I don't like to say this, but it'll affect the balance. I don't like them despawning so fast, but changing that puts more weapons and ammo into play, and I don't know how that'll affect the game. There's a very good chance it'll be worth it and it might help the gameplay even, but it'll take testing to do it right, and I don't think they want to invest the effort.

: And can we get an "anniversary" mode of Halo 4 where the graphics
: of the FUD and Chief swap back to the way they looked at the end of Halo 3?

Firstly, that legitimizes the new graphics, I think, but maybe you see it the other way; giving the option would acknowledge they're not objectively better but it would reinforce it's the way of the future (and the present); secondly, why only those? I want Jackals that look like Jackals too, and Grunts that look like Grunts and have the correct number and placement of toes (that one irks me more than the graphical changes).