But my point is let's say 343 goes all in on Chief in Halo 6, and concludes this current Created arc in something that's rousing and everyone loves, best case scenario. The problem is that people will still want to play as Chief even after his arc is done. It's dumb and short-sighted. You will never be able to replace Chief if no other characters ever get the opportunity.
Given the first few missions and H4 and H5 respectively it's not a horrible long shot Cortana/Created story arc is wrapped up in 3 missions during H6. I like a fast paced story mission by mission, more to learn and discover while playing IMO.
I agree that fans and 343 need to find a balance for Chief vs other characters, it's not all on the studio.
One idea I'd like to see with Chief in H6 is him pushing beyond his limits, it's really where his "luck and skill" virtues shone the brightest with Nylund stories. Basically something like WZ stacking of abilities and creating a burnout of Chief mentally and/or physically and/or publicly. Hunt the Truth and the H5 pre-release marketing touched on Chief being turned on by ONI and public opinion souring too but all the way through H5 Chief is solid as a rock really.
So back to the stacking of abilities, give us cut-scenes directly into gameplay that take a toll on Chief e.g. tech cut-scenes tweaking his armour with danger/AI warnings that's not allowed etc. Fast forward to gameplay and we're stacking OS, speed boost, damage boost and just getting in a shitstorm of grunts/AI etc. Really go that one man army against impossible odds.
Perhaps this leads to a "no armour stealth mission" due to the previous mission ending we had to self destruct our MJOLNIR armour to secure a pathway or destroy a base or due to stacking damage etc. Now we play as solo badass Chief being revealed (almost 100%) and pure talent saving his skin. Take it one step further and show Chief having to trust another when not in his armour to secure his next suit upgrade and get back at it, it's a really nice visual metaphor with no armour and a vulnerable John at the same time.
Hell stack some vehicles with abilities and have them blow up from over limit use. I want to see things go beyond the standard fare and with logical explanation, not just here's a forerunner mod from the librarian with a glowing light that never does anything from that point forward. From WZ REQs I've now always wanted to see those weapons variations in campaign and with purpose, tons of gameplay and cutscene material to draw upon.