Progression continue all the way to level 80. It's called traits and skill points. Traits allow you to customize your stats and some skills (reduce cooldown, larger aoe, etc). They also give you "perks". Better stats = skills more effective. Skill points are for skill utilities. Some of which can be life savers, when used properly, and some build, like the Necromancer minions master, rely on it.
I'm aware of this, but traits are not very exciting and basically give small passive bonuses for each point. Yes, there are skill points - but we're talking about a small amount of situational skills that really don't feel like much progression.
I'm not saying there's literally no progression - but that 30-80 will not, by any means, have enough progression for me to play the game. Because the game seems to have nothing else to offer me.
I LIKE progression - and I like the loot hunt - just as long as it's balanced and it actually ENDS at some point.
As for getting everything at the same time. In GW1, you spend most of the game at max level, getting max level armor and weapons is easy as well. This have a benefit, which is that you don't have to spend lots of time in the game to have access to the content, but it doesn't mean you will be able to complete the content because of that. There is a lot of emphasize is getting better at the game, as opposed to hide incompetence behind game mechanics in Guild Wars.
I didn't like GW1 - as it was way too instanced and didn't feel like an expansive MMO. More like a cooperative game with some zero-progression PvP to boot. Not my thing.
As for "hiding incompetence behind game mechanics" - I'm not sure what you're talking about.
I fully understand that skill is a key factor in GW2 - but that doesn't make the game interesting.
Exactly like Chess - the boardgame - is extremely skill-based with a set of very simple rules is boring as hell to me. The game isn't bad - and it's very competitive - but my god is it boring.
To each his own, naturally.
The one thing that Guild Wars had that I liked more, was the massive amount of skills that weren't tied to your weapon. It meant your options felt more expanded and there was a much more meaty reason to keep playing.
As for defence skills not being exiting. How exactly? Compared to GW1, it is a major improvements. Although, the game is quite a bit twitchy. I can understand that some people don't like that.
I'm not comparing it to GW - I'm comparing it to games with combat that I like in the same genre, like WoW, AoC, TOR, and so on.
Your main arsenal consists of 5 weapon skills, 1 heal skill, 3 "utility" skills and an elite skill. The heal skill is self-explanatory and they're all functionally similar in that they help you survive. The utility skills are what I'm referring to - and I shouldn't have called them defensive skills. But they're all very situational and deal with a very limited variety of buffs/debuffs.
I HATE that I only have 5 primary skills and I don't enjoy the weapon switching mechanic because it feels unnatural and has a significant cooldown.
There's no denying that skill is involved, however - and I'm sure people will be very good at dodging and using their limited arsenal in the right way.
I love "twitch" combat - but it's not enough for me. If I wanted a game with limited progression and fast-paced combat, I would have chosen a shooter or similarly fast-paced game - and that would be no less demanding on me, as a player.
Skill is something I will require of any competitive game I play - as I hate the random factor. But I need much, much more than a pure skill-based game to invest my time.
Just like I'd rather be playing an intricate board game like Arkham Horror than I'd want to play Chess.