The discussion on the impenetrable trait brought this to mind. Currently impenetrable is very powerful (and I agree that it should be, despite all the whiners that only stack crit and want to kill their target in two seconds instead of having to use their brains in pvp). The other traits... not so much. I think some basic changes to how these traits function would go a long way towards improving the gear game in ESO, so here's my suggestions:

(Note: using the base numbers for these, keep in mind that trait effect percentages increase with item quality. For weapons, 1 handed trait percentages are used, double the amount for two handed weapons)

Weapon Traits

Powered
Current Effect: Reduces cooldown of weapon enchantments by 30%
New Effect: Fully charged heavy attacks have a 100% chance to activate weapon enchantment

Charged
Current Effect: Increases enchantment charges by 17%
New Effect: Weapon enchantment no longer requires or consumes soul charge.

Precise
Current Effect: Increases critical strike chance by 3%
No Change

Infused
Current Effect: Increases weapon enchantment effect by 13%
New Effect: Increases weapon enchantment effect by 20%

Defending
Current Effect: Increases total armor and spell resistance by 4%
New Effect: Reduces damage taken from all sources while blocking by 10%

Training
Current Effect: Increases weapon skill line experience with this weapon type by 22%
No Change

Sharpened
Current Effect: Increase armor and spell penetration by 6%
New Effect: Increases critical strike damage bonus by 10%

Weighted
Current Effect: Increase weapon attack speed by 4%
New Effect: Light and heavy attacks have a 5% chance to daze opponent.



Armor Traits

Sturdy
Current Effect: 22% chance to avoid decay when defeated
New Effect: Reduces chance to be stunned, dazed, or knocked down by 5%

Impenetrable
Current Effect: Increase resistance to critical hits by 60
New Effect: Reduces damage taken from critical hits by 5%

Reinforced
Current Effect: Increases this item's armor value by 4%
New Effect: Reduces physical damage taken by 5%

Well-Fitted
Current Effect: Reduces the cost of sprinting by 2%
New Effect: Reduces the cost of sprinting by 4%

Training
Current Effect: Increases armor skill line experience with this armor type by 11%
No Change

Infused
Current Effect: Increases armor enchantment effect by 8%
No Change

Exploration
Current Effect: Increases exploration experience gained by 6%
New Effect: Increases movement speed by 5%

Divines
Current Effect: Increases mundus stone effects by 4%
No Change



The way I see it, you've only got 7 armor slots and up to 2 weapon slots to put traits on, so we're almost as limited on traits and enchantments as we are on our skill bar abilities. Those choices need to matter and be powerful enough to contend with each other - nobody's going to run well fitted in pvp or pve when impenetrable is so much better, and some of the traits are currently useless for max-level characters and not all that useful for lower level characters (like exploration), and could use different benefits to counter that.

Overall this shifts the priorities for traits from raw damage output to more defense and damage mitigation, increasing time to survive in pvp and thereby creating an environment where player skill has a chance to take effect.