Regarding ELO hell, just l2p. Your placement may oscillate between the ranks, but your average rating will improve only if you grow.
This is just false in 4v4. May be true on 2v2.
I only play for fun. Dont care about rank.
When maxims were OP I was level 14 sov. After the nerf I went to about level 12 and held there ever since.
Recently I went from Level 12 to level 4 in a week of bad match making, afks, bug splats, etc. And cannot get past level 6. I win about 1 out of 4 games generically. And if I win, the MM immediately puts me against much higher ranked opponents and the win is erased.
So I am playing with people who just bought the game and I am level 15 in OST and BRITs. Seems about right.