I read or saw somewhere that the game has a sort of lockers now where you can swap equpiment while in a level. The downside is, say you start the mission with a sniper rifle, untill you find one of these lockers, your stuck with the sniper rifle.

As a vanguard I loved using my shotgun for most things but sometimes I had to swap out for my pistol when I needed some precise aiming. But with this locker system, seems like when I want to get the job done, I need to rely on someone else assuming they are still alive to take the shot.