I’ve been struggling to get out of Bronze 5 for ages!
The penalty system is far too harsh here. I occasionally disconnect, just like everyone does, and the penalty marks me and never forgets me.
Even if you get kicked out of the hero select, the penalty is still as harsh as being AFK in the actual match!
Also, recently I was in hero select, and I even selected my hero in time (locked Artanis). It still decided to give me leaver status. No idea why we got backed out. Even my team selected their hero in time.
Maybe you should use different penalties depending on the situation. Non-hero select - Divert back to lobby - win x number of games without ranked points deduction. If you leave a match, then fair enough.
Also, reduce the leaver mark on players. I got stacked up to “4-5 wins required” with other leavers who usually refuse to play - rediculous. Btw, bronze 5 players have a tendency to leave the game whenever, so it’s already hard to climb in rank, so please be more forgiving.