Heroes and the ability to form groups on the fly was one of the very best things about GW1, imo. From what I have read of GW2, players will get one sort of "super"-Hero which they can use of not, and the game is supposed to be mostly accessible either solo or scaled for you and your NPC. Two players could thus form a party of 4 perhaps (2 players and 2 Heroes).

I greatly enjoyed the AI party dynamic in GW1 and will kinda miss that but as long as GW2 scales or adjusts content to party size -- solo, solo/Hero, 2+ players and their Heroes, etc. -- I'll be happy.

I am very eager to learn more about the NPCs/Heroes in GW2 and how they function, and I appreciated Shawn's asking about this in the interview.