Worth coming back to GW2?

I played a few weeks at launch until Rift's expansion was released.  I'm primarily a PVE raider and PVE dungeon crawler who enjoys a little splash of PVP.  When I played GW2, the WvWvW wasn't very fun, primarily because the queues to get in were extremely long and the culling/lag was bad.  Often when encountering enemy zergs I would be dead before I realized I was getting hit.

I tried a couple of PVE dungeons but they were mass chaos.  There didn't seem to be much strategy and on boss encounters, players would die, rez and rush back in over and over again.  

I'm running out of PVE content in Rift to do so that leaves Rift instanced PVP (warfronts).  I imagine GW2 PVP is better designed than Rift PVP since GW2 is a PVP centric game.  I would appreciate it if someone would provide an objective review of the current state of the game to help me decide if I should come back or not. 

Thanks

As I personal tell people since GW2 if F2P its always a good game in that first view. ** I play in the AM Hours 7am PST - 10am PST sometimes till 1pm PST. So if your looking for other players there is a small group of us doing World vs World and other things which we try to do Dungeons, PvE stuff, WvW and SPvP. PvE the Living Story they have is not super long but sweet so far which is content beyond your character's personal story. Dungeons / Fracticals these are fun and grand for loot, Dungeons offer story mode and Explorer mode which in EXP mode you can earn tokens to spend on max level gear that has runes on it. Fracticals for sure is a dungeon but personal I say way grander loot when playing at max level as well as getting a normal group who is willing to do them you can get to harder versions of Fracticals since it has a Leveling Scale system. As you get higher you get a chance at getting Special tokens and special rings which are a bit strong then normal Exotic Gear. WvW can be fun depending on the time of day you play, I normally play in the early EST NA hours and no have que times. SPvP is grand in its own way but for sure if you do the free tournament want to hang with a group who practices learning the maps and etc in those styles. The rewards here for the most part are for SPvP only gear earned here stays in SPvP. As you get higher ranks you can buy bigger bags with the Glory Points you earn. Beyond that is the picture I get from my personal gaming exp. hope you enjoy it.

I personally never have a major issue with the WvWvW queue times - even if I wait for 30 mins. There are just other things to do while waiting and it is far better than having a 30 min queue just to get into the game. If there is a family event in WvWvW I usually log into the WvWvW about 30 - 60 mins early and if I get in quickly just run with another zerg until the family gets in. The culling issues in WvWvW have been reduced greatly so that you can see all the enemies charging at you - but the lag is tad greater. Adjusting graphic specs helps though. I don't do dungeons - never liked them, but I will attempt to hit a dragon or two each day which the times listed on Sanctum of Rall.com help greatly in being prepared but that is only for the loot - there isn't much strategy in fighting them... so many people show up - spam #1 and get a chest :( But I do love the world events and zone events that take place and freeing a camp from centaurs, ogres, and other vile creatures is just great fun to me. If there are only a couple of people - or you're there solo - it can be a great challenge. There are a couple of early morning events that are run and also a few WvWvW ones in the early hours. As Balor said - it's free so there isn't any risk in coming back and giving it a whirl : )

Its about the people you play with in my opinion and the morning crew is tight, small and active and focused on fun more than anything in WvW with Balors group. We use Raidcall often though I haven't played for over a month due to needing to get other projects done at home. Highly reccomend it with the patches in place preventing must of the culling issues, though we tended to work over smaller groups and kept more to a smaller dagger group, an elite hit squad...the A Team.

aye to all above! If you are worried about more "prime-time" perspective, We have a lot of good PvE events for dungeon runs, Phantoms Fractals is running now with several groups-worth of folks on Friday evenings starting at 7pm PST. WvW queueing is not long during prime time either... 30min is about as long as most I have seen waiting, in which you can find something to do. Keg Brawls, finsh some maps, inventory/crafting/trading post maintenance... WvW is a lot better now with the culling. We have a lot of folks running dungeons, even spur fo the moment you can always seem to find a CoF group or AC participants. If you want a grand romp, join us on Tuesday nights 6pm PST for the Great Tyrian Adventure!

To address some of the specific issues you mentioned, quite a few of them have been fixed by Anet. In WvW, they got rid of the culling issue. There can still be some lag but it is a much better experience then it used to be. Also in Pve, they fixed a great deal of the mechanics on boss fights and they got rid of the ability for players to rez and rush back.

There is no cost in coming back so try it out IMO. I can't speak much for the PVE side but I hear the Fractals are fun and Super Adventure Box is very different and cool. WvW - the culling is gone - I set the number of enemies option to ultra or max and then the character skins setting to low and there are just so many people... really gives the battles an epic feel when you see all your enemies. There are still queues some nights but usually not too bad except for Fridays... Wvw is a group exercise and you will have more fun if you follow a good group rather than trying to solo it. If there is not a GSCH event going on out there then jump into Team Speak and join a group as a PUG - there are lots of qualified commanders that play daily.

To clarify one thing, GW2 is not F2P, You still have to buy it, there's just no monthly sub so you can come back whenever you like and try new stuff :D

Right, but "worth coming back" implies that they have already purchased the game.

Come back :) Gw2 at launch is certainly not the Gw2 now. The world just keeps getting bigger... and if you need some start-up silvers and golds for armor or food or weapons or anything, just let me know!

It's a fun way to pass the time. I don't personally play as much these days, so I can't comment on the latest content. Can't go wrong with no monthly sub + Arenanet.