Exactly...I will never understand the even playing field argument. You still start with the same options. In addition, the (semi) random weapon spawn thing technically makes for a more even playing field, but veterans seem to hate that. Yes, I know the argument: its even at the start...
alright, I'll try to post why I hate it.
The creation of perks, especially passive and non instantly recognizable perks is also the creation of a battlefield where consistent behaviour is diminished, therefore diminishing the skill and increasing the random nature of a game.
In fast paced competitive multiplayer games, seconds and miliseconds are crucial for determining the outcome of a match. The best players are the ones who have the strongest understanding of the fundementals in the game they're playing. They actively calculate the risk and reward of their situations and the ones who do so the best tend to be the most victorious. By creating user unique stats, the foundation, the fundemental elements that make a game what it is, is no longer reliable and it forces players to throw skill to the wayside and instead rely on whatever meta is most popular or overpowered at the time.
imagine the same situation in halo 3 vs halo reach:
two players (you and an enemy) enter opposite sides of a corridor with the same weapons (br/dmr) and grenades(2 frag grenades). Meanwhile another player half way through the battle starts to flank you. In both cases you're winning the firefight between the player infront of you.
this is where things start to get very difficult and where skill starts to shine.
In halo 3, you see that the enemy players sheild goes down and that your next shot will kill the player, regardless of his action, you know you will kill him. You were the better shot in the firefight, by all means you deserve the kill. You can account for any movement to lead your next shot, or use your grenades. At this point you can you start focusing on how to deal with the flanking oppenent, you can check the radar, start thinking about how you want to position your grenade throw or plan your movement. You can do this because you know that the opposing player is the exact same as you, he has the same starting health/shields, he is bound to the same movement pattern etc.
Now in reach the same thing. You see the players shields go down and know that your next headshot or grenades will kill him. However, because the opposing player has any number of skills available to him armorlock, sprint, or jetpack, you can no longer ensure your kill. You now have to acount for 3 times the amount of actions you previously had to deal with, so instead you now have to wait and act appropiately. The consistency that allowed for your skilled actions before are completely negated by the opposing players abilities. The potentional for a doublekill is nearly completely negated because your opposing player was given a free "get out of jail free" card, and even if you get the kill, the precious time spent to ensure you got the kill is no longer being used to deal with the flanking enemy.
The more "options" you throw into a game that are active on one player then another, the less consistent the game becomes and the more indeterminite and more random it becomes. Imagine if one player has more sheilds or hp, or slightly faster run speeds. All of this effects the competitive nature of how the game gets played. It's not about the perk itself, is about how players have to deal with the inconsistent nature of the battlefield.
Most comepitive games come down to two things:
meta
micro
In fps games the meta can be considered things such as map control or strategy, money management in cs, etc. The micro is how a player executes, gets kills etc.
By creating player random weapon spawns, the meta, or stategy of controling the map and weapon spawns is lost, by introducing the abilities and perks, the micro is gone.
Instead it becomes more about getting lucky, or having the most options at your disposal. A player gets a bunch of kills because they just happen to be around when a weapon drop came in instead of planning for it. A player got lucky because they just happened to have the right perk/ability for the time. It's not about who's most skilled, who was the most accurate or had the best strategy.
