Why, yes it is.
I was lukewarm to the idea of gaining flat % recharge on all of my utilities instead of a total reset on one at random, but I was willing to give it a fair shot. Unfortunately Anet pre-emptively clipped its wings by shipping it with a very aggressive and needless competitive split. Seriously, 25 % would have already been a considerable downgrade from what we were used to. So now, almost two weeks later, I just can't find any reason to pick Deadly Arts over Shadow Arts if I'm running D/P, or Acrobatics over Deadly Arts if I'm running S/D.
What hurts most is that it no longer encourages an aggressive, dynamic, and unique playstyle. Instead, Deadly Arts playstyle has become exactly like those of the other trait lines, but worse.
I do not understand how this trait became an issue after only minor adjustments over the last eight years. Sure, I can understand them wanting to lower the amount of RNG, but this is a case of a misguided attempt at balance at the cost of fun. I'd also argue that the RNG wasn't a big factor of this trait, as it strongly encouraged thief to pick three of the strongest utilities they had in their arsenal, to the point it wouldn't much matter which one got recharged. Broken? Maybe so, but far less so than the other alternative. Further, the old Improvisation was what grandmaster traits should strive to be: high impact, gameplay defining, and above all else, FUN traits.
Ask Fresh Air elementalists how they would feel if FA was removed, and that the strongest pick in the tier would be Bolt to the Heart going forward. They would laugh at you and put on their best celestial gear, because that is the message they would be getting. The message we're getting?
"Run SA lol"
no.