I got ranked too high but I can't seem to re-rank myself any lower

Competitive Discussion
1

(I would like to preface this post by saying that it is in the format of a formal email as I was going to email this to them but customer support just directed me here and cba to re-write everything)

Dear Overwatch Developers and Community members alike,

For the past few weeks, I have been playing in Competitive and in every game, someone has either directed the words “your sh*t,” “your trash,” “uninstall,” “stop throwing,” or something equivalent at me. I am 17 years old and I am currently ranked at Platinum 1, and I have been reranked platinum 1/2 five times over the last few weeks. I have written to you today as my genuine skill level isn’t at Platinum 1, and also because I shouldn’t have to experience all of this torment in order to play competitively at my age.

I was a high gold player in Overwatch 1, and since I’m now ranked Platinum 1, I find it difficult to play well in games, which makes me the target of verbal abuse. Even if I keep losing, my ranking scarcely changes even after I win those seven games.

What’s worse is that I can only play one character with any degree of assurance in Competitive, Junkrat (I am aware of the cliche of a “one trick Junkrat”, don’t judge me too harshly). Moreover, I struggle to play the majority of the other characters as effectively as I play him. I firmly believe I would have been ranked silver if I hadn’t played Junkrat in the first place. As a result, I once again experience harassment for being unable to play other characters, even if doing so would reduce our chances of success.

You may assume that the answer is as simple as me playing Quick Play, but I find the game mode too easy, I’m not sure if this is because I take my gaming seriously or because others don’t, but I find no challenge in it. Therefore, Competitive is the only game mode I generally play because it’s challenging and demands all of my skills. I hope you can understand that even if nothing helpful is gained from this thread, I will continue to play Competitive and put up with all of the criticism.

Finally, I’ve been playing this game for the past 5-6 years. I honestly do enjoy this game, and despite its ups and downs, it has always held a special place in my heart. As a result, I implore for help from you, the developers (who according to Overwatch Customer Support read through these posts) or any other Overwatch player out there, please help me understand how I can get back to the rank I should be at.

Warm regards

Misty

2

I was ~3000 in OW1, so right between plat and diamond. I am now Masters 3, which would be ~3700 I think. My skill didn’t improve considerably either. I was worried when I first hit Masters. I actually didn’t want to queue up. I was scared I would do so bad everyone would flame me because my skill just isn’t Masters. But then I realized…

…this is how ranks work. This is what’s supposed to happen.
Ranks are distributed statistically. Gold is the average. Now what happens when a boatload of new players start playing the game and they are worse on average? The average gets dragged down. Gold now is worse than Gold was in OW1. Relative to everyone else you are now a better player, so you get a higher rank.

This is all regarding the higher rank you got. Now onto the Junkrat part.

I once again experience harassment for being unable to play other characters, even if doing so would reduce our chances of success

So you keep playing Junkrat, the hero you’re Plat with, and complain that you’re not ranking down? The only way to rank down is to play worse than Plat. So either throw on Junkrat or play characters you are not Plat with. There is no other solution. Blizzard will not manually lower your rank.

If chats hurt you emotionally, you can disable chat, play bad and rank down without hearing or reading anything from anyone.