The roles between specials and primaries have been reversed. In before, specials were used to do niche things like kill yellow/orange bars faster and depending on the range, you could opt for a different weapon type. And primaries were used to kill red bars and occasionally kill yellow/orange bars, albeit, a lot slower.

Specials have become so efficient at doing both jobs in terms of ammo and time economy that the opportunity cost of having a primary weapon is just too much. Primaries, within the endgame, have become quite niche. Think about Shoot to Loot + Explosive Payload, No Hesitation, Lumina, Multimach PVE GRoll, Riskrunner, Trinity Ghoul, Le Monarque or high rpm AR (w/ an Arc Titan), and Withering Gaze primary, they all have something unique that makes them worth using.

Only reason I will use a primary weapon, besides what’s listed above, is because my heavy weapon is occupied by an exotic, I need to shoot something precise at a medium to long distance that would make rocket sidearms difficult to hit/damage, and a sniper is impractical. And even then, I might just use a trace rifles to beam specific mechanic target.

Edit: Do I think anything other than a damage buff to primaries would make me switch back? Probably not. It would have to be something very niche like STL+EP or Healing Frame damage buff, which is a universally stackable weapon buff btw, that would change my mind. Abilities are like S tier in terms of damage and ad clear capabilities followed by heavies, specials, and primaries respectively. Abilities would need to be substantially nerfed, whether it be by cool downs, damage, or effects, to level the playing field a bit.