I think it's shite. All catch-up mechanics that shite MMOs spam you with are shite, especially where you can't breath without getting showered in accolades. But it's less shite than the usual +80 trillion XP potions that you get at third-rate korea grinders, because it actually teaches you something. Doesn't fix the problem of flooding people with 27 different achievements and whatnot for picking up a piece of rubbish, but at least it lessens other existing problems instead only adding its own problems on top.

Craft something, dodge something, check on the waypoint system. That's good stuff.

...on the other hand, I've seen Tiktok videos. I'm not so sure that a screen full of reward explosions really overwelms people as much. On the OTHER other hand, what good is your teaching method if people just stare blankly at the sparkly pretty colours?

I think, in general, that the game would benefit from having achievements unlock at lvl10 or something. Keep the Adventure Guide. Then slowly feed in additional achievements in phases.

Personally I think it's great for leveling alts. For new players, I think the leveling may be a touch too fast, but my biggest gripe (at the risk of going off topic) is that GW2 doesn't really explain how to handle its combat mechanics. What is the break bar? What are combo fields? How do I make a build that won't just get stomped once I reach the level 80 zones? Not sure if the Adventure Guide could fix that or not.

It really affects new players like you're saying. As a long time player with stacks of XP books, I didn't notice it. I imagine for players who want to get to max ASAP, it's nice. For players who like the grind and want to compete a map before moving on, it might feel a bit strange to level so fast. I think with level scaling, it probably doesn't make too much of a negative for anyone.

It's a lot of additional XP and it doesn't actually teach you much. But it's probably better than using a booster to level up a profession you have never played before. The game still needs to do more to teach players about combat and profession mechanics, telegraphs, (internal) cooldowns, activation time, after cast delays, interrupts, boons, conditions, stat combinations and traits. Maybe add a level 80 map which is entirley dedicated to (daily/weekly) tutorials.

It's nice to guide players to the various level appropriate zones and a nice leveling boost