I don't know if people have discussed this before, but I used to play an RPG where players could play as monsters and go around killing players. I don't know how well controlling creatures would work with Guild Wars, but perhaps henchmen would. When you hire a henchmen, there could be a check box that states whether or not you are willing to have players control your henchie. If so, then a player whos waiting to act as a certain henchmen joins your party as the henchmen. This way you have some smarter henchies that you can actually partially control. The party leader could have the option to kick out the human at any time and have him replaced by the AI. A player would only be allowed to act as a henchmen though in places he has already been to, and maybe there could be a slight gold reward that goes into his/her storage.
I think this would allow first off for the possibility of better henchmen, it would also let people try out other classes in PvE without having to start from the beginning. Finally, it could help some class shortages, especially those of monks.
Human Henchmen
drowningfish999
ManadartheHealer
There is a problem. Morons would sign up to be henchies or whatever, and the ruin the quest or the mission
Rhunex
That's a great idea, but then people would just rush there character, play henchies, and not really gain anything other than leaching from allies. doing things this way, a level 1 could be on the fire isles without really lifting a finger. Also, I find the henchies they give you aren't really all the stupid, and you're given a lot of ways to control them, either through clicking, or moving your character.