I have just listened to the 343 podcast, and I don't like their decision not to make Halo CE online.
First I'm gona address the Pistol issue, because everyone brought it up, and even Bungie themselves have always said it's overpowered.
It is a brilliant weapon because as some gentlemen (and maybe ladies) have already mentioned, everyone has one. It has range, though not infinite and it's even usable close up. Everyone starts with one. So WHATEVER weapon the opponent has, if you played you cards right and caught them at the right distance, you have a chance of taking them down, rocket launcher and all. Remember Halo 2's default SMG? What was the first thing you did? Swap it, because if you go up against someone who as a weapon other than a SMG, then your only hope is your 2 grenades. That in my opinion is crap. As a game that attempts to start everyone on an equal footing, it's crap that you are given a weapon that affectively useless.
I also agree with the rock-paper-scissors analogy that sums up Halo Reache's multiplayer. It feels like so much of it depends on odds, rather than skill.
I learnt how to use the CE's pistol much to the annoyance of my brother. My brother would beat me at Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, everything including Halo CE. But when I learnt how to use the pistol, I suddenly had a fighting chance. I didn't get ambushed trying to get a power weapon because I started with something I could use. I didn't win on every map, because I couldn't exploit the range on every map (obviously maps have different ranges...). The pistol wasn't the answer to everything but it gave me a fighting chance and it felt good to be empowered at the start for once.
In my experience, all the people who moan about Halo CE's pistol are the people who died from it and couldn't figure out how to use it. In which case, you either find a counter statergy or find a new game to play. There are plenty out there at the moment. It's the same with COD quickscope issue: the only people who moan are people who die from it and think it's unfair. To put it harshly, man-up or get lost. Seriously, no one is forcing you to play a game you keep loosing at.
If the pistol was overpowered, EVERYONE would use it and it would quickly get boring because it's clear it's the only affective way of getting kills. That didn't happen with Halo CE.
And as further proof and in response to the 343 podcast, how did Halo PC online multiplayer balance? From what I hear people still play it to this day, so it sounds like the balancing works fine online.
And as for the larger issue using Reach's engine for the multiplayer: I hate the arguement that they don't want to "split" the Reach community. The Reach community is exactly that: they will always play Reach. In fact you'll probably find Halo CE online would attract new players to Halo, because it is a very different game. Activision do not have this narrow mindset, and the last 3-4 COD games have tons of people still playing all of them.
So I'm not going to bother with Reach anymore. There's so many things about it that piss me off, and now this is the final nail in the coffin. I do enjoy it, yes, but I'm not going to play a game where so many crap discissions are made. I will be getting Halo CE and I hope Halo 4 turns out well, but Reaches multiplayer doesn't deserve anymore of my time.
Have fun with your armour lock and your only-head-shots-kill rifles.