Actually Zenren, I’ll side with you on this one but point out that this problem not only happens all the time but is an indicator of how the system actually works. It is my belief that MOST of this argument is really about the question “How does an average winrate of 50% allow anyone to change ranks?”
What you’re describing, an SR that is much lower than MMR, happens with decayed players. A person could have a MMR of 4500 and an SR as low as 3000*. The way they handle this shows what they mean by “chasing” SR. It’s visible and up front. Basically, you are given more SR on a win and less on a loss until your SR is up to the right rank.
If you keep playing at 1400 MMR you will have, overall, a 50% win rate, right? If, somehow** you actually do end up with an SR of 800 then you’ll gain a bunch for a win and lose hardly anything for a loss until it all adds back up to 1400.
This isn’t what actually happens, though, what actually happens is explained in a longer post of mine here:
The system wouldn’t work by holding MMR steady. If you lose enough that your SR goes down to 800 from 1400…your MMR is gonna go down with it, that’s how these systems work. If your ACTUAL skill remains at 1400 then those games will become progressively easier.
Now, there are people that will say that decayed players have special rules, but those people just want to convince themselves and others that they are better than their SR indicates. There is no reason to think that any discrepancy between SR and MMR is handled differently. It’s a rare bird that judges their skill correctly. Try to be that bird.
*(this may be wrong simply due to time constraints of how long it would take to drop 1500 points from decay)
**(I’m not saying this is likely or even possible, but it’s people’s perception so I’ll roll with it)