For me, I've always liked dealing damage and playing WvW or PVP on other games. From experience I've learned that melee is extremely challenging and difficult to master in WvW. When it's zerg v zerg melee suffers because they're most effective at a range where they get AOE'd to hell and back.
I was planning on playing a Ranger or Ele in the Betas and Stress Tests. So far I've only played Ranger because I've fell in love with the class. I love dealing damage at range, with good mobility, and the battle in front of me. The pet mechanic is just an added bonus. It's funny, even though I know this is my main class and I may try an Ele or Warrior alt, my build has evolved through stress tests and BWE's.
My first build was Longbow/Axe-torch. I suddenly realized that for longbow to be effective I need to be at 1200-1500 range and for axe/torch to be effective I need to be at 900 or less range. They just didn't work well together in WVW, although it was quite powerful in PVE.
Then they nerfed the longbow and the greatsword and condition builds became king. I decided to try the shortbow with axe/torch. Although I loved the short bow skills and it synergized well with axe/torch I still found myself a little bit to close to the zerg for my liking and constantly dodging out of AOE hell.
The next evolution was with the trait changes. At first I was wanting to go exclusively with traps. Again the short range(600 for ground targetted traps) changed my mind. Then I decided to try Spirits until they got nerfed down to ineffective. That plan was scrapped as well.
I read the theories on what currently goes into calculating critical damage. It looks like the formula relies heavily on both power and critical as well as your ability to stack might and vulnerability. Finally, I've settled on a build that FITS MY PLAYSTYLE: lots of damage from range(1200-1500). Longbow/Shortbow with a focus on power/crits. Yes, the shortbow is a condition weapon and the longbow is a direct damage weapon. I use the shortbow more as a control weapon with two ranged cripples, a heal debuff, a kickback move, and a flanking move that stacks bleeds. My crits will still land with shortbow so it seems to work and with longbow I can push my distance out even further to start hitting people before they can even hit me. I get piercing weapons on both weapons with just one trait and get shorter cooldown on both weapons with another trait.
Another thing to consider is this: who are you going to be playing with the most? My brother and I play together every time were on so we try to create characters that help each other out along the way. We're both going to end up as longbow/shortbow rangers(the apple doesn't fall far from the tree).
I guess what I'm trying to say is this: figure out what role you want to play, because the builds of GW2 will allow you to find and play exactly how you want. Then don't be surprised if that changes again and again as they continue to balance the game. Think about who you might be grouping with, what size that group is going to be, and what your main role is going to be to contribute to the greater good.
The best tool that this game has is pug PVP, where you can go in and try your level 80 character, all the utilities, all the top end gear, all the elite skills....They give you a chance to learn what you like at an early level and then build your character around that idea.
The best advice was given in the thread above this. Figure out your play style and then experiment with your builds until it feels like you.