Berserkers are not nerfed. They are way better after the revamp!

[Bravesinger]

<DIV>I have a lvl 50 berserker. Was #5 to reach 50 on my server, so I have played alot with him. 100+ days. I really feared the revamp. But I must say my dps is insane atm. Rampage (Master I) with a 3 min reuse timer is killing mobs as if it was flies with 10hp. I killed a lvl 55+++ encounter solo....Grouped with a guardian and a necro and we managed to kill a lvl 58+++. So please give EQ2 a chance before you demand a new revamp. We are stronger now that we have ever been!</DIV> <P>Message Edited by Bravesinger on <SPAN class=date_text>09-14-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>01:38 PM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Bravesinger on <span class=date_text>09-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:43 AM</span>

[Cozumel]

oh yeah.. I'm LOVING my 50 zerker.  Me and a 50 fury took out 58^^^'s last night w/out much problem... and I'm not in any fabled armor... I went with all the regen in-combat traits, cold, stamina, and crush resistances..and I LOVE IT!  I'm SOOO much better at tanking now. <div></div>

[SwordsEd]

<P>I agree. I soloed some stuff last night that would normally have handed me my [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]. Also, when I beserk, the damage is noticeably higher.</P> <P>Something is up with the buffs and I am trying to figure that out but overall it seems good so far.</P> <P> </P> <P>No fabled gear here either. However, I do have a complete set of Ebon armor.</P><p>Message Edited by SwordsEdge on <span class=date_text>09-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:39 PM</span>

[Iren]

<DIV>Thats great to hear.  Now, what gear do you have?  Fabled I'm sure if you as long time a 50 as you claim.  Well, thats the problem.  They balanced the [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] game off people using Master1's and Fabled gear.  Anything less and you'll be singing quite a different tune.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm sorry but I totally disagree with you.  I'm getting destroyed by yellow con frikin yard trash and that is 100% unacceptable.  These same mobs I could kill from one to the next with relatively little downtime between.  Its is unacceptable that we are forced to buy rare player crafted armor or buy outrageously priced fabled armor just so we can have an even fight versus a mob a level or two higher than ourselves.  It is unacceptable that with the Harclave buff I should be killed by a group of orange cons all with 2 downs.  There were 7 at the start of the fight and 5 of them were left when I hit the ground.  Total BS.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Great for you that your gear is trivializing content, but for all of us that aren't full fable/Master1 this game just took a huge nosedive in the amount of fun.  Thats what this is all about after.  You know.  FUN.  The reason we all pay $15 </DIV>

[Iren]

<P>double post</P> <P>Message Edited by Irenik on <SPAN class=date_text>09-14-2005</SPAN><SPAN class=time_text>01:40 PM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Irenik on <span class=date_text>09-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>01:40 PM</span>

[eqaddi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Irenik wrote:<BR> <DIV>Thats great to hear.  Now, what gear do you have?  Fabled I'm sure if you as long time a 50 as you claim.  Well, thats the problem.  They balanced the [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] game off people using Master1's and Fabled gear.  Anything less and you'll be singing quite a different tune.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm sorry but I totally disagree with you.  I'm getting destroyed by yellow con frikin yard trash and that is 100% unacceptable.  These same mobs I could kill from one to the next with relatively little downtime between.  Its is unacceptable that we are forced to buy rare player crafted armor or buy outrageously priced fabled armor just so we can have an even fight versus a mob a level or two higher than ourselves.  It is unacceptable that with the Harclave buff I should be killed by a group of orange cons all with 2 downs.  There were 7 at the start of the fight and 5 of them were left when I hit the ground.  Total BS.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Great for you that your gear is trivializing content, but for all of us that aren't full fable/Master1 this game just took a huge nosedive in the amount of fun.  Thats what this is all about after.  You know.  FUN.  The reason we all pay $15 </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I have been 50 for several months now also, I have 2 fabled items and 4 masters, hardly deck'd out. I am loving the changes and can solo the ^^^ Spectres near the docks. You really must give yourself time to learn your class again, some people just take longer than others is all.

[SwordsEd]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> eqaddixx wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Irenik wrote:<BR> <DIV>Thats great to hear.  Now, what gear do you have?  Fabled I'm sure if you as long time a 50 as you claim.  Well, thats the problem.  They balanced the [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] game off people using Master1's and Fabled gear.  Anything less and you'll be singing quite a different tune.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm sorry but I totally disagree with you.  I'm getting destroyed by yellow con frikin yard trash and that is 100% unacceptable.  These same mobs I could kill from one to the next with relatively little downtime between.  Its is unacceptable that we are forced to buy rare player crafted armor or buy outrageously priced fabled armor just so we can have an even fight versus a mob a level or two higher than ourselves.  It is unacceptable that with the Harclave buff I should be killed by a group of orange cons all with 2 downs.  There were 7 at the start of the fight and 5 of them were left when I hit the ground.  Total BS.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Great for you that your gear is trivializing content, but for all of us that aren't full fable/Master1 this game just took a huge nosedive in the amount of fun.  Thats what this is all about after.  You know.  FUN.  The reason we all pay $15 </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I have been 50 for several months now also, I have 2 fabled items and 4 masters, hardly deck'd out. I am loving the changes and can solo the ^^^ Spectres near the docks. You really must give yourself time to learn your class again, some people just take longer than others is all. <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>I am level 45...nothing fabled...and 1 master that is really trivial. </P> <P>Irenik, I am not sure how you play your character but you should be able to handle a group as you described. Also, there is plenty of dropped gear at this level that would allow you to solo as I did. You don't NEED to buy Ebon or NEED to get fabled or NEED to have masters. They are a bonus.</P> <P>If you haven't already, go back and do HQ's. Sell the items to make money and buy yourself better gear. </P> <P>If vendor trash was good enough to solo tough mobs, what would be the point of having anything better? It makes sense...better gear, better performance. That is the flip side of you argument. Why have fabled if it doesn't make you better? Why have rare's and crafted items from rare's if they don't make you better? Find a way to get some money (just as we have done) and get better gear. Then check your fighting tactics...</P>

[Rami]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Irenik wrote:<BR> <DIV>Thats great to hear.  Now, what gear do you have?  Fabled I'm sure if you as long time a 50 as you claim.  Well, thats the problem.  They balanced the [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] game off people using Master1's and Fabled gear.  Anything less and you'll be singing quite a different tune.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm sorry but I totally disagree with you.  I'm getting destroyed by yellow con frikin yard trash and that is 100% unacceptable.  These same mobs I could kill from one to the next with relatively little downtime between.  Its is unacceptable that we are forced to buy rare player crafted armor or buy outrageously priced fabled armor just so we can have an even fight versus a mob a level or two higher than ourselves.  It is unacceptable that with the Harclave buff I should be killed by a group of orange cons all with 2 downs.  There were 7 at the start of the fight and 5 of them were left when I hit the ground.  Total BS.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Great for you that your gear is trivializing content, but for all of us that aren't full fable/Master1 this game just took a huge nosedive in the amount of fun.  Thats what this is all about after.  You know.  FUN.  The reason we all pay $15 </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face="Tms Rmn" color=#ffffff> <P>Most of the Higher level players wont be able to understand where you are coming from. There are some posts to the effect that the new DOF heroic MOB's are not as difficult as the heroics in the old zones. I cant be sure, but I will not discount it. Also I doubt many of the higher level players are equipped in just TREASURED or less equipment. </P> <P> Now this is all based on the fact that there are Level 50 Zerkers here saying that they can duo a ^^^ a few levels above them or take an even con heroic. Believe me. I played from a zerker from 3 to 27 on test with the combat changes. After all of the latest patching was done It would be suicide for me to even think about taking on a blue heroic. </P> <P>It is early still and there will undoubtedly be changes. Hang on for a bit and see what happens. There is enough negative feedback that seems to be justified to get the Dev's attention.   </P></FONT>

[Bravesinger]

<DIV>I will have a hard time soloing a heroic single mob which is +++. What I can chainkill is a heroic encounter of 5 mobs. We are like warlocks now. We love large encounters...I have like 6 fabled items and 6 or 7 masters. Rest of my spells are adept III. I am NOT fully fabled, I am NOT MT in my guild. Still berserkers rule. I have been grouping with another berserker, who was MT, I was in offensive mode, 1 healer, 1 brigand, 1 warlock, and 1 coercer. We chainkilled lvl 58+++. And they died so fast. Less than 30 secs/encounter. Mobs are way easier to kill. They have fewer hps and don't hit as hard. </DIV>

[Rami]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Bravesinger wrote:<BR> <DIV>I will have a hard time soloing a heroic single mob which is +++. What I can chainkill is a heroic encounter of 5 mobs. We are like warlocks now. We love large encounters...I have like 6 fabled items and 6 or 7 masters. Rest of my spells are adept III. I am NOT fully fabled, I am NOT MT in my guild. Still berserkers rule. I have been grouping with another berserker, who was MT, I was in offensive mode, 1 healer, 1 brigand, 1 warlock, and 1 coercer. We chainkilled lvl 58+++. And they died so fast. Less than 30 secs/encounter. Mobs are way easier to kill. They have fewer hps and don't hit as hard. </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>My point exactly :smileywink:

[Meler]

I'd like to hear a bit about non-lvl50 Zerks here.My Zerk just turned lvl30, got no masters and armor that consists of T3 rare + t4 crafted items. Roughly I'm about half as strong as I was before, I need twice the time to kill a mob and I'm losing twice the amount of HP (at least that is).I did check my skills, reordered my skillbars, switched from regular 2H weapon to shield+1H but still no improvement.Currently I have no idea what to do. Items are okayish, skills are Adept 1s and I think I know my spells. I'll upgrade my items to rares asap but that won't make up for the major loss of power I'm currently seeing.Is there any lvl30ish Zerk out here that can offer me some help?<div></div>

[Rami]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Melereg wrote:<BR>I'd like to hear a bit about non-lvl50 Zerks here.<BR><BR>My Zerk just turned lvl30, got no masters and armor that consists of T3 rare + t4 crafted items. Roughly I'm about half as strong as I was before, I need twice the time to kill a mob and I'm losing twice the amount of HP (at least that is).<BR>I did check my skills, reordered my skillbars, switched from regular 2H weapon to shield+1H but still no improvement.<BR><BR>Currently I have no idea what to do. Items are okayish, skills are Adept 1s and I think I know my spells. I'll upgrade my items to rares asap but that won't make up for the major loss of power I'm currently seeing.<BR><BR>Is there any lvl30ish Zerk out here that can offer me some help?<BR> <BR> <HR> <BR></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>Melereg, Couple of things you need to consider. MOB's are going to be more difficult. A Solo Even (White) con MOB is supposed to be an even fight. You should win 50% of the engagments. Don't even think about doing anything but low Green Heroics, Maybe you will be able to solo some Heroic Blues but those will be very very rare. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now there may, IMHO, be a disparity when it comes to combat ability between high level Zerkers and low/mid level Zerkers. Many posts from lower level Zerkers are finding the going difficult. My personal opinion is that it may be due to the quality of the equipment that the average PC at the lower levels has. There may be other factors, or I could be completly wrong :smileytongue: Its early and some tweeking will be done.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My suggestion at this point is to try the two different stances with various buffs, try different MOB's and see if you are more effective. The respec should have given you a couple of Master 2 combat arts. Use these to the most effect. IE Start HO, Use Master 2 CA and best taunt to end the HO. This should give you the best possable damage for the HO.         </DIV>

[Derinius]

<DIV>I only played a little bit this morning but I am please so far</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am a 41 berserker in player crafted armor (no ebon unfortunately), imbued chest piece, imbued tower shield, imbued hammer.  My combat arts are mostly adept 1 with some app 4's.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I went to lavastorm and fought the lizards right off the dock and had no trouble at all (yellow single down arrow at my level).  I think it was easier than it was before.  I use the offensive stance, use HO's and I ended each fight with most of my health and power.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Like I said, no crazy rare items, I've never raided in my life.  I'm looking forward to seeing how things go with other types of solo mobs and I'll try to let you know how it goes.</DIV>

[Spakka]

<div></div>I have to agree with Melereg<a target="_blank" href="../view_profile?user.id=11605"><span></span></a> here.  As a 23 zerker in full player made imbued carbonite I could solo blue ^^ without even going past 1/2 HP before, so I do know how to play.Now I am getting totally owned - e.g a blue ^ bear in TS, solo and con system says 'You should easily be able to defeat' had me runnning for my life -escaping with about 6% health, and even though I spammed combat arts and HO's I could barely get it into yellow health.I have my 1 defensive stance on, and every available buff - even the grey ones.  I chose all +HP traits and I have good HP.  I noticed immediately that I keep constantly bezerking because I get hit so much.  Even the blue ^^ before the CC didnt even set bezerk off half as much as these Blue ^ do now.Zerker may shine now at upper levels, but down here in the 20's it sucks big time.I also notice that when I do die (much more frequently I add), the xp debt is smaller than before but seems to take me 3 times longer to work it off - even with this supposed 50% bonus XP we have.I REALLY didnt want to whine post -CC - I love my zerker, and just 1 week ago I was telling my guildies how he was the best of my 4 chars by far, hence he had all the best (non-rare) armour of any char I have.   I hope they will show the lower lvls some love in the next patch or so because we are dying here ... frequently !<div></div>

[lich1313]

<P>I don't know about everyone else, but my zerker was horrible 20-30.  I think its just the class.  I MT and had trouble holding aggro.  Still do if I mentor down.  Once you get to 30 the world changes.  I assume it is still the same way. </P> <P> </P> <P>I was having trouble zerking too much also.  I had two zerk buffs running, the individual and the group buff.  I turned off the group buff and went for the stance.  Made things much easier.  Not sure if you have both at level 23 though..  but that might help.  And screw those bears and TS.  I hate those [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] mobs.  A real pain in the [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] until you grey them out.</P>

[Derinius]

<P>I just talked to a friend of mine that plays a 27 berserker and he's having a lot of trouble soloing.  He can kill a straight blue solo but it is really tough.  I'm going to try mentoring him tonight and see if there is a tactical change he can make.  I'm not sure if mentoring down will be a true test but if I find something that really helps I'll let you know.</P>

[Chog]

<P>Just to add my voice.  50 Zerker, Ebon BP (not imbued, got before imbuing) everything else mob dropped (non-fabled) exept legs (crafter made, not imbued: before imbuing).  Mostly Adept 1's or lower.  Have 3 Adept 3's: Anarchy, Tides of War, and 1 other...  (high level 30 group buff)...</P> <P>Can solo level 54 solo encounters without a problem.  These are 2-4 creatures per encounter, have not tried no arrow solo's.  Have not tried higher because I have not ran across any.  Cannot solo a single level 52^ snake, I can hurt it; just hurts me a lot more.  Have not attempted to solo any heroic encounter yet; although, a group of 5 could be fun to try.</P> <P>I am over joyed with the combat changes.  Had a lot of fun playing my zerker again.</P>

[Sulter]

<P>Just posting this to let you mid-level Berserkers know, you're not crazy.....28  Zerker here and getting my  (you know what) owned.  I know how to play.  Tried the different comination of abilities and stances.  Nothing.  My equipment is good...(not legendary or fabled mind you).  An average blue con usually got me to about 85-90% hp is now getting me to 20-30% hp.  I've read some of these posts and I get where some of these people are coming from....." get the best abilitiy-scrolls and armor and you'll be fine"...and...."whats the point of having them (rare items) if you can do fine without out them?" </P> <P>   I say.......don't punish us that can't afford those outrages prices (for a midlevel) for rare armor and adept 3's.....but reward those who work hard in obtaining such items.</P> <P>I'm sorry....the way it is right now (after update)...."if you don't have the top equipment you're stuck with blues, greens and occasional white cons"  is just not FUN.  I pay to have Fun...I don't know about you guys.</P> <P>SO...just to let you mid level zerkers know.....I feel ya.  Hopefully they'll make some changes soon.</P>

[nosajr]

<P>Hey guys,</P> <P>I'm not too sure about the changes yet.  I could solo pretty effectively before, but get owned by most everythin out there now.  I'm giving myself more time to learn everything all over again.  A lot changed quickly, and buffs that i thought i knew have changed as well.  I will say that the more I play and inspect different combat arts, the better I'm doing.  I just discovered the beauty of Weapon Shield last night, and what a difference that made.   Picked all strength increases and group buff strength too and hit HARD now, but take a beating like a red-headed stepchild.  Even my wifes' 44 Guardian gets beaten down now.  Both with a half suit of ebon, (imbued chest and legs) and crafted Legendary weapons.  I don't know if SOE was trying to make more people group and less soloing, but that's how it looks to us.  Takes both of us to do what one did before.  Think I'm gonna change my last name to "Ownedbyall"  Hopefully the changes include changing "Rage" back to what it used to be (I really miss that one).  </P> <DIV>Oh yeah, 41 Zerker (42 after working off all my new debt)</DIV><p>Message Edited by nosajr on <span class=date_text>09-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>05:35 AM</span>

[Derinius]

<DIV>My 27 berserker friend tried what I was doing last night, he got a tower shield and a good 1 handed weapon and uses the offensive stance, and he said it was much better.  Before that he was getting very frustrated and had switched to his predator but now he's happy soloing with the berserker again.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, if you are having troubles, try a tower shield.  I highly suggest getting everything imbued if you can, that really helps a lot too.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good luck everybody!</DIV>

[Ether]

Question for the OP. While I am very thrilled about the changes and really finding it almost better than before, I was confused about your reference to Anarchy. This is only a mitigation increase now. It sounds like you thought it was doing damage like it used to. Were you referring to something else?

[firewolf]

I'm level 28 berzerker. All crafted normal tier-3 armour (nothing  imbued or rare) except 3 peices of AQ. Using 2H imbued great sword. Soloed single blues without hp ever dropping below 70%. However, a single arrow up blue con is a close fight but still won. 20% hp left, probably will do better with a shield. Tested with offensive, defensive and no stance, offensive stance seems the best at mowing down blue con.  Only tested on bears near the bridge in TS.  Xp gain looks about the same. Choose defense, str and the rest sta on trait choice. Choose master 2 spell that increase str by 45.  This pushed my str to 107 and sta to 93 when fully self buffed.  The +5 defence trait gives me 5% increase in avoidance. Pretty good so far. Only complain is that  I lost most of the stun skills after combat revamp at this level.  Would be nice if the stun get adds back into the kick skill. Hate to switch to a shield just for the additional stun when facing casters. <div></div>

[RaspenJ]

Sounds like he is talking about Rampage, and possibly the new Open Wounds ability.I am jealous of all you guys, I'm on a business trip all this week, and am eagerly awaiting testing out my 50 zerker <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />-Zuggz-50 ZerkerGuk Server

[Thod]

Nice to hear some positive words Brave<span>:smileyhappy:</span> Im also very happy with me berserker although i dont have any master or fabled. Just had a question, you say that your dps with Anarchy is mad? Does the Master spell have some extra attack then cause my Anarchy Adept I only raises Mit? <div></div>

[DarkMasterMan]

Hey all you 50 zerkers out there. What are you using to fill up your 5 conc slots? All I can find is tides of war, dest rage, war chant, and infuriate. On that, I add one of my stances,(which one are you using for soloing??) I usually use defensive for the huge avoidance boost. Using an RGF at the moment, so thats a 2HB. I also use our solo regen buff.  What strat's does everyone here use? Please post in response =) -Darkon, 50 Berserker Froglok of Shadowhaven <div></div>

[Laoch69]

<DIV> <P>I play a 45 Berserker. I never had any problem prior to the patch with aggro.  After the patch, aggro seems the same to me. </P> <P>The patch has been completely fantastic my opinion.  No longer am I spamming 4 buffs every 10 minutes <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  and changing stances on the fly is easy now.</P> <P>Soloing, I don't do much of it, but have tried it since the patch.  Everything seems to be ok for me.  It might be a little harder to take down monsters, but not a big deal really.</P> <P> </P> <P>Could this be a patch that actually worked as intended?  Kudos to SOE <IMG height=16 src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" width=16 border=0></P></DIV>

[Rami]

<DIV><FONT face="Tms Rmn" color=#ffffff> <P><FONT face=Arial size=4>Spent a good bit of time last night out in TS with my 27 Zerker the live server. Played around with various combat arts, slowly I got better at soloing various MOBS. Went with 1H and Shield as most others have commented on, I used the Defensive stance though.  I used all of my buffs save the Group zerk buff.     </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=4>I am equipped pretty good compared to my 27 Zerker on Test. I have all of the Armor Quest armor. I had a pristine carbonite helm, but found a Steel Platemail helm (treasured) on the vendor last night. So all of my armor is treasured now. 1H weapon is Sword of Thunder and shield is Aegis of the Guardian (think that is what it is called). All of the jewelry is good for my level.       </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=4>For anything below an solo even con I would start with ( HO start - Maul(adpt 1) or Wound(Master 2) - Anger(Adpt 1)  ) - Press(App 4) - Knee Break(App 4) - Raging Blow(Master 2)... Rinse and repeat. Press needs time to recycle so I did not use it between the next 2 HO's. Maul and Wound recycle at a rate that I have to alternate their use in HO's. For solo even cons and up I added Havoc(Adpt 1) after the first HO to add some more damage mitigation.   </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=4>Using this I was able to take down Solo Yellow (level 29) Skeletal Captains and Veterans. My health normally ended up at about 50% with these. May try a level 30 tonight and see what happens. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=4>Compared to my Zerker on test I was doing better. It could be due to the better equipment, or just getting use to the changes. Remember all of the latest combat changes didn't hit the test server until the 9th... and that initial change was [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]. I think I will get back onto test tonight and do another comparison. </FONT></P></FONT></DIV> <P>Message Edited by Ramius on <SPAN class=date_text>09-15-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>08:18 AM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Ramius on <span class=date_text>09-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:21 AM</span>

[Ni]

<DIV>My main is a level 37 bezerker. I have no fabled. Chest, helm, shoulders, wrists are silvril. Legs are pristine imbued feysteel. Gloves are shaped fulginate. Weapons are SBH, PGT, Weakened Ghoulbane, Deathfist Utility Knife, Wraithbone Mace. Shield is Chaosforged Tower, although I won the one from Varsoon last night. I consider my self a typical casual, knowledgeable player. I play 4-8 hours a week.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am VERY happy with the changes. My biggest fear about the combat changes was losing the cool reactive attacks we had. Well, that fear was dispelled. Stance: Greater Fury kicks all kinds of butt. The regen buff is great. My group loved Tides of War and it stacked with the guardian's buffs. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Our "let's play with the changes cautiously" guild grou last night was 37 zerker, 40 guardian, 39 warlock, 42 warden, 39 ranger and 44 brigand. Three of the group needed Varsoon so we headed to RoV. Yes, we are all clearly above RoV. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Only the early clat guardians were still grey. Half were now green (32^^^) and some were blue (33^^^). I could tank two while dual wielding and in offensive stance without a problem at all. When the guardian tanked (we experimented back and forth) she didn't really need healing. At one point we got four on us (on purpose since we had 2 evaccers) and no one broke a sweat. Varsoon is a 35^^^ now, no surprise. We had no problem, but we shouldn't have. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The one observation the guardian and I had was that taunts seem to be less reliable. Initial aggro seemed greater. If I pulled, the guardian had to really work to get it off. If the guardian pulled, the mob was stuck like glue. If the brigand pulled, he basically kept it until the guardians initial taunting series was reapplied. One problem might have been that I kept forgetting that Raging Strike now has a nice taunt component of 150ish at Adept 1. I was spamming this with all my other red CAs most of the time.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Exp earned was 10% in about an hour of green/blue heroic stomping. I love that, but it seems generous given what it used to be. Thank you exp bonus! I killed myself at the end of the night to see what debt was like now. 1% after shard recovery. 1%. That is peanuts. Love that change.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Overall, I definitely think SOE has made the game more fun than it was - and I liked it fine before. </DIV>

[spatc]

I don't know what these guys are smokin. I have 2-boxed quite a bit with my 50 Inq, and compared to pre-patch my 50 zerker gets hammered by even solo mobs. There is no way in hell a single fighter of any type could solo those ^^^ wraiths near the zone; that is just plain BS. As for DPS, [Removed for Content] we don't even come close to our pre-patch DPS. My zerker feels way more like a gaurdian than a zerker now, and I for one am not happy. That is not to say zerkers cannot tank effectively now, but as for being any semblance to what a Berserker is and should be? No way, more like some kind of watered down generic Gaurdian wannabe.

[Sven156]

<DIV> <DIV> <P><SPAN>Lvl 36 Zerk here...I have to admit that I was anxious about the combat changes...I solo about 99% of the time and enjoyed the challenge of defeating heroic mobs and finishing quests that otherwise would have required a group to finish. During the initial /respec I chose all str traits....I have normal armor and weapons...no fabled and only 1 piece of legendary (<A href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/pplayer.vm?characterId=207298207" target=_blank>http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/pplayer.vm?characterId=207298207</A>) and only have adept 1's in addition to the new Master 2's. I decided to test out the new changes over in the upper tunnels of Splitpaw and I have to tell you I'm loving it. The new challenge of trying to figure out how to use the new spells and tactics to defeat yellow cons...not knowing if you're going to make it to the end and just going Freaking Berserk like ...well...a Berserker is just great.  I was surprised at my dps output...I tried a few different weapon and buff/stance combos (duel wield, 1h + Shield, and a 2h Axe) and discovered that my 2 Hander is just tearing Mobs up because of all the counter attacks (from weapon shield and provoking stance) and from going Zerk like the old days. I did die once from getting swarmed...but hey next time I'll just need to be more careful.</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN> I do admit however that it disheartens me to think that those few heroic mobs I could take on to finish quests may now be completely unattainable....I really enjoyed finishing quests solo...no matter how often I died, guess I may have to rethink my gaming strategies. It's been helpful to read everyone's posts, both negative and positive, it definitely helps give insight to all the different styles of play and how these changes have affected the game. So far I'm enjoying the changes...but if I've learned one thing from SOE...is don't get to comfortable because a change is always lurking around the corner...for better or worse. These changes have re-kindled my desire to play....I haven’t felt this way since they did the overland population changes allowing me to break free and go on a quest completing rampage. So this is just this mid 30 something Zerk's opinions on the matter...hope it helps. </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN> </P> <P><SPAN></SPAN> </P> <P><SPAN>Svend Northbear of "Giang Hu"- lvl 36 Barbarian Berserker, Innothule</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN>Silgard Northbear - lvl 33 Barbarian Brusier, Innothule</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN>Glorik Northbear - lvl 22 Froglok Paladin, Innothule</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN>Broga - lvl 11 Barbarian Rouge - Innothule</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV><p>Message Edited by Sven156 on <span class=date_text>09-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:49 AM</span>

[spatc]

<DIV>[Removed for Content], I reread eqaddix's post about solo'ing the ^^^ Wraiths near the docks. I am assuming the shifting sands docks? I killed 2 of them duo'ing with my 50 Inq, but it was an even fight on the first and a very close fight on the last. My zerker has at least 6 masters and 3 fabled items, my Inq is not fabled but well equiped. I watched a duo of a fully fabled 50 zerk and fully fabled  50 fury fight the same mobs and they killed it , but it was a pretty close fight as well. Solo'in these as a 50 zerker? I call BS. I can duo em, but the downtime is not efficient enough to warrant even hunting them duo. Solo'ing them? Yeah , right, dream on fanboy.</DIV>

[Laoch69]

<P>Shiznit said</P> <P>""<EM>The one observation the guardian and I had was that taunts seem to be less reliable. Initial aggro seemed greater. If I pulled, the guardian had to really work to get it off. If the guardian pulled, the mob was stuck like glue.""</EM></P> <P>I actually noticed that as well.  I am guessing that the taunts are less reliable now, because they can be resisted.  As far as getting aggro at the start of the fight, yeah that definitely seems to be the key to victory now.</P> <P> </P> <P>Spatcat said</P> <P>""<EM>As for DPS, [Removed for Content] we don't even come close to our pre-patch DPS. My zerker feels way more like a gaurdian than a zerker now, and I for one am not happy</EM>"'</P> <P>I would love to see some parsing of pre-patch and after patch results.  With my offensive stance, I "feel" like I am doing pretty close to the same damage as I was doing before.</P>

[spatc]

I have parsed my zerker post patch , but with the drastic changes to both the mobs and PC's I really don't see how any reliable comparisons can be made. Yes I do notice an increase in DPS in the offensive stance, but healing-wise I get hammered by mobs while in it. Hey, maybe I need to learn some more secrets to the changes, but so far the most effective tanking stance has been, for me, Defensive (the one that roots), the downside being very reduced DPS. Pre-patch I used to like seeing the "berserk" icon in my spell window, it usually meant the A-s-s kickin was about to commence. Now I see it the icon there quite abit, but the A-s-s kicken has yet to show up at all.

[Sokolov]

<div></div>Was in a guild group last night. Parsed about 60-80% of a level 50 Conj's DPS consistently, skewed slightly higher when full offensive than full defensive of course. The Conj was doing anywhere from 250-400 DPS with the new fire pet, while nukes for like 600-800 damage O.o, and I was doing 150-250 most fights. Spatcat, the stances do not root you - Unyielding Will is defensive, Greater Fury is offensive - you can have one or the other up at all times and neither costs concentration. Offending Defense roots you but shouldn't be confused with a stance - it can be used with either stance and costs 1 concentration slot. <div></div><p> <span class="time_text"></span></p><p>Message Edited by Sokolov on <span class=date_text>09-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>09:20 AM</span>

[freakbo]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> DarkMasterMan wrote:<BR>Hey all you 50 zerkers out there. What are you using to fill up your 5 conc slots? All I can find is tides of war, dest rage, war chant, and infuriate. On that, I add one of my stances,(which one are you using for soloing??) I usually use defensive for the huge avoidance boost. Using an RGF at the moment, so thats a 2HB. I also use our solo regen buff.  What strat's does everyone here use? Please post in response =)<BR><BR>-Darkon, 50 Berserker Froglok of Shadowhaven<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>I'm only 37; but..</P> <P>Similar 4 active 1 Conc buffs; and the last 1 Conc slot is for the 'Hold the Line' line of spells that you can insta-toggle.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[Laoch69]

<DIV>""I have parsed my zerker post patch , but with the drastic changes to both the mobs and PC's I really don't see how any reliable comparisons can be made. Yes I do notice an increase in DPS in the offensive stance, but healing-wise I get hammered by mobs while in it. Hey, maybe I need to learn some more secrets to the changes,<EM><U> but so far the most effective tanking stance has been, for me, Defensive (the one that roots</U>)</EM>, the downside being very reduced DPS. Pre-patch I used to like seeing the "berserk" icon in my spell window, it usually meant the A-s-s kickin was about to commence. Now I see it the icon there quite abit, but the A-s-s kicken has yet to show up at all. ""</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Your defensive stance doesn't "Root" you, that is a skill that is called offending defense.  It is a taunt. And as far as I know, it does nothing for your defense or your offense, it just helps you hold aggro.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, we would need a parse from Before and after.  Not just after.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Your offensive stance is called Greater fury (at level 45, fury at lower levels)</DIV> <DIV>Your defensive stance is called Unfliching will (at level 45, soldiers stance? at lower levels)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I so far have played exclusively with just greater fury on.  And with 1 healer and 1 wizard in my group, killing white ^^^ heroic mobs was not a problem at all.  Yellow ^^^ heroics were a stretch.</DIV>

[Castonu]

<P>I just played my level 26 zerker last nite. Took  about a half hour to go over the changes that have occured. Went to TS to see how it would go. Still trying to relearn all the new stuff. But was pleasantly surprised when I was able to take an even con bear down. He hit hard but still came out ok. Will just take some time to become used to the new stuff. </P> <P>But I also tried to look at this situation from the perspective of not what I could do before. I tried to look at it as a new player just trying to learn. I think for the most part everything will work out fine in the long run. I don't believe for this game to have the longevity they could have kept it the same as it was. I think we were too powerful before this change. And what would have happened is that peeps would have gotten to the end game way too fast and then left because of boredom. </P> <P>Just my two cp!</P>

[Brewmo]

<P>Level 38 'zerker checking in.</P> <P> </P> <P>I have been doing Difficult level Harclaves in my sleep to try to catch up to my level 50 friends.  Decent equipment (imbued chest, legs and 2h weapon) and no masters.  I could easily go from 1 mob to another in the harclaves.  Last night I decided to do another to take advantage of the exp bonus, but alas things went horribly wrong.  I was able to get to the ark, but each encounter took me down to a much lower health level.  I had been at about half when finishing the solo mobs before the ark before the change, but after I was 25% or less.  I got to the ark and finished the heroic fight of the undeads that spawn, but again I was much lower.  The first group that I fought the OWNED ME.  I may have gotten 1 of them before I died.  I am not sure why.  I did notice that the ark was only healing for about 97 a tick where it was normally about 290.... WHAT A CHANGE.  That may have been a big part of it.  I was so frustrated I logged off and went to bed.</P> <P>I understand that I can not fight all the uber mobs, but what good is having the different levels of Harclaves any more if they are unbeatable?  I am not sure where to go from here.  If there is anyone in the level 38 range that has found some tips and tactics, please let me know.  It is good to know that when I hit 50 that life will get good again, it is just a long way to 50 (more so after this patch it seems).</P> <P> </P> <P>Darmanain</P> <P>38 Zerker</P> <P>Antonia Bayle</P>

[SwordsEd]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> lich1313 wrote:<BR> <P>I don't know about everyone else, but my zerker was horrible 20-30.  I think its just the class.  I MT and had trouble holding aggro.  Still do if I mentor down.  Once you get to 30 the world changes.  I assume it is still the same way. </P> <P> </P> <P>I was having trouble zerking too much also.  I had two zerk buffs running, the individual and the group buff.  I turned off the group buff and went for the stance.  Made things much easier.  Not sure if you have both at level 23 though..  but that might help.  And screw those bears and TS.  I hate those [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] mobs.  A real pain in the [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] until you grey them out.</P> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Same experience for me. Everything got better after 30 and better still after 40. I am currently level 45 so I can't speak to the effectiveness past 45 but everything I see and hear is great.

[infernus006]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>I actually like the changes so far.  And I was one of the people who were practically dreading this new combat patch from the very first day I heard about it.  But now that I have had the chance to actually play around with it I find that it's not so bad after all.  At first I was very sad to see that our hp, mit, avoidance, and resists all went way down but I went ahead and took the time to check out all my new spells and throw away all the old ones that didn't help me anymore (and there were quite a few of them, all of which were either ad3 or master1) and reconfigure all my hotbars and then go out and actually try stuff out and get used to the new system. The good and the bad:  I've always tanked a lot to begin with so I love those new extra hp regen buffs we get now.  I didn't think they would be all that good and was quite leary about losing all the extra haste we had but at this point I honestly wouldn't want to go back.  We are still super tanks, probably even better than before, and we can kick some rear in pvp as well I have learned.  So far I have beaten a 50 wizard, warden, inquisitor, brigand, and bruiser in duels and man is it fun.  The only thing that really bothers me about the changes is the fact that we have no dots less taunts.  Before the patch we had 3 moderate to mediocre hp dots on Mutiliate, Rupture, and Bully.  Rupture is just a straight damage attack now with no extra effects on it.  Mutiliate has a sort of snare on it in addition to the dd, which I guess is ok.  Bully is still a decent taunt with an interrupt, but no dot like before.  However, I do like the focus debuff and blur vision effects they added to a couple of our ca's and feel that they are at least somewhat useful, especially in pvp, and I really like that they made Berserker Assualt hit more than just 2 targets now.  As far as taunts go, PoV had it's hate reduced but Bully and Fearsome Shout both seem to have more than they did before.  And PoV had it's damage boosted quite a bit as well.  Raging Strike and Taunting Blow both share the same timer as PoV now and so they are both useless to me now and so have been deleted from my hotbar, which is sad to me because I loved having those two extra taunts that may not have been that great but didn't take hardly any power to cast either.  However, I'm really looking forward to that new pbae taunt (Insolent Gibe) that we're supposed to be getting at level 51 I think. I only have one fabled item atm, the Thunderstone Amulet, which is a neckpiece that before the patch when items still conned it conned blue to me.  I do have a full set of pristine ebon armor with imbued chest and legs but I use Blood Fire and SBS as my 1h and sheild and Monsoon as my 2h, none of which are fabled.  I don't have a whole lot of master spells either (currently only two master1's that I actually use right now and the one new master2 that I chose during my respec that's usuable at my level), although I do have quite a few ad3s.  Keep in mind however that I mined most of the rares for my legendary stuff so I didn't really spend a whole lot of money on it, just a lot of time.  But that's just how it goes, if you are willing to put the extra time and effort into your character then it will be worth it. That's another thing too, I really don't like how they took con levels away from items.  That seems rather silly to me.  I supposed I can live with it though.<p>Message Edited by infernus006 on <span class=date_text>09-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:07 PM</span>

[Yabb]

Haven't read all of the post, so I'm not sure if this applies, but just wanted to add something: Someone mentioned that it's ridiculous that you need rare crafted or fabled gear to be great at tanking.  Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't that be the way it's supposed to be?  I mean, skill can only get you so far if you're wearing vendor trash gear.  You can't expect to have stuff handed to you in this game, that'd make it too easy. <div></div>

[JSMINTAM]

50 zerker here. DPS is up, but like a previous poster said, that's only part of the picture. Mobs do hit harder, and xp gain overall seems slower, esp after vitality. But overall, changes are great, and I'm having fun playing. I have a 50 sk also (yeah yeah), tried him a little, and the zerker is just more... brutal. Rampage + Frenzy 4tw. <div></div>

[eqaddi]

IMO Rampage is in a perfect state right now, it isn't that over powering but it is still a very usefull and fun skill. Which means we need to b on the low down about loving it so much or else the "nerf ninjas" will hear us.

[Ni]

<DIV>Bezerkers really excel in multi-mob groups. This hasn't changed.  The defensive stance and the self-root "buffs" let us tank as well as anyone, too. No question you want a 'zerker when fighting 3 or more in an encounter. Stance: Greater Fury just rocks all kinds of house. The best part of this combat change is the ability of the player to adapt more widely and quickly to combat situations. If you aren't tanking and your tank goes down, it is very easy and effective to switch to super-defensive and take over.</DIV>

[Spakka]

The general consensus appears to be that the higher your Zerker the more benefit you see from the combat changes,  and it also seems to be agreed the low/mid 20's are awful. LOL  I am at lvl 23 and I was getting about 45%-55% XP in 1 hour by chain soloing blue^^'s in FG before the patch, and I decided to stop and wait for the patch to come out so I wouldnt lvl too fast and I could enjoy the changes ...  now I wish I had power levelled like crazy to 30 !   Its going to take me ages to get from 23-30 on blue down arrow solo mobs so I can enjoy the game again ... /cry <div></div>

[infernus006]

<div></div>Hey, even before the patch the 20s were the worst, and that went for everyone, not just zerkers.  So buck up little camper there will be a new trail tomarrow <span>:smileyvery-happy: Btw, there is no reason in hell that anyone should be able to "chain solo blue ^^s" sorry but that's just not the way the game was meant to be played. </span> <div></div><p>Message Edited by infernus006 on <span class=date_text>09-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>05:21 PM</span>

[Iren]

<DIV>Well after spending about 3 plat in new armor for my 38 Zerker I find that the very diff Harclave is still impossible.  10 attempts.  10 failures.  Pre-patch I could blow through very difficult in under an hour and a half with only the last named able to be any form of a threat adn even then only if he got lucky.  My tick in the Harclave was 80...   80 points of healing each tick.  That needs to be fixed.  As far as I'm concerned that is a broken game mechanic.  Especialy in light of the fact that the people I play with had zero change to their Harclave buffs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I could really care less how great we are in groups.  I play solo 90% of the time and the rest I'm in a group with close friends who are all very proficient at playing their classes.  It is complete BS to now be relegated to the role of some Priest class who can't level without a group.  I would expect yellow con yard trash to be a difficult fight if I were a Templar - I'm a Zerker and something is not right when I hit the ground wearing full legendary gear against a solo mob 3 levels higher than myself.</DIV>

[XensosKinein]

<DIV>I agree infernius... I've posted in several places now that SOE did not break this game, they fixed what was broken previously. For no reason at all should you be able to chain solo a mob that was meant for a group. I like the new con system because if you see something that's heroic, you once again have to really think about it, plan where you are going to pull to and use a little strategy. That's what makes the game fun. If you want to walk around just laying waste to everything for XP, then you should try Guild Wars IMO.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I think SOE found a good balance with the Zerkers. Especially when you get into groups.... and isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Don't zerker rally a group of people to accomplish otherwise impossible tasks? Don't we scream our battlecries and rush into battle in a frenzied rage? Isn't it Zerkers who find the most unexpected heros in the tiniest of mean and imbue them with superhuman strength and adrenaline?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For everything a Zerker is, we should NEED an army for a heroic event, groupmates are our greatest weapons.... that is, after all, what we do.</DIV>

[SillySam]

<P>OK, my turn hehe.</P> <P>lvl 50 zerker, only ebon piece is chest, but have nice gear all around (black ebon, etc)...using SBS and a decent (treasured) 1hs after I got *owned* wholesale outright when dueling another zerk with same kind of setup...I mostly solo, and where I used to love using SBD and SSOY to dual wield, it just isn't practical anymore...so...my first gripe is now my Berzerker looks like some dumb Guardian...nothing against Guardians, but I'm a zerker dammit, and forced to play like a guardian...</P> <P>I've seen other classes solo after DoF came out, and scouts obviously rule...now, my question is this about balancing...If scouts can own mobs (I've seen it, truly own them) without taking much damage, what's the deal with zerks?  Did SOE just cave to the mass-complaining of the scout class?  I mean, if it's so balanced, why do I have to struggle so much to kill the same mobs as another class that owns them???  Maybe I'm just not doing something right, or maybe the people I've been watching are uber-twinked...I don't know, but it chaps my [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]...We didn't get balanced IMO, we got nerfed a bit so other classes could feel better.</P> <P>I don't feel like I tank better now either.  I use the defensive stance, and, like I said the SBS for even more defense, but if I fight anything over a white, especially multiple mobs, they take me down less than 50%, sometimes worse.  Yeah, I do decent damage, but man I take a real beating.</P> <P>Not sure where I'm at now...for a few days after the xpansion it seemed zerkers still ruled...Not sure if an update in the last day or two did something, but all of a sudden it became really tough for me to solo.  I've solo'd almost exclusively up to 50, some grouping with friends or pickup groups, and I thought my zerker could solo as good or better as any class...Now that I'm seeing scouts, necro's, monks, conjurers all solo with ease, it makes my stomach sink to think I have to stand around and OOC like a grandma for someone to *please* group with me or I'll get owned...</P> <P>Class balancing = zerk nerf if you ask me.</P> <P>Blah, last few days have been really tough...thanks for letting me rant.</P> <P> </P> <P>Blast, 50 zerk, Blackburrow</P>

[Laoch69]

<DIV>""I don't feel like I tank better now either.  I use the defensive stance, and, like I said the SBS for even more defense, but if I fight anything over a white, especially multiple mobs, they take me down less than 50%, sometimes worse.  Yeah, I do decent damage, but man I take a real beating.""</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>No offense, but why should you be able to "own" mobs that are a higher con then you are while soloing?.  </DIV> <DIV>That makes no sense at all.  White cons are even cons, the SAME level as you..even those should be a challenge.  Yellows, solo, "should" be almost unbeatable.  If <EM>some</EM> classes can kill <EM>some </EM>yellow mobs better then us, who cares?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>edit: typo</DIV><p>Message Edited by Laoch69 on <span class=date_text>09-16-2005</span> <span class=time_text>09:18 AM</span>

[XensosKinein]

<P>I think that you may be using your skills wrong. I was in DoF last night laying absolute waste to mobs. One of our lvl 50 Assassins was in the area and was in asolute Awe at some of the mobs I was taking down. I used 2 imbued ebon DW axes when in Offensive, and an imbued ebon axe and inmbued tower or SBS when tanking and still do fine. I joined up with the Assassin and one of our INQ's and we were flat out brutal. I was able to stay in offensive and the INQ spent very little time having to heal me still. We started out killing ^^^49 Spiders and moving on to the ^^^50 giants.... both of which we were able to chain pull one after another. My mana regened fast enough to always keep me right at about 1/4 to 1/2 a bar at the start of the fight, our Assassin remained completely depleted, and our healer was almost always full. That is not a nerf by any means. </P> <P>Now, if you aren't using your CA's right, you WILL get owned by any and everything. The first time I played with the new changes, I had my a** handed to me by tiger... and almost had it handed by a croc. It's def in how you play your toon.</P> <P>Check out the thread "Do WarChant and Rage Stack?" for some good tips</P>

[Goreth]

Yeah Zerkers are ridiculously good after this revamp, I tank way better, and DPS better.  Last night on a group of Petulant Forces in MM I parsed at 3459DPS.  Combo of Offensive proc stance, Rampage, Weapon Guard, and Using Slaughter the moment I spawned them.  I had them all dead in 1 round.  I can't verify this but it seems that any proc can proc our AE offensive stance proc, this could be why the DPS there was so high. But heck in Clefts of Rujukarn I parsed at a consistant 1100 DPs against those X2 groups up past the 2nd elevator.  Our AE in offiensice stance is insane.  i can easily solo 50-51^^^'s, and can solo pretty much any group of mobs.  Slaughter + Stunning Roar + Rampage = they are at 40% life by the time all my stuns wear off them.  I love it. Sir Gorethok Jigglebelly 52nd Berserker of Crushbone Leader of Elysium <div></div>

[XensosKinein]

I wouldn't say ridiculously good... but I would say just about perfect. I still have challenging battles, but in the situation we were defined for (Tank/Grouped Mob DPS) we are great. I enjoy playing a zerker much more now. (especially with Stunn Roar Master 1, and Rampage at Adept 3 <DIV>)</DIV>

[SillySam]

I will check out that thread, thanks for the tip.

[Brewmo]

<P>I think that the general concensus is that 50+ Zerkers Rock... but those of us in the 20s and 30s are finding it MUCH harder after this patch.  This is especially true for those of us who solo.  With the Harclaves damage shield and regen not working, I am not sure where to go and solo at 38 to get to the wonderfull 50+ to be able to really enjoy my Zerker again.  </P> <P> </P> <P>Anyone have any suggestions of where a 38 Zerker who used to own a Difficult Harclaves can solo for exp now?</P> <P> </P> <P>Darmanian</P> <P>38 Zerker</P> <P>Antonia Bayle</P>

[XensosKinein]

<P>I get the same impression. I'm 50 and there are def some nice abilities that sub 50's don't have. For soloing, I would suggests finding anyplace that has blue solo mobs... or Blue VV grouped mobs. This con means that they should be a relatively easy kill for a solo player. Don't try and kill the heroic mobs if they are giving you trouble. </P> <P> </P> <P>Also, grouping with a cleric or TMP will make a huge difference for you.... find one</P>

[mad_wop]

<P>This is not a rant, nor a rave, just my observations after several hours of playtime (both solo and duo'd).</P> <P>I'm currently a lvl 42 Zerk who is not entirely pleased, but not entirely displeased with the changes. I guess I'm a casual player since I average 4-5 hours a night, and I never played EQ1 (though I've had 7 toons in EQ2 since go live). I tended to play leaning more towards the DPS role prior to the revamp because that suited my personality more than just standing there getting beat on did...hell if I wanted that I would have rolled a Guardian.</P> <P>Anyway, I will admit that I really wasn't happy about getting App 1 skills that replaced some of my Adepts, especially since most of these are not currently available on the market (lack of recipes, etc...). And yes the Master's did make up for that somewhat. I also miss some of the skills (as they were) that I had gotten used to. I am fully aware that this requires adapting to the new world on my part and while I don't necessarily like it I am OK with it. </P> <P>My gear is OK...Full set of Fulginate (imbued where applicable), shield of Grumm (Thanks Nek Castle!!), imbued Fulginate two-hander, PGT and SBD for dual-wield, and a decent one-hander hammer. Jewelry is fine too. I'd love to get my hands on Ebon gear, but with limited play time I can either harvest or go hit stuff, and I'd far rather hit stuff...</P> <P>I got my [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] handed to me the first time I tried to solo content that I barely even gave a thought to prior to the update. My first inclination was to get [Removed for Content] and [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] about being "nerfed". However I'm a stubborn sort and decided to go to a nice safe zone and kill grey mobs for a while as I tried different strategies and stances, etc... Eventually it got easier as I grew more familiar with my limitations and improvements. Since I'm not lvl 50 yet I can't speak to the relative ease of adjustments that high lvl characters seem to indicate on these forums. I <U><EM>can</EM></U> see how lower lvl toons without the means of getting really good gear are currently struggling though. Yes, some of this is due to gear, and some is due to changes needed in play style, and yes there are still some adjustments that should be made to make life a bit easier for these folks. I certainly no longer spot a large group of greens and charge like a wild man into their midst and start laying waste, knowing that this fight is a no-brainer. Caution is my watchword now, and the folks I regularly group with have noticed and made comments. All I do is shrug and tell them to give me some time to re-learn how to be a good Zerk.</P> <P>I duo'd with a 42 Fury yesterday in Feerrot and it was a real eye-opener for me. He went OOP far too often for my liking chain healing as we killed Forest Creeps. Its my opinion that while the mobs were far to easy prior to the update, they may in fact be a bit too difficult as it stands now. Notice I'm not saying that I believe that Zerks need to be modified more, just that mobs may need tweaking. There <U><EM>is</EM></U> a difference. I am well pleased with my aggro managment abilities. I never once lost aggro the whole time we were there, and i can't say that was always the case pre-patch. I do feel way squishier now then I ever did before, and that mindset is going to take some getting used to.</P> <P>Overall I guess I'm about 50/50 a couple days into the changes, but I am not going to cancel my accounts or try to come across as a "whiner" (I hope). Yes there has been a lot of "those [Removed for Content] nerfed the hell out of my *insert class here* OOC spamming across the screen while I've been logged in. Some may be justified, some certainly isn't, and some may need looked at. I for one don't discount the fact that there are lots of upset folks out there, and I know for a fact that my guild has lost some players due to the changes. Not much I can do about that really, and it certainly is their choice. As for myself I truly believe that there will be a certain amount of tweaking coming down the pipe over the next several weeks and am curious as to what it may involve.</P> <P>Hang in there guys, it might be that some of what is upsetting you will be modified. Or you may get used to playing what is now an entirely new character. Or not, but waiting a couple of weeks may just do the trick. On a side note... I have a lvl 35 Monk and I have just about zero [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]es where he is concerned (other than the App1 thing), but I'm not entirely enthused about my lvl 29 Brigand. Of course I haven't played the Brig much since I wanted to get used to the Zerk changes first.</P> <DIV>P.S.</DIV> <DIV>Yes this is my first post here. I generally just read whats posted but it seems that right now its either "I really love this" or I really hate this" with little in between.... </DIV>

[XensosKinein]

<P>Nice post Mad. I am getting the same impression that the lower lvls are having a hard time too. 2 tips for you, see if you can find a TMP for a healer. Their buffs will help you. Second, I believe that the spiders in FT are heroic mobs, but the don't have arrows sinc ethey are a group mob and not a single mob. check the con box to see if they are heroic or not. It will say "Heroic". If they are heroic, get another person for the group. You'll have a tough time.</P> <P>You'll learn to love you zerker as you approach 50.</P>

[TheDepu]

I'm really happy to hear everyone is doing well witht eh changes. I'm still feeling around for the best way place. I read at one point to use defensive stance to solo. Can you guys maybe post your set ups with some details like which buffs you keep up? Do you use blood boil alot? anarchy still? Shield verus 2H versus DW? Looking mainly for advice on soloing well. Thanks a bunch Declan 51 Zerkling Exile Befallen <div></div>

[infernus006]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>"I tended to play leaning more towards the DPS role prior to the revamp because that suited my personality more than just standing there getting beat on did...hell if I wanted that I would have rolled a Guardian." *Sigh* Personally I'm really tired of hearing this comment from so-called Zerkers who made their char to do nothing but DPS mobs from behind while someone else (namely a Guard) tanks them all the time.  I'm sorry but that is NOT the intended role of a Zerker.  It never has been either.  And hopefully it never will be.  However, neither is "just standing there getting beat on".  Yes, that is the role of a Guardian.  But listen...the point of being a Zerker is that when we *tank* that is when we get the most DPS and the most out of our character overall.  Your berserk buff procs *when you get hit*.  The more *you get hit* the more it procs.  Our Offensive Stance (Fury line) and Weapon Guard buffs proc only *when we get hit* and they help you do a LOT more damage than you would normally be capable of.  The Offending Defense (HTL) buff not only procs an additional damage attack but also a hate increase for every mob it hits and this only happens a certain percentage of the time that *we get hit* by said mobs.  We do get a group HP regen buff but we also get a self-only buff that procs an addition HP regen *on ourselves when we get hit*.  So think about it...half the buffs you get as a Zerker don't do you or anyone else a dam bit of good if you're standing behind the mobs all the time now do they?  Honestly, nothing much has changed for us really since the revamp either, it was almost exactly the same before it's just some of our CA's got rearragned and were given different names and everything is on a different # scale now.  We also got a few new abilites while having some old ones (namely the majority of our haste buffs) taken away, but the basic concept of our character is still the same - to be an offensive TANK. Now don't get offended....all I'm really trying to say is that if you don't want to tank, that's fine, that's your choice, but then don't be so surprised when you feel disappointed because you're not doing nearly as much as you should be doing in group situations.  Personally I can hardly stand when there's another tank in my group that wants to be the MT.  I can put up with it if I need to and will let others tank if they really want to but then I feel bored because even though I know I'm not totally useless to the group when I'm not the MT I know in that case my character isn't living up to it's full potential. Sorry for that rant, I know it's been argued a million times already, but that comment, "If I wanted to tank then I would have rolled a Guardian" just makes me ILL whenever I hear it coming from a fellow Zerker because that is just wrong and maybe the person saying that should not even be a Zerker to start with.  This might sound mean but when I hear someone say that then it's like I don't even care about anything else they might have to say about the combat changes or anything else that has anything to do with being a Zerker beause they either 1) don't know how to play the class correctly or 2) don't want to play the class the way it was meant to be played, so then nothing they say really matters in that case because they are never going to be happy or get anything they want.  IMO we are better tanks than Guardians and it is nothing but a waste of our abilites to stand behind mobs and act as a DPS for another tank.  And if I've said it once then I will say it again...if you wanted to be a pure DPS class that's never expected to tank then you should have, and I really do mean this, rolled a scout or a mage or maybe even a Brawler instead of a Warrior class.<p>Message Edited by infernus006 on <span class=date_text>09-16-2005</span> <span class=time_text>04:18 PM</span>

[XensosKinein]

<DIV>Well put Infer,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I keep hearing "I would have roled a tank... orI would have rolled a scout". You roled a Zerker... now play like one. You rolled the best tank for a group situation... especially a small group. Find a scout and a priest class and try it, you see. You rolled for the best class at soloing and grouping grouped mobs... try it, you'll see. If you wanted to tank a raid and you died too quick you probably set you buffs wrong (or the guard wasn't helping you like he should). Wanna go sit with the scouts in a raid (Which our buffs are really good for... go for it), but don't expect o be the big DPS... you'll be a buff generator.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>However, if you want to play a Berserker, learn what all of your abilities do when they all work together in the right situation. With the new changes, there are a thousand combitations for a thousand different situations, and no one can can tell you all of them. Right click on you spell and choose examine and then ask youself, how would this come in handy? That's all any of us have done. My erker tanks well, solos well, assists the tank well, puts out great DPS, and is an all around fun character to play... regardless of gear. If you're not having fun, you can do one of two things... find a new strategy and play your toon as a zerker... or reroll.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have a scout and guard alt...they are both level 11, because zerkers are a much more fun class to play if you take a little time to figure out how to play them.</DIV>

[Superfranki]

<DIV>I am a level 34 Berserker. I have a grand total of 1 Ad3, 5 App4, and the rest I'm rolling with super cool App1. I am sitting in a set of crafted feyIRON. Haaaardly what I would call uber, but after the revamp I am doing way better. Mobs that would eat my soul in a heart beat are suddenly a pretty even fight. I see a mob that is 2 levels higher with a single up arrow and I know that I have about a 60-75% chance of success (I used to wet myself and cry). The whole structure of Berserker is much more like a Berserker should be. We have an offensive set of buffs (for DPS) and a defenseve set of buffs (obviously for tanking). Most of our buffs are counterattacks, strength boosters, and haste procs. I could understand a person with vendor trash weapons/armor not making the grade, but if you have a decent player crafted or heritage weapon/armor (I currently use the SBH), mobs HP should be shaved off like mad and you should have plenty of HP ticking back to out live them. Before you go knocking everything about the revamp, check out how your buffs work, check out your situation, and for the love of god at least wear 30 gold worth of skills and armor (for the level 30 range).</DIV>

[laker34one]

36 Berskerker here. First thing I noticed was that I lost two HP buffs that stacked with battle tactics (gray). Now I have one gray hp buff and an in combat regen buff (not even the same class) that doesnt stack with each other??? Very dissapointed in this. As well, I've noticed that I have much less dmg output and lose my hp much faster than before. Whats more, Bruisers have a higher dmg output and a higher hp pool, albeit lower power pool. Might as well just make a bruiser I suppose. Anyways, this happened in DAOC as well, Mythic kept altering the classes so drastically people eventually got tired of re-rolling and quit. As for me, /sarcasm on I think I'll start playing my Warden more often and just run around rezzing and sowing people for money. Now thats what I call a good time. /sarcasm off <div></div>

[XensosKinein]

Reroll and learn another class or learn the class your working with... your choice. Just because you are a bruiser doesn't mean you will be able to solo. The ppl that are doing well with the changes are the ones that picked the right class, they are the ones that learned how to play the class the picked.

[laker34one]

It has nothing to do with being able to solo or learn your class....Have you not been reading the posts? So basically, we will need to re-learn our class everytime Sony does a major patch for imbalance. This is generally content that is addressed pre-release, not after 50 levels of game play or what have you. It goes back to Verant when they tried to balance out the necromancer class because it was too powerful. In the end, they take a powerful class, weaken it, and another class becomes elite. They revisit the new class, nerf down, and rinse/repeat. All the while we have to adjust to the changes which flat out sucks. Oh it's great if your class benefits but a little more consistancy makes the game a hell of alot more fun and enjoyable. It just pains me to see a character I've invested so much time and fun in playing get smacked down and here I go spending an hour or so respecing all over and having to re-mem my spell book and figure out which spells work best in which situations all over again. Just my .02 though. <div></div>

[XensosKinein]

<P>Dang dude, it's not like someone is asking you to memorize and conrehend Einstein's Theory of Relativity or anything. The change make sit all interesting. The way I look at it, I just gained new spells.... discovering new ways to use your toon and make them better is what's fun about the game. People keep whining about how they have to 'relearn' their toon like it's a 40 hour task or something. I went out and killed a couple of solo mobs and had it down in about 10 minutes. If that is too much of a time investment for you, then EQ2 probably isn't your game. If you go back and read the posts that have been put up from the BETA servers until now I see a trend. The majority of posts about these changes prior to Live were all [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing about how SOE was screwing the game up (I was one of them). However, go back and read post patch. There's two types of posters... those that figured out how to play their toon and love the new balance and challenge brought to the game... and those that still haven't figured out to play their toon and blame SOE for it. I see more and more posts popping from people having a change of heart over the changes. SOE did very well with this update IMHO. One thing for sure is that they made it so we could finally help each other. I was fighting a mob last night and got an add, I was dropping in HP pretty quick and I saw an ING run by ... stop, throw a heal and run off. That was sooo cool. We grouped up shortly after and had a blast. I was walking the docks in QH and the next thing you know, I have SOW. How can you complain about that?</P> <P>People are finally starting to come together in EQ2, people are starting to need ppl. If your a soloer, then I'd grab a copy of Morrowind or Fable. EQ is an MMORPG, that means you are adventuring n a vast, everchanging world with many other people, you are involved in communities and enjoy a social atmophere. The world changes man... it always changes. Roll with it and adapt. Have fun.</P>

[Bravesinger]

<P>Some of you corrected me: It was Rampage and not Anarchy I used as master and which helps me ALOT here. I am just used to loving anarchy, so I typed the wrong one. I was in a group again in Pillars of Flames. We were fighting lvl 57-58 heroic mobs. When we did single +++ mobs my dps was 150-250. When we killed linked encounters where we would get 4-5 mobs (Some with 2 arrows up and some with arrows down) my dps was anywhere from 500-1000. We do insane dps on groupmobs. We are fighterwarlocks, who love linked encounters. I will not be able to solo single target +++ mobs that are above my lvl, but I can solo +++ encounters that consist of 5+mobs, even if they are 5 lvls above me. The more mobs the merrier <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</P> <P> </P> <P>EDIT: Oh, and one more thing to notice: We are true duel-masters. I have duelled like 15+ different people, all lvl 50 like I was at that time. I lost 1 fight. That fight was when I was up against a templar with alot of powerregen fabled items. It took more than 20 mis before I was finally dead. When I soloed a wizard it took me 10 secs to kill him. MEGADPS. It was a long fight when I duelled an illusionist. Took me 10 mins before he was finally oop. Untill then he continually stunned/nuked me, but thanks yto our regen I was never below 90%hp. When he was finally oop, I killed him in 5 secs.</P><p>Message Edited by Bravesinger on <span class=date_text>09-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:14 AM</span>

[JediAveng]

I <STRONG>hate </STRONG>the game after revamp. Almost every single aspect. There is nothing fun about it at all. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Experience gain is horrendous at 50. I spent 30% vitality and got 17% experiance. I was in a group - killing group^^^ lvl 55 and 56 orange mobs and could barely see the xps bar move with Vit.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'll stick it with it a bit but losing interest fast. Reminds me of EQ1 - I quit after Vel expansion because of the combat imbalances made during the Kunark expansion and saw no attempt by them to address the problems. I see a repeat of history.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Jedi-</DIV>

[XensosKinein]

<DIV>Then please, by all means /quit. No one is forcing you to play.</DIV>

[Chog]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> JediAvenger wrote:<BR>I <STRONG>hate </STRONG>the game after revamp. Almost every single aspect. There is nothing fun about it at all. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Experience gain is horrendous at 50. I spent 30% vitality and got 17% experiance. I was in a group - killing group^^^ lvl 55 and 56 orange mobs and could barely see the xps bar move with Vit.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'll stick it with it a bit but losing interest fast. Reminds me of EQ1 - I quit after Vel expansion because of the combat imbalances made during the Kunark expansion and saw no attempt by them to address the problems. I see a repeat of history.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Jedi-</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Nice general post.  Mind telling us what is not to your liking (besides exp gain being slow)?  Without specifics SOE can not know what is making the game unfun to you.  There are also game mechanics you may not understand that can cause anger or irritation.  Without knowing what is the problem nobody can help.  So if you are going to write a "this game sucks now post" at least inform us why this game sucks now for you.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here is an example of an easy to use method for posting what you do not like:</DIV> <UL> <LI>Having permanent buffs suck, I like rebuffing every 10-15 minutes.</LI> <LI>Lower my DPS back to what it was, how dare I do more DPS.</LI> <LI>Being able to tank better is not what I wanted!</LI> <LI>Give me buff stacking back!</LI> <LI>Experience gain is to slow, I should be level 60 in a week.</LI></UL> <P>As you can tell listing your reasons for not liking the changes is easy as pressing the Unordered list button on the top right of the text box.</P>

[-Aonein-]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Chogar wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> JediAvenger wrote:<BR>I <STRONG>hate </STRONG>the game after revamp. Almost every single aspect. There is nothing fun about it at all. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Experience gain is horrendous at 50. I spent 30% vitality and got 17% experiance. I was in a group - killing group^^^ lvl 55 and 56 orange mobs and could barely see the xps bar move with Vit.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'll stick it with it a bit but losing interest fast. Reminds me of EQ1 - I quit after Vel expansion because of the combat imbalances made during the Kunark expansion and saw no attempt by them to address the problems. I see a repeat of history.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Jedi-</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Nice general post.  Mind telling us what is not to your liking (besides exp gain being slow)?  Without specifics SOE can not know what is making the game unfun to you.  There are also game mechanics you may not understand that can cause anger or irritation.  Without knowing what is the problem nobody can help.  So if you are going to write a "this game sucks now post" at least inform us why this game sucks now for you.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here is an example of an easy to use method for posting what you do not like:</DIV> <UL> <LI>Having permanent buffs suck, I like rebuffing every 10-15 minutes.</LI> <LI>Lower my DPS back to what it was, how dare I do more DPS.</LI> <LI>Being able to tank better is not what I wanted!</LI> <LI>Give me buff stacking back!</LI> <LI>Experience gain is to slow, I should be level 60 in a week.</LI></UL> <P>As you can tell listing your reasons for not liking the changes is easy as pressing the Unordered list button on the top right of the text box.</P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>:smileyvery-happy:

[Chog]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> -Aonein- wrote:<BR><BR><BR>:smileyvery-happy: <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>I got a SMILEY!!!!!!!!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>:smileysurprised:</DIV>

[Sinkat]

<P><FONT color=#ff3300>Whats really the idea of making exp faster? if it were for me I wouldn't have done any exp buff or any vitality even, I would have exp grow as if it were EQ1 for what I have heard, there are so many things you can do its not really necesary to cap as fast as posible.. well just my opinion I guess.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff3300>Good Luck!</FONT></P>

[Zaelicor]

<div></div>Here's my experiences as a L47 Berserker. I chose Frenzy as the Master2 upgrade when the option came up (I so far have not regretted it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ). <<EDIT - No fabled gear,imbued fulginate bp, not the most efficient armor/accesories, using treasured and handcrafted weapons (always duel weilding when soloing), sometimes PGT. Mostly app4-adept1 skills (no adept3, no master 1, only master 2 are grey and not used, and Frenzy (which I love like my firstborn...if I had one) /EDIT>>My first ever fight with the revamp, I fought an even-con mob in everfrost, something I'd been able to easily solo before, and survived with about 10% hp left. This was before I learned that fights were going to need a little more thinking and considering. The next fight with the same mob went much better once I started using the tools they gave us (counter-attack, 2 seperate berserk chances, short term slows/stuns/melee resists, bearform to keep warm (it's cold in everfrost!) and more attack skills, both single target and ae, than you can shake a stick at).After I did learn how to aproach fights and realize that it's not JUST the level and con of the mob you have to consider, but also the type of mob, what it can do, what kind of skill it's designed to display (found a mob that suddenly does 6 attacks in a row when at 20ish% life), My soloing life became much easier, though still challenging (which is fun <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ). At 47 in the sinking sands, I can solo a L48^ ghoul while still being able to survive if a L45V adds near the end of the fight. I can also solo L46^ dervishes, but it's a much closer fight, due to their abilities. I can solo a group of 4 L45VV swarming beetles (fun fight, you spend the first half of your lifebar stunned, and then you go psycho <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />). I have solo'd a pair of L46V mobs due to both agroing at once, and this is where our non-encounter based ae's (a blessing and a curse) really shine. I was also able to solo L51V scorpions near the pillar of flames zoneline with not too much trouble, which actually suprised me.Don't get me wrong, I've died plenty, but if dying is going to [Removed for Content] you off, you're playing the wrong game. They've basicly made it so you not only have to think about how to fight your enemy, but also how to avoid it. It has become much more dangerous post-revamp to blindly run through a group of agro mobs, especially the ^^ and up ones, they just do so much back-damage and are fond of roots and stuns, that if you think you're going to outrun them , you might have another thing coming.No, I can't solo Heroic mobs, I haven't even tried, but I've heard people cry about not even being able to solo grey heroics. I don't really have much of an opinion about it, except that being able to kill them solo while they are grey is usually for a matter of convenience to finish quests, and I think if the quest is still going to give you a respectable reward (beit money item or xp), then it would be worth your time to find others who are also interested in the same mobs. If you're insistent on soloing them, wait a couple more levels. You waited this long, and the mobs aren't going to be going anywhere anytime soon most likely.So far I quite enjoy the combat revamp with my berserker. Haven't logged in my illusionist in yet though (messa chanta gonna die :/) but we'll see how he came through later. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Zaelicor on <span class=date_text>09-18-2005</span> <span class=time_text>07:07 AM</span>

[onwe]

1 word "rampage" When you get to 50 you better hold on to you hat cause this is one wild ride you will never leave.

[Kodachi]

I am a level 46 Berserker Ratonga, and I really love the combat changes.   I think the biggest changes post patch is to the scout classes which frankly needed some lovin <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.   I played a Troubador in Beta and on release tried the berserker, found the zerker did more damage and could tank!  Wasn't a hard choice on which class to play.   I always knew they would balance the scouts out someday and I am glad that day finally came <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. I think the game is much more challenging now <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.   I die a lot more, but with the debt being so trivial I don't mind one bit <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.   I usually work off my debt in one or two fights.  I don't enjoy playing a game that has no challenge to it.   People talk about not enjoying "grinding" experience.  In my opinion one of the big things that makes getting experience a grind is if you never have to worry about dying <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.   There is plenty to do if I choose to solo, group, or duo with my husband (46 defiler).   I have mediocre gear, mostly handcrafted or treasured, and no spells/arts past Adept 1 cept the Master 2's they give you for free. I love some of the hassle they removed with the update.  I hated having to cast 6 buffs every 10 minutes.   I love that all my spells are useful now!  I never used some of the crap I had before, and some of the stuff I did use was pretty worthless <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> (woo hoo 13 str on all group members!). I like making everyone in the group berserk <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.  I always knew I could drive others crazy. I hate the berserk animation!  (somethings never change) I love the new lands, although the skittish beetle quest has very nice armor rewards and is a MAJOR PITA <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.  If you need an upgrade to fulginate its a great set of quests to do, but you will tear your hair outta your ears before its done <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.   People WILL steal your beetles from you, cause some people are natural jerks <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. I feel sorry for the people who hate the new changes.  I don't blame them in anyway, they spent a long time with the way the game worked before and there are bound to be many who do not like the change.  I liked the game before the change so I was reluctant when they said they were redoing the whole system.  I think they really did some great things, but I perfectly understand if others don't feel that way.  I think it is mean spirited to tell those people who don't like the changes to quit.  They bought the game and paid their dues and they should have some say in how it changes.   Their opinions are vaild even if you do not agree with them.  I hope those that are upset will learn to embrace the change, and if I can help with advice or anything I would be happy to. Indya 46 Berserker Rat Antonia Bayle <div></div>

[Dashel]

Well after a good solid few hours playing I have to say I'm enjoying my Berserker again.  Lots of things to factor in with the changes but there is a lot of good there to be found.  Having not played in months, I'm plesantly surprised to see things like Blood Boil (I'm a big regen fan) and Weapon Guard actually does something now!  Very sad that our attack speed increase buffs are bye bye though, I'm also a big haste fan.  I like the Mitigation / Avoidance balance.  Makes sense and seems to be implimented well from my perspective.  Intervene seems like a fun ability to get to know.  A bit more strategy for raids is possible.  More things to do as an off tank.  Able to protect people better.  I havent tried it, but if Rescue works now thats good news. I like the Master II training options. Offending Defense - New Hold the Line, an old favorite gets upgraded.  Hope it works well, havent had occasion to use it much yet. <div></div>

[XensosKinein]

<P>They all work very well... and Vehemence works very very well FINALLY. I've had the master for this spell forever and it has never worked. Plus they trew a 57 AGI buff on it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>We all miss our haste, but I'll take the 3 minute timer on rampage over haste anyday. I am quite happy with the spells, especially with the results you get when you upgrade to Ad3 and Master quality. They've made the efforts worth the result now. Very nice changes</P>

[laker34one]

[that means you are adventuring n a vast, everchanging world with many other people, you are involved in communities and enjoy a social atmophere.] wow, I didn't know I was responding to a role player. Maybe it's time for a girlfriend or a hobby but you've been playing wayy too long. I'm a casual gamer, I've played all different types, fps, rpg, mmorpg. I was simply stating a point about the recent patch but you have taken it to a whole new level. <div></div>

[XensosKinein]

<P>Me? Hobby? Girlfriend? My girlfriend and I play during the evenings together and enjoy grouping with our guildmates. We like EQ because it mimics real life (hence the everchanging world and sense of community). In my off-time, I enjoy riding my motorcycle, snowboarding, skydiving, playing guitar, songwriting, hiking, backpacking, travelling to new places, and helping the customers of my small business. I work over a month's worth of hours in two weeks at my second job so I can have 2 weeks off every month, I have a 14 year old daughter on the honor roll who is prepping for a year in Japan as an exchange student, who's life I remain highky involved in and supportive of.</P> <P>In between all of this, we both find time to play and enjopy the game, with it's changes. I have a lvl 50 Berserker/lvl 50 Weaponsmith and my GF is 50 Templar. So, you can imagine my confusion when people whine and moan about how EQ caters to the Elite 'hardcore' players and leaves the casual players behind. We're doing fine.</P> <P>BTW.... what do you do besides EQ?</P>

[turano]

<P>Well I was reading alot that was coming from beta on how they were going to nerf us zerks. If they did I am really not seeing it. Yes it may take a little longer for a fight. But yellow mobs were supposed ro be a challenge. Like most that have posted I love the fact that I do not have to continually recast my buffs.</P> <P>Pre patch I was able to dual wield solo, with the new patch it makes it extremely hard to do so. I invested in a shield and kick [Removed for Content] one handed weap and can easily solo mobs 3-4 lvls above me. I think they did a great job in making the game challenging. I am still experimenting with different tactics for each fight. Prior to patch fights were no brainers, now I am once again enjoying EQ2. BTW 49 Zerk on Guk.</P>

[Kodachi]

<span><blockquote><hr>Dashel wrote: Very sad that our attack speed increase buffs are bye bye though, I'm also a big haste fan.   <div></div><hr></blockquote> They may not be as good as the strait haste buff, but I like the conc buff that gives party members a chance to berserk.  They aren't berserk all the time like me, but they proc fairly often and that gives them haste and dps right there which is nice.  I think that vs. a strait haste buff gives the class more flavor <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. And I pretty much use Offending Defence whenever I am tanking, that and Weapon Guard are huge sources of my damage output! Indya 47 Berserker Rat</span><div></div>

[RufusDeMar]

<P>I'm definately better after the revamp!  I've leveled 3 times in 2 days because of the non-stop killing (and the xp bonus of course),</P> <P>I solo the darkflights in EL which are yellow.  I killed them *almost* non-stop.  With all the health regen and power regen I have now. I have no fabled equipment and no masters except for what I've chosen (Screaming Fury,Bloodlust,Provoke) I do have imbued feysteel chest/legs and imbued rings(strength/stamina) and potions for buffs.</P> <P>I never stop clicking skills it seems.  More procs, more often, more damage.</P> <P>Haven't tried a heroic mob yet...kinda scared to.</P> <P>EDIT:  I'm currently level 37</P><p>Message Edited by RufusDeMarko on <span class=date_text>09-19-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:57 PM</span>

[laker34one]

[BTW.... what do you do besides EQ?] Hmm, let's see- I'm heavily involved in underwater basket weaving, approximately 25-30 hours a week solid. When I'm not doing that, I can either be found volunteering my time at the LFA (Lemur Foundation of America) or upgrading my methamphetamine lab, a constant headache in the ever changing drug industry, as you can imagine (the Columbians are monopolizing everything these days!). I have two cats, one mouse, and a muircat whom I love very much. I make $10 an hour as a target greeter and one day I hopet to be promoted to shopping cart replacer engineer technician. (impressed yet?). Anyways, I do manage to find time to come to the Everquest boards and [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] and moan just to get a rise out of people. I'm just amazed when it actually works! <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div>