Hohohoho, lots of emotion in this thread! Still, remember to be respectful to one another, whether you're 14, 30, or even older than 40 (so old!).
My personal thoughts on the new system? I'm not sure yet, I haven't had much time to play the past while due to work ramping up, so I'll reserve final judgement when I've had more opportunity to play it.
One idea that I did like, and Contingency hinted at, was a similar loadout system to what we have now but with reduced munitions, OD-capability, etc.
Basically it would play out like this: You'd spawn in your chosen armour with your chosen weapons, but you'd have a lower ammunition count, no 'equipped' items (think handnades at this point) and a gimped version of the standard OD. Basically, the 'stream' overdrive would have a limited duration and a less powerful knockback effect. The 'burst' overdrive would have less duration and a less powerful knockback effect as well.
Once the player visits an ammo station, then the player will receive their full loadout: full ammunition, Overdrive type (whether it's the standard OD boosted to full strength, or 'other'), and equipped items (handnades, etc).
This should help keep Legions faster pace (and an easier 'pick up and play' aspect), with players still being able to function in their chosen role (be it an offensive or defensive position) at spawn, just not as effectively. The ammo/inventory stations are still important to gameplay as they would boost the player's effectiveness, but also allow more exotic (and powerful) items to be introduced that probably would not be a good idea to allow players to spawn with (a deployable turret comes to mind).
Reading through this thread, I did like the idea of a 'loadout screen' on startup. An added bonus to such a screen is that there could be tooltips for the weapons and armour that would allow new players to somewhat familiarize themselves with the weapon or armour type and understand what weapons/gear would best serve the role they want to play. Of course, I would like to see such a screen be toggleable, since veteran players would already know which loadout they want to use (with hotkeys available to choose other loadouts), and being able to jump right into the game without even seeing the loadout screen.