The trait mechanic wasn't really intended to always get best combination of traits, but more as an "extra" (hence the 3 random choices). But if most players feel it's really important to get the right ones, it might also say something about the overall balance/difficulty. Or maybe, some traits are just not worth it and need to be revised?
I think this is mostly about playstyle.
It seems most followers of this thread are fine with the amount of micro-management required in constantly shuffling cards between shifts. (As was pointed out a few posts back, the game can certainly be completed that way. With or without this last change to traits.)
But I'm not one of them.
Before the end of my first playthrough (back when hotel max was lvl3? maybe 4?), I was annoyed with the amount of shuffling cards in inventory I had to do.
So I solved the problem.
I opened up a spreadsheet and made notes of all the card values and traits.
Then I worked out a 'recipe' for each girl. These 2 or 3 cards, those 4 or 5 traits.
Et voila! No more card swapping.
Each playthrough since I just followed that recipe, with some fine-tuning if the new build changed something.
This way I could play the management aspect of the game (Which/how many guests to let in. Which girls to work which rooms. When to give the girls or the whole staff time to recover energy. Etc.),
without having to deal with the micro-management aspect that I didn't like.
So this last change to traits irritated me because, best as I can see, the only thing it did was eliminate my preferred playstyle.
And, yeah, I get why
most don't seem to care. Because it didn't effect their preferred playstyle.
So... I guess it comes down to the question:
Is it worth your time as a dev to code in a mechanic that only really matters to a minority of the players?
Although it would still be more "efficient" (from a min-max pov) to save-scum in that scenario. As you might miss out on a couple of days worth of traits if you wait for the right one to show up?
Call me a 'gaming purist', but I try to avoid any form of cheating in a game.
And I view 'save scumming' as a form of cheating. Even if only a minor cheat.
(Ok... fine... call me a 'game
snob!'
)
So, even if it costs me a few in-game days, I'd prefer a game I can play honestly over one I'd be force to save-scum (cheat) at in order to get it to be comfortable for my playstyle.