Current GW2 has not much to do with the original manifest for GW2. The manifest that got so many GW1 very excited about GW2. Instead they went down a road to attract ex WoW players, by making the game more about vertical progression. This for example shows in the silly 80 levels, spreading out character progression very thin and unnecessary slow. And the endgame gear with bonus stats.
The classes are very bland compared to GW1 where you could combine with a second profession(in GW1 they were called profession). This lead to an incredible diversity of builds. Which made GvG (guild vs guild, 8v8 PVP) very interesting. GW2 classes don't even come close.
I also find it hypocrite to call heroes/henchmen a mistake. Together with being able to change 2nd prof, they were THE practical solution for PVE situations where you had trouble finding a full team. I always wished other games had the same thing. This was also before the groupfinding solutions. You still had to ask for people in chat while just standing around. They also kept GW1 alive for this long, because it is a game in itself to build your team of heroes (they use gear and prof combos just like players)
It does feel strange however that there's no actual spiritual successor to GW1 a decade after its' initial launch.
That would be SWTOR - heavily instanced with a focus on story and optional co-op.
GW1 has apart from using instances (like so many MMO's) not much in common with SWTOR.
The GW1 staples:
-dual profs(classes)
-limited skillbar for which you have to chose 8 skills
-max lvl very early in game
-not gearbased (endgame gear does not give stat bonuses)
-heroes you can equip and progress in the same way as a player, including profs.
-groups of mobs that behave like groups of players (using same abilities, including resurrects and sometimes interrupts), this also made GW1 PVE very group based, even when playing alone, because you would complete your group composition with hench/heroes
Maybe you forgot all this, but this is very different from SWTOR. SWTOR is more like WoW in space, with very similar character progression, combat and gear progression. All of your PVE progression is build around solo fights, untill endgame.
Comments
The classes are very bland compared to GW1 where you could combine with a second profession(in GW1 they were called profession). This lead to an incredible diversity of builds. Which made GvG (guild vs guild, 8v8 PVP) very interesting. GW2 classes don't even come close.
I also find it hypocrite to call heroes/henchmen a mistake. Together with being able to change 2nd prof, they were THE practical solution for PVE situations where you had trouble finding a full team. I always wished other games had the same thing. This was also before the groupfinding solutions. You still had to ask for people in chat while just standing around. They also kept GW1 alive for this long, because it is a game in itself to build your team of heroes (they use gear and prof combos just like players)
GW1 has apart from using instances (like so many MMO's) not much in common with SWTOR.
The GW1 staples:
-dual profs(classes)
-limited skillbar for which you have to chose 8 skills
-max lvl very early in game
-not gearbased (endgame gear does not give stat bonuses)
-heroes you can equip and progress in the same way as a player, including profs.
-groups of mobs that behave like groups of players (using same abilities, including resurrects and sometimes interrupts), this also made GW1 PVE very group based, even when playing alone, because you would complete your group composition with hench/heroes
Maybe you forgot all this, but this is very different from SWTOR. SWTOR is more like WoW in space, with very similar character progression, combat and gear progression. All of your PVE progression is build around solo fights, untill endgame.