I've played halo since CE. Ive played every campaign except Reach and to me the "lore" of halo provides no incentive to play the game. I personally enjoy halo 5 and can't say its completely a "joke". there are things i feel were ridiculous from 343. for example.
the campaign was a joke. didn't play it on legendary i guess so that was probably why it went so fast, but seriously. 15 missions and 3 of them (or more?) are just running around talking to people for 5 minutes. the other missions are just killing warden over and over (7 -9 times i believe?). not a fun or rewarding campaign in my opinion, and it was way too short. that being said id not play halo for the campaign, and the MM is balanced well.
the lack of split screen is a joke, especially given the way they announced the decision (shortly before launch after countless had pre-ordered, many had no idea until they got the game).
the lack of variety in permanent playlists is a joke. weekend playlists were a joke. the removal of doubles for over 2 months to "tweak" thing like gun spawns and such is just a joke.
the lack of quality maps at launch was a joke. the way they have made all forged maps for BTB and still only have a handful of good maps is also a joke.
its also hilarious they keep doing things and not saying anything about it. for example; release halo ce pistol. say its only available on forge, customs games, and warzone. then place the gun on a BTB map and wait for people to react? I love the halo ce pistol so I'm not really complaining about this particular case but giving an example. that seems like a good joke on their part, but i could see them removing it. (recurve if anyone hasn't played it since the update, at the lookouts with one clip)