Yes, there is very little hard data about GW2 so far. Unfortunately "they are setting the initial level cap at 80" is enough to let me know this won't be a sequel to Guild Wars, but another doomed Lotro, Conan, Warhammer, etc.
90% of the content will be useless to most of the players within a few months, and this content will be seen as an impediment to new players who want to get to the 'good stuff'. The developers will eventually oblige them by letting players progress through those levels as fast as possible. Spending many months to design a world and populate it with quests, lore, and npcs that will shortly be obsolete and ignored is a massive waste of developer resources. So why do it? Because every other shitty MMO did it and it's easier to perpetuate an ancient design flaw than to think.
If they wanted to add power progression or content for the OCD players, then they still don't need to have leveling. They already have titles and can add achievements that grant small PVE bonuses, or skill training like EVE. None of them create ghost towns. GW was successful because it was designed to be completely different from the horde of generic fantasy MMOs. Designing GW2 to be like the other identical time sinks will not produce beneficial results.