You don't say?

: Same with the Master Chief's armor. It's not intended to be a new model,
: because nothing in the game itself indicates that it's a new model. The
: Chief doesn't comment on the changes at all. From the moment he emerges
: from the cryotube, his armor still has scars from previous battles. For
: what reason would Cortana leave battle damage intact? If she did, why
: wouldn't the Chief notice that?

It's a new model. Who exactly do you think gets to decide intention?

: We're Halo fans from the era of Bungie. We fell in love with the universe
: that Bungie designed. How are we supposed to feel when a Halo game
: contains none of those old designs? How are we supposed to feel when the
: common Jackal that populated the old games only ever shows up in the
: comics, where 343i's stable of artists don't have to look at them? How are
: we supposed to feel when MJOLNIR has always looked like Gen II, except for
: a few aberrations in 2552? How are we supposed to feel when we're told
: that Bungie's design for MJOLNIR doesn't look good with modern graphics,
: and if Bungie had designed it with current-gen hardware the result would
: look completely different?

Not sure what this means?

: Without those designs cropping up in primary media, the new models are
: effectively the only models.

Again, that's you creating a hierarchy for what media "counts" more than others. That's been done before too, but not by 343.

: You guys are passionate about something, but are you Halo fans?

If you really believe that - especially if you are including me in your broadstroke statement, then literally nothing I can say will do anything to change your mind. Other than maybe the ironically classic Halo phrase "Were it so easy."

<3 anyway,
Grim