Desperately need ability to change the Escape key to something else.

[Jaxson.1593]

I can't speak for anyone else, but the escape key on my keyboards is RIGHT next to the F1 key. Which means I go to activate the function of my ranger companion, and hit escape by accident which pulls up an "exit the game" or "pull up arenanet webpage" right in the middle of a battle, and I've either inadvertently exited the game or lost focus right in the middle of a battle. 

I do not see the justification for this single key to be absolutely, utterly, locked into that single usage, begging for issues like this to happen.

I grasp, you don't want someone to inadvertently block themselves off from it, but SOME alternative, like hitting it 3x in rapid succession should be an option somewhere in the "controls" function. I can't imagine a time when THAT would be an obnoxious option, as I am never in a massive hurry to activate any of those function. 

This is REALLY an obnoxious problem. I do it with a ranger constantly. You can easily see how it is not an even remotely unlikely miskey, since your hands are well away from the function row and can reach up a key off quite easily. If you hit the wrong function key, that's not that big a deal. But leaving the game suddenly is a serious problem., and, with a ranger, you are often reaching up to hit the F1,2,3 keys.

Edited March 26 by Jaxson.1593
clarification

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Whilst you await a change with the ESC key (which is likely not forthcoming), you might consider changing the keybind for the F1 function. 

[Shaman.2034]

You can also use a myriad of third-party scripting tools (web search something like "how to remap a keyboard" to explore for one that suits your system and needs) to rebind your Escape key into something non-disruptive, for instance rebinding it to F1 since you accidentally hit it when hitting the original F1 key

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

so you bought a really bad keyboard...

if you are using linux, you can remap it easily with xmodmap. Comes with every distro out of the box. With windows? No idea. Remove the keycap maybe?