Don’t mistake me for getting defensive, because I do know where you are coming from.
The point of the Forge Lessons was never to be specific. They aren’t intended to go deep into depth on topics, but instead to introduce topics as important. The lessons are also intended to have forgers look at things from a grander perspective, rather than a narrow perspective. There are already dozens of guides on how to avoid framerate with specific forge objects or what objects mesh together well. Not only that when you focus on forge specifically then you lose the coverage of something like UDK where the same rules do no apply. A tutorial on framerate in forge does not cover UDK, while a forge lesson on the topic of performance as a general topic does cover UDK. That’s just a simple example. I wanted forgers to start thinking as level designers, not as forgers.
In addition to that specific cases almost always have exceptions. Many people will tell someone that you should never use glass objects or complex objects because it affects framerate, but that isn’t always the case. Chateau uses 42 Walkway Covers, one of the most performance taxing objects in the forge palette, yet it still performs well enough to be in matchmaking. Using specific cases goes against the philosophy of “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” Rather than telling people specifics, I wanted to cover the idea behind it and let people figure it out for themselves. If you have a somewhat logical mind you can find examples that I will never cover. Teaching an idea rather than teaching a solution promotes discussion and exploration of a topic.
As for the talk on Halo 4, we may not know much on it yet but that doesn’t mean that certain philosophies don’t still apply. Incentives are the same in every game. Talking about incentives as a whole allows you to think in a bigger picture that allows you to plan better for Halo 4. For example say there is no Rocket Launcher in Halo 4. In Halo: Reach you can tell people that the Rocket Launcher fits best here and here and this is why. If the Rocket Launcher isn’t in Halo 4 then that info isn’t helpful. However if you talk about incentives and how they affect a player’s movement you not only cover Rocket Launchers, but you also cover Power Ups, Armor Abilities on maps, Drop Spawns, etc.
Another example is Continuity/Fluidity of Movement. When walking there is a different rules of continuity than a warthog. A map with Warthog continuity needs wider paths and more cyclical paths that allow a warthog driver to keep its movement without stutter… like having to stop and turn round. The same isn’t the case for walking or sprinting because you have more control. So instead of covering the walking or warthog continuity, you cover the concept of continuity in general and make people understand that it is about creating smooth un-interrupted movement. This covers all forms of movement including jetpack, sprinting, banshees, ghosts, warthogs, evade, etc. For players on foot, a curb forces players to jump. However if the player is on a hovercraft that curb is no longer important in terms of continuity because the hovercraft just hovers over it.
And now one more point. Common sense is subjective. For myself and a few other forgers it is common sense for us that when a player hits a man cannon the audio cue makes other players turn towards the nearest known man cannon landing and thus fully changes how people are playing. An amateur forger doesn’t see that as common sense. A good common example is spawning facing towards a wall. Many forgers start out and don’t think about the downsides of spawning facing a wall. Yet after someone points it out then it becomes common sense. My goal is to cover what may seem obvious for some, but not be obvious for others. Color Contrast is another good example, some people still lay DMRs next to dark surfaces and don’t realize that they are difficult to find and should be placed on a more contrasting lighter backdrop.
Like I said, I’m not being defensive at all. The goals of the Forge Lessons are completely different from what you were expecting from them. They are written in a specific way for a reason.
Now this series will be a bit different. This series will do a mix of the two expectations. Each video will introduce a particular topic like the forge lessons do. Unlike the forge lessons I will then follow it up with a couple of examples of the concept from various games… not just Halo. If I cover incentives I can use health vials from unreal tournament as well as a bomb plant point in COD. When I cover lighting I can use a dark game like amnesia in addition to a brighter game like mario. So examples will be used, but I will let the viewers translate the concept into Halo or find other examples that are in Halo. This forces people to think and learn rather than me just straight telling people the answer. It is the equivalent of a teacher telling you where to look for how to solve a math problem rather than telling you to multiply by the reciprocal.
Not only that I am adding other resources to help out as well and see it from a different perspective. Other articles by other people from other games. Hopefully that helps as well. 
This series has the added bonus of being a video… meaning it will be much easier for me to present examples and explain them without taking too much time out of my day.
Hopefully you see where I am coming from and I’m hoping this new series tickles your fancy more and meets is more helpful in the eyes of the general public. Part of the reason I am doing this is to improve upon the Forge Lesson formula… I’ve learned what worked and what didn’t work so now I’m trying something new. I know that the Forge Lessons were too vague and weren’t very friendly to those who didn’t understand that particular way of thinking. So this is my way of saying I messed up and I can do better… let’s try again. And I hope I have your support, in addition to the rest of the community, in continuing to improve.
lol…