What is the intention of decay?

Returning player here. Jumped into sPVP and got placed in Gold 3. I'm still trying to figure out the meta. Today I was relegated to Silver as I haven't played for a few days. I'm invested in other game modes at present, so won't be hitting sPvP for at least a few more days. By that stage I may be Bronze. I feel like decay will reward me with playing infrequently by giving me easy games against bronze players. But I don't think that is what is intended?

decay knocks you off the leaderboard. to be fair about it, decay happens to everyone at all tiers.

the thing is, it only affects you position on the leaderboard and the badge you can display. but your true rating can still be looked up, and your true rating will determine who you play against.

also, i believe the max decay is 700 points. you can earn back 100 points (plus or minus the rating you gain or lose) each game. So normally if you have max decay, you can knock it off in ~7 games. Then after that the countdown for decay begin is 3 days

Decay was originally added because there was only a minimum 10 games to be on leaderboard. Decay forced players to play regularly or be removed from it. However, ANet later added a cumulative 15 games/week minimum to be shown on the leaderboard.

Decay only affects your publically visible rating. You're still matched at your true rating. Decay starts when you don't play in 3 daily resets, up to -100 per day you haven't played. It caps at -700. Each game played removes 100 decay.

Honestly, it's pretty silly to have decay go so high. They may as well cap it once you're back to gold or reduce the amount of decay per day along with the cap.

@Exedore.6320 said:Decay was originally added because there was only a minimum 10 games to be on leaderboard. Decay forced players to play regularly or be removed from it. However, ANet later added a cumulative 15 games/week minimum to be shown on the leaderboard.

Decay only affects your publically visible rating. You're still matched at your true rating. Decay starts when you don't play in 3 daily resets, up to -100 per day you haven't played. It caps at -700. Each game played removes 100 decay.

Honestly, it's pretty silly to have decay go so high. They may as well cap it once you're back to gold or reduce the amount of decay per day along with the cap.

As you said, it has become rather obsolete with the new minimum number of games played. In fact, it enforces that behaviour of not really playing all season (or, well, when you have time) but only at the very end.

You are traveling at the end of the season? Well, your fault. You have a big project to finish there for your work? Haha, say bye from the LB. You get sick? You don't deserve that spot.

It sets a very high focus on the end of the season, which is kind of meh. But it has been discussed several times and they do not care enough about PVP to even change that.