Now that we have it confirmed that Firefight is not coming back, I for one hope some of the Spartan Ops missions emulate Firefight, at least to a point. Instead of just shooting wave after wave of enemies, do somewhat like Mass Effect 3 has and add in mini objectives. In that game you have to defend an area for a period of time, or disable 4 different beacons and the like.

Beyond this, I’d like to see some character driven missions. Though we will be playing a nameless spartans, I’d like to see some interaction with other characters from Halo.
A mission with/for the Arbiter to quell unrest among close colonies of Humans and Covenant.
Various missions dealing with the resurgence of colony militants, one of which being the father of one of the Spartan IIIs from Glasslands.
A mission to save Master Chief wouldn’t that be epic.

Spartan Ops is still so new and not fully realized by we fans that there is so much potential for great gameplay here. It’s one new aspect of Halo 4 I’m looking forward to most.

-HFFL