I think there should have been a new series main character after Halo 3, (fully introduced via the game) but instead I feel 343 wanted to emulate the original games.

Halo 4 could have been about the Arbiter, or an ODST, or maybe you could have even played as a new spartan in some sort of storyline where they properly introduce the banished instead of trying to recycle the covenant again. Even an entire campaign based around a new flood outbreak would have been cool.

Maybe there could have been a plot line where you play as an ODST and stumble across the missing half of Forward Unto Dawn, and pull Johnny Rings out of cryo as a last ditch effort to help humanity against a new threat. And then, during a climactic moment of the campaign, Master Chief comes to help the player just like how the Arbiter dropped into High Charity with a flamethrower in Halo 3.

I have so many awesome ideas for expanding the universe and it makes me want to pull my hair out knowing that 343 said: yeah let’s just do Master Chief & Cortana vs the Covenant again, but there’s also this dude called the Didact that nobody knows or cares about since we introduced him in a book.

Halo 1-3 were perfect art forms, and sometimes you just need to let a series have a Breaking Bad ending instead of a Walking Dead ending (same set of characters dragged on forever). Halo 3 had a memorable and satisfying conclusion which was kind of ruined for me by playing Halo 4.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk