"Elo Hell" is not real

Competitive Discussion
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There. I said it. “Elo Hell” does not exist. It is a term simply used by low ranked players as an excuse to why there SR is so low.

I did my first placements in Season 18 after not playing Overwatch for over a year. I had no competitive experience and had pretty much only played casual modes before. I pretty much only played Moira as that was the only hero I felt I was decent at. My only placement was support at 1956.

Over the following seasons, I watched guides, streamers, reviewed my gameplay and learned about overall game knowledge (team comps, meta, hero synergies etc…) and have now hit Masters rank multiple times. My current ranks are: (profile is public if you want proof)

Tank: 3400 ~ 3600
Damage: 2900 ~ 3100
Support: 3100 ~ 3300

To the people who still think it is the matchmaker’s fault they are stuck in low ranks -

You have to be worthy of the next rank before you will rank up. You don’t get to plat by being a “good gold”. You have to solo carry your team. My mentality is that when I load into a game, my expectation for my teammates is nothing, and whatever they do on top of that is an added bonus. Just focus on yourself and only that.

I have also got some rank-specific tips to help you climb each rank!

Bronze - you just need to learn the basic mechanics of the game and how the different character matchups work (how to fight reaper when playing as wrecking ball for example).

Silver - try to stay with your team and don’t waste your ultimate! learning when and when not to ult WILL win you games.

Gold - work on positioning as platinums will punish obvious positioning mistakes

Platinum - being unpredictable, playing somewhat decent heroes/comps and more positioning

Diamond - focus supports, have consistent aim and even more positioning

Thanks for reading!

Edit - some important points

  • i play on Xbox EU servers on a controller
  • i played in a duo or solo queued mostly until i got to around diamond
  • i recommend that you group up with anyone before you play in low ranks to minimize the risk of having leavers/throwers on your team.
  • i only made an alt when i got to diamond so i could play with my silver friend; i do not use this account to tryhard or to wreck lower level people
  • tank mains are Reinhardt and Wrecking Ball
  • dps mains are Soldier 76 and Pharah
  • support mains are Baptiste and Lucio.
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Oh boy this comment section is gonna be a warzone

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oh god please change your icon.

Edit: thanks!

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My only stance…

I bought into game leap, looked at ALOT of videos and still watch their youtube stuff, and other coaches. I do aim lab (not as much), and lastly even have a game mouse. I HAD a plat account but I did drop eventually. Maybe I dont get this game - but playing at the plat level it felt good. Everyone knew where to go and what to do.

So yes you can DO those things - but please, play on NA servers on PC in my time zones and then you can convince me. Until then saying blanket statements are never true, this system is not perfect…

Matter of fact, if you DO those things, this game (kinda) place you with people who DONT do those things - its “rigged” - not to a personal level but to a statistic level.

Anyhow… glad u made it. But nah you havent experience what I have just on those facts alone.

Also think of it this way, the game is designed to give a 50/50 win percentage at ALL elos. So if your in bronze / silver and doing well, it has to fine folks not doing well to THINK it will give you a 50/50. If it slips up and you have a 60% win chance, then u actually gain LESS SR… its mind boggling. So no matter what elo, its 50/50. so people with knowledge trapped at the bottom have a harder time to overcome a bad sample of the population that doesnt have know how nor execution to “overcome” to win. And the more you do to over come your own faults, the harder the system will find folks to pair you with to make sure you dont do over 50% win.

I do think there are “windows” where it will “let you slide” - meaning the system is not working so hard - maybe even helping you. Its those windows I believe people climb out. But over time and not really looking at all the variables you will become “hardstuck”.

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It’s real you just don’t know what it means, and you showed that in your post

It doesn’t mean it’s impossible to climb, we all know it can be done

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See its stuff like this I dont know how to take really. I never said it was impossible. I even admitted there are windows of opportunity to climb. Did you even read the whole post?

And HOW did I show in a forum that I dont understand THIS game? Is that even possible? I was posting on this forum and the old one (I proposed role queue in the old forum BTW) and I’ve seen all sorts of elos since then…

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Elo hell means it takes too long to climb. The match maker can determine a mmr on a handful of matches, yet Blizzard makes comp a huge grind that burns people out

They want us to put up with tons of BS along the way when it could simply put us at our rank

Your Op missed the mark, the process is intentionally a lot longer than it needs to be

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Dude, ELO Hell just means you’ve been stuck in low ranks and can’t climb out. It’s not that complicated of a concept.

P.S. I would be 0% surprised if this game was rigged. There are times where I’m doing well and then magically, I have bad game after bad game.

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Glad to see you’re in full support of a total ladder reset! If ELO hell isn’t/can’t be real, the high-ranked players will have no problem grinding out their high ranks post-reset.

“Chaos for months” is a term used by high ranked players as an excuse to preserve their 5+ years of washed/anchored ranks - as if elo hell would somehow suddenly apply to them and they wouldn’t love the scapegoat for their dying content.

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For someone who complains about alts all the time, you sure seem to have a lot of them… Just saying.

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It would be chaos because even more people will be complaining they are playing against smurfs then before for that short awhile and then even in the end everyone will be back where they were. So nothing changed.

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That’s not how resets work.

It will min the disruption for the max number of players. Your first 2-3 matches might feel weird, then it already starts peeling you to where you belong. The smurfs will be remixed into the population bath, and distributed across a large number of matches. It will take so long for them to re-collect, lurk, and repeatedly disrupt lowtier matches. So the people stuck get some fresh air and a chance to warpzone out of no-reset misery. And the people who belong high up will have their rank back in no time.

It’s a win-win - why not support it?

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Where is it gonna put you where you belong if there is no other data to compare you to?

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The data is the sorting process (comparisons) in a remixed population. Winners brackets losers brackets etc. You partition into 10 bins really fast (in like 7 matches). The further you go the more the resolution. After 11 matches you’re basically into 200-300sr ranges - beyond the threshold of discernability that currently exists on live. Most experts wouldn’t be able to spot the delta after a few matches.

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Okay but you said I should support a reset… So why should I? I play where I belong being in high masters low GM. I can make a new account and get there 10-15 games so that’s how I know.

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Good! Then you will have no problem in a reset. And your support will help redistribute the smurfs from the normies and minimize disruption for the maximum number of players. If you support a healthy ladder you support a reset!

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Again but why would I want a reset if I believe people are where they belong? Sounds like a waste of time to me.

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That is just doing your part to ensure a healthy ladder. You love this game right? You want it to do well? 10-15 matches are a small price to pay for some integrity guarantees. We don’t have them right now, because 5+ years without a ladder reset has provable entropy gains. Every alt corrupts the ranks, there is inflation/dilution/corruption, and a reset promises a better signal/noise for most people.

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Again you dont explain why we need a reset. All you are saying is it will help the game. Give me a reason why I should care.

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If you saw some sickos lurking the playground would you step-in? A reset makes sure they go to jail faster or keeps them away from the kids. How can you not stand by that ?

Also, you don’t know if you’re truly Masters rank (anymore) under reset conditions. New accounts in a 5+ year old ladder is not the same evidence. Put your money where your mouth is and prove it. Reset with us, pay your dues (10-15 games) and keep the system cleaned up. You’ll have fun along the way, and have more assurance your rank is correct/meaningful.