GW 1 grabbed me from the second I wandered out of Ascalon City in Pre Searing. At the time the graphics were fairly cutting edge and the genre was unique compared to other games. The story line was riveting without having to much stuff going on in the peripheral. Character creation was simple, at least compared to GW2 ( not that 2 was all that involved). I played GW1 religiously from Dec05 to GW2 launch, by that time i was ready for something new.
GW2 was nice, it didnt grab me by the balls, however there was enough to get me into the game. I liked the differing story arcs based on your choices. The armor and weapon crafting was a pleasant change. Not having secondary professions was an odd change. I think the skills and attributes arc can be a bit much, GW1 is much simpler and better imho. What eventually turned me back to GW1 was the constant grinding for "new currencies" based upon the new areas and expacs released.
One of the aspects I really enjoyed is/was WvW and the PvP aspect on GW2. I never really enjoyed that in GW1. I left about a year or so before Jade Wind expac came out saying i would return when it was released, I still havent bought it. I keep finding one more thing i have to finish before going back to GW2.
Most of the people in my guild have long since vanished from GW1 and there are only a few of us in our GW2 guild that migrated over. GW1 changed with the addition of heroes. It's to easy to play the game by yourself with 7 heroes and eschew playing with others to progress through the campaigns. I think in the 18 months Ive been back Ive played in Vizh mission with one person one time and it was much more enjoyable than going alone.
Ive always been more of a button masher than a heady player, I rarely farm solo unless its Nick items with Rits, so the simplicity of GW1 appeals to me. I wouldnt say Im disappointed with 2 when it came out, it was just different, I became disappointed when it felt like all I was doing was grinding areas to acquire the new currencies for whatever I need it for. I'm just grateful that GW1 is still trudging along.