First off, I don't think Shockbolt was intending to insult you Snake. What he was saying was that he valued being able to outsmart an opponent over just outshooting them, not that you were unintelligent.
This however brought me to a point that I think needs to be made: Balance is not simply making sure the better shot wins. Balance implies that all parts of the game are fair between the players, so that one player or team cannot win in a way that is not based on being more skilled. There are many types of skill however: Skill at lining up shots with a variety of weapons, skill at landing grenades precisely, skill at predicting where players will go, skill at acquiring risky power weapons or power ups, dextrous skill at moving your avatar around the map efficiently/ making difficult jumps, and probably a few other things I'm missing. A well balanced game makes sure that the player who is better in these categories overall will win so long as they don't slip up, leaving some room for variation because, lets face it, even the best player can have a bad game. Most of the best players are such great shots than unless one has a bad day they assume that their opponents will land almost all of their shots. Because of this, highly competitive players have to be good in the other areas in order to have a chance, and so people specialize. Some people are better with a diverse range of weapons, others are better at predicting player movement, and others are better at moving around the map. This was demonstrated on the last game of the 1 v 1 Tourney hosted over the past few months. Both players hit pretty consistently, so it came down to their other skill to decide the winner.
I could probably keep going on this and write a massive text wall, but no one really likes those. The point is, skill encompasses playing smart, not just how well you can shoot, and balance is making sure that the player with the better overall demonstration of skills of all types is the winner. However, it isn't playing smart to use a system that breaks one of these skills, it's abusing a broken system. s an example, personal ordnance removes the need to have skill at controlling a maps weapons, a skill that separates the average player from the more competitive player. Suddenly, the player who may not be as good a shot but who was very good at controlling power weapon drops has had everything he has trained for taken away. This player was playing smart to set up situations in which he/she could have a better chance of getting these weapons, but now the player with the better shot gets weapons just for being a better shot. Personal ordnance actually removes the need to master that skill in favor of just shooting. This is just one example of course, but it serves to show one way that Halo 4 removed a focus on well rounded skill in favor of simple shootem-up skill.
On a final note, fun is entirely subjective. Some people just want to shoot and run around and can have a great time playing almost anything. Others however want to test their personal set of skills they have honed over years against others. And many more people fall somewhere in between or may like to play both ways at different times. It is the great failing of Halo 4 to not offer options for all types of players, in both matchmaking and custom game options.
