Clearly chief is alone, and out of UNSC contact. That much is clear by his lack of upgraded armor and the cracked visor.
But this new Halo, this, Halo 5 people are calling it, has undeniably opened up SO much in terms of matchmaking. If what we all hope is true, the lack of the UNSC as a major part of this game will remove the whole “Red vs Blue” story to why matchmaking exists. We don’t care why, we want to shoot stuff in multiplayer. Leave the epic story to campaign. (and SpOps)
We could have a return of Elites (maybe) in matchmaking, the setting on the Ark (as it clearly was or was intended to look like) could bring back fan favorite vehicles. Think about it. Nostalgia from one of the most beloved halo missions in Halo 3, why not add the most beloved vehicles from the same mission? Choppers. Hornets.
The Ark was home to VAST areas, utilize them! Multiplayer maps could once again be big and not designed for a single gametype. cough Vortex cough
Reach got it wrong with cropping campaign missions into multiplayer, but they also did something else wrong. They started making themed multiplayer maps. What was spire good for other then invasion? (May it rest in peace, ready to return)
Hearken to Halo 2 and 3. Give us a long lasting Ranking system. SR 130 was a bust, since people got there within a month and a half. While in Halo 3, it took an extraordinarily long time to rank up, without having the silly progression bar. I’m not saying copy Halo 3’s ranking system, cause we all know it was broken. But look at those. Actual, military ranks. Something to make us go, Yea, I earned the stars, not “oh…you’re 100?, yea I’ll catch up tomorrow”
Reach was intended to be a spinoff set in the early times before Halo 1. That means all those armor abilities? Yea, they don’t exist anymore. So why you brought back some of the same ones instead of going back to Halo 3 and improving from there makes no sense. Bungie took a wrong step with Reach and we (mostly) forgave them for it. We were not expecting 343i, the new caretakers of Halo to say “well anything they can do we can do better!” and watch as you merrily walk farther down the path of destruction.
We expected you to say "It feels good to be a classic. Doesn’t it 
" and have us swept back into epic multiplayer.
and lastly. Bring back the emblems? Would you? 1-9 were missed terribly in several community group areas. Along with the Cog and other things.