Gameplay thoughts
A Positive Panda ponders:
1. The grenades now do good damage. In H3 the nades were too weak. Perhaps they can tone them down by 5% but they're close to being just right. The sound and impact feel of the nades is some of the best I've seen.
2. The guns have a good kick to them and you can feel the weight of them when firing. The ghost reticule on the Elite weapons really helps.
3. Jumping is somewhere between a military shooter and Halo 3's. I'm happy with that as I have hard time dealing with people jumping all over the place in Halo 3 and me trying to find them.
4. Armor abilities. All of them have their use. In the right situation, they can feel overpowered but that's a good thing. That means there's a tactical use for them. I like this much better than equipment drops from Halo 3.
5. New weapons. The needler rifle needs a boost. The DMR could use one also. The rest seem good. The AR is once again something you need to drop quickly. Unless you find someone with their shields down, or weaken then with a nade first, you're likely going to die.
6. Playing as Elites. This was the most fun. Their evade ability, to me, is the most useful in most situations.
7. Assassinations. Such a good feeling to pull it off. Sucks when it happens to you though! Also, if you're about to be assassinated and a teammate saves you, you shouldn't die, you should get a 2nd chance. It seems if the animation is triggered, even if the assassin is killed half way, you still die.
Debbie Downer is at it again:
1. Reticule. It's way too light in color and transparent. Really, a lot of times, I can't even see when firing. They should simply steal the cross hairs from MW/BF. I know it wouldn't be Halo like but really, the current form sucks.
2. Kill confirmation. As Scott pointed out, it's fine 1 on 1 but unless I'm playing close attention to the messages, it's hard to know if you've killed someone in team battles.
3. Spawn points. This is a big issue on the outdoor map and with Bungie's MP experience, there is no excuse for it.
4. Stronger bullets. The DMR, Needle Rifle and especially the AR need some serious damage bumps. The best experience last night was playing a game of "SWAT" on the indoor map. 4 on 4 and everyone spawned with a DMR and pistol. It was so nice knowing that 3 shots anywhere will kill a guy and 1 headshot will put him down immediately. I did the best during this match as I was much more confident in my ability to kill someone than in the standard game modes. Most of the time, I'd be shooting someone just hoping for a kill and feeling lucky if I did get one. However, this is the one time I felt completely comfortable with the game and enjoyed it the most.
5. Too quiet. After playing Bad Company 2, I'm a fan of being in a battle with all the noises and chatter. Here, things are quite muted. It's good when you're engaging but things can be rather dull at times.
6. Shields down notification. When shooting another player it's hard to know if and how much you're downing their shield. Even when shields explode, it's is easy to miss. Like the reticule issue, this visual queue needs to changed significantly.
Overall, the gameplay is solid and varied enough to make it feel fresh but the are core issues either that either emerged (such as the reticule) or carried over from previous Halo games (bullet sponges). If they can work on the issues I mentioned I could see myself playing a lot more of Halo MP. You could say "well just play SWAT then" but that mode is hardly for a casual player.
If Bungie really wants to attract a broader audience, SWAT would be the normal mode. The guns would come into balance, limit the nades to 2 per spawn, work on the issues mentioned and you're good to go. Otherwise, I fail to see the changes in MP that would appeal to the audience you know they're gunning for.