Is there a reason behind forcing me into lvl 20+ games now.
The highese level piece of anything i have on is level 12.

yeah there is. After you reach lv 21, there is a matchmaking level cap that sets your lowest matchmaking level to 20, that means if you have equipped lv 12 items, or even lv 1 items entirely, it will look like as if you've equipped lv 20 items and get matched according to this.

is there another cap at higher levels?

is there like an upvote thing on these forums...youve helped alot on a couple things as is

This is the last hard cap you will hit.