Some really interesting... interpretations. So I went back and read the mashable interview.
So.. instead of partially random perk rolls (as the guns never had 100% random perk rolls), the perks are set on a per gun basis.
BUT
Each and every single gun is individually built and assigned it's stats. And supposedly there are more guns ("bigger arsenal") in Destiny 2.
Lose random perks AND lose Archetypes. So there aren't essentially 5 types of AR's, 5 types of PR's, 4 types of Shotguns, etc... that everything falls under. So while the perk rolls aren't random.. each gun is its own gun, providing individual performance based on it's raw stats + perk combo's. And balance will be done on a per gun level, meaning a good gun + perk combo doesn't get nerfed to shit because it shares an archetype with an OP gun + perk combo.
But somehow this equates to catering to casuals? While it's true that eliminating random perk rolls would mean that duplicate drops are inherently worth less (barring a system being added to give them some value), eliminating archetypes inherently adds more value to getting a different specific gun within the same family. Meaning what's lost in the Perk Lotto is gained in the Gun Lotto. So there's no "It's Fatebringer without the Elemental Damage" aspect to guns. Everything is unique. It becomes gotta-catch-em-all instead of farm for one weapon and hope for the god roll. In that, it should add value to playing more varied types of activities and less pressure to farm, say.... Omnigul 50 times.
But this doesn't actually provide a bonus or a negative to "Casual" vs. "No Life" playstyles at all. People who play more will still have more chances at more drops than those who don't and RNG being RNG means it's still random as to who gets what.