Now, another great thing that took place that night were the extensive and thought provoking conversations I had with Ellis and Frank. It truly was something else. Towards the end of my heavy playtime with the Defiant Map Pack, Ellis was really curious to know what I thought of the maps and that's when I chose to let him know how I really felt about both the maps, but Halo: Reach as a whole. I told him straight up that as much as I love the Defiant Map Pack, Halo: Reach's core mechanics (or specifically, 'the big 3' [Armor Lock, Bloom and Melee change] are what I referred to when talking to both Ellis and Frank]) and how the big 3 are preventing me from loving the Defiant Map Pack and any other map in Halo: Reach exponentially more than I do if these elements were gone.
I'm not going to go into specifics of what Ellis and Frank's responses were in fear out of putting words in their mouths that they never said, but what I CLEARLY and EXPLICITLY got from both of them was, well....
I'll leave you with this quote that I will never forgot from Ellis:
"We are 343 Industries. We do everything for the community. We are listening, trust me, please. We. are. listening. Support means more to us than just worrying about playlists and new maps." At this point he was having a huge grin on his face and when I continued to grill him on the big 3, he said "Don't worry, Domino. I would not be having this huge grin on my face while telling you all of this if I wasn't serious. This is only the beginning."
Source
Interesting, to say the least. Halo 2 wasn't the godly game it was until it's first TU which fixed the melee system. Wonder how reach will be after a possible TU