Rating adjustments for returning players

I recently gave FAF another go after about a 7 year break. It turns out its still a fun game, but using my old account is proving a real ball and chain when trying to actually play the game.

The issue is relatively simple. When I re-started my rating was 1651 (apparently 1700 in a lobby) leading to a situation where I was apparently too skilled for the noobs and too poor for the pros. I find that I am either kicked for having too high a rating or disparaged at as a consequence. My rating has since dropped to 1500ish which is better, but still suggests I'm a better player than I am which makes finding a balanced game difficult.

I personally find this quite irritating as I do not want to ruin anyones game by folding like a stack of cards, but the only other option is not to play at all. I also find that there are some pretty passioante players out there (particularly on Setons) who don't enjoy others not meeting their expactations which leaves a bad taste in the mouth of all involved. As such I would suggest that FAF implements something to aid returning players such as:

• A one off abilty to request a rating decrease
• Adding a incremetor to the sigma element of ratings (rating +-) after say 6 months so return players ratings rapidly adjust back to a reasonable level
• A gradual rating avg decay
• An ability to totally reset an old account to a beginner rating

I think a good solution would be to add a gradual sigma increase over time for all players' ratings. I think something like +1 sigma per day could work well (and if it would be better for the backend, the sigma increase could be done on a weekly or monthly basis instead).

of relevance: https://forums.faforever.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=11698&p=141707#p126734

It would be lovely to know if this could be added or at least considered. Having played a couple of weeks now its still proving a real pain. "Do you play gap"?

There’s a lot of work currently going on making trueskill into more of an “under the hood” mechanic. We likely won’t be adjusting anything with it until we stabilize our upcoming division system and are satisfied with how it relates to player trueskill.