The problem with masters and GM

The higher ranks in overwatch are seen as prestigious, with great communication and teamwork, and people ultimately wanting to win together. But if you were to actually see masters or GM, the most prominent thing you'd see is their egos. Due to the season 3 rank inflation, and being able to climb to GM on a 45% winrate, many players reach the higher ranks but do not seem to belong there or are under average for that rank, but along with these badges and icons for the ranks people get a false sense that they are better than everyone on their team and their self image increases.

This was never a problem in season 2, because in my opinion season 2 and 4 were the truest indicators of rank and skill where you couldn't climb to GM on a 45% winrate, and people deserved their rank. One tricks were rarely seen in season 2 and from what I remember, everything was mostly good up until the season 3 tank meta and inflation.

Almost every single game at these ranks people instalock dps, sometimes the first 3 picks will all be dps, (not saying thats bad) but when there are better players for that job and someone asks them to swap, with their sense of "they are the better player" they refuse and even if they are countered, not playing well, et cetera they believe they still are doing great because of their massive egos. This is a huge problem because with the rank, people think they are suddenly much better and blame their team, think they are the best, and the only way to climb is by carrying their team, by instalocking dps. This creates a toxic environment where there is a continuous cycle of the 4 dps refusing to swap, better players left on lucio and games lost. A very small portion of these ranks actually flex and swap to fit their team but end up being outshined by the one tricks, the dps mains and others.

My advice for these ranks is if you are going to play, drop the ego. In season 4, even being a dps main I would rarely lock it right away because I believed that there could be people better for the job. This left me with my third most played character being lucio for that season, even hating the character myself, I would still fill the role and try to support my team. As of now, during placements and the beginning of the season, this problem is as worse as ever where in 4 of my placement games my team didn't even have a tank until the late round / game. If you're looking to climb in competitive, accept that there may be other players who are better than you, and let go of everything that the badge of masters / gm has taught you.