On elemental primaries:
I don't think they're a big deal tbh. Definitely not the reason we used raid weapons in Y1. Fatebringer was our favorite CE primary, even at 300 when other stuff was 331. It was great for those Arc shields. Oh wait...
VoG with Vision of Confluence still feels tight. Those solar shields just melt. Oh wait...
Outside of NFs, this game has veeeeery few shielded enemies. And when confronting one, we use secondaries or heavies most of the time. Word of Crota or no, Minotaurs get the Shotgun, guaranteed. Captains fell to our Found Verdicts, not our Fangs most of the time.
Bungie thinks we held on so dearly to them and never swapped out because of the elements but not really. FB was the only HC with Firefly at launch (and stayed that way until TTK). Vision of Confluence was the only Scout with full auto until HoW (and even then, had a bigger mag than the stuff you could roll).
We didn't lust for them because of the element, it was the stat/perk roll. Elements on a primary make a super small difference in how the game plays (again, outside burn NFs).
But the point I'm trying to make is: it makes it all the more petty and strange that they were taken away. They were just a cool thing to have. They didn't alter the game too much. Made 0 difference in PvP, 0 difference in Raids, and some difference at times for a few enemies a few times across strikes and missions.
Current Raid gear with elements would still be, for the most part, low-tier stuff. But at least it would feel special. Would I trade my Hung Jury for the Raid scout if it had Solar damage? Lol no way. But at least I'd keep it in the Vault for a NF or something instead of giving it the insta-infuse.