4Game

So, one and a half years ago I was a 5.1k mmr EUW dweller with an insane desire to climb ranks (and an even more damning fear of losing mmr). I felt like nothing mattered besides getting those juicy +30 and staying overall green at the end of the day, it was stressful as fuck, I felt especially bad and after "red" days and at one point I realized I don't even enjoy playing the game.

Now I just play Dota because I love playing Dota. How did that happen exactly?

1. I stopped playing ranked entirely. Only Normal All Pick.
2. I only play 2-3 matches a day no matter how good/bad/shitty/onesided they are.
3. I forced myself to stop caring at all whether we win or lose, whilst also trying my very best every game. The only goal for me is to get better at the hero/role I am playing.

The result was beyond my original expectations: playing Dota can actually (really, trust me guys) be both competitive and very enjoyable. You can treat the game like it's just a game while also being somewhat a tryhard (and people do really try their best in unranked which was also a surprise for me originally). I couldn't recommend more to try the same path to the people who lost the appeal of ranked Dota.

P.S I also generally feel like I've gotten much better as a player than I was a year ago due to only playing with a positive mental attitude and often against better players (since its normal you often get matched with people 500-600 mmr above you, in my case its immortals who make up about 30-40% of my allies/foes).