Going over the full 80 levels in the game, and looking at what you *actually* unlock for your character, I realised that you could stuff it all into 20 levels instead of 80. So here is an example of how they could have simplified the leveling in GW2 by actually giving you something relevant on each level.
| -Level- | -Stats- | -HP- | -Unlock- | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1000 | 0 | Skill 1 | Downed 1 | Water 1 | Skill 6 |
| 2 | Skill 2 | Downed 2 | Water 2 | |||
| 3 | Skill 3 | Downed 3 | Water 3 | |||
| 4 | Skill 4 | Downed 4 | Water 4 | |||
| 5 | Skill 5 | Downed 5 | Water 5 | |||
| 6 | 10 | Weapon Swap | ||||
| 7 | 10 | Profession 1 | ||||
| 8 | 15 | Skill 7 | ||||
| 9 | 15 | Profession 2 | ||||
| 10 | 20 | Skill 8 | ||||
| 11 | 20 | Profession 3 | ||||
| 12 | 25 | Skill 9 | ||||
| 13 | 25 | Profession 4 | ||||
| 14 | 30 | Skill 0 | ||||
| 15 | 30 | Profession 5 | ||||
| 16 | 35 | Specialization 1 | ||||
| 17 | 35 | Specialization 2 | ||||
| 18 | 40 | Specialization 3 | ||||
| 19 | 40 | (Rare) | ||||
| 20 | 48 | (Exotic) | ||||
| Tot | 1000 | 398 |
They could still have each level take 4x the time, to keep the leveling time the same, but I think 2x would probably be enough. The first 10 levels should still be pretty fast, so you get some skills to use as early as possible. The later levels could be slowed down, especially the last 5 or so.
Other options would be to remove the Hero Points, and instead give 1 HP each “level” after maxing out at level 20. And either just accept that people can use that to unlock Elites, or cap them at around 200 and go over to spirit shards.
Not every Profession have as many Profession mechanics, but they often have other variables, like Warrior can unlock tiers of adrenaline on the following slots. So most classes should get something at a few of these spots.
Getting all 3 specializations right after each others might be overwhelming/confusing for a new player, might be smarter to spread them out more. Like level 10, 15, and 20. But similarly it felt bad to hold back Utility/Elite slots.