With the chronomancer, reaper and herald providing a significant improvement over each profession (mesmer, necromancer and revenant respectively) should elite specialization's offer clear improvement or should they all be side-grades?

As it currently stands, 3 of the elite specializations offer such clear improvement that I know of no-one that will actually remain a mesmer, necromancer or revenant. The chronomancer provides so much more than the mesmer, at the expense of a traitline you can afford to lose (Dueling) whilst the reaper is the same. Losing Curses or Blood Magic is inconsequential when you gain access to Reaper's Shroud, the greatsword (which really is fantastic) as well as an array of traits that are brilliant. Finally, the herald brings the revenant together to the point where I'd question as to whether warriors and elementalists will even have a place in parties for much longer. When you can get two herald's together providing 20 stacks of might, protection and fury (almost permanently) it's hard not to pursue the elite specialization.

In contrast to the above, the berserker, dragonhunter, tempest and daredevil all feel a little bit sub-standard and I think part of the reason for that is because they're doing exactly as they should: offering an alternative. Unlike the three elite specializations I mentioned first, these four don't change things too drastically but they do offer a different playstyle at the expense of a traitline that you wouldn't normally want to lose.

• The berserker has greater access to conditions
• The tempest offers more boon sharing and sees a playstyle that encourages you not to swap attunements constantly
• The daredevil places evasion at the heart of the thief instead of the reliance on stealth
• The dragonhunter provides ranged options, combined with control through traps

It's fair to say that none of these four have been well received in comparison to the chronomancer, reaper and herald and I think that's just because they aren't upgrades and in some cases, arguably a downgrade over the core profession. A part of me actually likes that and thinks that it really is needed. As it currently stands, when Heart of Thorns does launch the probability of ever seeing the mesmer, necromancer and revenant again are very slim. Surely that's a huge problem? 

Despite my concerns, at this point it's probably for the best if ArenaNet simply made all elite specialization's an improvement on the original profession so that when future elite specialization's are added, it becomes a real challenge to decide which you want to be. People could then look at the base profession as a learning tool before you get to grips with the more complicated upgrade. 

What are your thoughts on elite specializations? Should they be upgrades? Sidegrades? Let me know.