@N19htf0xThis was a pleasure to read. Issues and possible solutions. Thanks mate.
I say it would be better only to gain points. Not lose them. Could there be a league table? Like in soccer for example.
Ranking would be based on your points in that table. You would be facing teams/people who are having roughly same amount of points?
Perhaps it would change players whole attitude towards ranked play since you cant lose points but just gain them. When you have earned someting you want to keep em..right? =)
And I would like to see that in ranked circle would not close entirely. It would be better to set final stage to zone4 or zone5 size. Then the ring could start slowly rotating or moving so that remaining players would have to move along with the ring.
This way we could see something else in the end than massive fireworks when all the ultimates are going down and people whacking with shotguns and hope for the best.