I think somewhere along the way they lost focus. Maybe they listened to the complains of the vocal part of the community that didn’t want ephemeral content – but that is the essence of a Living World, isn’kitten. The fact that now they have Raids when it was one of the differential aspects of GW2 it’s a sign they don’t stick to their vision and try to please everyone. I think that’s wrong. WoW, The King of Kings already pleases a bit of every gaming preference within MMO… GW2 was different, they should stick to that. No end-game, no raid nonsense, a dynamic living world, that was their vision.
Maybe with leading change they’ll be back on track again.