This thread is 5 pages long, but only maybe 10-12 posts actually offer something more than just "armor ablitys suk get rid of tem." At least TRY to explain why, people.
No one has of yet mentioned in this thread the one big thing that makes Halo vastly superior to most other current games: customization. The amount of creativity and originality that players can apply to the last two Halo games is, quite simply, better than any other game out there. Right now, I'm talking about Custom Games only, I'll get to multiplayer later.
I believe that Armor Abilities should be kept in the Halo series just for a broader selection of creativity for Forgers and Custom Game players. Halo's multiplayer is amazing, but I for one have played more Custom Games than all of my multiplayer games from Halo 3 and Reach combined. Aside from the fiction, Halo's Custom Game/Forge options are what kept me to the series thus far. If AAs are taken out of Reach, that's an entire branch of gameplay that Forgers can't take advantage of. That would actually be a huge step back in terms of gameplay. If you don't believe me, you need to check out the incredible things that people have come up with. My first suggestion would be to check out Forgehub.com
As for my stance on AAs in multiplayer, I think the IDEA of AAs is great. Unfortunately, Bungie didn't execute this idea as well as their fanbase was hoping. Rather than adding to gameplay, AAs broke it and made combat somewhat frustrating. Bungie also made AAs way too "common". Anything that powerful should NOT be something that you immediately start with. AAs were treated by Bungie as something on the same level as the AR and Magnum when, in reality, they were game changers. Something that could be treated in the same class as Rocket Launchers or Sniper Rifles. They were Power Weapons.
AAs ARE a good idea. You can't tell me that, before Reach came out, you weren't excited for their addition. They just needed a whoooooole lot more testing and polish before the final game was released. I'm sure that Sprint and Evade are AAs that are unanimously deemed as acceptable in Reach. Now if the rest of the AAs were closer to being as useful and balanced as those two (and less gimmicky, honestly).