yeah, i mean how much better could you be on maps like archer blood. smosh, germs and stuff like that maybe, but not AB. plus there were times where people didnt even patrol, so...
is actually anyone still playing the map? havent seen games in months and noone joins if you host yourself. kinda died with bloods ladder

I played then and play now but with regards ab it was a higher level years ago for sure. It was simply played alot more then and there was alot more who played it making the competition alot higher. Theres only so much you can do with a basic map that hasnt been tried before like khans, ab etc.... The only thing thats changed is people drag/distract now in ab (we did it in other maps) and we use to frown on people who did it in ab as it was more about flanking, hit and run and control of the entire map as apposed to making it central and concentrating on distracting. Some done it and lost anyway. I do agree that in some cases the level has increased or is at least equal (mostly with bloods it comes down to practice and being sharp again), but certainly not in all maps.

Who cares though its more about nowdays, if memory serves me right you where pretty good at ab as well andreas. Would love to see this become a competitive list with people playing for spots as apposed to saying such and such should be ahead or below them. Lets see some match links, it doesnt have to be rated just use match stats or rated whatever

Weasel host rooms saying no rate and use match stats, should be able to get a game easier

I agree, AB skill was far higher and it had far more flare when played without drag. People like gnome still lost with drag though because dragging simply wasn't as effective in aok with the greater patrol control.

Yes, but the difference, as Frankie said is there is only so much you can do in simple maps.

Not to mention, in 2004, AB had been played longer in aok than it has currently been played in aoc.

Boring

There's only so much you can do in Smosh 1v1, and players are so far ahead of Zone level today.

I would class ab in the same bracket as khans with regards the older players and the newer players. Smosh as more strings to it than ab what with hills, powered mid, sabs, spells, rams, goths, calv archers etc... I never played smosh on zone so i cant compare, i would trust your opinion though as youve played both.

I'd say Khans is also better skilled today than from Zone era. Zone had players who didn't understand fundamentals of maps, so experts had as upper hand on them. Competition was a huge deal bigger, but that's the same for every blood besides these stupid AOK ones transitioning to AOC.

The best khans players nowdays are still all the old ones still playing though.

yes, and you think those players are worse now than they were 10 years ago, with 10 years more practice?
Strong logics

I dont think theyve really improved no tbh, theres only so much you can do in a map that is simple and most of it comes down to getting themselves sharp again. I dare say they played more games years ago so they where sharper. You can get weaker in maps when you dont play them as often

I've witnessed and/or played all these top oldschoolers in bloods from the Zone era even before I started (circa 2004). Sirred and Dot in Germs, Mazon and Dot in Khans, every oldschooler who thought they were amazing in Smosh 1v1, Shaney in Graves (oh lol), every oldschool Europer who thought they were at DD/Uni level...

I've beaten them all, and I'm not even strong in Graves or Khans. I can't think of any top Germs player I haven't been able to beat 1v1 playing post-Zone. The oldschoolers who retired for years then came back were poor compared to their Zone ability (examples being Kryptz, Spade, Skalel, etc.).

To put it into perspective, I don't consider myself to be exceptionally good or talented at 1v1. It's simply grinding as many games as possible in a short time and you'll be in hot form. There's no secrets for experts to hide these days, there's no huge gulf between the top of blood community and the bottom like there was on Zone. I can guarantee if I grinded 100 games of Smosh 1v1 in a week, only people who did the same will match me in a set.

But we're discussing AB here. The fact is, aok maps are new-ish to aoc, in 2004ish when aok was at its 'peak' the aok maps had been played longer, and a lot more then they have been played in aoc, not to mention the level of competition etc. AOK died in around 2007 and dropped down to a level far, far below zone, because the players playing after 2007 apart from a select few who are mostly from zone, people didnt play bloods competitively anymore, aoc hasn't dwindled like aoc, it completely died. The skill level in AOK maps/AOK was far higher on zone, I have no idea about aoc as I didn't play aoc on zone, nor do i care.

The point is AB is played in AOC these days, it's played enough for the people who do play it to excel. Your point is probably valid if we were exclusively discussing AOK which is literally dead. As far as I am aware, all these lists pertain to AOC.