XxX_MLG Noob_XxX
Boar
All right. So berserker. I think most people who dare to touch that which is the cursed "Melee World" would agree that berserker is a great skill. I used to agree, but I don't think I agree anymore. Currently, I'm convinced that what made many melee people -- including myself -- think that berserker is good, is that the rest of the 2H melee skills just aren't that great. So when we see something that can actually give us some kind of extra damage, we think it's the best thing in the world.
Well, after playing longer and observing other people, I'm starting to think berserker could actually use improvements. It needs improvements to make melee more viable, and it needs improvements to make the skill more interesting and desirable. My two ideas are to improve the EP rewards of bersererk and improve the skills used. As a kind of third-but-possibly-questionable idea: I'd also vote on decreasing the damage penalty.
Improving Berserker's EP
Berserk's EP degeneration is a bit strange currently. The EP degeneration is so strong that berserk virtually restricts you to shield cancel spam unless you're in a boss fight. This is because melee has to spend a lot of time repositioning and doing setups. By the time you've landed enough hits to get out 1 silver whirlslash, you've lost more EP than whirlslash's cost...so you don't get to use the skill. There are much more interesting things that a person can be doing with their day than mashing attack and shield.
The character's EP regen should be 0 (instead of negative). This way, the player has to earn their EP, instead of running a race that is x2 or x3 biased against them. They earn that silver whirslash. Or, they earn multiple gold slashes that they can save for later. This opens the door for strategizing with the ability. It removes issues where berserk degen is sometimes unfair (within a second or 2 you can aggressively land 4 hits but be unable to use certain skills nonetheless). It also gives a point to using bronze berserk (which could probably still use a buff). Finally, it encourages players to be more aggressive. One might think that the degen itself encourages aggression, but it doesn't. And this is because the degen is so strong that there's hardly a difference in rewards between aggressive and non-aggressive gameplay.
Additionally, it isn't necessary for the player's EP to get shot to 0 whenever a new room is entered. The ability is not that intimidating, especially when you receive a lot more damage for using it. Simply maintaining the player's current EP is fine. It might even be fine to allow the EP to return to full. The gameplay is not significantly impacted by this.
It's worth considering not flooring the player's EP to 0 upon activating berserk as well. But I'm aware that such a design would probably exploited.
Making Berserk More Interesting
The most berserk gives you is a red aura. That's it. And with the EP issue I mentioned earlier, it practically takes away all of your skills. In short, it's boring to most players. It would be nice if skills got interesting buffs from using berserk. All skills could get some kind of increase in their damage multiplier or charge speed, and the individual skills themselves could have nice quirks. Whirslash could create flames on the sword's edge and burn enemies upon activation ("fiery aura"); Titan's Throw could bounce up or launch enemies upon activation; Heroic slam could take the interrupt status of melee pguards (which would work great with my suggestion to make all enemies interruptible) or maybe cause some kind of earthquake; Smash could give enemies the ricochet capability of regular smash balls, dealing damage every time an enemy bumps into a wall.
By making the individual skills more interesting, not only is berserker made more interesting and possibly more balanced...but players are given even more incentive to fight aggressively. You want that spicy flaming whirlslash? Then get in there and earn yourself some EP.
One could also look at berserk decreasing the necessary points to obtain particular charges. That would be interesting...but it would have to be properly balanced.
Ideas like these (or others), combined with giving berserk real EP rewards would greatly improve the ability.
Balancing Berserker's Damage Penalty
The damage penalty on berserk is a little too high. In the priestess fight, with gold berserk on, you take roughly the same damage as a mage (with defense gear on). Considering that you still need to fight up close and personal...and shield cancel for the life of you, that's kinda ridiculous. Melee is still a close combat class. It needs defense/survivability. Either Berserk needs a higher damage increase (to balance out the high damage it tacks on), or berserk needs a weaker defense reduction. I think this one requires a bit more fine tuning and doesn't have a clear line...but it should be addressed at some point.
Well, after playing longer and observing other people, I'm starting to think berserker could actually use improvements. It needs improvements to make melee more viable, and it needs improvements to make the skill more interesting and desirable. My two ideas are to improve the EP rewards of bersererk and improve the skills used. As a kind of third-but-possibly-questionable idea: I'd also vote on decreasing the damage penalty.
Improving Berserker's EP
Berserk's EP degeneration is a bit strange currently. The EP degeneration is so strong that berserk virtually restricts you to shield cancel spam unless you're in a boss fight. This is because melee has to spend a lot of time repositioning and doing setups. By the time you've landed enough hits to get out 1 silver whirlslash, you've lost more EP than whirlslash's cost...so you don't get to use the skill. There are much more interesting things that a person can be doing with their day than mashing attack and shield.
The character's EP regen should be 0 (instead of negative). This way, the player has to earn their EP, instead of running a race that is x2 or x3 biased against them. They earn that silver whirslash. Or, they earn multiple gold slashes that they can save for later. This opens the door for strategizing with the ability. It removes issues where berserk degen is sometimes unfair (within a second or 2 you can aggressively land 4 hits but be unable to use certain skills nonetheless). It also gives a point to using bronze berserk (which could probably still use a buff). Finally, it encourages players to be more aggressive. One might think that the degen itself encourages aggression, but it doesn't. And this is because the degen is so strong that there's hardly a difference in rewards between aggressive and non-aggressive gameplay.
Additionally, it isn't necessary for the player's EP to get shot to 0 whenever a new room is entered. The ability is not that intimidating, especially when you receive a lot more damage for using it. Simply maintaining the player's current EP is fine. It might even be fine to allow the EP to return to full. The gameplay is not significantly impacted by this.
It's worth considering not flooring the player's EP to 0 upon activating berserk as well. But I'm aware that such a design would probably exploited.
Making Berserk More Interesting
The most berserk gives you is a red aura. That's it. And with the EP issue I mentioned earlier, it practically takes away all of your skills. In short, it's boring to most players. It would be nice if skills got interesting buffs from using berserk. All skills could get some kind of increase in their damage multiplier or charge speed, and the individual skills themselves could have nice quirks. Whirslash could create flames on the sword's edge and burn enemies upon activation ("fiery aura"); Titan's Throw could bounce up or launch enemies upon activation; Heroic slam could take the interrupt status of melee pguards (which would work great with my suggestion to make all enemies interruptible) or maybe cause some kind of earthquake; Smash could give enemies the ricochet capability of regular smash balls, dealing damage every time an enemy bumps into a wall.
By making the individual skills more interesting, not only is berserker made more interesting and possibly more balanced...but players are given even more incentive to fight aggressively. You want that spicy flaming whirlslash? Then get in there and earn yourself some EP.
One could also look at berserk decreasing the necessary points to obtain particular charges. That would be interesting...but it would have to be properly balanced.
Ideas like these (or others), combined with giving berserk real EP rewards would greatly improve the ability.
Balancing Berserker's Damage Penalty
The damage penalty on berserk is a little too high. In the priestess fight, with gold berserk on, you take roughly the same damage as a mage (with defense gear on). Considering that you still need to fight up close and personal...and shield cancel for the life of you, that's kinda ridiculous. Melee is still a close combat class. It needs defense/survivability. Either Berserk needs a higher damage increase (to balance out the high damage it tacks on), or berserk needs a weaker defense reduction. I think this one requires a bit more fine tuning and doesn't have a clear line...but it should be addressed at some point.