I used to be Ancient V 2 years ago when I stopped playing. Recently I started to play dota2 again, but I was calibrated to Archon 1. After many games I’m fluctuating between Crusader V and Archon IV…
Even though I’m at much lower level than 2 years ago, I noticed even CRUSADER people are incredible. I mean people use aggro all the time, they use manta dodge(!), when I’m playing hoodwink and throw my 1st spell to bushwack the enemy, the enemy destroys the tree in that 0.3 second, they deny eachother or themselves at neutral camp if possible, they carry dust, they cut waves(!), etc.
As I see the main problem in this bracket is the urge to overextend and dive like crazy, not playing for objectives and lastly bad target priorization. As a support player I always try to help my team making the right decision, but this rarely happens. Apart from this, I’m really surprised how mechanically advanced people are in the crusader bracket.
As I was missing for 2 years, I would be interested in your observation. Are players this much better on avarage, or am I really getting old and bad? :)
Mechanically, yes. You used be able to get to 5k+ with superb mechanics alone and people 2k-3k didn’t even know how to last hit properly. Now most 2k-3k players are at least decent at last hitting/denying and can cast their spells in fights.
Conceptually, no. People are still just as dumb as ever. The arguments I see from some averaged rank players and the things they do in game are really wild sometimes. The average player still has very poor conceptual understanding of the game and frequently makes glaring mistakes in basic concepts; how to lane, where to be on the map, where to fight, where to provide vision, what items to buy, power spikes, win conditions, etc.