After 500 hours of GW2, getting to plat in ranked multiple seasons and doing t4 fractals daily/maining mes/nec/ele (Weaver) and doing well in all areas of the game, overall I would say it's a complete nightmare/mess.
It has too much complexity for no reason and a ton of broken passive interactions that produce absurd differences in damage output/tanking/healing. GW1 is a more simplistic game with team building and solid tactics, while GW2 is a spam fest. Spam dodge, conditions for burst, spam skills for burst crit etc. Spam heal/cleanse/application of things and removal of things. Gameplay feels wonky and not balanced even when I understand how to be effective. I had the DPS meter overlay so I was consistently 1st or 2nd place for damage in fractals and for PVP I tended to carry up until a point.
It is nothing like GW1, the new Cantha addon just had me wanting to play Factions again.