What this means is that the top players now are sitting at a way lower rating than when he stopped playing. His decay kicked in, which seems to be more of a hibernation state than a strong decay function, and thus dropped to 131st.
Once he started playing again, the system kicked him back up to close to his old rating, which must have been significantly higher than what the top people currently hold, so that even the lost rating from the two losses couldn’t drop him enough to be below the second highest rated player.
The system itself is not completely broken, though I feel like this kind of hibernation state you are placed in for not playing leads to a problem, because one could argue that a player could accumulate much more rating during periods of low competition and then avoid being matched against the top players and teams during periods of “stiffer” competition, who in return will not be able to win as easily and increase their rating while at the same time being deprived of the opportunity to beat higher rated players and teams who are hibernating.
Given that we have no leagues currently in GW2 that force players to face similar rated players and teams, I suggest that not only should decay be more severe and permanent, but that your volatility rating should increase as well when you take a break, so that the system can better assert where you should be placed upon your return.
TLDR: Competition is relative at all times, so that rating can only be gained within the limits of what the pool of competitors allows for. If a team or player gains rating during a time when they can win 90% of their matches, because the competition is not as stiff, they should not be able to sit on this rating for prolonged periods of time by simply removing themselves from the pool of competitors without a heavy and permanent decay of their rating.
