And I think some of the perennial disconnect on Berserkers relates to skill level.

Some abilities are tricky to balance because they're different amount of good for different skill of players. Take Energy Drain, for instance. I don't recall the specifics but I recall a point some years ago when one of the better players killed a bunch of people with Energy Drain. Before you know it a lot of really terrible shamans and necromancers are going into fights just spamming it right off the bat and they're dying and dying.

It's because Energy Drain is one of those abilities that's more useful as you get better with the classes that have it. When you're not very good yet, you almost should pretend you don't even have it. When you're closer to the top end, it's a big key tool in your arsenal and it's enormous in some fights even if you don't use it at all in others.

Being a Battle Berserker Warrior is about the exact opposite. When you're really terrible at the game and it's hard for you to get a PK with anything, well, if you con die RBW you'll probably get at least a couple. When you're middle of the pack it still seems pretty good. When you're really good with a warrior, it's a terrible deal -- you for sure can run a better ratio with Empire or Nexus or Scion or probably even Fortress warrior. This is why the Graatches and Twists of the world don't think Deathblow is crazy -- for them, it's something they have on a challenge character, a character that's clearly weaker than their other options. But if you're on your second or third warrior, it probably isn't like that for you.

Dealing with Berserkers in the receiving end is pretty similar. When I first started playing all those unspeaks just seemed so insurmountable. Now, not so much.