New Ranked Mode

"the ranked distribution is better"

That's a function of people being drawn back for the new season, not a result of gameplay changes.

"there's more teams alive for longer"

Not sure why this matters one way or another. You either get idiot hot droppers, like in the old system, and there are only five squads left by close of first circle... or you get a bunch of campers staying alive until you get to final circle with eight squads fighting over a rock on a hillside. Arguing over which provides more compelling gameplay seems pointless to me. I say let people play the game whatever way they want to play it, and the only people that ultimately hurts are experienced solo queue players. Like me. And I'd much rather have idiot teammates than no freedom of choice and limited freedom of movement. But that's just me.

"most people are loving it."

I'm a big enough man to genuinely hope that this is true. But I'm gonna patiently want until the new season shine has worn off before I make any bold statements about whether or not these changes are crowd pleasers.

Really? Where's respawn's definition of skill?

The 1mio dollar question  ... 
well kept secret , thats why i wrote it likely  differs from your definition.
The results surely doesnt fit my definition of skill when i look at the random teammates i get.

Well Plat 3 is my max this split solo queuing. The split was fun, for sure. Best Ranked experience for me since Season 2 (when Ranked and Wattson was introduced). 

I tried my best to be a great teammate and to not troll. I played Wattson most of the split. Some days I tried to mic up. Some days I used text chat appropriately. No more bans for me.

I shadowed my teammates "hard" right or wrong. I played anchor "hard" to try and hold areas and rebound in tough situations. I tried to pay attention to every ping. I did all I could, and I'm pleased with my results. I am a 40-year-old Platinum Player with a handicap (41 on 9/30). :-)

I hope that Ranked continues to evolve to make it easier for players like me whose main goals are to establish chemistry quickly as possible with my randoms (if I'm not in a party), determine whose the IGL, Fragger, and Anchor, make sure everyone has their loadouts together before leaving our POI, staying together as much as possible, using pings correctly by selecting the correct action, using the ring consoles and survey beacons accordingly before leaving a POI, always finding the best position in zone as much as possible, picking the right teams to fight, finishing fights within 30 seconds (or less) to prepare for third parties, resetting in safe areas for respawns, understanding team/legend meta, understanding the map and it's choke points, focusing on fighting and surviving "evenly", playing for the win with all my teammates alive "every game", and overall making sure that we all had fun playing, undoubtedly, the best FPS in the gaming market. I think this is how the devs want us to play Ranked. Right?

I hope Ranked continues to evolve to support the goals I've mentioned above by implementing important social changes to the game and allowing "competitive" players (in Platinum tier mostly) the "ability" to put their best gameplay forth every match (before dinner time). :-)

I never paid much attention to the Ranked Ladder until this season really. Great job with evolving the Ranked Ladder. This adds an extra layer to Ranked.