Every single '5' division is horrendous
First some backround.
Started halfway through this season in Silver 5. It's taken me a total of 62 games with a overall 68% win rate (42W-20L) to climb to Gold 5 as a solo-only player. My MMR is somewhere around Gold 1 or 2 currently.
Why am I telling you this? I wanted to tell you that I've experienced three different '5' divisions in my climb. Silver 5, Gold 5, and Plat 5. I wanted to voice how ridiculously hard it is to get demoted between tiers. Dropping from plat to gold, gold to silver, etc. As opposed to dropping between divisions. Dropping from Silver 3 to Silver 4, G2 to G3, etc. Dropping tiers is wwaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy too hard. In my ranked journey, my MMR started from Silver 5 and is currently almost Plat 5. Through this rankedjourney I want to point out that every single 5 division is HORRIBLE. I would like to point out that this didn't stop me from climbing, but I am speaking of some of the players at these divisions. I would take a full team of G1s over Plat 5s all day every day.
IMPORTANT: I want to make it a point that this does not apply to every single player in a 5 division. There are plenty of people who deserve to be there. All the following statements will be aimed at the other 50% who have no business being the rank they are.
Let's get this out of the way. Silver 5 is a joke. The few games I had around this MMR were horrible. Easy as hell to win, but horrible. Massive amounts of flaming and salt the likes of which I've never seen anywhere else. Everyone here is one of those people who thinks they know everything, but knows nothing. I'm not saying I know everything or that I'm an amazing player, but at least I know to not start Baron with the entire enemy team up, healthy, and in the area. You get my point. They are not afraid to tell you that you suck and why while they're pinging the team into certain doom. Unfortunately, this was the MMR I started at so I cant compare it to high Bronze.
Once I made it to Silver 3-4, my MMR was around Silver 2. The funny thing about that is this is when I started getting matched with and against Gold 5s as well. Gold 5s dont give a shit plain and simple. They're already locked in for their end of season skin and border. They'll feed or afk or are legit boosted. One weird thing is that the toxicity in chat goes down. Nobody wants to ruin their end of season rewards. Silver 1 is leaps and bounds better than Gold 5.
For anyone who is wondering what Gold 5 looks like, this is what I saw once I finally reached it. I shit you not.
By the time I hit S2, my MMR was mid Gold. This is where I started to experience Plat 5 players. The main thing about Plat 5 players is their egos are MASSIVE. Plat 5 is in a state of such disarray that I was getting matched against multiple plats at a time in Silver 2. This will not stop them from saying "you are shit because you're Silver" while they are feeding uncontrollably. Let me give you an example from my final S2 to S1 promo game.
Now take a look at the difference between Jhin (Gold 1) and Viktor & Janna (Plat 5). Yes, this is just one game, but it sums up my observations from this MMR. Not trying to toot my own horn, but I did camp bot and got him very fed. I also feel the need to point out that Viktor was cursing out his team and telling them they all suck and what they should have done in the post game chat, above what is visible. Notice how Janna calls him out for being Toxic. Apparently it was happening all game. I can kind of confirm because I got a free kill off him because he was typing. Also, he did not hold back from telling me I was shit because I was Silver and that I got carried, below what is visible.
Another thing I wanted to point out is I've been tracking my MMR along the way through op.gg. Yes, op.gg isnt 100% accurate and you have to take it with a grain of salt, but want to know something funny I noticed once I hit G5? That the average MMR for Gold 5 is 60 points lower than Silver 1.
My point is that it is MUCH too difficult to drop between tiers. I know I'm going to get downvoted into oblivion because everyone wants to have their borders secure even if they lose 15 games in a row at 0 LP, but that doesn't change the fact that it's bullshit. There are a metric shit ton of people in every '5' division who flat out don't deserve to be there. Period. Not only do they not deserve to be there, but they are ruining games for everyone around them. How can you tell me that a Plat 5 player whose MMR is SO BAD that they are getting matched against Silver 2s deserves to stay at that rank? Why is it that rank isn't assigned based on MMR and instead it's based off either boosting, or grinding enough to get a lucky win streak and get promoted?
Unpopular opinion x1000 but a lot of the safety nets need to be cut away between tiers. I see players with 400+ games played with a 43% overall win rate still hovering in a 5 division. Unacceptable. With the introduction of DQ, you lessened the meaning of ranks already. All these safety nets and free wins in your promos if you grind enough are just throwing salt in the wound. You are taking away from people who really deserve to be where they're at by allowing these people to fester in a 5 division.
So please Riot. Give at least some meaning back to ranks. The introduction of DQ along with all the added safety nets and freebies makes it hard to come up with the motivation to do it legit. Dynamic Queue is here to stay. Fine, I'll accept that, but you need to start cutting away some safety nets.
