Quote Originally Posted by Nakanishi View Post
How does refusing to team with multiple new players make Aether toxic? That just makes Aether smart.

Only thing that's toxic is the horrid matchmaking.
You're correct that the entire situation is caused by the terrible matchmaking and lack of rating decay, but choosing to abuse an exploitable system is still toxic behavior. Anyone who collects majority points in the early season when everyone is within the same rank bracket, then chooses to never queue for the entire remainder of the season, is actively sabotaging queue times and making a mockery of competition. Just because that kind of behavior is smart and self-serving doesn't make it justified or any less toxic. That's true no matter what server you're on, but it's not hard to see which servers are the main offenders. Mana takes a close second, but Aether is the worst.

That said, the fact that the system can be exploited at all is still SE's fault. You can't have an exploitable system and not expect someone to exploit it. So, the majority of the blame is at their feet. They broke the system from inception, so they have to take responsibility for it.