I recently decided to start a new account just to mess about with smurfing but while ranking up in the newbie servers i noticed 2 bad points.
1, After idk 2 years of playing T:A i saw my first hacker. These hackers are making accounts that get banned before they reach level 8 so I would never normally see them in the normal level 8+ servers. The problem with this is all the possible new players are screaming hacker at any player thats a lot better than them. This i feel is putting off new guys filtering through into the higher ranked servers.
2, There seemed to be quite a few level 9-25 players still hanging around in the 1-8 servers which are basically there to just let new players get to grips with the basics of moment and reasons you may choose a class for a certain role. I asked these guys wtf are they still playing in the newbie servers and they replied that they just weren't good enough to play in the higher ranked servers so would rather just stomp any new blood that may or may not stick around long enough to realise the potential of T:A. Im guessing these may be some of the COD style players who are not willing to put in the small amount of effort to at least advance to being able to contribute to a level 8+ pub game.
Both the reasons above I feel are stopping quite a few new players sticking with the game. As much as some comp players try to help pub players make the step to a more competitive player I think their efforts are alittle wasted as a larger influx of players will mean more talent that in turn would naturally grow the comp scene.
PS: uncle added u.