"GW2 has far more challenging and interesting combat (and game play in general) that any other MMO I've found."GW2 has far more challenging and interesting combat (and game play in general) that any other MMO I've found. I suspect the people that say it's mindless 1 spam aren't playing the same game I am. That's the only explanation I can find for their comments.
Perhaps a brief example might help. When I play WoW, whether it be high or low level characters, if I'm in a level appropriate zone, I can literally start combat and put my hands in my lap without fear of dying. This is true even in the most "challenging" high level zones (barring the new rare spawns). There is no conceivable way you can do this in GW2. I dare you to stand in the Cursed Shore like that. You absolutely will die, and pretty quickly.
Now, that said, can you strafe while only using auto attacks and survive? Sometimes. Can you dodge and use nothing but auto attacks and survive? Yes. However, it goes a lot quicker if you know how to use your skills. It's also essential to use skills and dodge properly when getting attacked by 3 mobs at once, for example.
Someone mentioned running with the zerg and pressing 1. Yes, you can obviously do that, like in any mmo, but I personally don't judge the quality or complexity of game play based on running with a pack of people in open area pve.
Dungeons are also more complex because of the lack of a trinity. I am not sure how you can argue that it makes no difference. In WoW, my DPS guy doesn't ever have to worry about getting hit. I just concern myself with not standing in goo and making sure I'm on my target. When tanking, my job is basically to keep stuff attacking me. Unless we're talking high end raiding, I don't really have to concern myself with survivability as that's my healer's job. In GW2, it's much more complicated because every character will need to not only pay attention to where they're standing, but also to surviving, staying on the target, taking advantage of other player's combo fields, and helping allies with boons as well as reviving as necessary.
To sum up, is the actual act of doing damage complex or hard? No. Is the act of playing the actual game either solo or in a group complex or hard? It's certainly more complex than any other MMO I've come across. As to hard, some content is hard and some isn't - assuming you do all of the above listed jobs correctly; but it is never by any means just sitting there ignoring the environment and what's going on around you.
I'm sorry but i can't take this sentence seriously. GW2 combat consists of strafing and kiting CONSTANTLY, the combat mechanics are so trivial at higher level that to create difficulty they had to bring in an artificial stat "agony".