Guild Wars 2

Does any one make their spec based on building around the weapons used. For instance I use staff and sword/torch right now and I notice that there are traits for each of those weapons. 20% faster skills across the board seems pretty nice. Also, it doesn’t seem like any of the grand master traits are all that great so I wouldn’t be giving up anything.

You’re always going to be giving up something for a 20% cooldown trait.

They can be good. They aren’t necessarily necessary. Good weapon swaps and skill use discipline will take you far.

They are only necessary if you don’t take 5 in Illusions, IMO. Beyond that, it depends.
I have both the Sword and the GS traits, but mostly because I love the -20% on the AE Knockback (handy in WvW) and because the Sword is quite multifunctional. Since I DW Swords and like the Spear underwater, a highly efficient trait.