Ok let's go through your points and pick them one by one;
The end of the game is emotional, and that's what all endings should be of a large franchise such as this game. It left people sad, confused, sometimes happy, but mostly sad. That's what 343 wanted to achieve, and they did.
Spartan Ops has yet to be fully dug into, we're still waiting on two more seasons before we can properly evaluate it as a whole. While it has little need to replay over and over, the inclusion of a story is a great point for people loving campaigns.
To my knowledge there are about the same amount of emblems, for Foreground and Background. So I don't see how that's correct.
The amour is a awful combination of metal put together, I can agree with you. However there are still quite good pieces of armour, my personal opinion of good ones being Scout, Operator and Venator.
The ordnance drops (initial drops) are the exact same deal as a weapon starting on the map, except they come from the sky instead of magically appearing on the ground. If they have a time, there is nothing different apart from coming from a sky. If they are random drops it discourages power weapon spawn camping, which ruined games for the opposition if one team had full control, this way it allows a chance to the losing team.
The 1-130 ranking system is rubbish I agree, however the CSR (1-50) is not. It's near identical to Halo 3's ranking system with the exception of having to view it on Waypoint, which that decision has perfectly understandable reasons behind it.
Little to no custom games? I assure you on HaloCustoms there are a fair few groups going around, you mustn't be looking hard enough if you say that.
Forge is great looking from a technical standpoint, looking at a map perspective it is kinda let down. No terrain change in Forge Islands is a bad idea. But Forge itself is not bad, it's better than Reach in many aspects.
There are a load of gametypes, and I'm sure they took the popular ones from the previous games, with the exception of Assault which was a bad call to leave out since most people enjoyed that gametype to a certain degree.
Removal of weapons was to go along with the Lore of Halo 4. But we got an entire new class; Promethean. So that new class makes up for the few that were taken out.
Flood is a fun 'new' gametype, that does need a lot more improvement, as you said, it needs to have more infected customisation. However as it stands it is still an enjoyable playlist and fun to muck around in for a while.
The maps are some of the best in the entire series I believe. Exile is way up there in my top 3 favourite maps. While Adrift is my favourite SWAT map, so I don't see why you wouldn't like them.... maybe except for Vortex, which I hate xD.
High level players have hardly any advantage. Sure they have a "few" extra weapons, but that shouldn't make a difference if you're decent at the game, you could easily beat a DMR user (which you get SO early on) with a Assault Rifle. What do you think Multiplayer is? In all the Halo games it's game after game after game. Of course it's going to be repetitive. I dunno why you make a deal about that, since it's the core of Multiplayer on any game.
The new CSR ranking ranks on how you perform for some playlists (K/D/A) and for others how you perform with a team (wins/losses). As for the pairing, I can't be certain. but from what I've experienced it seems to balance it fine for me.
There is a large explanation of the enemies, read the manual. You understand things if you read.
You're a VERY blind if you can't see the graphical improvements from Reach to this game. The game has had a massive overhaul on it's graphics engine, so saying that is pure ignorance.
Less vehicles is a bummer, especially for the larger Big Team maps. However that doesn't make much difference since there are plenty of vehicles in big maps and you have sprint. The Mantis is hardly OP, if you know how to take one out.
Loadouts? What about them? They're perfectly balanced and with armour abilities, they allow you to play how you want to. Not wanting that is restricting us way too much. I don't come from CoD either when I say that, I hate that game, I come from a standpoint that 343Industries allowed me to play how I want, and I'm grateful for that.
I am an original fan, and I totally support what 343i are doing, and see only a good future, not something bad.