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Berserker nerfed to uselessness

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#41
The one thing I have the most problem with is Crawlers. EVERY other class is capable of dealing with those in some way. Shoot them, blow them up, burn them, etc. As long as you see it coming instead of letting it sneak up/leap at you, you can deal with it. It seems a bit unfair that the berserker has to call for help to take out a tiny little spider. Scrakes and Fleshpounds, I can definitely understand, and he'll need team help anyway if enemies are coming from all directions. But seriously; if there is just one Crawler coming at us, I need to take a step back and let the team handle it. That's just irritating.

What I'd like is if it were easier to block or kill the crawlers in midleap. There are times when it seems like you can chainsaw them as they come at you, but they still somehow deal damage anyway.

This is kind of an "out there" sort of mechanic, but it might be cool if a lvl2 or higher berserker had a "block" on his melee weapon. It certainly couldn't be made SUPER useful; maybe something where you have to time it right with the enemy's attack, and doesn't work against enemies with more powerful weapons. (ie, a chainsaw could deflect a scrake attack, but not a machete)
 
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#42
Nanostrike said:
Despite what people seem to think, this is EXACTLY what happens without Zerkers. And I say let it happen. If they nerf a class so it can't fulfill it's role, then let people have to deal with the consequences. Every time my team wipes because I go Demoman or some nonesense like that instead of Zerker, everyone's firepower only enrages the Scrakes, and the Scrake train plows through everyone, I just laugh and shrug. Might've gone better if my Level 6 Berserker was there, but oh well...
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I'd like to agree... but seriously? Sure the Zerker was great for Scrakes but even in his wildest dreams he couldn't compete with the Sharpshooter. And with the Zerker being reduced to near uselessness and the hitboxes being improved massively, Sharpshooter (and Commando) are the perks for headshot spam. M14 can take Scrakes out easily, never mind the 1 hit Crossbow.

Its not like Support can't handle it either. The problem isn't people not playing Zerker.
 
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#43
Nanostrike said:
In this patch, every class (Save for Firebug. No love for the Firebugs...) got a lot of fancy new weaponry and/or improvements. Except the Berserker. While every class was buffed, the Zerker got absolutely gimped.

First, the equipment nerfs. The Berserker got the Katana's attack rate slowed and the auto-attack removed. Thus, when you're surrounded, no more flurry of swings to break you out. Even spamclicking won't get you the attack speed you used to have.

And the Chainsaw, which already had pretty debatable use vs the Katana, was nerfed. It's constant-stream-of-pain primary fire's damage has been dropped to pathetic levels. Any enemies you decapitate now live long enough to smack you! Where the Chainsaw meant you could wade into a group of Gorefasts and come out on top where the Katana would get you hurt, it no longer does. In fact, doing so with the Chainsaw is suicide now. No redeeming features left in the Chainsaw whatsoever...

Then the new enemy and Fleshpound decap changes. The Husk is a Berserker's worst nightmare, as it can plink you from insane distances while you're busy hacking. Then, the Fleshpounds who used to be decap fodder for a Chainsaw or well-timed Katana swing with the "headbutt" attack, hardly every do the "headbutt" anymore. If you're a Zerker rushed by a Fleshpound, your weapons simply don't do enough damage to kill it and you're going to be clobbered if you don't get an insanely lucky decapitation...

Other perks far, far outdamage the Zerker now, FROM A SAFER RANGE, and can now easily deal with the bigger specimens that used to be the Berserker's forte... Why be right next to a Scrake right now, slashing away for 5 seconds when you can whip out an autoshotgun and blow him (And most everything near him!) away in the blink of an eye. Or pop his head with M-14 spam. Or blow him away with a pipebomb.

Most newbies from the free weekend get Berserker to levels 1 or 2 and give up on it because "The weapons suck and meleeing gets you killed". And they're completely right. Why melee, period, when the ranged options are so much better!? The bottom line, at least to me, is that these changes left the Berserker with no real competitive edge and, IMO, not much of a "Fun Factor" left. RIP, Berserker. We hardly knew you.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you're QQing about, but berserkers are hardly gimped. Honestly I'm glad they made it to where you have to click each time to swing the katana, makes it a bit more balanced. It's a joke when 3-4 berserkers can bum rush the patriarch, in a full hard game and drop him like a fly. I have no trouble at all keeping up with kills as a berserker, or staying alive either. It's the player that matters the most in my opinion, if you charge into a huge group of zeds and expect to survive, I have no comment. Even with the new weapons the game is a challenge on hard/sucidal mode. Think before you QQ.
 
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#44
I think there is some damage inconsistencies with the chainsaw as the biggest problem. As of right now the knife with one normal attack can decapitate a clot and kill it with the same blow. However, with the chainsaw I can decapitate the clot, however, the clot will not die from it. Instead it takes can take several normal attacks, after its head has been decapitated. This makes the chainsaw very inferior compared to a simple knife for dispatching simple clots.

What is a big kick in the groin is the fact that it is much more quicker to kill a clot by shredding its main body instead of going for the head. This is also the same for fighting gorefasts, where the same problem exists as well. Using a power attack from the chainsaw to decapitate the gorefast does not land a killing blow. Instead what happens is that the gorefast is decapitated but is still alive. But if you use the power attack on its body instead, the gorefast will be killed with that blow.

What's even more frustrating is that I am a level 4 beserker while using the chainsaw makes me feel very impotent as a close combat specialist. I think it would be best if we can just have a rollback to the changes to the chainsaw damage nerf.
 
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#45
only read the first page of posts but....

I think beserker players had the wrong idea prior to this patch. I always see them ditching the chainsaw for the katana, which is not a better dedicated melee weapon, and almost never using range weapons. I haven't actually played zerk since patch and while I do find it concerning that they actually nerfed it, I do think this is an opportunity for beserkers to consider some different kit options. Make no mistake, the new weapons mean a lot of different kit options, for ALL classes.

A good option for beserkers may be to carry the chainsaw and SCAR. The SCAR weighs next to nothing and in semi-auto mode it is a counter to everything except scrakes and fleshpounds. The chainsaw counters Scrakes, and FPs? Well you're probably still better off than firebugs, really support are the only ones that can take them down easily now (lol whats with that new auto shotgun I killed patty with it on my own on Normal before he could heal).
 
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#47
I opt for the Katana because it keeps me from getting bored...and I don't have to listen to "RRRRRRREEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN" for an entire wave. Plus, you can carry tons of additional crap when you roll with the big K. Or not, if you prefer the speed. For blocking doorways and surviving, the CS is better. But I like all the other advantages I can get with the Katana.
 
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#53
Also, as many are starting to point out, the smaller specs can seemingly hit you without doing attack animations now. Not only does this mean that you get no chance to dodge the attack, but this also means that they can INSTANTLY get out of a stun and smack you, hence the chainsaw getting you obliterated by Gorefasts...

It's absolute nonsense, as the instant you tap off a Gorefast's head on Suicidal, it can and WILL smack you if the blow wasn't lethal. Yeah, you shrug off 25% of the damage, but that still amounts to trading blows with an enemy and it's bad for your survival...

Plus there's the whole issues of Demomen nade-spam smokescreening the whole area. If you can't see a rushing enemy, you're going to get hit, more so with Berserker than any other perk and Demomen make it near impossible to do so. The screen-shaking, smokescreen grenades are a mess when the genius with the launcher decides to shoot whatever you're currently melee'ing...
 
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#55
finally tried using the zerker perk for the first time since launch... (a perk that i never cared much about...)

it feels pretty powerful and important for the team... in many situations with the big guys, i had to resort to the melee stuff and saved the team quite a few times (not only my effort of coz...)... when fighting the chainsaw dude and fleshpound, i almost felt it was necessary at times to have a berserker around...

i ususaly stick to the side of the walls so i dont' block my team's line of fire and dont' always rely on melee weapons tho... so i think overall it wasn't as useless as ppl say...? it is more strategy when it comes to knowing when to use your melee/guns... or so i feel... and i ususaly keep myself as healthy as i can be...
 
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#58
I currently have a level 4 berserker and I don't think it's a useless class. With that said, I never liked the chainsaw and never liked the class until they released the katana. I just can't deal with the constant sound of the chainsaw but I feel for those who liked it.

I read that the speed of the katana was reduced but I didn't notice it myself. The only problem I really have with this class since the update is the removal of the auto-fire on the katana. Other melee weapons don't have this handicap. I'm almost wishing I had a programmable mouse with an "auto-repeat" because having to click for every hit is too similar to playing those old Nintendo games. It's not cool. It doesn't make the katana any less powerful, it just makes the weapon annoying to use and in my case, it makes berserker less enjoyable.
 
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#59
One thing that's critically broken since the patch, and I'm surprised none of my fellow career Zerkers have mentioned it: Gorefasts getting instant free hits once they're decap'd. When I say instant, and as suggested by the earlier mentioned critically broken, I mean that 90% of the time you are actively taking damage way before the Gore's slashing animation occurs. He's always been slightly broken in this regard, but it's worse now--and not just attributable to melee weapon nerf. Not to mention, easily 1/4 of the time the decapitated Gore doesn't even animate at all. The decap, sound effect of Gore slashing, you taking damage, no visible Gore animation until a second later--if it's there.

That's if the Gore isn't freaking out, spinning around, bending over, or some other completely deceiving (broken) pose, while his attack sound effect plays and you take damage. He's still a gimpy foe, but imagine yourself with 3 or 4 of these headless, no-animation-insta-slash Gores about a foot in front of you. If you use guns from a distance vs. enemies 95% of a wave, you simply aren't going to appreciate the hell at point blank range now for a berzerker, and this wacky hit calculation pre-animation is just one of many new behaviors and resistances that have kicked the Berserker in the nuts since the patch.

And the removal of auto-swing for the Katana is a poor, carpal-tunnel inducing solution guys. You should have just adjusted the damage, swing rate, or coverage zone... not made it a per-slash click, lordy. You do know how much constant 360 spinning a zerker does, right TWI fellows? It's wrist hell to engage all that melee POV flicking while finger spamming. Surprised no testers realize this. There are better ways.

We'll undoubtedly see some adjustments made soon. Put aside all your Zerker hate and stereotyping for a moment and just look at the melee game mechanics--especially in a mainly Hard/Suicidal context. As it stands now, much about the melee component has been made 'not fun' with the last round of tweaks. It just so happens to affect one class the most.
 
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#60
I don't get why people are complaining about this, I've seen people say in this thread I used to be able to survive every wave on suicidal with the bezerker perk before the update, I believe that suicidal is meant to be a challenge? Doesn't that help you understand WHY some of the overpowered weapons like the katana and the chainsaw were made so that players had to have more skill to be effective with them in the update?
 
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