People play ranked to get achievements and track their stats, I know I do. what I think the real problem is that the xbox live system is incomplete. We have player matches fun practice type sessions that are open to inviting and easy playing with friends. Ranked matches which are meant to track individual skill in a more strict environment. This is the same for every 360 game. What they left out was, Teams. We need to have a whole other system for ranked Team games, and player Team matches. This is not epics fault nor I think it is Microsoft. It is simply something that got overlooked. If we had team ranked, people wouldn't be going into a ranked system that is not meant to accommodate friend play and whining so much about it not letting them do so. The REAL solution would be lobbying Microsoft to implement said Team system.
I agree that halo 2's matchmaking system should have become the benchmark for all multiplayer games. It is not up to epic, it is up to Microsoft. So why don't we all switch our feedback from nonconstructive blab, to a united lobby to see an xbox live update that includes this system.