So yeah, I bought GW2. Played nearly half a day today and you know, I don't really get the whole "redefining the genre" they were prophesizing. The game looks and feels very polished, and the graphics and attention to detail are absolutely stunning. Having said that, I feel extremely "meh" about world events. The idea was that they were supposed to make the world feel alive, but so far I honestly can't say that I get that feeling. Maybe this is only true for low levels, but they feel very simplistic and repetitive. But the worst part is that the events fail to actually connect me to the world.
Lets say I'm running somewhere and the event pops up. I see some monsters attacking some place (or maybe defending some place) and I'm invited to kill them. But I don't understand neither 1) what that place is 2) who are the bad guys 3) why are they attacking it 4) why should I even care? Furthermore, events seem to happen very frequently, and the same event always happens in the same place, so in the end they really just feel like good old "bear asses" quests that you just don't need to specifically pick up. The only difference is that you have to hunt for them in the world, instead of grabbing them in the closest village. And since most events have very simplistic objectives, it just feels like all I'm doing is grinding monsters.
Just an example - in low Charr zone there's a place with old overgrown statue of some ancient deity. When you approach, you get a random event to kill monsters near the statue. That's basically it. Only because I played GW1, I remember this place, and the statue, and I kinda know what's going on. If I didn't - it would just be a simple "hey, there's some monster here, kill them. Done? Thanks, here's some xp, keep going".
I do like the personal quest, and I would most likely continue to play until 80 just to see the beautiful zones and play through the personal story, I just really wish there were more stories in this game.