A downside to the new Fuel Rod SPKR, and maybe also an example of why new weapons have been harder to implement in Infinite
The new Fuel Rod SPKR is not ideal, although I'd rather get this than nothing. I understand that Halo Studios has moved most resources to the new game and therefore are repurposing cometic skins to turn into new weapons, something that the community has actually been asking them to do with things like the M99 Stanchion Gauss weapon model for the Sniper Rifle. Even though it looks like a kit-bashed monstrosity, I'd certainly rather get new unique weapons (even if they look kinda goofy) over just another store weapon model.
However, one thing I was originally looking forward to with the Fuel Rod is the PvE aspect of it. The Banished need more heavy munitions in their arsenal, and the Fuel Rod could have filled that niche. In campaign Brutes use the SPKR instead of a Fuel Rod, and while this makes sense from a lore perspective of the Banished being resourceful and scavengers, it would still be nice to see a Fuel Rod being used by the Banished in Firefight and custom campaign levels. Unfortunately, neither Grunts nor Elites have the proper animations to use SPKRs in Halo Infinite, but in every other game they can use the Fuel Rod.
So, the realization I had earlier is that a side effect of getting a Fuel Rod SPKR variant instead of a full-fledged Fuel Rod is that both Grunts and Elites are still unable to use it. This is especially negative for things like Gruntpocalypse Firefight, where the poor Grunts really needs some extra firepower. This made me realize something else, which is perhaps one reason it's been harder to get new weapons in Infinite. Not only do they have to animate new weapons for the players, but they also have to fully animate and program the AI to use new weapons as well. This considerably increases the workload to adding new weapons (unless they are just modified variants of existing weapons, like the two we've recently gotten). Infinite AI also has the unique ability in Halo to pick up weapons from the ground, something that is a nice addition, but adds complexity to the AI sandbox. Infinite AI can also be used in any Forge or custom game setting, making their interactions with the new sandbox weapons far more common. In Halo 5, all new weapons they added didn't need to be implemented with the AI in mind at all for picking up, firing or reloading animations, as all the AI couldn't interact with dropped or swap weapons in Halo 5 Warzone.
Maybe this is one extra reason that the Fuel Rod and other new weapons have been so hard to add to Infinite's sandbox, as there's more than just the player animations and balancing to consider. Just an interesting thought I had. It also brings up the question: will Brutes or even Elites be able to use the Mutilator shotgun when it's added in the Summer Update?