Fundamental issue with the elo system and repeated wins

[tbhp]

Yeah, it can be problematic in arena, because when you are near the top the system will tend to make you play against other players near the top when possible. So, you will often run into those players several times, so getting the decreased points in this case can be frustrating, because there is no strong reason why you shouldn't get full points for beating a top rated player several times (I mean, there is some justification, but it's not at all comparable to the elo farming issue).

[BananaHarambe]

I agree. If someone loses some games and drops from, hypothetically, 500 Elo to 380, the best way to get it back is to play against 500 Elo players. If the player in question cannot successfully do that, then the player in question is not actually a 500 Elo player.

Agree, but tough in practice depending on player pool. Sometimes the median player in queue is only rated ~250, sometimes it is higher around ~350. Best way to find similar rated players is rating restricted tournaments or use a narrow Elo requirement for matchmaking. BGA by default doesn't matchmake, which can be an issue sometimes.

I find that not all 500 rated players are alike. Some maintain their rating by playing a variety of player skills and maintaining a positive win rate on everyone 100-450 Elo making the formula. Some 500 rated players get there only by matching sub 300 players, stomping them repeatably, but struggling to maintain even 40% WR against anyone decent. Elo Rating is really only an estimate of skill. It can only be compared when players have an identical player pool, which is not usually the case with time zones and real time/ turn based/ tournament game preferences.

[Retired Actuary]

Yeah, it can be problematic in arena, because when you are near the top the system will tend to make you play against other players near the top when possible. So, you will often run into those players several times, so getting the decreased points in this case can be frustrating, because there is no strong reason why you shouldn't get full points for beating a top rated player several times (I mean, there is some justification, but it's not at all comparable to the elo farming issue).

I agree this is frustrating as heck, particularly because I'm not picking my arena opponents, so farming would be really difficult. But I'm certainly playing the same people over and over.