My opinion(because I know that's what you all are really waiting for), is that the game though it does have it's flaws, it also has a ton of awesome things to do with the mechanics that make it feel waaaaaay better at least to me than most mmo games on the market.
For instance, there are a ton of weapons, and no matter what, every single class uses them differently within reason, there are different skills for different weapon combos, also different for each class.
Also you use a different set of weapons for underwater combat, because realistically a spear/harpoon is going to be easier to hit hard with under water than say a hammer or a sword which tend to rely on either or both you and or your target being planted solidly to deal damage, also a speargun for ranged underwater combat is also a great idea, as regular powder guns won't work, and if you've ever tried to use a bow underwater while swimming, you know what I mean by saying you may as well just poke em with the arrows up close.
Also the fact that it strays from the tank/dps/healer mandatory party design, due to people being able to revive fallen comrades, and self heal/dodge to stay alive, allows for a much more fluid group play experience.
Also level scaling areas, mean that if you're a level 20+ character helping a friend in level 1-10 content you still benefit from it, it's not a waste of time, and you still gain karma and experience as well as a bit of cash, for helping people out if they need it.
Which brings me to another point, exploration has been included as an important part of the game, as it is REWARDED, combat is not the only way to get ahead, exploration works for that too, and the world isn't exactly small, so there's a lot of cool shit to see.
Now, considering that the only time a person should ever button mash in a game, being when either the game just works that way(lookin at you smash bros.) or they have a mental handicap making it impossible for them to form any kind of tactical understanding when it comes to order of abilities(hell even WoW was like that, if you knew the appropriate order of your skills to use in different situations you could maximize your dps/survival simply by memorizing simple patterns), and if you do mash your buttons in Gw2 you will soon find that you end up dead more often than not, especially if you play a more fragile class like a thief, or any of the more magically inclined classes.
To give you an example, I play a char warrior as my main, his primary weapon configuration is dual axes, why? because I can hit a lot of targets many many times around me, but even with the innate spam-ability of that build, I still have to manage dodging(which due to a trait i have inflicts damage on enemies I dodge into(so i use it as more of a charge than a dodge most of the time) and I move relatively slowly so I have to make sure I'm in the optimal spot before I start using my skills, or I'll end up attacking air ineffectually 90% of the time. Enemies prioritize targets on a more complex scale than "is he attacking me? Ok I hit him then!" and as such if there are more targets than just you, you have to move with the field of battle to some extent. also my supporting skills are buffs for others as well as me so I need to be near allies when I use those and near enemies when I attack, and my secondary weapon selection is a rifle, simply because sometimes you just have to shoot a *****... also known as high single target damage, good for bosses or large enemies, also my build isn't particularly tanky, so I leave the overall direct combat with huge beastly enemies to those who can take the punishment better, and add a ton of rapid fire single target damage, and buffs to the group, or I wipe off the adds as they spawn with my axes leaving everyone else to focus on the real danger.
I have not played WvW yet, simply because I've been too busy exploring, crafting and slaughtering things to bother.
Another plus, is that you pay $60 once, and you can enjoy the entire game without spending a single cent, even though there is a cashshop-esque portion, you can exchange in-game currency for the currency you use in it, so yeah you can even enjoy that part without spending extra money.
Also some of the jumping puzzles do yield rewards, I've found at least 2 of them with open-able chests with sweet gear in them, and at least one of those had a tame-able critter for rangers that you can't get elsewhere.
Also due to the immensity of lootable dyes, which you can use as many times as you want once you unlock them at any point in time through the character equipment screen, combined with the transmorgrifying items which allow you to take traits from two items and combine them (y'know like looks stats and special runes/gems), into one item allowing a level of character customization I've yet to see in a game.
But yeah, the game is totally shit, I give it a 2/10.
Just kidding I'd give it a true 8/10 pre-launch mainly due to the amount of bugs that need to be worked out, but still, I bet it'll glean a 9-9.5/10 from me once it's patched up and past the launch noob-rush.
