Fun is very subjective and it’s impossible to create a service product that provides fun for every single consumer.
The biggest error of your post, is your title. I can ensure you, that not everyone had fun with the Halos Bungie created. I know many who hated CE, H2, H3, and Reach. I hated, despised, insert all synonyms of hate, in regards to Reach’s multiplayer. See, +1 to not having fun with a Bungie created Halo. Just disproved your whole thread, just relating my perspective to your title.
Now, lets dive deeper into your opinion. You make it seem like people who play Halo to try and win the game, such a negative person. Also, why does this person you are describing an adolescent. I am far from an adolescent, and yet, after reading your post, in your eyes, I would be under this so called “tryhard” category.
Is your memory being completely blocked by nostalgia? Do you remember H2? Halo 2 was far more competitive than H5 currently is and will be in the future. The social features in that game were minuscule compared to H5. H3, had a balance of social and ranked playlists, but it was not perfect. I feel that people forget how bad the social playlists were plagued with 4-5 man general (aka level 50s) teams. I guess if you consider that fun, sure H3 was fun for some, but as mentioned previously, it was not fun for everyone. I actually did not enjoy H3 as much as H:CE and H2, and quit playing Halo, which I did not do for the previous games.
Trust me, I completely agree that 343 failed in the social 4v4 category for H5. There needs to be more playlists that are unranked, so people from all ranks can play together without worrying about going down in a rank. But, to sit here and state everyone had fun with the Bungie Halo titles, is completely false.
Many people are having fun with H5, I’m sorry you are not one of those people.