a bit of Berserker history

[Davish_Darkwolf]

<DIV><A href="http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/v_berserker.htm" target=_blank><FONT color=#00cc00>http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/v_berserker.htm</FONT></A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>or if you want to read a bit of norse history</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/vikings.htm" target=_blank><FONT color=#00cc66>http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/vikings.htm</FONT></A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[CherobylJ]

Good reads, thanks Dav. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=5>T</FONT>he word berserker comes <STRONG>from two Norse words <I>bjorn</I> meaning <I>bear</I> or <I>bare</I> (naked) and <I>serkr</I> meaning <I>shirt</I>, a reference to the fact that a berserker warrior went into battle dressed in bear skins or without any armor at all.</STRONG> Berserkers thought that by wearing the fur of the bear, they would become <U>possessed</U> by the animal's spirit and would gain its strength- a way of shape-shift into the animal's form. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Shape-shifting was important as their <U>pagan</U> gods also had this ability. The meaning of the word berserker is <U>derived</U> from another characteristic of this warrior- <I>berserkergang</I>- a word meaning crazed <U>behaviour</U>. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Before a battle, berserkers spent hours working themselves into a <U>frenzy</U> by painting their faces, howling like animals, banging helmets, consuming large quantities of alcohol or eating <U>hallucinogenic</U> mushrooms. This crazed state, they believed, made them <U>immune</U> to pain and helped them shrug off the <U>non-lethal</U> blows by enemy weapons. Today, the word <U>berserk</U> means to act crazy</DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <P>aww crap dont tell SOE about the armor thing!</P> <P>And I think we do most of that howling and pounding in this forum :smileywink:</P> <P> </P><p>Message Edited by CherobylJoe on <span class=date_text>04-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:11 AM</span>

[Rothg]

<blockquote><hr>CherobylJoe wrote:Good reads, thanks Dav. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=5>T</FONT>he word berserker comes <STRONG>from two Norse words <I>bjorn</I> meaning <I>bear</I> or <I>bare</I> (naked) and <I>serkr</I> meaning <I>shirt</I>, a reference to the fact that a berserker warrior went into battle dressed in bear skins or without any armor at all.</STRONG> Berserkers thought that by wearing the fur of the bear, they would become <U>possessed</U> by the animal's spirit and would gain its strength- a way of shape-shift into the animal's form. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Shape-shifting was important as their <U>pagan</U> gods also had this ability. The meaning of the word berserker is <U>derived</U> from another characteristic of this warrior- <I>berserkergang</I>- a word meaning crazed <U>behaviour</U>. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Before a battle, berserkers spent hours working themselves into a <U>frenzy</U> by painting their faces, howling like animals, banging helmets, consuming large quantities of alcohol or eating <U>hallucinogenic</U> mushrooms. This crazed state, they believed, made them <U>immune</U> to pain and helped them shrug off the <U>non-lethal</U> blows by enemy weapons. Today, the word <U>berserk</U> means to act crazy</DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <P>aww crap dont tell SOE about the armor thing!</P> <P>And I think we do most of that howling and pounding in this forum :smileywink:</P> <P> </P><p>Message Edited by CherobylJoe on <span class=date_text>04-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:11 AM</span><hr></blockquote>Yeh, much as I enjoy playing this class, berserker is not really the best description for it... More Slightly Grumpy Guardian maybe?.. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Still good fun though. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Xaek]

Personally, I was hoping Berzerkers would be like this (kind of like the DAOC class). I didn't read much up on them and now I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping for something more like a monk. I still love my berzerker, but I really don't feel like a true berzerker. Oh well. <div></div>

[Kannab]

<DIV>From this description it seems like a zerker should be more of a bruiser type fighter (light armor) but able to wield all kinds of weapons (slash, pierce, crush).  Then have zerkers have increased avoidance to compensate for armor calss (but not a smuch a monk or bruiser) and be able to outdamage both.   </DIV> <DIV> </DIV><p>Message Edited by Kannabis on <span class=date_text>04-18-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:33 AM</span>

[electron]

Whoa...! After reading something like that I wanta smash something! It's a shame I don't feel this pumped when I see my berserk fighting in game... Looks just like everyone else... I hope we see some changes to the way we fight that more closely resembles something like what that link described.  

[yno]

<div></div>Consume mass alcohol and eat psilocybin mushrooms.  It makes this game more fun regardless of character class. <span>:smileywink:</span> <div></div><p>Message Edited by yno88 on <span class=date_text>04-26-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:40 PM</span>

[Araxes]

Nice read.  When I chose my subclass this was more what I was expecting (and made a post about this contradiction at one point) - a warrior who wore little to no armor (for the sake of game comparison let's say that I expected it to be more akin to what monks and bruisers wear than what guardians wear) and could wield any type of weapon, able to outdamage all other tank classes but not avoid as many hits as the brawlers (bc the hits would increase the berserk state proc and then the damage would increase).  Well they got about 1/3 of that - they can use any weapons except cestii.  But they wear heavy armor, and their DPS, although good, is not tops of the fighters.  With recent patches, our berserk skills - which are the premier reason to play a berserker as they mitigate our damage by increasing offense and lowering HP - have been fiddled with and, IMHO, are now more or less irrelevant.  So essentially we are underpowered guardians.  Bleh.  Oddly, though, SOE is apparently aware of the Berserker heritage - one of the loading screen artworks is the very picture of a berserker as described in the above article ... strange that they weren't put into the game as such. <div></div>

[Davish_Darkwolf]

<P>I too noticed that picture, the one with a half-naked fighter wielding his axe in battle all soaked in blood. That's one of my favourite pictures on the loading screens and fits perfectly with the classical Berserker idea.</P> <P>I dont think any mmorpg to date has faithfully translated the classical Berserker class into a game. They usually wear at least leather armor or even chainmail, dont go to battle half-naked and their berserker skills are not at all surprising.</P> <P>I think its hard to implement that. It would be a pure  DPS class with imune to melee powers (at least while in "berserk") and wearing almost no armor.  It would add a "unique" feeling to the class if it was that faithfull and people would recognize and flee from a enraged Berserker miles away.</P> <P>In DAOC Berserkers were DPS classes, wearing leather armor but their damage was nerfed soon enough (left axe got a huge hit) and they became not much different from a Warrior in terms of damage unfortunately.</P> <P>But the classical Berserker idea is not the most correct one.  Berserkers used shields in  RL  as many pictures can tell (including those Island of Lewis chess pieces with the Berserker biting his shield).  A warrior without a shield was in severe disadvantage towards other warriors (yeah you could even say he would be severely "gimped" <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )</P> <P>The Bisantean (spelling?) King had a Valorian elite guard, where the warriors were all norseman Berserkers.  They had their own rules, trained isolated, had rigid codes of honour and discipline.</P> <P>So....  although Berserkers, they werent  "mad"  and  went into battle very well equiped,  not half-naked at all.   I think  this corresponds  more or less with the Berserker we have in EQ2.   A well armored/trained  warrior, capable of dealing and taking damage.  </P> <P>Although i know that Guardians have the edge on defense skills and HP (and therefore they usually are the ones picked to MT raids)  we can do the tanking job quite well.   </P> <P>One thing is for sure,  i've been comparing fights when im the MT and when a Guardian is the MT.   With exactly the same group but with me as  MT  mobs drop  a lot more faster  than when a Guardian is the MT.    Our  DPS might not be  the best in game  (and shouldnt, since we are a tank-based class)   but  sure is good enough to  place the  Zerker  in one of the more versatile and needed classes in game, wether as  MT  or  off-tank......  and when dealing  AE damage, there are few melee classes (if none at all) that surpass our damage rating.</P><p>Message Edited by Davish_Darkwolf on <span class=date_text>04-27-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:25 PM</span>

[Mopl]

 Yeah I think they got the berserker more or less correct for a fantasy game. Even though they didn't have plate armour or use tower shields(which I don't get since a bigger shield isn't always better, especially if a warrior doesn't know how to use the weapon known as a shield). I've heard one theory suppose that berserkers were very disciplined fighters who intentionally spread the image of them being bloodthirsty madmen. I feel if they had access to plate armour, they would have utilized it, as in their day they used chain-maille if they could afford it, and round shields. <DIV> </DIV>