Berserker or Pally, looking for some advice?

[Griefmast]

<DIV>I'm torn between the two, my zerker is a level 13 and my pally is an 18. I enjoy playing both toons but im kind of sick of splitting time grinding. I guess what it comes down to is which would be better in pvp down the road. I solo 50 percent of the time and im groups the other half so my style is pretty balanced. I want to put most of the emphasis in offense, so tanking would be my secondary fall back. Ideally i would like to be the second tank in a group, taking pressure of the main one, when a break is needed. Oh yah one more thing, how should i set up my character for an offense minded pvp setup? Thanks for any help you can give me.</DIV>

[Dimgl]

<P><FONT color=#00cc99>Hi there, 70 berserker on Venekor here. I also have a good friend and guildmate who is a 60s paladin. We're almost always grouping, and have done some duoing and other combat. I should probably first say that I am a STA/AGI zerker, and he is an INT/WIS Paladin, achievement builds are very important in PVP, especially for paladins.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#00cc99>While this may sound elementary, the paladin does better in solo pvp at all level ranges, once you start getting spell and heal crit really rolling you will really be able to hurt people. I've seen my friend knock people with refusal for 1300+ points of damage. He can crit LOH for an extra life practically, on top of having good heals already. Paladins have a -lot- of interrupts, high WIS, and heals, making them very effective at fighting casters and other hybrids. They do however do a lot more poorly against classes with snares and speed boosts, that are able to escape. This may change when the paladin gets castigate and can remove snares. But because the paladin is unable to fight well (if at all) on the move, it is much easier for people to escape from one.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#00cc99>Berserkers do so-so in solo PVP. You have to get used to the idea that you will always start fights at a disadvantage. Because you can't heal, and because every mage can invis, and all scouts can stealth, you will almost always get ambushed, making your life tough. Brawler evasion shuts us down very very bad, and crusaders being able to heal lets them outlast us. Scout fights can go either way, depending on how their openings go. However berserkers are good at sprinting away, or sprinting after people, and killing them while OOP, because we arguably fight better than any other class under those circumstances. Our longbow also lets us chase while firing, and also lets us drop high burst damage.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#00cc99>As for group... I am not entirely sure yet. I think Berserker is better up into the 50s, but once Paladins get consecrate they gain a -huge- boost. Consecrate does great damage, and has a chance to interrupt enemy casters, and also can proc spell effect items or abilities like aria. Paladins also being able to drop huge group critical heals for 900 is beyond amazing, we often find that enemy groups will try to target our paladin over our templar because their healing is that effective. Berserkers' strongest group PVP ability is insolent gibe. We can do decent aoe damage, but some of our abilities like open wounds and the barrage line aren't very easy or effective to  use in PVP (though rampage is awesome.)</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#00cc99>If all you care about is offense, I can tell you that I get more kills than my paladin friend, especially in uneven "gank" fights. But I think my paladin friend plays a bigger role in even fights than I do by a fairly large margin, maybe not in killing, but overall effect on outcome. Since you said you solo 50% of the time I would suggest paladin. Berserkers soloing are gank-bait, not to mention we are -really- -really- bad at it in the higher level zones.</FONT></P>

[Rousso]

<P>What!?! Someone dared to come into this forum and write up a balanced assessment? Dimglow, you sir have no idea what these posts are for. This is a space for fanbois and monk/ranger post trollers to post how [faarbot]ing uber zerkers are and attack anyone who doesn't immedately proclaim zerkers so powerful as to require instant nerfing. It is also a space for zerkers upset by recent changes to proclaim the sky is falling and threaten to [dare I say it?] quit the game. You, sir, are trying to inject FACTS into this post, and we all know that facts are merely a representation of reality, which in turn has a well known monk/bruiser bias.</P> <P>Although I am not a big fan of facts...I must point out that you have left out one of the key advantages of the pally. They get a skill that lets them transfer to themselves the aggro generated by another in the group. Group with a warlock and where most other tanks will struggle to hold aggro, the pally will hold those mobs like superglue. Best skill for holding aggro in the game by far.</P> <P>Well, now that we are done with the facts...time for other posters to get back to the REAL spirit of the forums:  Flaming reasoned opinions; accusing others of not knowing how to play the class; asserting how uber they are [and how large their manhood is]; proclaiming that the sky is falling; etc., etc...</P> <P> </P>

[Griefmast]

Thanks for the info. I think i made my decision, gonna go with the zerker. One other thing i need to start a tradeskill and im totally a noob when it comes to that. I was thinking armor, can someone please give me some input and maybe if you had to do it all over again what would you choose? Thanks again

[firewolf]

Alchemist would be the best fit. Not only can make own adept 3 combat arts, but also make cure and buff potions. Next would be provisioner. The player make food/drink can last 5 hours++ and usually comes with stats boost too. Can save a lot of gold at high level. <div></div>

[Dimgl]

<P><FONT color=#00cc99>I would also recommend alchemist, weaponsmiths and armorsmiths don't often offer a good value for their best crafted items, and because of achievement you will probably use a lot of quest rewards.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#00cc99>From 1-70 on Venekor I only wore 2 crafted items. 1 crafted imbued STR ring, and 1 hex doll. Granted the economy was behind me, and there weren't many crafters my level, but even if there had been I still wouldn't have had the resources, or have been willing to pay the exorbitant prices.</FONT></P>