Do we need to have decay for Diamond - Masters?

I feel it just pushes people away and makes them feel pressured to play so they don’t drop in rank. I feel decay only really makes sense for GM/Top 500 players but for everyone below do we really need it? Imo I think it should be removed from those ranks because I don’t see a point in having it.

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Decay only exists in an attempt to curb out the smurfers, but it had done nothing good, and has a bad side effect of displacing the smurf accounts into platinum-diamond region.

It should have never existed in the first place, why have it when it only is an inconvenience to legitimate players while smurfers are still laughing at us?

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I think it should exist for t500 because of the limited spots it has so it makes sense to try and maintain your spot but below that I feel it’s pointless. If what your saying about it churning out smurfs is true then it’s even more pointless lol.

Top 500 is a different beast, but if you are in Diamond, you’re already in the top 10% of players world-wide (masters is top 3%, gm top1%).

At that level, I’d expect you to be playing every day and experimenting with new strategies.

I can see a reason for players not dropping out of diamond tier, but I can’t see why you wouldn’t expect to drop from masters or grandmasters if you stop playing for 2 weeks.

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The difference between Diamond and Master tier compared to T500 is that T500 has limited spots. It makes complete sense for their to be decay their and an incentive for players to keep playing to they can hold that spot. Diamond and Masters don’t have that, they are in the top 10% but imo the stakes aren’t high enough their to warrant a decay. It feels like it’s pushing you away and making to you feel pressured to play rather than the opposite. That’s just my take however.

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Agree 100 percent. I played at master for one season and I couldnt keep up so I didn’t bother placing since then. I just play my pc account instead in plat and have so much more fun without the pressure

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Considering the devs use a top-down model for how they develop the meta, I’ve always thought they wanted their top players to be more active and to innovate new strategies. You don’t get that kind of innovation so much if the top players simply reach their target SR and then stop playing comp for the entire season for fear of dropping.

You want the top players to be active, playing out games and facing against lower-ranked players in order for them to reach that rank. You don’t want GMs who are only GMs because they beat enough Diamonds/low-masters.

I’ll admit I don’t know what the SR drop rate is precisely and whether or not that SR drop rate can be tweaked, but I don’t think it should completely disappear.

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Metas only really start to get serious roughly around mid-high masters and up below that their usually… rocky for a lack of a better word. I definitely don’t think decay should disappear but should be put where it actually has a better effect and incentives players to keep playing rather than pressure and force them too.

It is pretty annoying. I love this game but lately I’ve had to force myself to play comp and it feels like a chore. I’ve let myself decay from low Master/Mid-high Diamond for the past 4 seasons because once I’ve got my rewards comp isn’t as enticing.

If I wasn’t forced to play because I need to in order to maintain my rank I could play when I had the stomach for it, instead of having to grind through 5 games every week. That’s just me though. 5 games isn’t unreasonable, I just don’t think people below GM should have to worry about it in the first place.

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That’s actually me near the end of season. I’ll play maybe 1 or 2 games so I don’t decay then I’ll stop. I like playing when I feel like it not because I know if I don’t then I’ll drop SR :confused:

Heres the distribution for competitive:

At only 10% of the population being able to obtain Diamond, it kinda makes sense that thats where they draw the line for decay

I said in a previous reply that I get that it’s 10% of the player base but the stakes in Master and Diamond aren’t even in the same league as T500, where decay actually makes sense there. In T500 their are limited spots and yours could be taken at any given moment by someone else. It makes sense to have decay their because it incentivises those players to keep playing so they don’t lose their spot. In Diamond and Masters you don’t have to worry about things like that so why the need for a decay? All it really serves is to deincentivise and push them away because they feel pressured and forced to play just so they don’t lose their rank. I get it’s 10% and all but when compared to T500 why do we need it in those ranks?

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