Prestige mode

Now personally, I play because I enjoy the game, and i always go prestige, as i am a sucker for rank and level, but more importantly, however good the game may be, getting bored of it when not unlocking anything is a major possibility, so prestige, really, keeps it interesting for long term fans. If you are unaware what prestige is, basically, at the end of level 55, you unlock prestige mode. If you choose to use this mode, you lose (after several warnings) all Weapons, Challenges, Perks.... Well everything, except your XP and Clan Tag. Pretty lame if you dont give a shit about ranks and what badge you carry next to your name. For people who choose not to go the Prestige route, you can unlock the golden weapons instead, however pointless it may be. Most people have done it once and regretted it, because they lost the Barrett 50.Cal so they got t 55 again and stayed. What i do is: Rank up. Get to 55. Start to get bored. Go prestige. Start again. Sounds boring. Its definately not. This way, you get to play 250 hours plus, and never get bored!!! Awesome!!! Just in case you were wondering, these are the following badges you get when going prestige:

If your still not sure, check some of the forums floating around. Most people do regret it, but eventually it does feel rewarding, just dont rush into it.