It’s about time Anet split the skills and traits to match the different game modes it has. They’ve done so with GW1, when balancing was near to impossible. Everyone welcomed it then, I see no reason it won’t be welcomed again. Especially since GW2 has less skills+traits then GW1 and with less unique effects as well. When GW2 was developed, we asked them if it would have split skills as well. Their answer was, yes. The didn’t split
Here’s an old interview with Izzy, the main balance developer at the time. I believe that since then he’s moved to another area of the game. I had to filter search for 2009-2010 articles. The part of interest is at the end of the piece. You can search for “split”.
For the lazy:
“That’s the main lesson they learnt from GW1. You have to split the skills according to the gameplay mode. If you don’t, you end up with GW1 situation, with its 17 modes which ends up being impossible to manage properly. From his own confession, Izzy had to put aside some of those modes like HA, AvA, TA which knew the fate GW1 players know…
Ideally, he’d like to have only two modes to balance, but he knows he can handle three which is the intended number atm. For the record, WvW is as of now based on PvE skills. With three modes, he knows he’ll be able to supply a decent work and make GW2 a real e-sport along Counterstrike or DOTA-likes."
Praise be to Balthazar, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.