I cant wait for Halo:Reach. It will most likely be reverted back to the good ol' Halo Combat Evolved days. The BR is getting stale, allthough it is my #1 Tool of Destruction- I get so bored of it. I hate how the majority of players whine about the lack of BR games (ha?) in matchmaking. Halo has become centered around BRs. In Halo: Reach- there probably will not be BRs, back to good ARs and magnums (replaced BRs but a bit slower) because the events are before Halo: CE I actually hate how every game is based on strafing and 4 shots.... its annoying and boring.
Have you ever played Halo CE? The CE pistol makes the BR look like a baby rattle. With the BR, you can 4-shot and get a kill in about 4 seconds. With the pistol, you can 3-shot and get a kill in about 2 seconds. Definitely NOT slower than the BR.
Thing about the Hand Cannon is that it was actually a very skill based weapon. Unlike the BR which is almost impossible not to headshot with if the user is sober, the Pistol was actually difficult to use. You have to lead your shots and also it becomes inaccurate with rapid firing. Note that Halo: CE only had a couple pistols per map... also all the other weapons were far stronger in Halo: CE as well so the Pistol wasn't as broken as people think it was. Like seriously the AR had twice the clip size, twice the range + accuracy, and killed in only 15 bullets. The Shotgun could shoot almost 15 meters and still hit.
Many memories came from what you just said. (sigh) Perhaps Halo:Reach will remedy the situation, and bring us back into the Halo golden days. Anyway, about your original post I must somewhat agree with you. Many new mapmakers seem to just load their maps with BR's, and maybe a couple mixed dual weapons, and a power weapon. This is not a good list. In fact, I like maps with less Battle Rifles. It makes getting one and using it effectively all the more satisfying.