Well said, you took the words right from me.
It is not the Dev's fault you can not learn to watch the skies or back up from Armor Lock. Armor Lock is not in Halo 4, and Jet Pack is a lot less powerful. Your argument on that is invalid. I mean, realistically, would we not have soldiers using modifications and abilities in combat? Because we already do. Halo: Reach's armor abilities were not very good, granted, but Halo 4's armor abilities have been developed as long as the game. They are very balanced. I'll break it down for you.
Promethean Vision: It has a lot shorter range than any videos you have watched. They nerfed it after all the playtests you saw. It can only see through one wall. No cross mapping either way. It takes longer to recharge now. No videos currently show this change yet.
Jet Pack: It has also been nerfed. It is more of a large boost for your jump. It might be like Reach's Jet Pack but with less than half the fly-time. It could be a single boost that takes 3 seconds to recharge. All we know is that people like you killed it. Either way, it should help you have less to worry about. Which is a bad thing. Now less skill is needed to kill Jet Packers. Feel skilled now?
Armor Lock: It is out. Not in Halo 4. O.o
The ranking system puts Halo 2's system to shame. I'll give you a bit of fact. You earn XP to rank up. Each rank nets you Spartan Points to buy loadout items. This XP is earned by completing matches, winning, and doing good in a game. Here is some speculation: It is likely that kills, deaths, snipes, assassinations, splatters, etc. all count towards or take from this. Which means you can probably rank down. That is my belief. I hope that is the system. It answers all problems and makes boosting that much harder. Maybe it's what we have in store, maybe not. Let's hope it is.
If anything, Reach was a step in the right direction, but that step landed in a puddle. Now look at Halo 4. It feels like Halo 3, but has Sprint and AA's. If it's gameplay isn't better than Halo 3, you likely need to become an indie game developer. That's your only hope for those mechanics to come back.
In a nutshell, you aren't as skilled as you think you are. I thought I was good until I ran into a couple of fellows who could whip me blindfolded. There are people out there who can and will own you.