I personally agree with OP, 1-50 ranking system from halo 2 and 3 was legit. Reach was a joke, you could be teamed with players who are either better or worse than you. Having some sort of ranking system is needed, and it's understandable that the community can have different opinions about whether or not a ranking system is needed or not. On the other hand their is an other part of the community who desires a ranking system.
It felt great after getting your 50 after all the hard work you put in just to get it, and with Reach all you really needed was a good amount of playing time to achieve a high rank.