I started out playing a berserker on a PvP server 3 and a half years ago without any prior experience of EQ2. Rough start to say the least. I played my berserker for a year and half before I quit the game. After 8 months (or something like that) I returned but left my berserker alone and tried other classes. And while I abandoned my zerker that class is closest to heart so I ended up comparing every class I tried to it. During this xp bonus weekend I dusted my dear old zerker off and took him for a spin since he was only level 70 as that was the level cap when I stopped playing. Here are a few things I felt the zerker needed to be more on par with the classes I've tried (Warden/Ranger/Swashbuckler/Brigand/Shadowknight/+ a few more that I didn't get past level 20): Blood Rage - Add a small HoT to it to get it closer to par with how the old regeneration worked. My suggestion would be 1/4 of the original heal that dots once per second for 4 seconds. If the Blood Rage triggers again during those 4 seconds it resets and restarts the 4 sec HoT. This wouldn't change much when fighting a group of arrow downs but it would help when trying to take out that pesky tripple arrow named heroic that's 5 levels below you. Open Wounds and Rampage - Reduce the cooldown time from 3 mins to 1 min 30 secs and keep the AA reduction to 5 secs a point. These two skills are what makes a zerker a zerker. It's the only time when the AoE dps and threat is on par with SK's. Bloodbath - Add a 10 sec buff to AoE Autoattacks after executing this CA. With only 2 blue AoE's (gibe not included) some additional usefulness should be added to atleast one of them. While I would like to just add stuff to this list I feel those 3 takes priority and would be a good start to bring back the berserkers to where they should be. EDIT: One more thing, Chaos - In the AA cooldown reduction of this skill, add an 0.1 sec casting speed improvement as well.
I can see the frustration of trying to lvl a zerk and be called an aoe tank but what gives us that title as such is our mythical weapon. I'm not sure if you've seen it or not but it has a clicky on it which turns our auto attack into a frontal arc ae attack. Personally i feel that beserk should do more than just add haste and dps. Personally i feel some kind of physical damage reduction should be added to beserk also but with adrenaline as a lvl 80 ability that kinda takes care of that. I would love to have the survivability of either of the crusaders and to get the mini heals working a little harder it would help a little way towards that. I personally have found Zerk has moved along ok with the TSO expansion but still needs a little love (as does guard for that matter) to compete with either crusader in respect to hate when in groups and solo survivabilty. The next expansion is 5 months away so who knows what new abilities, aa's and changes the devs are cooking up. The zerk is certainly a fun class to play so try not to lose to much faith in it There is plenty of good gear out there and now pvp gear is going to be easy to get you'll be pretty sorted armor wise by the time you get to 80. (Once you come to naggy and get some pvp that is).
Thank you for the encouraging words. I do like the zerkers, as I said, it's the class closest to heart. But I doubt I will play one on the PvP server, I do have an SK and to play a zerker over an sk is like planning a roadtrip and insted of using the Toyota Prius in the garage you choose dads old rusted out Volvo Duett from 1968. The difference really is THAT huge. But yeah, we'll see what the expansion brings.
I have to be honest i don't use my Zerk that much in PVP especially seeing as i have an 80 Pally as well but he does ok and in groups it's not so rough as trying to go solo. I can understand SK for pvp tank tho as they are next to god mode Gear wise my Zerk is in a mix of T3 WoE armor and 2 pieces of PVP gear. Prior to getting the pvp gear with this latest update he was in 6 pieces of t3 and 1 t2 and was able to tank WoE comfortably with 2 healer's in MT and 1 healer + SK as OT. I didn't have a dirge for the 1st 4 named and comfortably dual wielding on most of the trash encounters throughout the zone and agro was no issue. It does show we can do it in less than ideal groups it's just a case of closing the gear gaps How did you find the Zerk after not playing him for a while?
Then you know first hand the difference between a crusader and a berserker. My zerker ended up being level 72 after the xp weekend so I am no way near that kind of equipment, but I must say, running around with 2 MC assault axes put a smile on my face. But compared to my SK the zerker is weak-sauce. I mainly solo, that's my playstyle of choice, and as such the sk is the far better choice. I can imagine the zerker is to be prefered in groups against heavy hitting mobs due to their self buffs and higher avoidance, just like you said. But when it comes to solo heroic mobs the SK is far superior, I almost took out the ancient cyclops today and he's 1 level below me....had I done it a little different I would've gotten him, maybe next time.
Yeah i have to agree for soloing etc crusaders are by far the better of the plate tanks. Even in groups they now have the edge over the warriors due to us all being able to get our mit and avoidance similar. The heals/life taps and their sheer hate gaining ability has certainly brought SK's upto and pass pretty much all plate tanks for tanking these days. That said i actually prefer playing my Zerk over my pally purely for the fact that he is a more challanging class I love running around instances gathering up mobs and then cheekily asking the healer/s if they have it under control just before i hit jugernaught Their reactions can be priceless
From a raiding berserkers view point Open Wounds is useless. Now with the myth AE auto att. and raid/group haste always at cap this spell just wastes a hotbar key for me.
