I understand that you wish for more of a challenge, but it's fun and entertaining to play with friends or alone, in my opinion. It also helps with building up your commendations, and they included it within the challenges, so you can strive to complete those, too, to earn more experience. And, obviously, if you don't like it, just steer clear of it, and don't worry about it. You aren't required to play it. Also, the game has only been out about a week, so I wouldn't expect everything to work perfectly, just yet. They may change the mechanics of Spartan Ops, and/or introduce new playlists or game modes, like firefight, as time goes on.
