QOL Improvements

"I think Ranked needs to be more competitive and push non-competitive players to public matches."

I think it's completely reasonable for a player to be "competitive" but still not be very good at the game. Is this not what rookie and bronze and silver lobbies are for? How is pushing these players into pubs going to improve the experience of diamond, master, and predator players? I also think it's completely reasonable for ANY player to go into ranked matches for any reason, whether they identify as competitive or not. For example, I often end up in ranked matches because of takeovers that I hate. I understand the principle behind wanting ranked to be competitive, but what it REALLY is if we're honest is a tool built by the developer to drive engagement and increase time in the game. And if it has that effect then I'm pretty sure they don't care if you or I go there with a serious intention to win or a serious intention to nap. They don't care. Still unclear as to why you do.

And do those high tier players REALLY need special cosmetics? Since when is the actual earned rank not the point of ranked? I don't understand how being incredibly good at something isn't its own reward, especially when it's called out publicly. Now they need a cookie too? To motivate them? If they need motivation then they should become professionals and get paid actual money to play.

Solo queueing should not be allowed in ranked? ??? ???????? Not sure if you're coming at this from the point of view of a solo queue player who's tired of bad or "unserious" teammates, but that's the way I read it. If so then your own desire for a "stacks only" mode would kick you out. If you DO stack then why do you care if anyone else does or not?

The only thing I'm taking out of this is that what you really believe is that no one should be allowed in ranked until they've watched thousands of hours of professional streaming and studied every ALGS winning squad until they've memorized every second of gameplay because you, as a solo queue player, are tired of randoms who don't share YOUR play style, or execute THE meta of the moment, or communicate "properly," or are willing to sacrifice fun for grind. Or something else I haven't even thought of. And to be honest, I almost get where you're coming from. But the answer isn't to bar solo players from ranked. It's to let people play the game however they see fit, take it as seriously or not as they see fit, and to learn the hard way about the pitfalls of solo queuing. If they can't or won't stack then that's on them. I just can't see why you'd care one way or the other about what solos do unless you are one. In which case you're flying perilously close to hypocrisy.