Guild Wars 2

Hi, I had a bit of a question.

What would be the best profession and build for a visually disabled person to play?

I was thinking about the criteria and think it goes something like this.

-Doesn’t need to be accurate in it’s attacks
-Doesn’t have to dodge much
-Can stand up to some damage from mistakes
-Doesn’t have complex mechanics (such as the teleport skills)

If anyone can help, I would appreciate it.

We are talking purely PvE I assume?

I’d almost say longbow ranger just for the dodging part. Otherwise most attacks don’t have to be super accurate. Maybe minion necromancer, but that might not be as good if you have to put the AOE staff fields down where the mobs are.

That’s the best I got.

Rouven.7409:

We are talking purely PvE I assume?

I’d almost say longbow ranger just for the dodging part. Otherwise most attacks don’t have to be super accurate. Maybe minion necromancer, but that might not be as good if you have to put the AOE staff fields down where the mobs are.

That’s the best I got.

Oh yea, pve.

I was thinking minion necro but it doesn’t hold up much in dungeons/fractals.

I’d go with staff necromancer, actually. That’s almost pure AoE. Use the intermediate fast-cast ground targeting to get a big green circle where stuff will hit and go to town. With fear and frost, you can keep the mobs from getting to you so much. I don’t dodge very much on my staff necro (nor do I PvE with her a ton, her bags are too full of clothing to really go out and about). But I’ve leveled 2 necros to 80 and while I can’t say I -never- dodge — this game really needs you to dodge now and then — I think I dodge the least on them out of all professions.

Don’t go Minions master or ranger pls. Why? They use AI companion which is bad in PvE. For a ranger you need to have good control over your pets otherwise it gonna screw up stuff for your whole party. To have good control over your pet you kind of need to see things in advance so i don’t suggest that. Minions master is the same but in worst and should never be use in dungeon.

I think that the easiest would be warrior. Use a good build with something like greastword and axe/mace with maybe a longbow if you need a range backup. You can use a mix of knight and zerker gear so you have a little breathing room when it come to dodge. Or even full knight if you need to. Just don’t join dungeon group that ask for speed run, exp, fast run, zerker, etc.

You could also take a Staff Elementalist. If you take good DPS trait, but keep some PVT gear, you should doing ok and staff Elementalist is the only range that have good dps. You just need to stay medium range and keep to fire attunement for an easier time.

mythil.9416:

…….
-Doesn’t have to dodge much
-Can stand up to some damage from mistakes…..

These two requirements are (unfortunately) not possible (unless you never leave low to mid level open world zones). There is no “Tank” and no amount of damage mitigation skills (sans dodging and actively avoiding attacks) are going to allow you to survive extended combat engagements.

That being said, a Warrior is likely the most forgiving class and the Ranger is the best at simply avoiding melee combat (as long as your pet is alive). Dodging is still a VERY important part of combat in this game. Not learning (or being able) to do it properly will result in very frustrating situations throughout the game.

I guess you could give warrior a try and see if you like longbow or rifle. Heck if I think kiting you can even go bomb engineer, just run in circles and drop your bombs. In regards to dungeons/fractals I don’t think you can get a very helpful answer here as they might be skewed towards either side of the efficiency spectrum.

I’m thinking that OP is also looking for a few things not already mentioned:
- fewer summons (they clutter the screen)
- targeting skills, including ground-targeting (I see just fine, and I can sometimes have trouble with finding the cursor)
adding in these, longbow/shortbow ranger is the first that comes to mind. maybe rifle warrior? (I’m not as familiar with warriors, so iuno). just be sure to turn auto-target on.
one of the immortal builds might be interesting for this. immortal mesmer, for example. no such thing as ‘tank’, but there are builds out there that get pretty close.
why no dodging?

Realistically, you would probably want a profession that has a lot of AOE, so you don’t need much precise clicking.

Elementalist – A lot of AOE on the staff, however, it is very glassy and requires a lot of dodging. May not be the best choice.

Ranger – Some AOE, long-range, so you don’t require dodging a lot, and rangers have a few Traits that mean you do more damage the less you dodge, may be useful.

Warrior – Warrior’s weapons have the “Cleave” effect, which means they will pass through enemies, and still hit without being targeted, so you don’t need to click at all.

Mesmer – Mesmers have the ability to summon illusions to battle for them, and can be heavily augmented using traits, so a lot of the time, they can do the majority of the battling for you. All you have to do, is summon them and go, some of them are AOE as well, so even less specific clicking is required.

Necromancer – as mentioned by many other people, Necromancers have a lot of AOE on their staff, as well as their minions, but they also have a set of skills named “Wells”. These are heavy damage, large AOE attacks. I use these myself, and I can hit, and even kill up to a dozen enemies at once using these, in 2 clicks. Necromancer is also extremely defensive, and can survive a lot before dying, even without dodging.

Professions I would NOT recommend are Guardian, Engineer and Thief. All 3 of these require very specific movements, or a lot of precision to play. As for the ones I mentioned above, I believe Necromancer or Warrior may be the best suited professions for you, due to their very high defence and vitality, and broad attacking capability.

I’m legally blind and I find ranger (longbow + sword / warhorn) and guardian (greatsword + scepter / focus) easiest to play. I also like playing elementalist (staff), necromancer (staff + dagger / warhorn) and Mesmer (greatsword + staff) but they are not as simple / safe. I always manage to get my warrior killed a lot (but that is probably just me!) and the engineer is fun but more tricky. I find that with a bit of practice, none of them are impossible to play despite not being able to see very much.

Uhm …

My main is an Altruistic Healing build guardian and I can pretty much facetank everything that comes to your mind.

I’d go with Necromancer and staff for the aoe. Easy to place, easy to hit stuff and no need to be too accurate. You also have Death Shroud to pop into to help you through some rough patches if you find you missed a dodge or two. While in Death Shroud, you also have skill 5, aoe torment, basically, which will make life pretty sweet in PvE.

If you ignore minions (I personally never use them) and go wells, you can also dish out damage or help yourself out in a general aoe, massive damage way by using wells. If you struggle even with the aoe indicators, you don’t pick up the trait which makes wells ground targeted. Just place yourself roughly near whichever pack of mobs you want to hit and drop the well. Easy – and watch those numbers tick (I love it).

Don’t believe people who say Necromancer’s can’t work in dungeons. No, they don’t perform a role that another class can’t do equally well or maybe better, but you can still contribute meaningfully to a team. Use fears smartly (ie, fear enemies in groups to the wall/corner your team is stacking near to hold them in place but keep them from attacking themselves), use blinds, drop wells that convert conditions on allies into boons, use torment in Death Shroud etc. I run Necro in dungeons and do just fine (just steer clear of speed runners because there Necros really aren’t that useful).

As someone who is partially sighted myself, my advise is slightly different to that given by others but it partly depends on just how well you can see. Most have mentioned long distance weapons, such as staff and long bow. I actually find mid range weapons better as, if I am too far from my target, I can’t see what I am aiming at and trying to place AoEs is a nightmare.

My suggestion is coloured by my mains, an Axe/Torch Ranger and an Axe/Dagger Necro, using mainly wells, and a flesh golem as the only minion. Both of these have a pet to tank the enemy (although the flesh golem is a bit vague at times) and once I got used to tab targeting I can keep hitting automatically with out worrying about ground targeting. Both are fairly forgiving and don’t require you dodge too much.

My best suggestion is to try various professions and weapons and find whether you can cope best in melee, or at long or short range and then decide from there.

Donari.5237:

I’d go with staff necromancer, actually. That’s almost pure AoE. Use the intermediate fast-cast ground targeting to get a big green circle where stuff will hit and go to town. With fear and frost, you can keep the mobs from getting to you so much. I don’t dodge very much on my staff necro (nor do I PvE with her a ton, her bags are too full of clothing to really go out and about). But I’ve leveled 2 necros to 80 and while I can’t say I -never- dodge — this game really needs you to dodge now and then — I think I dodge the least on them out of all professions.

Right here baby. Lay down marks, jump into deathshroud with your AoE skills, and repeat. You don’t have to be accurate per se, just in the right neighborhood.

You might also consider a Ranger that is pet-heavy (i.e., you rely on your pet to do most of the damage). Hit F1, F2 etc. and your pet does the aiming for you. Good luck and good gaming! PM me if you want specific builds.

Per above, trying to lay down AoE / Marks accurately is VERY visual (unless you are suggesting a “drop & pray” type of offense). Normal targeting is automatic and there are buttons to change targets (no need to click on them), but casting AoE spells of any kind actually requires some level of manual targeting with mouse control (and thus SEEING and POINTING where they need to go). I’m going to say this is the exact opposite of friendly for a visual challenged individual.

Ranger is not a bad choice.

phantasm dps mesmer? as long as someone sets a target or you set the target, just use assist target and spam phantasms and run around until you get loot. Plus mes has one of the higher hp pools in the game and the new healing signet + regen from phantasms deals with minor damage pretty well.

For PvE Ranger is a decent choice if you are visually handicapped. I for my part have some trouble at times staying on the same target with my Ranger, but the advantadge is the long range of 1500 you can get. May sound strange to people who are not visually handicapped, but i have a harder time dodging in melee than targeting at range with my Ranger.

A Mesmer with a Greatsword may also be a good choice. Your clones will take over much of the fighting and you can stay at range, and the beam from the greatsword has the nasty habit of sticking to your target.

I also play WvW despite being handicapped and use a Staff Necro there, i do not have much trouble placing wells with ground targeting, i simply avoid duels due to my slow reactions. But combat in PvE is usually not as “fast” as WvW, so a Staff Necro may be another option for you, with an axe as secondary weapon if opponents get close, which you can throw at range.

Hi there! I’m legally blind myself and I main an Asura Warrior.

I also have dabbled with every class, so I think I can offer some good advice. However, to be fair even if I got a class down, I have a lot of issues with telling the difference between terrain, I’m not sure if that’s the same for you and if you found a way around that or something to help I’d love to know

Currently Warrior is the easiest for me, i have my middle mouse button set to shifting through targets however I think tab is the default, and from there I just use Greatsword five or bulls charge and fo from there to keep locked on them, longbow is good too for targets that move around but I typically run Greatsword / Hammer with Healing signet, Shake it off, For great justice, Bulls charge and Signet of rage.

I will not my main issue is targets that move a lot – so I focus around that.

So my utilities are very basic, two shouts and then bulls charge to keep on moving targets, that way if they run away I can go after them. Greatsword also have its 5 ability which charges towards an opponent, the 3 ability is tricky for me personally with my vision to place, but i got used to it, it also has a short ranged ability for moving targets as well, the 4. Hammer is very basic as well, its F1 ability (The endurance ones) is groudn targeted, which can be difficult but I personally got used to it. It cripples and knocks down to keep moving targets still.

Longbow is my ranged item of choice, its endurance F1 ability is a large enough circle with full endurance it doesn’t matter if im a bit off to place it.

My back up weapon sets are: Sword / axe (Sometimes shield) and longbow. For am ore condition damage feel.

Sword’s 2 makes you leap towards an opponent, good for moving targets once you target them. Axe’s 5 is good to tag things in general as its just whirling around, and I believe the 4 cripples, good for slowing down moving targets.

Shield I swap to sometimes for defense and shield bash (I think thats 5?) is good for stunning, if they can’t move its better for me.

My first main was a guardian. I don’t play it much as warrior is easier for me.

however with guardian GS 2 (I think its 2) leap of faith is good for locking on the opponents then you go from there. However Guardian staff is very good for tagging and Guardian is a good option as well with scepter.

I leveled a ranger up to 80 as well, it is very good for me to use, I have ah yena equipted to knock down enemies and on long bow I typically took them down, however I switch to great sword and the 3 ability allows me to stay on targets andit has a stun as well. So ranger is a good option as well.

Things I would avoid:

Engineer: Lots of targets, I am leveling an engineer and its quite hard for me, due to all the targeted abilities, it is possible but takes more time to get your targets available.

Thief, always is difficult for me, as constantly moving around is hard because I easily lose where my opponent is.

Elementalist – lot of ground targeted abilities, I enjoy the class but it is admittedly hard for me to play due to that.

Necromancer – I have a Minion Master necromancer, and even with the minions necro is hard for me to play, as someone mentioned before it makes the screen VERY confusing with all hte minions and it is hard to tell friendlies and enemies apart. But it isn’t impossible and depending on your vision it could work for you.

Mesmer – I have a mesmer, but clones are the same issue as minions, though phantasms are easier to tell apart, but the movement and stuff – just really hard to tell apart.

As for races, because yes this has an issue with me as well.

Humans are fine for me to perosnally see, Charr feel like they take up too much of the screen, (I have my UI on the larger setting to be able to read, if not I cant see chat at all) Norn are also very large and take up a lot of the screen.

Sylvari are too thin and make it hard to see, and sometimes blend in with foliage, another issue since I have problems telling the terrian apart.

So I stick to asura, Max height asura who are often white or some light grey or cream color, it helps me be able to see the environment around me better, oh and I dont have them too thin either as thin asura are hard to see as well.

I know you didnt ask for help on races but I thought it’d be useful.

In general, those are what I suggest, however I say it won’t hurto play around with other classes, it will help you learn the game as a whole better and in PvP or WvW you’ll understand your enemies or allies better and if a class doesnt work you dont have to play it and just stay with you main.

Hope that helps!

Brother Grimm.5176:

There is no “Tank” and no amount of damage mitigation skills (sans dodging and actively avoiding attacks) are going to allow you to survive extended combat engagements.

Bringing to you today, the one and only AFKardian: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQJASWn0ARhQ2JEOCBBimIhgyc//H7MsiWcZAWAA-TRSDABO8AAMUJ4xHBAMuAAXq+TWK/A4QAonugU2fIAwBwv/mv/GY5lXe5lXul/d5fXe5xAYG-e – only press 1 once and beat all of pve

Kibazuka.1390:

Brother Grimm.5176:

There is no “Tank” and no amount of damage mitigation skills (sans dodging and actively avoiding attacks) are going to allow you to survive extended combat engagements.

Bringing to you today, the one and only AFKardian: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQJASWn0ARhQ2JEOCBBimIhgyc//H7MsiWcZAWAA-TRSDABO8AAMUJ4xHBAMuAAXq+TWK/A4QAonugU2fIAwBwv/mv/GY5lXe5lXul/d5fXe5xAYG-e – only press 1 once and beat all of pve

Sounds too OP, man. Surely you should solo Lupicus with ease.

Post the video, mayne.