You're wrong, but you're right. The game was never broken by elemental primaries, but it did make the game much easier. We are "supposed to" use heavy and special to break shields and preserve that precious ammo by switching back to primary to finish the job. Elemental primaries allowed use to easily break shields with little concern for ammo reserves. However, I think that's the point of the OP. At max level we should be bad asses and the OP specifically mentioned that these weapons are end game gear. With good modifiers on end game content elemental primaries could be made essential for completion. IMO