The following is my opinion and there are probably generalizations: For one thing the entire last year we were all bombarded with Halo. We had the game, the novels, the webseries, etc. The problem there was that it was too much, at a subpar quality, and that is was much different from what we knew.

Now that we are post-launch and from the way it looks post-DLC (which was short to begin with), we are getting nothing. That vast difference from content delivery and the quality of that content has now relegated us to either being indifferent to Halo now or generated a hate/dislike in it's 343i state.

They played it too safe and at the same time while trying to develop their own "Halo" they managed to create alien things that don't gel with Bungie's Halo or had no purpose in being created at all. It all ended up, as mentioned before, as a subpar quality.

Sure we got a solid game, and a consistent stream of decent books, and a good attempt at a step towards a Halo movie. But for the freshmen 343 team we begin to see the direction they plan on taking in each step and many of us don't enjoy it. (Again not true for everyone but there is a portion, including me.) Not to mention the apparent disconnect on some things that 343 has for feedback from fans and players....

Halo 4 should have been for all intents and purposes a functional reboot that kept it's past strong in it's construction. But with barely any mention to the past games in it's story it functions as a reboot with no purpose for being a reboot. Sure it goes a little more in-depth here and there, but on the surface it's vague (like more vague than how I felt about Halo 3's story: simple but functional) but it's far deeper crime is the way the story is fragmented into different mediums with a player having to read into them to make sense of it. We also have a much more simplified set of things because the game is coming out on the end cycle of the 360, what's sacrificed is the bigger expanses with actual geometry, the really fast object respawn times (Weapons, Bodies, etc.), and the lack of features (Campaign Theater, etc).

On the multiplayer front I felt that there was too much change implemented, the first being instant spawns and branching out into other issues. From armor designs, to weapon implementation, the maps created. All we get is generic looking stuff that does little to add or differentiate from other games. Even the biggest map in the game is not as big as what we've seen in the past, everything seems so cramped. It's all focused on medium to small encounters, what I wouldn't give for a Falcon/Hornet to fly around in a true BTB map. There are truly times I wish Bungie didn't leave...

In the end though, I still hope that they can take our criticism to heart and take their time with Halo 5. I would have been perfectly happy with waiting out another year or so for Halo 4 and having had it a launch title for the 720. Knowing now what we got, I sincerely hope they aren't rushing 5 for a tie-in to the 720 and that they can take their time.

Or maybe I'm just Halo-ed out and I'm on the coattails of it....

That's my contribution to this thread, now excuse me while I go play Tomb Raider...