AAs and gear as an Iksar Berserker

I'm a level 19 Iksar berserker at the moment. I'm quite new to Everquest II, I've played EQ I for a while now, however, so I have some understanding of... the Everquest world..? I bought Destiny of Velious back in November 2011, which was kind of silly because then Age of Discovery released in December. Anyway, I'm used to Everquest I where you have a mercernary carrying you through most of the levels, but this doesn't seem to be the case in EQ II? I'm not going to say I die a lot... but I die often... Everquest I... I handle 3-4 mobs no prob. EQ II... I pull 2... chances are I'm dead unless the mini-ding occurs after the first mob is down. xD I suspect I'm sucking it up due to the fact that I haven't put any points into my AAs (except for bind wound) This is because I fear screwing up my AAs... SO: TLDR: What should I put my AA points into? Is dual wield better than 2h on a berserker? Should I ever worry about outleveling my gear? I'm used to defiant and hero's journey so... Thanks in advance for your time!

Hi and welcome to EQ2 =)
I am sure you are seeing that EQ and EQ2 dont really have alot in common.
I can't answer all your questions, sorry =) But I can tell you not to worry about messing up your AA choices... you can reset them. Each time you reset will cost you cash though.
You will outlevel your gear.
You didnt say what condition your spells are in. Always strive to get them to at least Expert, preferably Master levels. It makes a very big difference in how you handle your mobs.

Let us know what server you play on =) Ppl are always willing to help new players!

Again.. Welcome to EQ2 !!!
Karr

First, welcome to the game! =)
Just a heads up in case you didn't see it (and some people do miss this sort of thing).Eq1 berserker & eq2 berserkers have little in common other than they can both dual wield. Zerk in Eq1 is of course a DPS class, in eq2 they are tanks.
I have always played my berserker as a dual wielder (she's mid-fifties now, though I've had her for ages). The only time I've ever used a shield was when I actually was tanking something difficult & the healer needed me to be a bit more durable to keep up with heals. I definately prefer dual wielding though. I have never actually used a 2hander on that character before.
You can not permanently mess up your character in this game. Everything can be changed except for adventure class (and that can be switched between the sister class) either by visiting the in game respec person or purchasing an item from the marketplace.
You should absolutely worry about outleveling your gear. The higher over the level of your gear you get, the less effective it is. If you are still running around in newbie gear at level 19-20, you are going to have serious issues killing things appropriate to your level.
Also as the previous poster said, spell/combat art quality matters. The higher in level you get, the more it matters. You can get by with journeyman quality (that's the next step up from the freebie apprentice spells you get) but expert is better. I don't personally bother with masters at lower levels unless one happens to drop or I'm in a tier long enough to get master by researching.

So in short, spend those aa's! =)Make sure your gear is plate, has str and sta and is at least in the same teir as you level wise (10-19 for you, when you hit 20 you'll want to find some upgrades). Check your ability quality & make sure you upgrade from apprentice.

Good luck =)

IIRC, EQ1 Berz can't dual wield, they use only 2 handers.

Cakeny wrote:

Oh, well I never played one (didn't have that xpac until they gave it to me for free lol) so EQ1 & Eq2 zerks may have even less in common than I thought!

Cakeny: I play a warrior in EQ 1. They can dual wield ; ) Seeing as how the warrior class isn't an option, I went berserker.
And thanks for the advice guys! I must ask more though now! xD To answer your question Finora, I play on the Butcherblock server. My spells are like... adept I think? Idk how to get them to master or expert? That would be great if you guys could let me know how! I know I will outlevel my gear, I just don't know like.... when I will? In EQ 1, I followed the Hero's Journey path, and this will keep your gear up to par with your level (or at least so far it has). Right now in EQ 2 I am just doing quests and idk if those will give me the best gear for my level? Thanks again guys! For all the help and welcomes! Finora, what AAs should I go for as a berserker? Any specific ones? Thanks... again!

NothingFromNothing wrote:

Welcome to EQ2. Unlike previous expansions, it wouldn't have mattered what prior expansions you purchased, AoD was not an "include all prior content as well" expansion. We have another expansion, which is also a standalone expansion, and we are due for yet another one in a month. There isn't any current information on what will be included with that expansion, or if the pricing for the two most recent ones will be lowered in turn. One expansion provided you with level 85 content, the other provided you with mercs, beastlords, and some other new items. You can find more information about what each expansion provided at zam.com or the wiki (google is your friend).
You can, if you have the correct expansion, hire a single merc at a time, and select to have either a dps, healer, or tank run along with you. The cost is low to start, with hiring them, and you have a recurring cost in terms of experience and coin when you actually have them out working with you. The cost will increase as you go higher, so a suggestion would be to hire mercs while low level, experiment with them, and keep the one you prefer before getting very high (hiring cost can get rather high for a first toon). As a tank, you would probably want a healer, inquisitor seems to be the preferred healer for most people, due to group buffs and curing ability.
As a zerker, your primary stats are going to be strength and stamina, so you want to keep your gear upgraded with those stats as high as possible. Each tier (t1 is 1-9, t2 is 10-19, etc) has handcrafted, mastercrafted, treasured, legendary, and fabled gear. Handcrafted is, obviously, player crafted with common materials, and isn't going to have good stats. Quest rewards are going to far outstrip handcrafted gear, hands down. Mastercrafted gear, which includes expert spells/combat arts, require a rare, and are player crafted. You can harvest while going through zones, and gather up all of your rare harvests to have players craft items for you. The gear should be better than quest rewards, as well as mob drops, but comparing them will let you make the best decision (ask your server mates if unsure). Treasured, legendary, and fabled can be mob drops or quest rewards, legendary and fabled will be chest drops, not body drops.
You mentioned the 'hero's journey', which makes me believe you are referring to the fastest and easiest way to solo your way through the game. For EQ2, that would be the golden path, which is a quest line that leads you through the beginner zones to the endgame, gearing you up along the way. You can use the wiki or zam to get a walkthrough for the golden path, altho there is no set pathway that you must follow in order to level. For your first toon, it might be good to go that route, but you can always branch off and explore as you please. The game world is huge, and the travel options are plenty, so you should never be bored while running around.

Thanks, blueja000, for the awesome post! I'm not quite sure I have the correct expansions for mercs. Isn't it Age of Discovery? :\ Also, mates, I should have mentioned this, for the time being (most likely until the newest expansion is release) I am playing on a silver account. :\ Thanks for all the advice, though! I'll be sure to check out the golden path!

=) Well berserker is one of the 2 warrior classes in EQ2 so good choice!
If you are doing the quest lines, they will give you gear good enough to get by on through level 20. At level 20 there are armor quests you can get in Qeynos or Freeport for a set (as well as others throughout the content along the "golden path"). The Q & FP armor quests take a bit though so you are likely to outlevel other gear before finishing them. Getting crafted gear works out well to fill in. I have a stable of crafters and always just make new alts level appropriate master or handcrafted gear & as I quest through fill in with whatever is better.
Mercs come with Age of Discovery. Sadly it will not be included in the upcoming expansion pack. It's been stated that Age of Discovery will continue to be a stand alone feature pack, but Destiny of Velious will be included with the new expansion when it is released.
You stated you bought Velious, so with your current game you can level up through level 92. The only things you really missing is the dungeon maker, mercs & beastlords.


This is my berserker. I wouldn't necessarily suggest you following my set up though =). She's primarily been a crafting character though I have slowly leveled her up over the years. I do enjoy her but I've a bijillion alts to spread the love around and I tend to level up crafting first on all my characters. You can always look at other berserkers on EQ2U though and see what their aa set ups are like and pick which things you like best.
I honestly always tend to do my own thing with aa's with little regard to what other people consider the "optimum set up".

For AA, start on the warrior tab adding points to the trees that will let you increase critical chance and multiattack first, you'll need to have spent 4AA in each of the first section of the tree to unlock the second, which is where the crit chance and multiattack is (other trees have defensive improvements which isn't as important). You can reset each tab for free every 30 days or as often as you want for escalating fees. After that, go to beserker tab and choose combat art (CA) improvements to damage. Items become outleveled when the name of them turn grey. If you're doing the quests in each zone, you should have got upgrades before that happens. Each zone gives almost a full set of new gear.

The main thing I worry about is choosing the "wrong" CA's. There's so much text in the tool tips of some abilities and really, being a newb, it just confuses me. Is there a "correct" way I should be putting points into my CA's? If not, what would some other Berz players recommend me put my points into? Thanks for all the help, again! : )

See my post above. Don't bother with hate addition AAs until you group regularly which won't be till 90+ Choose the ones that improve your damage of your CAs, after you've improved MA (multiattack) and CC (crit chance). Like I said, you can reset them easily. Free once a month, 1cp for second reset.

Ah. My guild leader told me to spec into hate addition AAs. :\ But what you're telling me to do makes more sense so I'll go with yours. Thanks for all the great help, guys. I've been meaning to get into EQ II but I never really could bring myself to do it. :\ It seems like an amazing game and I'm looking so very much forward to all the content!