Guild Wars 2

there isnt any content you cant access however i strongly suggest it untill at least around 72ish so you can make use of the portals at fort trinity (lets you teleport for free right outside lions arch at the chapel of whispers). that aside there are some nice rewards such as a back item in the 80s ones and a few handy items from the gem shop along with a selection of some superior runes and if ya completely finish theres some real goodies for the final one (including 1k influence clicky).

well orr isnt meant to be easy there is another lvl 70-80 zone to lvl in (frostgorge sound) however i do agree about the 5 second respawns (i got stuck in a location with 1 spawn for almost an hour unable to waypoint out at 80). i also agree with the training factor, as a good little man i tend to clear my way to arah instead of running, however if someone runs by me it now forces me to run to as their train would dump on me. it would be nice if anet re-evaluated the altered agro rules for risen and made it a little less exploitable to griefing.

at 80 ive mostly used shortbow/longbow combo, i typically use shortbow when solo as pet can hold agro while i flank/bleed and longbow on events/dungeons with lots of trash or i can safely stand at far range. as for build i went 20 power (10% dmg when durance is full and longer longbow range), 10 precision, 5 tough, 5 vitality, 30 beastmastery (masters bond, compassion training,natural healing). paired with the healing signet and use of a drake/dog/devourer pet is capable of offtanking dungeon adds without much threat (over 2k tough/vit). also a sidenote i prefer the river drake over others as instead of its breath being a cone its a chain lightning attack that can bounce a good distance (when used on jormags claws foot it chains to the head and the other foot to for about 1400ish x3).

at least at 80 the toughness signet is minimal in its advantage however the condition removal and hp regen are absolutely vital (esspecially for one going the beastmastery path as the pet becomes a unstoppable tank against 1-2 mobs with that regen). its also nice to have a regen on yourself for those long fights.