I did not that that you implied it should be replaced.

By cryptic, I mean that you have no clue what those small buttons do intuitively.
Also, a classic shader tree has the advantage that you can nest objects in one another to create hierarchies.
True the LW layer system has the advantage of being very compact.
Modo's is nice in that it offers both systems, depending on how small you make the shader tree, it transforms automatically into a system that is close to the LW one, or something in between.