: I have no problems with the Spartan Abilities, and the reasoning for that is
: simple. Everyone has it, and the Beta coming out (on my birthday, no less)
: is a full year ahead of Halo 5's release, meaning 343i has plenty of time
: to continue this 'listening to the fans' streak they're having and fix and
: tune things to near perfection. Halo requires things like this. A level
: playing field is key to keeping Halo 'Halo'.

A level field is necessary, but I also think there's a certain "kind" of gameplay that Halo "should" be. One of the chief complaints about Armor Lock was that its use did undesirable things to the game. When activated it slowed things down and could turn fun, straightforward engagements into weird shitshows that only vaguely resembled the game you intended to play. 2v2 matches where all four participants had Armor Lock were embarrassing spectacles--regardless of the fact that everyone was "equal." (a large number of people also felt this way about Jetpack, which was not an opinion I shared)

As an exaggeration, if there were a spartan ability that, when activated, forced your attacker into a Tetris-like minigame which would kill you if he won, most people would say "Halo" shouldn't have that, regardless of whether it's available to everyone. That's what I'm concerned about. The comment from the dev about Ground Pound's likelihood of being nerfed simply after players "get their hands on it" (paraphrasing) doesn't assuage these fears.

Conversely, I'm a big fan of the Thruster and Clamber abilities since they seem consistent with the kind of game Halo is/was/will be/should be. Evolution is important.