Agents seem to get traits more often and have a higher success rate. My initial rake as Russia had a %46 chance to kill the Ottoman imam in Bulgaria, where before few of them ever had above a %45 chance (although he still got executed on his first attempt :\)
I also had a gentlemen get the 'Industrial Genius' trait out of nowhere, while researching military technology, while my rake got 'good listener' on turn 5 or so.
Generals seem to get traits faster too...I guess that whole system's been tuned up. It doesn't seem to be at MTW2 levels yet, though.