I agree OP -

I went down like a ragdoll for hours the first day cause I couldn't for the life of me understand what the hell I was doing wrong, I kept dying and dying and dying until I had to stop and remember what I've read (not just what's in the back of my head from every other mmo) and I started moving, position myself, dodging (yes I admit it I forgot it was even there in the beginning), combine skills between two weapon sets and all the sudden it was like a completely different game.

Aside from a couple of over-tuned dynamic events (Flame Shaman in particular) I didn't die too much.

I played a human mesmer (commoner/circus background) and died only the once during the story quests and that was due to a mistake on my part.  I won't lie, it was difficult I got knocked into the downed state a few times but always came back from that to win the fight.

It does take some getting used to though.  I recall one event on my Norn Guardian where we had to escort a guy to find a place to make a god or something.  I started with 4 other players and by the time the event finished I was the only one still there, everyone else had died and respawned.  I survived about 5 minutes of constant battle to finish off my enemies by doing lots of running around pillars, dodging attacks and healing when I could.  It was tough but a lot of fun.

The Shaman is fine.

Stop attacking when he puts up the fire shield, you people are killing yourselfs.. he doesn't actually do that much damage!

Originally posted by Elikal

I wonder how long this is enjoyable. I never found dying a lot in any MMO interesting before, and usually that was a sign for a hardcore game for a small niche. While I respect some people love the hardship, I just don't see that being something very popular these days, and NO I don't think ANet can presuade the masses to return to past days MMO habits, muchachos.

Even if you love it... I REALLY have doubts this makes GW2 very popular. I just can't imagine that. Not to speak of the absurd repair costs you amass over time.

It's very enjoyable for me, moslty because actually defeating mobs is satisfying rather than "Oh 123 dead, next please". It keeps You awake during combat which many MMOs can't really achieve, especially these days when everything is made easier to appeal to larger audience. 

Once you get familiar with how the combat works it's not that bad. I think i clocked at around 230k expierience without death on Survivor achievement progress. 

Originally posted by Zezda

The Shaman is fine.

 

Stop attacking when he puts up the fire shield, you people are killing yourselfs.. he doesn't actually do that much damage!

I didn't find that.  Attacking when he had the shield up was doing only a small amount of damage back to me.  He was also shooting out fireballs that when they hit would knock people into the downed state, that is what was killing everyone. I was in a group trying to kill him for about 20mins and eventually we just gave up.

Originally posted by Zezda

The Shaman is fine.

 

Stop attacking when he puts up the fire shield, you people are killing yourselfs.. he doesn't actually do that much damage!

That's kinda the point, though isn't it?

A lot of the reasons people keep dying has more to do w/ their own faults than anything else. I know I died to the shaman quite a few times before I realized my approach was completely wrong. However, as soon as I realized what I was doing wrong, it  wasn't that bad.

Same thing happened in the norn lands. There's a lvl 14? svanir ice drake boss at the north end of the starter map. I must've gotten ~12 requests for help w/ that boss. The funny thing is, though, as long as you watch for his attacks he's incredibly easy. Just gotta watch out for his ice bursts and charge attacks. Didn't even get downed once, lol, but everyone around me kept dying.

Originally posted by Sector13
This games combat makes TERA combat look like the greatest combat system ever made. The fact that people find the current system good or even playable just shows that people have no idea what they really want anymore cause you will take any piece of crap as long as it's new and full of hype. 

Thank you for coming over from the TERA forums to tell us that.  We really appreciate it.  But I want to add that I've seen TERA's combat and I don't see the big deal, while I actually liked GW2 combat.  /shrug  To each their own said the old lady as she kissed the cow....or something like that.

All I got to hope for is that don't make PvE easy. It is fantastic as is right now. So much reminds me of EQ days.

It is hard to master but once you get use to dodging and using your skills at the right time it is much better. Also, below 10 any class is pretty weak. I agree the learning curve is steep but this is what we have been waiting for in a MMO.

In the previous beta weekend and stress test I was downed a lot more than I was this time round. I think those who are willing to adapt will learn the combat system better and practice will make perfect.

I do find that Engineers and elementalists are the wrost for dying in the starter zones though.

Learn to dodge.

It helps, lots.