Seriously? lol
In any case, I'm not sure this was avoidable after last season. High-tier players simply dropping Feast wholesale to protect their rank meant that SE was bound to do something about point distribution. Reducing the consequence for a loss isn't all that surprising. Honestly, I wouldn't even necessarily say it's a bad decision ... assuming the matchmaking actually worked, or if they'd been a little more specific about the circumstances.
The thing is, getting into silver with a 25% win rate (lol) is one thing, but keeping that rank is another. The same can be said for gold. If the matchmaking was restricted to adjacent tiers only, then there would still be room for the quality players to climb. They'd still get into the occasional crap match, but the player pool would be much smaller. The odds of having multiple people with low win rates on your team would be reduced, and the ones that you do get wouldn't sting your rank quite so badly. Further, anyone silver and up wouldn't have to live in fear of seeing the "Look Who's Coming for Dinner 1" achievement. Having an inexperienced player on your team is one thing, but having a totally fresh player is practically a guaranteed loss.
