The primary problem with QL, is that there is too much emphasis placed on winning and losing. The best thing you can do, is get on a server and play. Whether you lose 50-0, or win 50-0, what matters is that you are on the servers. All this 'skill-matching' and elo rating and useless statistics crap is completely ruining the game. Players are not rewarded for playing, they are only rewarded for winning. The only possible result of such a horrendous system, is a steady decline of players on servers.

Ignore the stupidly conceived QL system, and just get the fuck on the servers. More time on servers = good. Anything else = bad. It wouldn't be a terrible idea for id to pay people minimum wage to do nothing more than sit on servers and play whoever is looking for a game. Empty servers with no one to play against is the worst possible thing for profit and in general. Even a matter of uncertainty decreases the amount of subscriptions. If it was assured, that there would be someone to play against, people would be more likely to purchase subscriptions. If id pays less in player/employee costs than they make from additional subscription/advertisement revenue, the model would be financially effective.

Until id software learns how to design a suitable system, the community will simply have to compensate for their shortcomings... as has traditionally been the case.