It seems 343 has eliminated nearly every weapon that is equivalent or worse than your starting weapons. In Halo 3 and Reach, there were weapons that were hardly used at all because of how underpowered they were (duels, plasma repeater, needler, etc.)
Now, all the non-power weapons can be used in load outs and the rest of the weapons have been beefed up so much that you will almost 99% of the time trade your secondary for whatever you come across.
This is great. Now I don’t have to wonder why certain weapons are in the game. Every weapon seems to have its place now.
The only one I suspect that will actually be ignored is the concussion rifle. It is useful on people and vehicles…but doesn’t have the kill times or the capacity for many kills like the Saw, needler, and sticky detonator.