Depends what you mean I guess. In terms of how long to takes to get some progression (ie, a level) you move fairly quickly. There are quests and other methods that keep you going.
But the game is very much about progression, and the level cap is most certainly going to be raised. So if your question is 'how much time is spent building a character vs end game pvp/pve activities', most of it.
Ping wise most classes should be okay, the main problem is with auto-attacking builds or 0CD skills, but the majority of classes have other options available in addition to those. Archer tree would probably be the worst offender with their plethora of Attack Speed steroids and Fletcher (who's kit is mostly 0CD), other trees are okay.
Other then that, I would avoid most of the 'special' classes like Alchemist, Squire, etc for a first character. Everything else is fairly workable, Swordsman is probably the way to go for melee.