In this post, the Guild Wars II team talks about how they plan to break away from the standard MMORPG mold

Some fairly exciting news from the Guild Wars II team as they chose to discuss healing, death and, really, some of those traditional elements of MMORPGs that we all take for granted. More specifically, Jon Peters, one of the game designers for GW2, talks about how defeat is "intended to be an experience, not a punishment," and, as such, the team has decided that all players will be able to revive one another. Not only that, but when a player is initially downed, he or she enters what's called "downed mode," where they will be able to cast desperation attacks to fight for their survival. Now, while their opponents will be able to attack the downed player, if the downed player can get a kill, then they will instantly "rally," where they will then be able to re-enter the fight. If the downed player cannot kill another opponent, and they are beat down even more, however, they will enter a "defeated state," where they will need to await an ally to ressurect them, or they can simply choose to ressurect at any waypoints they have visited in the world.

Jon Peters also reveals yet another gem for GW2 players when he notes the fact that there will be no dedicated healers in GW2. The team's justification for this is the fact that healers, in general, like to be healers because they like to support their team. The problem, however, is that players who like to play healers are really not all that common, and so many teams end up waiting around for that "holy trinity" of a healer, DPS and a tank. As such, any team with a healer is automatically assured a victory over another team that does not. In this way, the GW2 team has decided that they would spread out these supporting / healing moves across all classes in order to break down this "holy trinity." GW2, then, will be built upon the motto of "damage, support and control." It really is a great read, so check it out!