i feel as if 343 meant to make it nearly all ranked to see how everyone reacted. then comparing halo 4 and 5 to attempt finding the “sweet spot” between both competitive and social to use in halo 6, i still believe 343 is on track to making a great halo game, then halo 4 was more built off reach and then halo 5 was more built off all the others, or 3, where every spartan is equal. While I dont think this specific part was truly meant to happen rather its just because halo 4 received awful feedback on its unbalanced load outs. But from everything i see halo 4 and 5 are pretty much the opposite games, maybe they were just seeing which one received better feedback and then mix the two along with adding in ideas from their community
Halo 5 was actually built from the ground up. The issues is trying to attract a new audience and keep some of the old fans, that’s the sweet spot 343i is trying to Aquire. This game was also built for esports.
I feel like if 343 can combine the social aspects of halo 4 and the competitiveness of halo 5 we’ll end up with the most complete halo game to date