Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I’m new to GW2. I have a partial disability which makes it hard for me to move and attack at the same time. I have a gaming mouse, but it doesn’t help a ton. Is there a class and build that might work best for me? A friend suggested some form of Ranger with a pet to tank for me.

I’m 100% PvE, no PvP. I don’t care that much about being super skilled or having all the best gear.

Thanks for any advice!

Definitely Ranger. Having A Ranged Weapon plus having Pet Dps makes a difference. I play with a guy who has Cerebral Palsy and he uses ranger. Also if you want help with any of the Jumping Puzzles Achievements, Diving Goggles, or dungeon runs send me a mail or message in game. I have a mesmer and can portal you places you find difficult.

I would also suggest you look into keyboards for your feet. I’m sure they have them. Even a race car controller foot pedal and brake could help and be bound to some abilities i think. You might want to do some research.

OK, thanks a bunch! I’ll check into the controllers, although I don’t think that my hands are so bad that I could do better with my footsies.

What are the Diving Goggles??

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/g13-advanced-gameboard

You can set the mini joystick to act as a mouse, should be able to play one handed

Diving Goggles are places you can dive down into water from , but they are hard to get to sometimes. They are often paired with Jumping Puzzles. So there requires a lot of jumping and positioning sometimes. Some Dungeons require doing multiple things at once as well.

The Jumping puzzles and Goggles are not madatory to enjoy the game but you might want to experience them cause many offer gorgeous views and interesting gameplay. They also provide achievements and chests with loot.

Are you able to train your hand at all? I lost feeling in half my left hand, which is my keyboard hand for pretty much every game. I’ve had to train my brain to use it as I can. It’s really hard pressing buttons with fingers you can’t feel.

Ranger is really good. If your mouse has buttons on it, you can also program a key to the button. I used to have loot on my mouse so my left hand had left to worry about. I also found playing guardian was nice for PvE. They are tanky, so you’ll last a while, and if you have HoT, you’ll be able to go Dragonhunter and use a bow. Having range is nice.

Good luck though. I know it’s hard.

A Necro minion master is another alternative you can try. Same principle as the ranger.

Otherwise, here are other possible alternative controllers that may be useful to consider:
Razer orbweaver or Tartarus
Stinky foot board http://stinkyboard.com/
Voice attack http://www.voiceattack.com/

Before you think about buying new kit for your computer I’d strongly recommend thinking about changing the keybindings, if you haven’t already. In my experience very few people find the defaults comfortable in this game, even if they have full use of both hands.

Also, one ‘trick’ a lot of people seem to miss is using the mouse to move. If you hold down both mouse buttons your character will run in the direction the camera is facing, and moving the mouse will turn them. You can also turn on auto-run and then hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse to turn.

It’s not as precise as keyboard movement (in particular there’s no way to strafe) but it means you’ve got one hand controlling movement and the camera and then the other hand can be devoted to using skills.

How much dodging will I have to do in solo and group PvE? Is there a keyboard setup that’s recommended for fast, easy dodging?

Thanks again for all the help!

I recommend a necromancer, a revenant, or a ranger.

The necro and ranger have long-ranged attacks and conditions and a revenant is a tank with decent skills that require less intense gameplay.

Stay away from Engineer, Mesmer, and Elementalist though.

What, exactly, is a Revenant? It isn’t listed under the Professions guide!

Oh, haha, well nevermind that. It’s a new class that is a part of Heart of the Mists expansion. Sorry for even saying that.

I hardly even use my mouse. I have movement on WASD and have my weapon skills and F keys assigned to my number pad. I even get lazier; I use the automatic ground target on current target. Almost any class can be used like this, though the fewer F keys, the better (I think I can’t assign F5 to the num pad)

Otherwise, pet classes are ideal, I think Necro being the best to avoid having to move and fight at the same time.

DGraves.3720:

Oh, haha, well nevermind that. It’s a new class that is a part of Heart of the Mists expansion. Sorry for even saying that.

I have the expansion! Is it a class I can play? Sorry for the duh factor LOL.

I don’t think I’d recommend revenant, or any non-minion/pet class for HoT content. Most require a fair amount of dodging and kiting to survive when solo, so without something to take aggro, the experience will likely be frustrating

onevstheworld.2419:

I don’t think I’d recommend revenant, or any non-minion/pet class for HoT content. Most require a fair amount of dodging and kiting to survive when solo, so without something to take aggro, the experience will likely be frustrating

OK! I started a Ranger so far. My choices are either Ranger or Necro for a pet/minion class, right?

Other classes do have minions, but they tend to be temporary summons with long cooldowns, so somewhat annoying.

My recommendation would be condi non-reaper Necro. The rationale for that is condi allows you to stack your conditions then move if required without losing too much dps. A power build would only cause damage while you are engaged. You can also take vitality or toughness without nerfing your dps too much. Necro because it is more versatile ranged condi than ranger, a good deal of ranger condi skills are not ranged (traps, torch 5). Non-reaper because normal shroud is ranged but reaper shroud is melee.

I know I’m making quite a lot of assumptions about your abilities, I apologise if I took it too far.

Rangers and Necromancers are fun. Both are great to start to play too. Once you have learned the game though, try out the other classes. You won’t really know whether you can play them and have fun until you try.

One thing everyone starting this game should practice is dodging. If double tapping the movement keys is hard assign dodging to something else. Some people use mouse side buttons for it. Well timed dodge is a lifesaver for any class. It is possible to play the game to level 80 without dodging, I did that at the start.

onevstheworld.2419:

Other classes do have minions, but they tend to be temporary summons with long cooldowns, so somewhat annoying.

My recommendation would be condi non-reaper Necro. The rationale for that is condi allows you to stack your conditions then move if required without losing too much dps. A power build would only cause damage while you are engaged. You can also take vitality or toughness without nerfing your dps too much. Necro because it is more versatile ranged condi than ranger, a good deal of ranger condi skills are not ranged (traps, torch 5). Non-reaper because normal shroud is ranged but reaper shroud is melee.

I know I’m making quite a lot of assumptions about your abilities, I apologise if I took it too far.

Not at all! I don’t know how my problems will affect my gameplay at this point. I don’t know what some of the terms you used mean, yet. LOL!

Just a quick heads up regarding direct vs condi damage:

Direct/Power
Pros:
Front loaded damage – kills mobs quicker.
Cons:
Need to keep attacking to deal damage, once you dodge/run and stop attacking, your damage stops.
Requires 3 stats to be effective: power, precision and ferocity, so sacrifices durability.

Condi
Pros:
No need to keep attacking to deal damage… once the condition is applied you can run/dodge and that damage will continue to tick away for its full duration (PvE mobs rarely cleanse)
Only needs 1 stat: Condition Damage to be effective, so you can take Toughness and/or Vitality without sacrificing too much DPS.
Cons:
Back loaded damage – takes longer to kill mobs.

Given a ranged pet class is what you’re looking for, I would say power ranger, or condi necro. Just as an example of both classes (I’ve deliberately tuned them to be defensive):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjOD7kSFokFsWQwhFgrFMsHU7tHAn93Bl7yzC4RIFkUq0XB-TxRDwAJUC2T53x9HgrZAkOAYq/Aw8HA-e
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBLhZakjGapxuawtGYvxRwQRvit4XlnQKUCxEIAiAA-TRSAwAaUCiU9HFHBgX7PQTfQmTBAgHAAEzfXV+BA-e

Also, have a look through the combat/movement section of the options menu. Some setting may help make combat more fluid for you. e.g. “Snap ground target to current target”

Walder.6524:

DGraves.3720:

Oh, haha, well nevermind that. It’s a new class that is a part of Heart of the Mists expansion. Sorry for even saying that.

I have the expansion! Is it a class I can play? Sorry for the duh factor LOL.

I believe so. Hammer is their ranged weapon and buffs very hard. Herald can constantly pulse boons so you don’t have to keep praying buttons. At worst the constant protection from their last stance in Herald allows you to take fights at your own pace and still have fun.

You should try a tanky build for Necro. I have a similar problem, my reaction times are slow so I’m bad at moving and timing blocks and dodges. I play a Life Siphon Knight Necro and it’s perfect for me, it relies on life siphon and deathshroud to stay alive, I very rarely have to move. The extra blind and weakness on dagger offhand also help with survivability.

Edit: Typo.

Bronze Knight.9231:

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/g13-advanced-gameboard

You can set the mini joystick to act as a mouse, should be able to play one handed

I have that and while I think it’s really cool, it’s really not that great using the joystick as a mouse. Just saying. Especially since you really need to hold down right click a lot to move around it isn’t too functional doing anything more than doing very basic stuff in the game one-handed so you can eat a sandwich or something.

It’s great for shortcuts to various things, but I don’t think it functions well as a mouse at all. I set it up for one-handed play once and it was pretty lack-luster.

Just don’t want this person buying something and finding out it’s not the best option.

But for Herald he needs to do a lot of HoT conten before even unlocking the spec.

Walder: If you are just beggining, the first thing you need is to get a mentor to explain you the basics, or do a bit of research to understand the basics on your own. Also, you’ll need to test how far is your disability limiting your gameplay.

My reccomendation:
Began with a Ranger, then locate a juvenile bear and buy a long bow as soon as possible. You’ll be using the bear to tank for you, while you kill the mobs from afar with the bow. (This is a classic basic build known as Bearbow).

Practice dodging with double tapping “wasd” keys. If you can’t do it reliably, then remap the dodge to some key that is easier for you. Remeber you can dodge back, and through your enemies too.

As pointed before, simple movement can be done by pressing both mouse keys or toggled by pressing “r” if you have trouble with the “wasd” buttons.

Jumping is also important, so you need to practice with the spacebar to test your limits. In this game taping the spacebar makes you jump the same as maintaining the spacebar pressed. Train yourself to not keep the spacebar pressed, because after 80, you’ll use this to activate the glider autodeploy.

Personally, I remapped most of the skill commands to be close to “wasd”, so I can active any skill using my index or thumb without need of moving my hands over the keyboard.

Is it necessary to weapon swap much in casual PvE? I’d prefer to stick with longbow if it’s viable.

I don’t think it’s really necessary, no.

I spent the VAST majority of my time 1-80 as bearbow on my ranger. (Well, FernHoundBow, you’ll have to pry Poppy Dog from my cold dead hands.) =P

EDIT: I will point out that until you get the longbow Trait (which allows you arrows to pierce through your targets), you’ll only have 1 AoE attack (with a fairly long recharge), so having Greatsword (or another weapon) to swap to can really help against multiple targets at the lower levels.

Just want to say, it’s awesome to see everyone helping this person.

reapex.8546:

Just want to say, it’s awesome to see everyone helping this person.

Yes! I appreciate it so much.

Walder.6524:

How much dodging will I have to do in solo and group PvE? Is there a keyboard setup that’s recommended for fast, easy dodging?

Thanks again for all the help!

I have my dodge bound to mouse 3 (the mouse wheel). I don’t know if that would comfortable for you but it was helpful for me. I don’t like double tap to dodge because I end up doing it by accident on JPs.

I think the best approach with dodge is just to make sure it’s on a key/button you can always find easily.

I have it bound to one of the side buttons on my mouse (‘regular’ gaming mouse with a few extra buttons, not an MMO one with a whole keypad) because one hand is always on the mouse, so it’s always right there.

Previously I had it on the space bar, because I’d moved jump to another button and it’s probably the easiest one on the keyboard to find, I think of it as a ‘panic button’.

If you are using a mouse with a ‘side scroll’ wheel, see if you can re-map either the left or right scrolling taps to dodge (v). Was one of the best things I did for my own hand cramping issues (other than getting a ‘hand gyro’ exerciser aka PowerBall), and was much more intuitive IMO. Tapping the wheel itself (aka middle mouse button) I also mapped to swap/drop (backquote, `).

I prefer a guardian myself, as I can set them up as tanky enough to take a hit or two while still dealing reasonable damage (basically using a home-grown variant of a WvW build in PvE). And all without major grind – weapons and armor are still Exotic. I’ve done something similar on Ranger, and in that character’s case it worked out well in partial Rare gear (though not recommended for later story content).

Good luck sorting out a good layout, and above all have fun doing it.

I have a similar problem – although with me its arthritis in both hands – I find the jumping puzzles/HOT adventures almost impossible to do and a lot of the precusors I would like to craft are locked behind getting Silver plus on these or finishing difficult JP’s. Is there any hope that we might be able to susbtitute some other activity/item for those in the futire?

So far, I’m finding that with a bear tanking in open world PvE, I don’t have to dodge or move at all really. Not sure if this changes as you level. I do expect to have to do some movement and dodging on world bosses, but that’s OK. Will I miss out on much if I don’t do dungeons or raids?

Enjoying the game a lot, BTW. I have a friend here from LOTRO and that’s a big plus.

Mesmer clones also spam up enemy ai similar to how a pet would, if you want another option

This thread…My heart…Exploding with how much love this community can have. :’) Happy tears.

Walder.6524:

So far, I’m finding that with a bear tanking in open world PvE, I don’t have to dodge or move at all really. Not sure if this changes as you level. I do expect to have to do some movement and dodging on world bosses, but that’s OK. Will I miss out on much if I don’t do dungeons or raids?

Enjoying the game a lot, BTW. I have a friend here from LOTRO and that’s a big plus.

That will change as you get onto harder content, particularly the HoT zones, dungeons and raids. You’ll encounter enemies which will either ignore your pet and focus on you or have large enough attacks that they’ll hit both of you anyway, and areas where you simply can’t stay far enough away to be safe all the time.

But there is a lot of content you can do before then and generally speaking there is no need to do dungeons or raids, you can complete all other areas of the game without entering them. There will be some items you’ll be unable to get but as far as I remember they’re all purely cosmetic. You can get the highest tier of equipment (ascended) and all the stat combinations elsewhere, and it’s highly unlikely new tiers will be added any time soon and even less likely they’ll be dungeon/raid exclusive.

The main thing you won’t be able to do is make a legendary weapon as they require dungeon tokens and you can only get them from doing dungeons or PvP (where you also need to dodge a lot). But not everyone wants a legendary weapon and they take a lot of time and money to make.

By the way if you ever do want to practice dodging I highly recommend using frost wurms. They have a long, very obvious build up to a fairly slow moving projectile attack which they use a lot, which makes it easy to see it coming so you can dodge in time. They attack fairly slowly overall and (apart from the veterans and champions) don’t do much damage so they’re easy to out-heal, and they’re often found in groups so if you do have to kill one (or someone else does) you can move on to another. Just remember to put your pet on passive (or make sure you’re not using traits/skills that will attack it like Mesmer clones) or it will keep killing them.

Im trying atm a tanky revenant..its staff/hammer with the dwarf legend. U can even fight 5-10 monster (central tyria) and dont die..just makeing autoattack on staff and useing the 2 hammer around u (with the dwarf legend). Its really fun and easy build
thats the solo version:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQJAWinvNWNS6JrJRVl/ksrygSYW5QJYscrkFNFptQgIsjPHfd5zsA-TRCBABap8LFNBopEMgDBgg7Pkj6PAcFAa4BA0iOAA-e