More Interesting Weapons?

[Dormammu]

Running a 5-8th level game (3.5) and wanted to throw in some really cool weapons but, sadly, most of the neat weapons I want to add will be out of the PC's price range.

How unbalancing is it to remove the "weapons must be at least +1 before they can have other magical abilities" restriction. The first problem that immediately comes to mind is the fact that a +1 Flaming Long-sword seems to be dwarfed by a +0 Flaming Shock Long-Sword.

Any Idea why the designers put this rule in in the first place? Are there other pitfalls I'm missing? Is there another way to solve this problem?

[OldTrees1]

Go right ahead. WotC beat you to it somewhere. However do note that a +0 Flaming weapon does not bypass DR 5/magic.

[mabriss lethe]

Alternately, you could hand out Augmentation crystals (Magic Item Compendium). It would allow you give the players some better magic toys without messing with the weapon/armor price guide.

[Seerow]

We once had a player who thought that all magic weapon properties got priced separately (eg since a +1 weapon is 2000gp, a +1 Flaming Frost Shock longsword costs 8000gp instead of 32,000gp; paying for 4 separate +1 properties).

Ever since then I've kind of wondered if it might make a half-decent way to make magic weapons more fun.