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Originally Posted by Inkling9  This type of mechanic is a major reason that the Sorcerer was subpart in VG's raiding game because of their reliance on chaos volley. It may sound like a cool and interesting balancing act, but raiding entails AE fights, which render a class like this either seriously gimped or entirely worthless. At least with a sorc they were able to range/avoid the AEs on a few fights and do decent dmg with a certain amount of healing.
The berzerker you describe would essentially be the most worthless raiding class in the game, which I suppose goes along with its role in EQ (at least at first). You could fix it by giving them AE immunity/avoidance/mitigation but that is a no win situation. Either you make them too powerful, nullifying virtually every AE raid mob, or too weak, causing them to die too often in raids.
It may sound cool but later on it really becomes a crippling mechanic to work around when designing content. |
Several ways to deal with this. First of all, resists is the most obvious. There's a reason to having resists in the first place. Second, a quick buff that negates AE damage for x amount time with a y cooldown. Rather obvious, wouldn't you say? The third is actually quite simple too, wards. We've seen them in both Vanguard and EQ2. Wards could act as a way for the Zerker to maintain low health while avoiding an AE assault. Fourth, get the fuck out of the way. Fifth, combat rezz. FIVE WAYS!
This would not be an easy class to play, and would take careful aggro management and tons of skill. If this were the case in EQ1, it would've been a useless class due to HP aggro. However, this isn't the case in the new MMOs, so this class can certainly be created with the features enlisted.
EDIT: And after a quick thought, there is also another way. Nearly all raid bosses have a certain timer on their AEs. This is pretty much fact, so an easy way is to fully heal the zerker prior to the AE onslaught. Most have suggested a reactive type healing effect for the Zerker, so he could simply click the reactives and be at full hp in a hurry. The greatest part is, after the onslaught, no need to heal him.