Hmm, I've been aiming to be competitive for a long time and never really got anywhere. I started off in black forest like most young noobs I guess, I remember bragging how I was 12 and still holding in there with people lol... Eventually I started playing more open maps and even arabia, around the time I learned this triple archery range rush for mongols. I used that strategy on auto-pilot for months. Still, I wasnt that serious and didnt go much above 1650 on the zone in 1v1s. Later on in '07s or so I came back to AoC from one of my regular haituses and tried hard for awhile, eventually getting 1750+ on voobly. But I felt like it was impossible for me to make progress and I wasnt that hard of a worker to succeed, so I drifted away from AoC again. Last time I played voobly I then struggled to even keep the rating they give you to start with...the level of play is absurdly high and I feel like I dont have what it takes to even keep up anymore. The game is heavily micro focused and my speed and coordination is quite bad.
How to get better? Hang out on AoCZone, to be straightforward the guys around here are not competitive players and you should surround yourself with those players if you want to get better. Play lots of 1v1 arabia and study recorded games of 2k players I guess.
"Excellent could be any map that has the quality of a ES random map or ES scenario. AoK is an excellent, award winning game. That's where I'd start." -AnastasiaKafka
"Hard work is evil. Bitmaps are stupid. Working on a scenario for more than one afternoon is stupid. Triggers are stupid. Testing your own scenario is stupid. The world is stupid. You are the Greatest." -Ingo Van Thiel