I’ve been reading a fair bit on the forum recently of people confused or complaining that the Sangheili in Halo 4 don’t seem to be as tough or badass as the ones fought in previous Halo games.
I think that perception is partly accurate and there is good reason.
The Sangheili in previous Halo games are part of The Convenant. They are the primary agressors in a very large, experienced and long lived war machine. Their whole lives are devoted to battle and war.
However, The Convenant is ensnared in dogma and tradition. They do not innovate and invent. The Sangheili especially are struggling enormously to get back on their feet after the end of the Human-Covenant war. They are relearning how to do everything a society needs to do to survive that isn’t related to war.
Jul 'Mdama - a former Shipmaster - through a series of unfortunate and interesting events (read the excellent books for details) ends up triggering a Forerunner teleportation system and sending himself to a random planet somewhere in the galaxy.
Luckily for him this planet is Hesduros and occupied by Sangheili.
However, and this is the key thing, the Sangheili on this planet have been cut off from The Covenant and the main Sangheili population for some time. They are unaware of the Great Schism, most of the events of the Human-Covenant war and of the Flood and the events portrayed in the Halo games up until Halo 4.
Jul knows a great many things that this isolated population has no way of verifying or disputing. With the help of Kaidon Panom he uses religious fervor to rally the population here to his cause with himself as a new prophet.
Also due to being isolated their equipment and technology has fallen into disrepair. They have probably not been training for war as effectively as the main Sangheili population. They do not have the latest armour, weapons or ships. The Unggoy on this planet are mainly farm hands and labourers.
It makes sense that sometimes The Storm lacks cohesiveness, military precision and organisation and that some amongst it’s ranks have no discipline or battlefield experience.
The Storm is a cobbled together force of religious extremists.
On the other hand humanity has been fighting a bitter war for over 10 years, adapting to face off a superior force and then The Flood, discovering new technology and science the whole time.
We have been evolving technologically at an alarming rate. Going from the brink of extinction to winning a galatic war against two foes.
The new generation of Spartans and the UNSC Infinity are the culmination of the leaps forward that have been made due to necessity and also (as we are begging to learn) from the Librarians meddling and scheming and subconsciously imparting knowledge and technology magnitudes more advanced than anything else in the galaxy.
The Spartans and the UNSC Infinity are the most advance and powerful weapon in the Galaxy*
*Until the Didact and his knights turned up of course
So I think it makes sense that The Storm don’t feel as powerful and the sometimes we have the edge on them.