Elite dungeon running tips

Think you're ready for the big leagues?  Here are some tips to help turn you into one of the best GW2 PvE players out there.

1.  Be ready to restructure your skills, selectable traits and weapons to fit the encounter.  Not just on a dungeon basis, but potentially on a per mini-boss or stretch of trash mobs interval.  All the weapons have their situations where they are the most useful- make sure that you bring and are using the right ones for the job.
2.  Know the instance you're running like the back of your hand.  What types of mobs are you facing?  Is it more important to burn them down quickly or to focus on outlasting them?  Do they apply dangerous conditions (like poison) that need to be cured?  All this affects both the gear and your specializations going in.
3.  Understand the underlying game mechanics and how this affects your character and your party.  If you have a partymate specced for bleed damage, and you have some small, low-damage bleeds that happen to be applied with your direct damage skills, avoid using your bleeds!
4.  Whatever your build is and your rotation, make it better.  Learn how to push your class to its maximum extent.
5.  Establish a set of people you play with (guildmates, friends, whatever) and synchronize your playstyle and specializations to work with theirs.  Two bleed heavy characters will screw each other over, for example.
6.  Learn how combo fields and finishers work, and how to use them.  This is very critical for group synchronization and some of the effects can be battle-turning.
7.  Understand the threat system (see my theory here).  Figure out when to take aggro and when to settle down and let someone else take over.  At the most basic level- when you need to drop aggro, lead the mob through one of your partymates who has more health (with ranged mobs you will need to use a LoS breaker) and when you need to take aggro, run towards the mob that you are trying to get the attention of.