This is a joke right? I can see how 1600/1700 elos are similar, same with 1800-2000, 1000 -1700? Even 1000-1500? Are you kidding me? There is enormous skill difference buddy

In the ELO system the way it works is if you +400 points you should win 90-95% of the time against the classes below you. ELO is just a statistical mathematical formula. It doesn't matter if you player players that are higher rated. ELO takes that into account and your rating change is based upon the the strength of your opponents. So say 1000 rated ELO team faces a 3000 ELO team. Well they could lose like 10 games in a row and win 1 and gain rating points (lots of them in fact). The fact you think ELO is a terribly flawed/unfair system really shows your lack of understanding. The purpose of ELO is NOT to match opponents against similar skills. The purpose is to mathematically demonstrate the skill levels of the people playing. Other than that it really serves no purpose. You play who you play, and you are not better than your ELO.

I'm confused I assumed that when duoing you were match made based on the higher elo player. If you have 900 elo and duo with a 2200 elo player you face 2200 elo people. That's how I assumed it was to prevent abuse of the system without having smurfs but people are going to find ways to raise their elo.

You realize that when this situation occurs, if the team with the 1700 player wins, they gain substantially reduced elo (and you lose reduced elo). I duo'd with my 1760 buddy when I was high 1100s, and got 3 elo. We didnt do it for an easy win, just because we felt like playing ranked.

Also, if the enemy team has higher rank, that person has a chance of losing as much as 20 elo. Just saying, its high risk for not as much reward (I assume that was intentional to discourage exactly this).

Yeah, easier said then done. What if that player plays support/tank and just sits back while their 1600 friend farms the lane. What if that player jungles instead? I'm sure the duo que team is aware of the lack of skill with the 600 elo player and will not give him the opportunity to feed the other team. All he has to do is play passively the entire game and watch his friend carry.

This is true. Yet it doesn't change the fact that I will have wasted atleast 20 minutes of time playing an unfair game against someone who is way more skilled and experienced then me and my teammates. Also on the note of reduced elo. I've played matches where I had two players who were duo qued on my team. One being in the high 1700's and the other in a much lower elo. Ofcourse we won the match but I got reduced elo even though I wasn't the duo qued pair. How is it fair that I spend the same amount of effort in a match only to get my elo gain halved because I had a duo qued pair on my team?

Just played a full 40 minute match and only got 6 elo gain because it turns out that two of the players on my team were duo qued. That is ridiculous.