All right, I give up. Fine, it's perfectly all right to cost other people rank because you want to know just how badly you suck. That thought process is exactly why anybody believes elo hell exists, and is part of the problem with the elo system entirely. In order to find out just how bad you are, you must drag others down with you.
This makes no sense. The only flaw with the system is that it can't approximate your Elo BEFORE you play any games. In fact, YOUR reasoning is the exactly why people think Elo Hell exists. You're blaming low Elo players for ruining games (but not the opponents' games). This means that it is the TEAMMATE'S FAULT that their team lost. They aren't blaming their failings for their loss. Like it or not, you can carry a game most of the time. And if you carry most of the time, let's say, 60% of the time, then you will gain rank. So, it doesn't matter if you're matched up with players that are bad because you will also be matched AGAINST players that are bad.
Please note that this is something a LOT of Bronze players think, and it's the reason why a lot of them stay in Bronze. Anybody reading what frostshotgg is saying should learn that this is the OPPOSITE of what a player should be thinking in ranked. Ranked is for learning. Normals can also be for learning, but ranked is where you go to test your skills against other players that are also trying to test their skills. If you are blaming your loss on your teammates, no matter how bad they are, then you won't do any better. This isn't to say all games are winnable, only that most games are winnable. I think at least 80% of games are winnable, but only if you're skilled enough to win them.
Riot's said multiple times that normal game mmr has no impact on ranked mmr. You can be (in an extreme example) bronze ranked but gold mmr, I've seen it happen.
Well I think it's terrible to start playing ranked if you're better than silver. If you're carrying and winning your games, you're unjustly costing your silver-rank opponents elo and unjustly giving it to your bronze-rank allies.
Great strawman. It's not the same, because you can't go into your first placement match sure that you can carry, no matter how good. You might just happen to get matched against trick2g's latest smurf. If you know you suck though, you can go in almost certain that you will cause your team to lose.
Engy is right, just so you know. Your normal Elo has an effect on your INITIAL opponents, since it is a good indicator of your ranked Elo. It takes into account your previous season Elos and your normal Elo.
You don't have to win every single game. You just have to win a majority. This is like... basic probability. That's why the Elo system works. It's to be assumed that after 100s of games, you will be at your Elo. If you're not, then you either have the worst luck or, the more than likely situation, you suck. But, you never affected your previous teammates'/opponents' Elos by playing. Sure, you might have temporarily adjusted them, but you have no affect on their permanent Elo.
So, play ranked. It's about finding your ranking.