gamers then it's worth the extra effort to add. Monks have a lot of appeal as melee fighters and, potentially, healers if the mechanics differed sufficiently from Rogues.

its not one class though, when talking about it, yeah, its one class with some different abilities, depending on previously class, programmatically though, its 10 classes, and they would be more likely to just make a couple new full classes than try to design and balance 10 derived classes, especially since they would have to update them every expansion to take into account people switching at the new max level.

That idea for a class-monk somes really cool.

@Kira - I meant only that a single additional class would be worth the extra effort to add, not the particular implementation suggested by Earthmama.

Personally I would prefer to see a traditional 1-80/85 leveling class for Monks. There is plenty of lore to back it up as a class that focuses on balancing The Light and the Nether/Chaos/Dark, and a mechanic that required players alternate between Light and Dark powers to balance each other would be unique.

"I'm gonna Light Punch that dragon in the face, then Shadow Kick his tail!"

"Then I'll meditate."

I've thought about this as well. I think it would be amazing if every time you got a toon to max level, it unlocked things for your other toons for when you're soloing.

For instance you have a max-level druid, now all of your toons have nature's ward and a Wild buff. Max level mage, you have a teleport to your main city and free food. Hunter, Guardian pet & FD; Warlock, Fel Intelligence & healthstone; Warrior, Field Dressing & last stand; Priest, Fort & Desperate prayer; Rogue, Poisons on weapons and Vanish/Shadowmeld; DK, STR/AGI & haste; Paladin, Might & PoJ; Shaman, Reincarnate & a combination shield (one lightning orb, one water, one earth.)

Again these would kick in while just out and about, in groups less than 4, in non-arena & non-instanced settings. Allowing for zones with insane mobs that can only be taken down if you have 3-4 max level alts.

Vogie I love that idea, minor Quality of Life perks unlocked by levelling alts that won't have any impact on end-game raiding.
Perhaps there could even be combat pets or mounts unlocked in this way.
It's about time Blizzard made account wide "level x amount of max level classes" achievements to be honest :P

Oh yes!!! A Monk class! But the fighting would have to be very fluid and graceful! It would be wonderful!

I would agree a monk class would be pretty kick-ass. But would like it so see it be a stand alone class like any other class in the game. Just like a paly or a druid... Is able to fit any role in a group, depending on how they are speced.

The monk idea is cool, as right now there really is no class in WoW that makes use of the "unarmed" skill. A monk would disdain weapons (with exception of kama?), preferring unarmed combat. Monks are tough, so they would probably rely on STR, AGIL and STAM as primary stats to garner this toughness. Blizzard has a monk class in Diablo 3, maybe this will give some ideas for WoW...

A monk class would be amazing. I always loved my Iksar Monk back in ancient Everquest.

However in WoW terms, I always thought that Brewmaster would work nicely as a monk-style class. After all, Brewmaster's travel the world, fighting with staves (and their fists), wear light armour and their various brews would make them a excellent buff class. Seems a lot more interesting to me than a priest-that-punches class.