I know a reason smurfing ruins low sr games is because the ranking system doesn’t push them towards their actual rank quick enough (sometimes not at all).
This is also a solution to good players being held in low ranks because they used to be much worse.
So let’s take a note from destiny 2 comp, in destiny 2 comp the mmr rating of the person is much more subject to change, instead of stubborn and not respecting how players can improve faster than possibly an entire year instead, instead of trying to keep them in the rank they started in.
The current OW skill rating system and comp ranking system causes many disparities in player skill over multiple ranks, such as having many plat skill level player stuck in silver or gold because of the game not rewarding improvement enough/fast enough.
However in destiny 2 comp the skill rating of the player can change in a few games and quickly realise that ‘x’ player does not belong here, it will then assign an estimated rank to match this skill rating of the player and increase the sr gain per win and decrease the sr loss on loss drastically (eg-200sr on win and 10 on loss) with this effect decreasing as the player moves towards what the system believes is their current accurate rank, NOT the “accurate rank” from a year ago.
This system would quickly move smurfs to higher ranks within a few games by actually recognising performance.
The destiny 2 ranking system also rewards players with more sr if the skill rating of the enemy team was higher than the ally team by adjusting your skill level appropriately and giving more sr for winning a game you probably shouldn’t have while taking away less sr on a loss because it was likely anyway.
While I admit the Overwatch ranking system is good at making players feel terrible, I’m certain this system would be much better.
If anyone dislikes this please propose or suggest where my idea could improve without causing argument, I will happily take constructive criticism.