:

: "We have a lot to learn. We made a lot of mistakes. We can do better.
: And we know this, and we will."
: -Frankie, from his letter in the bulletin.

: IMO, the honor-oriented, intelligent, and indignant Sangheili were,
: comparatively, turned into slow, Neanderthal-like morons. They were turned
: into a character archetype that fits better into old comics and Sci-Fi
: B-movies than it does into Halo. And the soul of their armor designs was
: replaced by something completely different - something truly alien to the
: Halo universe. Something that both betrays its origins and contradicts the
: Sangheili way of life. This was not the first time that this happened -
: Halo Wars' writing depicted them along these lines as well.

: These changes were not necessary. Nor were they beneficial.

: "But the most important aspect of our success, and our efforts now and
: in the future, has been this community – a demanding, imaginative,
: engaged, vocal, varied and intelligent swarm of personalities, groups and
: individuals, each with subtly to radically different interests in this
: vast and varied universe we’re charged with. That isn’t lip service, nor
: is it pandering. You guys pay for the privilege of playing our game, and
: you have every right to have a voice in its development."

They're probably just referring to multiplayer. I don't think anyone at 343 realizes there's something wrong with their art direction and even if they do, they probably think it can be fixed with more jaggies and spikes and making their aliens even more bestial and hideous.

Hell, Frankie himself has equated visual design and progress in graphics tech multiple times. As if you're obliged to radically change established anatomy just because you can have more polygons now. They could've made the Elites look like the Halo 4 ones (or the abominations in the OP) ten years ago if they wanted, just with less of the detail actually modeled, but at least Bungie was smarter than that.