But...surely the casual/"noobs" community is what they SHOULD cater to? Competitive people aren't the majority, never forget that, they have to cater to their majority of the audience, and most of them are casual players.
I like some of the features, and i am a competitive player, so saying they never should of added them, just because of what you say is an over exaggeration (don't bring figures into it as there is no direct link between the two, there are other factors involved.)
The reason Halo can be seen to be on a decline is because people like other games, as i said, back in the Halo 3 days there was only really that and CoD, and that's why more people played CoD, but now because of the variety of both FPS and other games, people like other things.
I agree with you that in places they made bad decisions yes, but saying they have us fooled because Halo is dying is a bit unfair, as said, there are other factors, not just the gameplay.