Did HIMYM Earn Its Ending?

First of all, spoilers. MASSIVE SPOILERS! How I Met Your Mother is a popular sitcom that has been running 9 years, teasing its audience the whole long way with the riddle of the identity of THE MOTHER. But with its recent finale and the mystery resolved, the reaction was mixed. Did Ted end up with who he was meant to all along? Or did the creators pull a fast one, and produce an ending that was unearned? With TV audiences notoriously fickle, TV producers must consider a responsibility to the fans, and balance that with making the show they want. So was the ending of HIMYM a success or failure?