Mirek Sztajno introduces us to new database-scoped configurations in SQL Server 2016:
Enable or disable PARAMETER_SNIFFING at the database level. Disable this option to instruct the query optimizer to use statistical data instead of the initial values for all local variables and parameters when the query is compiled and optimized. This is equivalent toTrace Flag 4136 or the OPTIMIZE FOR UNKNOWN query hint
Enable or disable QUERY_OPTIMIZER_HOTFIXES at the database level, to take advantage of the latest query optimizer hotfixes, regardless of the compatibility level of the database. This is equivalent to Trace Flag 4199
CLEAR PROCEDURE_CACHE which allows to clear procedure cache at the database level without impacting other databases and without requiring sysadmin permission. This command can be executed using ALTER ANY DATABASE SCOPE CONFIGURATION permission on the database, and the operation can be executed on the primary and/or the secondary
This is an early implementation of functionality, but I think this is a step in the right direction. Getting finer-grained and database-level configuration settings gets us one step closer to that 2012 dream of containerized databases.