I’m ok with developers telling me their preferred difficulty. I might not have tried Halo on Bungie’s stated “best” difficulty, heroic, had they not said. But having tried it, I agree. It feels right.
But if Bungie, or 343, or Microsoft told me hey, if you’re not playing on Heroic you’re just watching a movie, I’d probably say well screw this noise. I have lots of other things I could be doing.