I'd be interested to know this too. Apart from Zorak, are there any other good players that came about in the last 5 or 6 years that can contend with top players?
Rapha says that he had just started dueling about a month before QuakeCon in 2003.
Polosatiy mentions (in Russian) that Evil participated in ASUS Summer 2007 and that "he was already strong at that time, winning five ASUS cups before".
Cypher's first big international tournament was ESWC 2006, and he had just won GigaGames 2006 with Cooller in the final at the age 16; his first "pro" game, Quake 4, was released the same year.
I remember seeing some demos with Evil from very early Q3 days. Along with Unkind, Lexer and a few other names.
But was it actually this Evil or some other player or am I just confusing something... Not sure. People were playing Q3tourney2 and Q3tourney4. Good times.
yes it was the same Evil, he had won some Asuses back in times:
ASUS Cup Summer 2003 (won fortune aka 421)
ASUS Cup Winter 2004 (won keeper)
ASUS Cup Autumn 2004 (won cooller)
ASUS Cup Winter 2005 (won jibo)
ASUS Cup Autumn 2005 (won cooller)
during that period he had attended to international tourneys only once - on ESWC 2004 as part of Russian TDM team that had reached 3d place
then everybody switched to q4 and vq3, and Cypher started his ownage on Russian Asuses, Evil took part in vq3 tourneys under alias "luc1fer", but he didn't reached anything bigger than top5-6
as he said in one of his russian interviews (source) he spend less time on quake in 2005-2010, but he wasn't really inactive and kept an eye on quake scene. I recall him playing some local tourneys here and there in cpma vq3 and even promode, also he played for Russian tdm team on Clanbase 2009 online with jibo, cooller & k1llmaster. the final game vs France (l1nkin, unity, strenx, slx) was quite interesting, but they lost it 1-2.
in the same interview he said that he had a car accident and he was lucky to survive in august 2010. after that he decided to start life with a clean slate, and come back into cybersport was a part of this change.
Interesting. When asked whether it was hard to switch from Q3 to QL and how both games differ, Evil replied that there's not a lot of differences actually, and the biggest one is timelimit being 10 minutes rather than 15. He also mentions accuracy and respawn system changes, but says it's not as radical as it might seem.
Cooller, however, gives these changes in the game a very different, if not the opposite assessment (in Russian); rough translation:
There are two brand new maps (t7, t9); other three (ztn, dm6, dm13) were modified, and this alone makes a huge difference. [...] Now, respawn system: previously your opponent spawned in the furthermost point from their death, now it's the furthermost from your location, and this changes a lot and you need to know how to manipulate it.
Second moment: dm13. They've added YA and changed the teleport, which in turn significantly affected tactics if not to say that the whole game on this map is now totally different. [...]
Third: dm6. WeaponRespawn was 15 and good players had always used this fact to their advantage. Now it's 5 seconds and trust me as a competent player, it does make a difference!
Fourth: weapon damage was changed, one must choose weapons carefully now depending on the situation, otherwise gg. Game speed had changed, RL fires faster, rockets travel faster, etc. [...]
When I started to play QL, I've only had prior Q3 experience, and playing like I used to in Q3 I was getting pwned, so I had to scratch my head and learn everything from the beginning.
Just a difference of playstyles the way i see it. Cooller depends a lot more on tactics compared to evil. 15 sec wep respawn/10 ammo boxes is the one thing i wish ql had cos the game is becoming more and more like an arcade game than a strategy game with hitscan aim becoming better and easier.
That's plausible, but Cooller's attention to detail and this "the whole game on this map is now totally different" and that "good players had always used [it] to their advantage" support the common perception of QL being quite a different game from classic Q3A, and the fact that Cooller had to relearn and readjust his game (not just meta game) to start winning again kind of proves it.
Well he is one of the most experienced players in general. He might have started later than most, but he played by far the most of all pros in ql. He had something like 6k matches just on ztn in ql before steam switch
baksteen started before ql in quake4, clawz was playing since he was a little kid 10 years ago
i think fraze only started with ql, maybe some q3 before but not sure
base is the best and probably the only pro that started with ql
Aboout baksteen: http://www.esportsfrance.com/actualites/29414/ I've been playing videogames since I was 10 or so, and started to play Quake with Quake 4 at the end of 2008, playing mostly free-for-all, switched to QuakeLive as it went to open beta somewhere in 2009, and started dueling from then on.
Base was active and a high skilled player during q3 times, played for magic clan and won a few online cups iirc, don't know exactly when he started though.
A few that come to mind:
Agent
Baksteen
Kronic (played halo 1 and UT before ql)
Fraze (started with QL)
no, Pavel has started with q3 somewhere around 2002-2003, but he didn't play online as he had no connection/really bad connection. He had started to play competitively from cpma vq3 somewhere around 2008-2009, and then switched to QL. Also he was known as kook.
ins you're one of my favorite players to watch you actually have a brain.
you're also one of my favorite commentators, again, because you have a brain. You actively and excitingly describe what's going on in a way most cant.
it used to be when I thought zoot was ridiculously lacking and you were what held the show together . only after you left and others tried to take your place, did I have more respect for his commentating lol.
Strangely, scarface's last login was on 7 May 2008, which is also the date when rapha's account was registered. I mean, he could've just renamed himself, why create another account?
I'll let you guys decide what my level of play is, but to clarify I started in 2009 November, my dad has played since quake 1 release so I was somewhat familiar with the absolute basics as I used to watch and maybe have a shoot around every year or so haha but I didn't like the look of the game used to always play console games and when I finished high school dad said nah we will get it for you you will like it, and I thought nah it looks shit but I will give it a go for you, and we all know how that turned out ;p also for those interested I've started playing again recently, not played that seriously for almost 2 years I would say... Quake con is a slight possibility see how it goesssss :)
If you go, I promise to write your name on my cock like b4ze did...... although I'll probably only be able to fit the F and the R, it's the thought that counts.
Fraze if you will train to go and get convertible pieces for your computer so that the keyboard etc you use can be taken... I'd donate like 25-50$ or so.
PURRI had said that his first multiplayer experience with Q2 was circa August 98, and he played HLDM prior to that for a few months until discovering Quake.
not sure if your meaning Quakelive or Q3 starts or even before but you missing alot if pre QL
PELE
unKind (one of the best - shame drugs are baaaaaaaaad)
POLOSATIY
chaoticz
Zero4 (one of the best ever)
akiles (some may say was good)
czm
socrates
rix
tdm:
mikes (one of the best ever in tdm)
stelam (same)
prozac (tdm and duel)
all the ice climbers (gopher - tox - belth - cant remember rest)
fox (tdm and duel)