Finally got around to trying a couple of instances in story mode, first the Ascalonian Catacombs, and some days later the Flame Legion one. In the Ascalonian Catacombs, I was pretty much the only one 'getting' the action game core of GW2's skillful play. I didn't die once the whole way through, whilst the rest of my group constantly died. How hard can it be, not to stand in the fire, and throw in a dodge roll every now and then - for good measure?

Group play is pretty much devoid of dependency mechanics - just pay attention, survive, deal damage, and pick up downed players - you simply have to apply yourself, that's all. At first, I was kinda afraid it won't be enough to be awesome, but it is - at least in the short term. ArenaNet should really have expanded on the whole Endurance/Evade mechanic though. Personally - I'd have made it more granular and flexible. Tie active blocking and interrupts to endurance, which would much increase the possibilities for interesting encounter and skill design.

Right now, I dig it. Quite a lot.

Dungeoneering is where it's at, especially now that speed clears and stuff are starting to surface.

I haven't done any, but they look awesome. Instanced content is what I feel this game needs more of. They should have separated the dungeons every 10 levels (10, 20, 30,... 80). It would allow people to experience challenging content and group dynamics early on if they want to.