The topic of dungeons in GW2 is quite diverse. People love and hate all aspects of it, and discussions and arguments break out all the time. I play with, and have played with people who have enjoyed totally different aspects of the current dungeon systems.
There really isn’t a way to make everyone happy. This is a fact, and this is life.
What I believe moving forward for either new dungeons or re-designs (hopefully in the future!), is that Dungeons should offer some flexibility of choices.
1) Path choices. I don’t mean path 1,2,3 choices, I mean don’t try to time gate from the start to the finish. Some people want quick efficient runs. Some truly amazing skips can be thought of to save time and I think the option is great to provide. Not everyone wants to be directed through a fixed linear dungeon. Allow for those times when a set of moderately advance jumps can help you avoid a troublesome group of monsters.
2) Reward people who invest extra time to complete content. My group spends the extra timing clearing the Champion wolf in CoE, and Kholer in AC. We like picking up the extra loot, and the fun of it. If the group doesn’t feel like it that day or the group composition changes and seems too difficult (unpleasant?) to do, then we fully have the option of skipping it. Small rewards for the time spent doing it, while still giving the flexibility to others who choose not to. A friend picked up a precursor in one of those chests so it was another reason WE as the players DECIDED ourselves to do. It was never forced on us. Again this goes along the line of not having the linear path progression.
3) Bosses. I have no issues with having required boss fights. It is in no way reasonable to be able to skip through the entire dungeon to complete. Each dungeon has a mini story, and it’s own objectives to complete. As long as the group can creatively complete (kill all main bosses) those criteria then they should be rewarded. If they skip the boss, since it is a requirement to defeat to complete the story objective, then they forgo the reward. People complain time and time again about Boss fights and AI. If you’re a gamer, you’re always trying to fight/exploit the A.I. That’s what gaming is (minus the PvP aspect of it). I think A.I. and boss fight mechanics will need it’s own month of focus to truly improve. Everyone judges Anet for these dungeon A.I.s that have been around for well over a year. If you look at some of the new fights, for example in the T.A. Aetherblades path, the fight with Sparki and Slick is (imo) a pretty good design. You can stack to dps/melee with a high risk/high reward (more damage) option. You can range for a safer lower risk/lower dps option. You can not sit in a corner and smack 1,1,1,1,1,… and people need to some what pay attention. The skip cap isn’t so high that it is only for ‘elite players’, and the team work involved can be done with even PUGs.
I hope this opinion makes it’s way to someone’s desk/meeting for consideration. I appreciate how Anet is trying to improve and this was just my opinion on the direction it should go.