^ that is nothing different from GW, though. You are not supposed to be limited by gear that one can only obtain through endless, repetitive grinding.
Grinding is still there (in GW, anyway), but it was only for cosmetic wants. Replacing "need" with "want" is pretty cool.
That being said, the equipment in GW2 appears far more important to you class than in GW1--much of your specific build seems tied, quite specifically to weapon attributes. In GW1, they were more general buffs, that didn't really tie into specific skills--just making them more universally efficient. GW2 items have a longer (WoW-like) list of stat buffs that appear to more specifically target certain sets of skills or play styles. On top of that, you activating skills are far, far more limited (amount) than what was available in GW1. There is the trait system, which changes things up quite a bit.
GW2 is both similar but also very, very different from GW1.
Doing away with the "gear grind" was an aim to push GW1 to a skill-based, diverse PvP system, which they began way back with the second stand-alone campaign (Factions). No level grinding, no gear grinding--simply skill through build design.