Future weapons with traits vs elite specializations

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

Will future expansions introduce weapons with new interactions , traits, synergies instead of an entire elite specializations tree?

With soto, we can notice few weapons have their own traits with fun gameplay

Ranger mace: nature strength stacks accumulate to force of nature then a cooldown period with "tapped out"

Elementalist pistol: elemental bullets

Guardian pistol: inscribed symbol and projectile interaction

Mesmer rifle: portal (mini utility skill packaged inside a weapon)

Thief axe: axe stacks(idk what it does)

Revenant scepter: teleport to ally with scepter3

 

So instead of giving an entire specialization which would be hard to balance, pack some traits and interactions into the new weapon...  Do players like this style? Will, old weapons become less preferred? Only old weapon b4 soto that came packed with options is Ranger hammer, where we can choose unleashed hammer skills and non-unleashed ones...

Can we expect old weapons to get reworks and get some packaged traits like the Ranger mace? 

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

Few old weapons do have some interactions like warrior hammer 5 resetting hammer2 cooldown.... Ranger GS 5 resetting GS2 cooldown... But is that enough to make them fun compared to the new weapons?

[DanAlcedo.3281]

About Weapon Traits. They should all be removed as they limit choice alot and should be replaced with generic traits that support the weapon. While a bad trait itself, a good example is Shield Master. 

A good half way is Merciless Hammer. 

If you play Warrior Axe, not only are you basically forced to play Axe Mastery but also the traitline it's in. 

Same with Longbow. If you play condi, you have to play crack shot. Just so your condi weapon does what a condi weapon is supposed to be doing. Apply conditions. 

 

And Anet agreed on it. But stopped removing weapon traits a while ago. Which makese very sad. 

 

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

An example I can think of is the Hammer and Greatsword traits Warrior has. They should be changed to include two handed weapons in general. Having traits benefit certain two-handed or one-handed weapons would be so much better than making any trait rely on a specific weapon. What they did with Guardian's torch trait is an example of going in the wrong direction.