I've been playing the game since beta and coming from other tactical shooters, I loved it from the start.

When beta comp started I placed diamond and Act 1 I hovered around low to mid Plat. Every game everyone would have comms, the scorecard was an even spread among most players (K/D/A), and most games were very close and intense. This is what I love about tactical shooters. The comms, strats, and making plays.

Act 2 rolled around and I didn't play really at all because I had other stuff going on. Act 3 starts and I'm back in the game. I place Gold 2 and have de-ranked to Silver 3 so far. I'm not complaining about my rank. My aim isn't the same as it was when I was grinding, so Gold/Silver felt fair for returning from a break.

Holy shit though, I understand now how people get stuck in low elo and why I see so many complaints now. Maybe every few games I'll get one or two people with a mic, but they're not very outspoken half the time. I kid you not about 70% of the matches I've played so far either my team or the enemy has a smurf hard carrying. It's also VERY likely to get a DCed player or someone who just straight out quits the match. I don't know if this is a new thing, but I've seen three people now jump scripting in spawn so they don't AFK out of the match.

Low ELO is actually hell. Yeah, most players are bad, but some absolutely do not deserve to be there, but unfortunately will never get out due to all these issues. I don't have a solution, just needed to vent. I'll climb back out hopefully so I can get back to some genuine competitive gameplay. Low tier gameplay is most of the time just flat out not fun and I hope the players actually putting in the time at low elo will get a chance to experience higher level play.