Halo 1 was groundbreaking, without real precedent. Halo 2 was uncontested, standing head-and-shoulders above all challengers on Xbox Live.

Halo 3 and onward were neither, as of course they were sequels and by the time they were introduced the competition had caught up to the breath-taking changes introduced by Bungie... so there were other titles to draw players away.

The irony is that the steps Bungie (and 343) took to combat this, the attempts to innovate anew, were rejected by the grognard populations and are the very things they kick against the hardest.

-- Steve has grown weary over the years from contesting the received wisdom that apparently goes unchallenged on GAF, and frankly that more than anything else has eroded his enjoyment of MatchMaking in Halo.