I would add a blurb about Gear progression (or the intended lack thereof).
Most MMOs have a gear progression required to attain the next phase to get the next level of gear. Since GW2 has the same gear available through all channels it means there is no real gear progression and everyone will have the same gear eventually doing what they want to do (wvwvw, farming gold, dungeons etc). This obviously does not include Ascended Gear through Fractals, or gear skins.
You imply it in a number of the points, but I am a recent 80 learning the game still and I had a hard time piecing this together even after reading your post. Once I got my first exotic piece, I realized that all exotics are the same (if the prefix is the same). At that point, it started to make sense the end game design here.
(Or If I am wrong, correct me since I am a new 80 and still learning)