Just curious about general info

Thanks for all the info guys really, any advice you can think of that I need to know please say it even if I haven't asked.  For now I really do think warrior is the way to go and I've decided on other classes I want to try so I'm going to be studying those as I go.  Blademaster is the other melee I want to try later mainly.  Monks seem too dependent on luck, zerks seem too player skill demanding for a newbie.  Cleric wise I will try Paladin first, then oddly I want to try a druid.  Mage wise battlemage, then invoker or necro if I find more info on corpses.  Rogue wise bards are the only I'm interested in for various reasons.  Now I won't be doing these at Iince but knowing my future interests I know what else to look for as I explore.

I was recommended Ogre but really don't want the vuln unless it's easier to overcome than it seems to be from my experiences with Dep.  Debating stone or mino now, neutral, no vuln, high up and str... plus I'd get boulder throw.  Just worried the lower dex will get me beat up more in fights.

I'm of the opinion that any skilled player can do well with any class. We have seen strong berserkers in the past, but a lot of berserker strength comes in landing that haymaker/bodyslam combo or keeping their target in the fight when they rage. Changes have consistently nerfed berserkers because of the play style and key strategy of berserkers. 

MY opinion:

Cleaves(Weapon/Shield) - Basically done away with. You can repair broken weapons for a few gold and you can burnrpoof your weapons with cabal points. There goes 2 of the 5 skills berserkers get.

Haymaker - A very strong skill in itself, but has been toned down in its effectiveness by making other classes stronger. Unless you're anger, you're going to have a much harder time getting this land against mages, communers, or shield warriors. I'm not gonna say this skill is 100% out of the picture, but its easily countered.

Headbutt - Again, unless you're anger path, you're going to struggle to get this through agains the classes you need it to. IE: protective shield.

Bodyslam - With the lag changes, the days of haymaker/bodyslam strat are long gone. Bodyslam is basically your go to in order to out damage your opponent. If they are keeping up with your damage, now all you are doing is attempting to control the flow of combat. But, the change to lag made the bodyslam(which has higher lag than bash) basically the same AS bash. 

Roar - Worthless.

Anger Path - This path, over all, provides the best bonuses to the skills you will use, but you suffer drastically in the rage department. You'll be lucky to get a 1 hour rage timer. Good luck making work of that.

Fury Path - Assault doesn't do much at all. Powergrip is an outdated skill that means nothing anymore due to the massive influx of cursed weapons. Two handed expertise is okay? Basically, your cleaves are a little better. You will often get a 0-1 hour timer on your rage. Again, good luck making much happen in that time.

Devastation Path - The only path worth taking. Bloodhaze is an extra defense that will allow you to roar away damage, which is huge. Ferocity lets you use berserk over and over at the expense of your mana for more HP. HUGELY beneficial. This path will make you unable to flee from combat, but your rage is VERY strong. Roar actually does something with this path and can fear your opponent. 

In summary:

Berserkers will do well in skilled hands, as all classes will, but won't ever "shine". Berserkers have been changed a few times in the past, but their skill set is just outdated when compared to others. They have less things they can do and constant changes that were designed to affect other combos have hampered them a lot. 

Brainstorm:

Dunno. Berserkers need to lag and there are FAR too many avenues now that take that away. Maybe something can be done with roar to make it fill that lag gap that berserkers need to win? I'm not sure. Will it be the same as pre-lag change zerks? Nahh. But it might be something.

I'm a huge fan of berserkers and you can bet your sweet ass that if changes came out to make them more competitive, I'd roll one that day.

Stone has a vuln.  Minotuar is giant size, high Str, and with its horns you can charge with a staff on whereas other races can't.

I think you might enjoy a battlemage. A lot more combat options and a great class to solo tough areas with. Also has locate object so you can check if the mob has your item.

@Ambroas Don't forget Hybrids. Paladins, Druids and Dark-Knights.

If you wish to experience a warrior and a mage at the same time, you should try a DK.

DK's are the ideal class for someone learning the game. Sure they don't have sanctuary, but wands makes sanctuary easy, through the tainted ankh consumable. Their skill set is mostly a warrior one. They only lack staff, blind fighting,warcry, berserk, warrior lore, fourth attack, fired weapons, riposte, and dual parry. And they get spells to make up for it.

They are literally the class with the most options available, and unlike battlemages they don't have nightmarish unkeep to keep track.

They can be played like a warrior by using meele focused tactics. Like an invoker by spaming aff spells. Like a shaman with strong maledictive tactics. And even somewhat like an attrition communer with poison+dirt+cure light.

Their only lack is not having identify, but you can extort id scrolls cheaper than most classes, and can spend RP points to get purchase it.

They are also one of the classes who gets additional power as their skill improves due to malforms. Not that you even need a malform, a simple cursed polearm is enough to be a successful DK, although geting 2-3 Pk's with your malform will give about the same result.

@mya. I havent, Druid is out because I don't want to cut into exploring time.  Paladin is one I'm interested in, Dark knight looks very appealing and strong!  Or at least to me they look strong... only downside is I have no idea on equipping an evil not even basic gear.  Usually I'm running around in the blackwatch set for basics.  That's my only issue with evils as of now.

I'm curious about something with battlemage.  With consumables being strong and gear professing can they match the other classes evenly?  Just curious why I've never seen one but I've seen every other class.

Upkeep is arguably the only downside to BMG's because it limits your race selection if you don't want to go Savant. I used to play them almost exclusively...I've had one in every cabal except Syndi, WM (obv) and Herald.  A Savant BMG is a top-notch powerhouse if you have even a mediocre (to use Anume's term) level of experience.  But similar to Paladins, they're not the easiest to land a kill with.  There's somewhat of a luck factor to them in which: a) you get your opponent low enough in HP and land a big damage round with one of your two High AFF dmg spells -or- b ) you run your opponents out of gyvels and capitalize.  However, there are small things you can do to influence the tide of a battle and/or make fleeing difficult for your opponent (but that's also fairly lucky).  Anecdotally, you used to see a lot more before their main defensive spell was nerfed several years ago.

If you want to try one, I'd shoot for Savant -- great for PvP and PvE.

I tend to feel that invokers are a somewhat easier mage to learn to play, but maybe that's because I'm great with them but crap with a battlemage. ;)

Invokers have the most straight forward skills.  Push button A, nuke goes off.  Push button B, you are immune to magic.  There are tactics involved for sure as with any mage, but IMO invokers get good returns on their skills when used.  Battlemages are far more about finesse and timing.  A few factors have to go your way and you can help with that by capitalizing on those factors.  

Example A: If someone dirt kicks you as an invoker they have two rounds of lag.  You basically have two general options: use a damage spell or dispel them (just using generics here so I'm not talking about which damage spells as different one's have different bonus affects).

Example B:  If someone dirt kicks you as a battlemage, you have more options to consider.  Is their weapon cursed?  Do I go for blind and disarm or dispel and damage.  Or maybe I should disarm and damage them if their weapon is not cursed to get in some rounds against them.

Basically, battlemages have more options of things they can do to hinder the opponent in combat.  They rely on their upkeep spells to do damage if they are not casting afflictive spells.  Personally, I do better on invokers than I do on battlemages in terms of winning pks.  But, with battlemages you are much more survivable and much more versatile in pve.

Edit:  Take my opinion as a returning player who has previously played mages a lot.  I've been gone for about six years, so lots of things have changed and I'm a noob about them.

Invokers do seem more straightforward and I definitely want to try one.  The only downside I see with them is I would assume they're more equipment dependent than a Battlemage.  Only reason I say that is a Battlemage has more defenses and spells to increase ac.  Offensive wise I have no idea since I've never seen or fought either at high level.  I'd assume Invoker since mages usually deal the most but the Battlemage would have constant damage from spells, blades, dancing blade and such so not really sure.  Oh and also, Invoker looks like in a lot of cases it'd be harder to explore with since they don't appear like they could tank as well through high areas.  

I love the idea of enchanting armor/equipment and mana charging even though I'm no even sure on that last one.  Not sure how much you can enchant or what it does but it might help me with gear.

I'm just basing this off help files so forgive me if I'm wrong.  I'm keeping a log of info for each class as it's shared so any info on Invoker is appreciated.

Equipment-wise, to maximize offensive power all an invoker needs is a charged staff (and a lot of innate mana, hence the rarity of non-elf/faerie invokers), and all a bmg needs is a decent weapon to dance.  Beyond that, for both classes, all your eq is about upping your hp, mana, ac and saves.  I'd agree that an invoker's power is a bit more tied to eq than a bmg's, but don't underestimate invokers with minimal eq - a dispel and two hellstreams after you lag yourself can always ruin your day regardless of how decked the invoker is.

Invokers are surprisingly decent at exploring on their own, partly since they have sanc and create food/water innately, but largely because of mana shield - a good percentage of tough mobs use magical attacks, and invokers are completely immune to those with the right shield up.

Enchant armor. 

Invokers can beef up their base armor. You can bank a non rare set that will do some serious work if you have the time and patience.