The negative feedback is usually from people who are trying to directly compare it to WoW. They are 2 different games. Eventhough they are both MMOs they function differently.
For starters WoW trys to skip as much as the leveling as possible to get to "end game" in GW2 end game is comprised of what you want to do regardless of level so trying to grind out to max level is pretty irrelevant. Play the game at your own pace and enjoy it don't treat it like you would something like WoW or Rift.