Confused on stat changes(specialisation, maj/min traits) in general. But specific Serpent questions.

Akimbo

So I played off and on 10-15 years ago. Never became prolific at anything, but the game always held a soft spot for me.
I've come back to some pretty radical changes, race specialisations, minor traits, etc... and I'm getting some conflicting info from older posts.

I guess the end goal would be some actual PvP, but in reality probably mostly hunting, and maybe group fights if I can get into an active city/org. And for some reason I feel like I really want to be a trickster with this guy. Probably no stealing though.
Dexterity seems to say it only helps for dodging blows, but I've seen other posts say it affects combat speed. I'm a Mhun and was just going to go CON spec for hunting and survivability, but if Dex actually helps my other serpent abilities I would go with that.
Next: traits... It seems like a lot. Once the first question is answered it may answer some of these, like going for more dex/con. are there any "must haves" for minor traits?

I also have a Satyr 2H Infernal that I strength specialised (Seems squishy), and a Dwarf Priest, con specialised, all levels 60-70+ that I have the same minor/major trait questions for. If there's just a rule of thumb thought on any of these that would help. All have more or less the same goals: get into an active org and do some light pvp/raid defense type stuff.

Iocun

Dexterity for most classes only affects dodging, but serpents are an exception, where dexterity actually helps with all the most important attacks (plus some non-attacks like phasing), so it's definitely worth having high dexterity for a serpent. Con isn't a wrong choice either, particularly at lower levels and if you're not doing much PvP, but for combat, dexterity is really the best.

As for traits: for PvP, nimble is probably a must, for hunting, you can also go for more constitution or lucky/aim to kill.  Nimble is still a good bet in general, even though it lowers your tankiness. There aren't any must-haves for minor traits. The ones that do influence combat/hunting only do so in quite minor ways, so just go by what you feel would be fun to you. It doesn't matter that much.

I have no knight experience, so I'll leave that one to others.

Blaire

I disagree to an extent for your minor traits not being must haves.

• Death's boon
• Blissful ignorance
• Clean freak

I consider to be essentials. The first two are just great in general. The third is just so nice to not always have to scrub or spam people out when you finish hunting head home and go AFK to do whatever.

• Glass shatterer

If you have a mount and leave it somewhere and forget.

• Fully fit / Master contemplator

For after your hunting, and from what I know, almost every class outside of maybe knights eat up endurance/WP like candy.

• Wild Walker

Just good for moving for places to hunt after level 80. Up in the tundra specifically, or way up to Istarion. Or if Annwyn dumps you somewhere not very nice!

By all means, I agree with Iocun in the loose sense that nothing from minor traits is GAME CHANGING.

(Except maybe Blissful Ignorance for when you eat up monks forced commands)

But I feel that these would be the 'must haves' if you're really trying to maximize your gains.