Question and Concerns
It doesn’t sound like returning to GW2 will be very fulfilling for you then. Everything you’ve mentioned is true and generally speaking you have to go pretty far out of your way to make the content challenging after you’ve done it at least once.
It’s free to come back and see for yourself. New content coming next month, so that might be different. There has been a move away from zerg-like content, as well.
It’s free to come back…for now.
GW1 wasn’t that hard either, once you had a solid grasp of the game’s mechanics and had access to Heroes. Even endgame content like the dungeons and RoT could be done quickly and safely using meta-builds.
It’s also worth pointing out this is the exact same situation we find ourselves in regarding GW2 dungeons/fractals and meta/speedclear builds.
I must disagree regarding the difficulty. Any game becomes easier when you’re familiar with the challengers and if you use the best builds, but neither of those points apply here. I can be ANY build in GW2 and breeze through content. This makes “best builds” almost arbitrary, as content can be completed without them. In GW1, this didn’t seem like the case.
I agree with one point : clever deals.
I made fortunes ( plural) off clever deals.
It’s very sad that this part of the game was taken away. Now I have to grind for my gold.