Just wasn’t into using Jack. Only used Jack when required and a few times to shock enemies when hiding behind cover and they just wouldn’t move.
Have you ever though of what could mean for the balance and difficulty of games like Halo and Gears if they had weapon wheels? developers are not idiots and know what they are doing most of the times, so before declaring anything as “bad design” you should think twice.
Risk/reward is not bad design, do you seriously believe that Halo and Gears are badly designed games because the main protagonist can’t carry 15 weapons at the same time? both series push the player to make choices and this adds another strategic layer to the gameplay which is only a good thing IMO and something that makes both series unique…to give you an example if you choose to carry the Lancer instead of say the Retro Lancer you trade accuracy and clip size for firepower or if you carry a sniper instead of a rifle your whole playstyle changes. These are not badly designed and dated choices those are good things that actually make the game more interesting, fun and engaging.
Gears 5 is a linear game that you go from mission A to mission B to complete the game with 5 mins skiff sections in between with optional exploration and optional stealth…and talking about stealth in fact the cloak ability of Jack is pretty badass and saved my ass a few times in battle at Experienced/Insane.
GoW 2018 is essentially a simpler version (puzzles and platforming were dumbed down) of the past games with a different camera, the essence of the game is not that different as you may think. Either way the skiff and the boat are the same thing, a way to traverse the hub and go to the next mission while the characters are having a little chit chat on the way. I personally was fine with both.
You should play the game at Insane to see the full potential of Jack’s abilities (it’s a shame that you didn’t use Jack more, it’s a really great addition to the series) and get a better understanding of what I said above about the balance and the risk/reward design of the weapon pick ups in Gears. The excellent gameplay of Gears really shines at the Insane difficulties IMO. 
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I think gears needs a overhaul especially the multiplayer. It’s way to hard to get into if your new or returning to the franchise. Only the hard-core are left but thats such a small number. Animations need redoing they still look like they are from 360 days. Also I think gears needs to do what halo is doing and separate the campaign from the multiplayer. Make multiplayer free and just keep updating it. Even do some crazy things like gears BR would be insane have it in a smaller tighter map with lots of cover like a shipping yard or in a mall. Would be intense having to constantly watch your surroundings