Wall of text incoming. I'll summarize here and add some points of discussion, so I hope I didn't break any rules. Went from Adept III to Ascendant III for the emblem, duo queueing the whole way. It took 34 games (24 wins and 10 losses, 71% win rate). Here's my page if you'd like to check the stats or follow along with the match history https://destinytracker.com/destiny-2/profile/xbl/ELITE Fulgur/overview/glory

The way comp rank went up or down was confusing. I would lose a lot of points sometimes, only to beat the same team and receive 5 points back. I guess this is Bungie's way of saying that I shouldn't have lost to them in the first place. I don't know how Bungie is calculating skill, but I don't feel like I should have ranked higher than some of these players since I could barely win my 1v1s against them.

Solo queue up to Adept was a slog, made worse by toxic players that would quit or sabotage. It only took one instance to ruin the whole session. Duo queue felt very good. Stomps one way or the other were the exception, not the norm. Most games were close, with many being extremely even. I'm curious what all of your experiences are like queueing as a full team. Is the average skill much higher or is that a myth?

The players I had the hardest time against were le monarque users, snipers that never seemed to miss, and hand cannon users that could peak shoot effectively. Part of the problem was that I'm a hunter main, and only had one loadout for my titan (immortal cloudstrike) and didn't know what to swap to in a given situation that would be more effective. I would occasionally throw on a shotgun for rift, but thats it. How do you contest map control against players like this? Should I have swapped to a 120 and just never left cover? Should I have put on a GL?

Full run below.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yesterday, I sat down and grinded Comp from the start of Adept III to Ascendant III for the emblem, and it was a journey. Up till Adept, I had solo queued with all three classes, mostly just for the Roses. But after failing my promotion series twice (once due to being error coded out of the match), I decided to look for a teammate to duo queue with.

Let's call my first teammate A. I probably should have been able to tell that this wasn't going to go well when A responded to my lfg post by messaging me several times, invited me to a party, and joined my fireteam without an invite, but I just wanted to start playing so I ignored these signs. I joined party chat, and loaded us in. Now, A was 12. I didn't ask, I didn't care, but he made it a point several times not to underestimate him because he was 12. You got it boss. A spends most of the match talking about something (I started tuning him out at this point). Our third is competent and can win his 1v1s. We win our first match decisively, and I get a decent amount of rank. Okay, maybe this won't be so bad? I load us into game two. Our third is now with the enemy two stack. Uh oh. We're getting demolished by the turncoat and the enemy two stack (let's call them Dinkelberg). As soon as we drop the first round, A starts raging in chat, asking where the call outs are and why I was throwing. He repeats some variation of this for the next two rounds, ignoring any information I convey and repeatedly putting himself in bad positions. Despite this, we tie it up. I try my best to play with the third, but its too late. With them up on supers, we lose. I go down in points, putting me worse then when I started off. I part ways with A, and continue my search.

My second teammate, B, was the complete opposite of A. He didn't seem to take himself or the game too seriously. Mostly because he was blazed out of his mind the whole time. Despite this, B was a good shot. Our first game was Showdown, and it was against Dinkleberg. We narrowly lost the first two rounds, but we managed to push the game to a tie. (I'm going to be honest, I have no idea how the rounds work for this gamemode). We actually gain some rank for the tie, which was surprising. Game 2 is Rift. We maintain advantage and win 3-1. Game 3 is once against Dinkleberg. We had advantage throughout, but was a closer game than I'd like. Me and B both had some nice snipes. I finally triumphed over Dinkleberg. 3-1. Game 4 was a decisive stomp by us. Game 5, we get a beast on our team and it's another stomp. I pop off hard on Game 6, but its still a close game. B is a good player, but his unique impairment impacted his ability to relay information to me, and our co-ordination suffered. We would frequently get isolated and collapsed. We win a close 3-2. I played several more matches with B, and we performed well. We would generally win two matches for every one we lost. In one match, we even had a special guest appearance from A on the enemy team. We crushed them 3-0 :). Eventually, it was getting late and I needed to eat dinner. I bid farewell to B and his friends who had joined the party and were discussing the pros and cons of various illicit substances.

I could have stopped there. I had made it to Adept I, I could try again tomorrow, and I had work the next morning. But I was greedy. Just a little further. I queue up lfg and find C. C was also in Adept I, and as I later found out, had failed his promotion series 6 times. He had been committed to solo queueing to Ascendant but it had destroyed his soul. If nothing else, he was stubborn. We queue up and the first game goes poorly. I manage to stay positive but we get 3-0d. I worry about C's morale, but queue up the next game. We both manage to get some cheeky dunks in rift and win 3-1. We go on a 5 game win streak with several nail biter matches. After that, we would lose some and win some. Somehow, the points I was gaining were enough to get me to promotion series. We won a run back rift game against the same team 3-2. Then lost the next rift game (seriously? rift again?) when a teammate quit. Game three was a super close game of survival that ended with a 2v2. My thundercrash secured one kill, and teammate didn't need my help to win his 1v1. Finally, I was done.

Or was I? I had made it, but C hadn't. He had started at less rank than me, and the algorithm wasn't as kind to him. I resolved to keep playing (after a quick stop at the tower to get the emblem) and help him. Our next game was a back and forth rift match (again....) that went to time with us up 1 dunk. C was now in promotion series. Game 1 was a stomp for us and we counted our blessings. Game 2 was rift on Bannerfall (ffs bungie) and it was grand finals. Both teams competent, both teams dunking. Its tied. We manage to win the engagement for the spark. I grab it and my teammates push up from two angles (inside building and under catwalk) to try to clear the path. I have a straight shot to the rift through building, but my radar tells me their focusing teammate. I double back, and see C engage one enemy by catwalk and the other two enemies are nowhere in sight. I rush the spark through cover and secure the dunk with a shoulder charge. We're both cheering. These were some of the hypest games of Destiny I've played in a long time, probably only matched by getting to 5500 in old comp, and going solo flawless to the lighthouse.