I wouldn't say the majority of people here haven't played...I don't think anybody here has had access to the beta. And I agree, let the game come out before you start making bad assumptions on it.
Bungie was a smart company....they would have been smart enough to keep up with the gaming industry just like 343 is doing. Just in a different way obviously.
It's hard to say, it has abilities like Reach and weapons like Reach but also weapons from 3....it will lean more toward Reach....but then again it will have so many new features it will be hard to compare it to either one.