I don’t hate GW2, but me and my friend’s don’t really play it anymore. I’ve played other pvp oriented games to fill that niche since then like LoL and Ark, but I do check on this game every now and then.
Putting the whole “professionals leaving the competitive scene” aside, Look at this meta. Seriously, look at it. Over one year later with probably two changes, that’s it. Nothing is changing, we’re using the same strategies with the same builds in the same meta.
As toxic as LoL can be, they do handle their meta with a lot more care. I can look at it now compared to over a year ago and you’ll see builds and champions rise and drop, this is to keep competitive interesting and force people to use new strategies. I had a friend who hasn’t played in a year, he comes back for a bit yesterday only to see… literally nothing in the meta has really changed, at all. He came back to the same exact game. He didn’t miss anything.