I'm not a "twitchy" gamer.  I'm a middle-aged man with questionable reaction time and coordination.  I'm not good at kiting or strafing.  Is there any place for me in GW2, or will I just get mutilated?

I wouldnt recomend playing a melee class as that requires quite good reflexes and situational awareness but I imagine youd enjoy the ranged classes such as elementalist/Ranger etc. They are less reflex bound and generally have better survivability.

Hope it helps

Best wishes

Saint

Sounds like you might not be screwed but... Aliens.

Looks like you need twitch type add reaction to be awesome. Most likely you will be ok if you have less than 100 ping though, I think quite a few GW2 superfans forget that less than 100 ping usually beats "reaction time".

Originally posted by Twistingfate

I wouldnt recomend playing a melee class as that requires quite good reflexes and situational awareness but I imagine youd enjoy the ranged classes such as elementalist/Ranger etc. They are less reflex bound and generally have better survivability.

 

Hope it helps

Best wishes

Saint

This goes espescially for PvE, PvP might require more strict reaction times to be competitive, even for range classes.

You should be fine. Ranged would be a slightly safer option for you - melee really does require awareness and reflexes. Also, there's a lot of other things to do besides just combat. I'd also recommend finding a group/guild to play with, as in a group there's a smaller chance that you'll have to juggle with mob aggro, allowing you to focus more on harassing mobs and less in trying to just stay alive.

Vigg, it's not what u play but who u play with! Find a relaxed crowd of like minded people.  Who cares if u r the baddassiest twitcher or not in the game... Peace man from a 40 year old gamer.

just to add here.. ranged classes in GW2 include Warrior, Ranger, Mesmer, Elementalist, Thief, Necromancer, Engineer, and to some extent Guardian although at the moment they are harder to work into a purely ranged role than the others.

OK, thanks all, this gives me some hope.  What is kiting like as a ranger, is it jump kiting like a hunter in WoW?

If you team up with other people, that'll help a lot too.  The main places where you're most likely to be irrevocably screwed is in the higher end structured PvP.  I mean, you might be able to play it, but you're never going to be a tournament winner with poor reflexes. :)

I'm sure if you get good enough people, you can do the dungeons, and maybe even explorable mode.

Originally posted by vigg2004

I'm not a "twitchy" gamer.  I'm a middle-aged man with questionable reaction time and coordination.  I'm not good at kiting or strafing.  Is there any place for me in GW2, or will I just get mutilated?

i have those things and i will be having a blast in GW2. If we were talking specifically about dungeons and raids in WoW or other WoW clones then yes, that would be a problem... but in GW2 no, we will be just fine

:D

EDIT: oh i forgot PvP, i always suck at pvp and still have fun. so no, i dont see a problem there either

Originally posted by Ramanadjinn

just to add here.. ranged classes in GW2 include Warrior, Ranger, Mesmer, Elementalist, Thief, Necromancer, Engineer, and to some extent Guardian although at the moment they are harder to work into a purely ranged role than the others.

They are a bit harder to use as ranged, but I played my Guardian almost exclusively scepter/focus at medium range. Has a lot of survivability, though not the best damage by a longshot. Sometimes I'll swap over to my greatsword and just wipe everything out though ;D

Is ranger kiting like hunter jump kiting in WoW??

Most professions have a gap closer or some form of creating distance without the use of kiting or strafing.

Your most important utility is dodging.

Originally posted by vigg2004

Is ranger kiting like hunter jump kiting in WoW??

No, not really. It's mostly running and firing, or using your knockback / cripple to get away from the mob.

You can totally play this game as a 'non-twitch' gamer. However, it will be more difficult. Especially if you plan on playing solo most of the time.

I would say, sPvP isn't going to be very fun for you, but I'm guessing you probably already know that. On the PvE side you don't necessarily need twitch skills, and there is a larger room for error. Playing with friends also definitely helps. I would also suggest staying away from melee-heavy classes, as they do need to be a lot more careful.

Ranger, Engineer, and Elementalist would probably be really good classes for you. They can be a lot of fun, and have complexity to them, but it's much less reliant on twitch skills in a PvE setting. They are also all fairly ranged, and Engineer / Elementalist have pretty good survivability as well, if you slot the skills for it.

Originally posted by vigg2004

Is ranger kiting like hunter jump kiting in WoW??

you have the option for long bow and short bow as ranged ranger.

short bow has some kite specials (stun, snare) and a jump away shot where you take a back jump away from your target, the multi target special is a cone attack with additional poison damage.

long bow is more the DPS weapon (one special fires a bunch of arrows in succession). you have a shot that pushes your target away with a chance to knockdown. it has a very nice area attack (barrage) which will por a rain of arrows to an area and adds a snare.

i had no problems in pve as ranger. most of the time my pets kept the agro so i could concentrate on doing damage with my long bow.

if you select a sword for your main hand you dont need to do that much twitching anyway as 2 of the sword attacks will let you jump out of the targets way (one is a hit and jump back attack the other is a dodge jump behind the target).

I'm almost 40 (just over a week from now, yikes!) and have questionable reflexes myself and I found playing a Thief in PvE using a mix of ranged and quick melee worked fine for me.

It also worked ok in WvWvW in large scale battles where I could step back for a minute if I had too.  Smaller scale battles (say 10 vs 10 or less) were a little harder to do and I died quite a bit more.  So I'd say for the most part you'll be ok just make sure you group with good people for the harder things (small PvP, dungeons, etc.)

Hope that helps!

Originally posted by vigg2004

I'm not a "twitchy" gamer.  I'm a middle-aged man with questionable reaction time and coordination.  I'm not good at kiting or strafing.  Is there any place for me in GW2, or will I just get mutilated?

Roll an elementalist or a ranger and you'll be fine. Melee will be harder for you. My mom who is 58 and doesn't have the best reaction and coordination was mopping the floor with people in pvp during beta weekends with an elementalist. She found it to be the easiest class for pve and pvp. She does use a G13 and a razer naga too though.

Blast! double post.

No you won't get mutilated, you will be fine, it's more about picking your battles and pulling correctly.  GW2 combat has more to do with your combo choices swapping weapons with a timed dodge thrown in. It's not like Tera, Vindictus or a FPS where you snooze you lose. Range is easier and more forgiving for sure but  the melee is a bit crappy so far with anything difficult you end up mostly using your range to survive a group encounter.

Originally posted by Tayah

Originally posted by vigg2004

I'm not a "twitchy" gamer.  I'm a middle-aged man with questionable reaction time and coordination.  I'm not good at kiting or strafing.  Is there any place for me in GW2, or will I just get mutilated?

Roll an elementalist or a ranger and you'll be fine. Melee will be harder for you. My mom who is 58 and doesn't have the best reaction and coordination was mopping the floor with people in pvp during beta weekends with an elementalist. She found it to be the easiest class for pve and pvp. She does use a G13 and a razer naga too though.

Your mom plays GW2 and she is 58? That is awesome. Aside from me and my bro, everyone shuns gaming in my family.

OT: You'll be fine. Reaction time and coordination matters most in competitive PvP, dw abt it. As many have suggested play with friends or find a guild for harder PvE content.

Regarding range and melee, try both. There will be situations where one is better then the other, so why limit yourself? No harm in trying. Also, a smart player > quick reaction anyday.