The leveling system in GW2 still has room for improvement and here's why.

I think Guild Wars 2 has a good leveling system. It is decently paced and it doesn't take very long to achieve the maximum level relative to other games. Horizontal progression is great and it's something ArenaNet excels at. Unfortunately it's become rather clear to me that r/GuildWars2 has rose-tinted glasses on because the leveling experience in GW2 is far from perfect.

However, While the leveling system is good in-comparison towards other games that does not make it great. It simply makes it better, but is it okay to settle for being better?

There are several major problems with leveling in GW2. Leveling in GW2, levels 21, 45 and 71, aside is almost entirely based in the core statistics; power, precision, ferocity, vitality, toughness, healing power. One of the reasons people find leveling in GW2 boring is because it's passive. During level 1-20, level 22-44 and level 46-70 you aren't making any meaningful active gameplay decisions other than what stats to equip and what weapons to utilize because the majority of utilities are niche use or have superior near "BiS" options in terms of effectiveness.

Open World PvE and the over-arching leveling experience is defined by a lack of difficulty. Essentially, leveling up is meaningless except when you unlock access to a new specialization tree. Difficulty in GW2 PvE is defined almost exclusively by whether you have sufficient stats to clear trash mobs.

Action oriented RPG based combat in GW2 while excellent during more difficult encounters falls back time and time again on a binary split between big wind-up attacks and dodging out of red circles. There is both leagues worth of depth and light years worth of distance between PvE and explorable mode dungeons. The current state of PvE is like tossing a primary school child in 4-5 meter pool then absent-mindedly tossing a life preserver in afterwards. The majority of PvE does not require you learn the importance of active defense. It's a shitty tutorial for dungeons let-alone the rest of the game.

Dynamic Events in Guild Wars 2 require very minimal cooperation and are focused around decentralized objective based gameplay. The way the game is structured and designed you never think, "Thank the 6 we have a Necromancer/Ranger for this encounter". The intent here is that you can get by with anything, but the reality is that many classes forsake their identity/value when another class does what they do better and becomes apparently early on due to the combo field/finisher system

Events are seldom so much about skill or group composition so much as knowing what to do and executing the proper strategy. They're also extremely limited in scope; escorts, defense and offensive/conquest mechanics define 95% of events in open-world PvE. So... while the characters, story and setting change the core gameplay stays entirely the same and quickly becomes stale and uninteresting.

Bundles - were something unique to GW2 and added a depth to the game that made events unique and exciting. Mechanics like the rockets/flamethrowers at Claw of Jormag, the Cannons at Shatterer, Turrets at Tequatl or Harpoon Guns/Kegs at Triple Trouble. 99% of open world PvE condenses down to stacking might/fury and pressing 1. Bundles which were once innovative have largely been abandoned in favor of being able to sufficiently herd sheep.