Do things ever change?

Solo matchmaking in general isn't much fun, DOTA is very much a social game in my opinion.

Loot is entirely random, though it seems that you get rares when you level up. You can go on long streaks without getting anything notable, luck of the draw.

Pubstomp heroes typically have quite simple counters.
Sniper and Drow Ranger both melt up close, so any hero that can close distance and deliver some burst damage ( Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Queen of Pain, anyone with a blink dagger) are good counters to them. Both will build a Shadow Blade due to their lack of natural escapes, so dust is needed to gank them unless its early game.
Bloodseeker, the game is configured to get him fed in a way. Go into your settings, turn off auto-attack. That way when your ruptured, your hero wont keep running off to try and get creeps or enemy heroes. Other than that, if he ruptures you and tries to solo kill,stop and just TP away as he cant stop it.
Riki is annoying no matter how skilled you are. Try not to be alone, always have sentries on the supports in preparation of teamfights (often a riki will wander in among your team waiting for the fight to start, easy kill) and have at least two people carrying Dust. If you get Smoke Screen'd, don't run, just turn and face him. When the smoke clears you can stun/slow and escape or even kill if your powerful enough. Running from Riki will only let him kill you faster.

An Orchid Malevolence wrecks a Storm Spirit, but yes, if in your level of matchmaking one is dominating its likely to be a smurf. Storm is a pretty high skill cap hero.

If you can recognize where your team or individual players and their builds are going wrong, then you have some clue as to what your doing and should rise in MMR eventually. Just got to slog through it.