I don't think that having guns like Fatebringer and such being OP was good excuse to remove the elemental modifier from all future primaries though. It wasn't so much the element that made them OP but more the stats and perks of the weapon themselves, I doubt that if the Fatebringer had no elemental modifier that it would have changed the use of the gun itself. But since they were elements attached to the more powerful guns they took that away along with restricting access to Year 1 weapons save for PVP.