To the posters crying about boosting in solo shuffle, to those swearing they are in an ELO hell, to those that always have an excuse as to why their teammates cost them a win, this is an intervention. Note that I am not trying to be offensive or demeaning (and this doesn’t apply to players with certain handicaps or disabilities).
TLDR: most of the people reading this are whiny, excuse-spitting andies that are either in denial about their abilities/skill, or enjoy spending their time trolling and/or being mediocre. You are at the rating you belong at, especially in RSS. You are not stuck or held back by anything aside from yourself!
If you have 420+ pvp ilvl and are stuck at:
sub 1k rating: you are either brand new to wow pvp or are [objectively] bad at the game in terms of one or more of game sense/knowledge, awareness, and/or mechanical skill. You likely click some if not all of your abilities, don’t utilize macros or focus targets (or at least not to the fullest extent possible). You probably don’t move and adjust your camera/field of view properly, probably backpedal on a class where it’s never something you should do, and possibly even keyboard turn. You almost always have an excuse as to why you are stuck at sub 1k rating, and rarely can fathom that there was anything better you could have done to change the outcome of the match.
1k-1799: You have a basic grasp of what each class does as far as their abilities and cooldowns (at least for the most part), but struggle to execute winning strategies against particular comps/classes. You likely are inconsistently using/trading cooldowns properly and/or have a sub-optimal dps/healing rotation/priority. You probably have at least your main dps/healing abilities keybound, maybe even some macros and focus target abilities bound. You probably play suboptimal talent builds because they are fun for you, despite losing more matches than you otherwise would, and you struggle to adapt in terms of talent swapping, target swapping, cc usage, etc.
1800-2099: You’re honestly not that bad at the game and in fact are above average. You’re probably utilizing information enhancing addons such as Gladius/Sarena, omnicd, weakauras, etc., to an extent that your gameplay is much better than it would have otherwise been without the addons, and you probably have a more refined ui in terms of not having unnecessary clutter/information. You have your rotation(s) down pretty solid, and understand basic strategies in terms of when/who to cc, target swapping, etc., although you likely fail to consistently execute these strategies and/or adapt on the fly [e.g., one round you play like a god, then next round you play like a noob]; [e.g., the phrase “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” is highly applicable to how your matches often unravel once things aren’t going according to your initial plan].
2100-2399: You’re a pretty well-rounded player at this point, and are generally just struggling to iron out the kinks in your gameplay [e.g., inconsistent positioning, being too greedy or too liberal with cds regularly, tunneling too often]. At this point, you presumably are decent at adapting on the fly, and understand how to set up win conditions [e.g., proper target swaps when cds are traded, cc chains, understanding diminishing returns/schools and executing cc in such a way as to not unintentionally attempt cc at bad times, being aware of what cds your partners have and what cds your enemies have].
2400+: Whether you’re a meta spec or not, in terms of overall playerbase percentages, you are an elite player [e.g., the title is appropriate]. You’ve mastered the majority of concepts surrounding your class/spec in terms of how to efficiently and proactively use cds and react to cds being used. Like anyone else, you still make plenty of mistakes, but in general you execute viable strategies, adapt on the fly, execute and/or contribute to longer cc chains, position well most games, know when to be aggressive versus defensive, etc. You are also fully utilizing your entire toolkit, including focus macros and targets, adjust/move your camera/field of view efficiently, and have most, if not all of your abilities keybound. Your ui is configured in such a way that is clean, and you are consistently making the most out of the information provided via your addons in terms of using the information in a way that maximizes your chances of winning a game.
Top 0.5-0.1%: You are an exceptionally well-rounded and highly skilled player, in terms of having incredible game knowledge/class/spec knowledge, strategy execution/adaptation, and mechanical skill/reaction speed. You work well and/or thrive in a team environment, and can immediately recognize mistakes being made from all players in the match, which not only allows you to improve your own gameplay (even though you already make minimal mistakes), but also allows you to quickly capitalize on enemy mistakes in such a way that creates momentum and wins games decisively.
No matter which cr(s) you typically fall within, boosting isn’t holding anyone back, neither is gear, and over a reasonable length of time/games played, you are the exact rating you deserve to be at based on your individual skill. Not including tanks and maybe 2-3 very weak specs, every dps and healer can get 2400+ right now in RSS.
Again not including tanks, there is absolutely 0 excuse to not be able to at least get 1800-2100cr in RSS on any class/spec. 2400+ is also easier to get than ever on most specs, even if you just picked up the spec, presuming you have a solid level of game knowledge, awareness, mechanical skill, etc.
Anyone who thinks they are stuck at any particular rating is in denial, and needs their ego checked. There is no ELO hell unless you’re referring to a very short time frame/limited number of games, but even then, if you belong at a higher rating, you will escape quickly.
The first step to improving is realizing you are the issue or have issues. Your placement games going poorly isn’t holding you back aside from maybe causing you to have to play a handful of extra lobbies at lower mmr(s).
This expansion is great in that everyone has access to the exact same ilvl gear, and with RSS in particular, everyone is subject to the exact same conditions [e.g., no advantage(s) from being in voice/an organized group, etc.].
Throughout the expansions since Legion, your excuse was gear gatekeeping and/or not being able to find regular partners [e.g., both having some merit]. You have no more excuses. You are just flat out new/bad/good/great, and the only variable that is dictating your mmr/cr is your ability to criticize and identify issues in your own gameplay, with the end goal of getting better through fixing/improving/learning/striving to adapt/etc.