To clear some things up here. First of all if you were a 48 post a link off of bungie of a game where you played as a 48. I find that very hard to believe that you got that 48 LEGIT. I reached a 43 in snipers and a 40 in slayer and if you want I can prove it to you.
As for your post, I agree the ranks were more rewarding and desirable. Also you should have mentioned the range of levels people could match. I dont remember them all but I remember the last range of levels was from 36-50, meaning that if you had even 1 person on your team that was a 36 you could match people in that range. But if you were a 36 and you searched with low levels, you were more likely to match people in the 31-33 range, which gives you less exp for a win, but a better chance of winning seeing you are probably playing worse players.