I'm kind of shocked people are so down on the game. I keep trying different MMOs, but ultimately I always go back go GW2. Pretty sure I'm over 2000 hours now.
I really enjoy the exploration aspect of the game. The gliding, bounce mushrooms, etc that have been added since the expansion make exploring even better. In stuff like Archeage and Blade and Soul the gliding felt ancillary since it was mostly a way to avoid terrain elements in the playable space the game had, but the expansion and later maps in GW2 has them as useful shortcuts and a necessary aspect to navigate multi-tiered zones. In many ways it feels more like a 3D platformer and the other MMOs that I'ved tried that have attempted any level of platforming often feel clunky.
The lack of a gear treadmill is a major factor in why I keep going back. I've occasionally tried to go back to Blade and Soul, but when I see how far behind I am (even as they sometimes implement "shortcuts" for gearing up) it kills my interest whereas I can pretty much jump into whatever new content Guild Wars 2 has when it drops.
And despite what seems to be the consensus on GAF, I really enjoy the combat. I feel like it's fluid, offers a fair degree of customization, and has play styles that vary between classes. I think Blade and Soul technically has better action combat since it slides closer to fighting games with things like I-frames, but it's much more latency dependent plus it seems to have poor optimization. Even with a decent mid-tier PC, putting it on toaster settings still has performance issues (especially with more than 5-6 players on screen). So ultimately I give the crown to GW2 because of its more consistent performance. I also played BDO a bit, but never hit starting level cap so I'm hesitant to speak about its combat (I focused on fishing and trade cart runs). I do remember that up to like lv 40 I felt the enemies were pretty brain dead so despite an impressive combat system, there was no real push for me to utilize it.
I also like that I can do pretty much everything in the game with my friends. Going to other games it's shocking to remember how often they push you into solo story instances and the like (currently looking at you FFXIV). Guild wars 2 let's you bring your party. They don't even have to be on the same story step.
I can understand the perspective of people who liked GW1 as GW2 is different in so many ways. I'd personally love a modern GW1, but I also really appreciate what GW2 brought to the table. The customization options in GW1 were amazing and I miss it dearly. Arena net's reasoning has been that it's hard to balance, which I'm sure it was, but I'd still like to see them take another crack at it.
And despite my gushing, I've got my own personal laundry list of things missing from the game/ need improvement (build templates, underwater combat, lack of new cosmetic armor, etc). Still I think it's a great game so its surprising to me that so many Gaffers seem to dislike it.