Originally Posted by Tigs
I'm a firm believer in the idea that playing against better teams will make you a better player, in the same way that watching videos of good players will help you improve. It is also necessary to learn to overcome gear gaps against teams that have the gear, but not the skill to back it up. If you combine both of these lessons, when you finally obtain your gear a few weeks down the road, you will already be playing at a gladiator level, and you will find yourself there soon enough.
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Great post. I really think that this hits the nail on the head when it comes to improving your game (though there are other factors). If you only play vs. poor players, you can only improve enough to beat those players. Having a foil to measure yourself against is really important for progression of any type, but especially in PvP where generally skills improve as the season progresses.
I can state from personal experience that both playing with AND against better players can change your game so dramatically that you will not recognize the player you were beforehand as yourself. I went from an excellent warlock but total shit warrior playing on Cyclone BG, to a 2k+rated player on Bloodlust. Same gear, new partner(s), new opponents. In my first few weeks on BG9 I played people locked into the 1600/1700/1800 brackets who would have been 1800/1900/2000 on Cyclone. As a response, I personally had to get better to compete. So even though in the beginning I felt pretty outclassed by a bunch of these teams, I asked my partner for tips every game, mentally reviewed what I did right, and what I did wrong, and took every game win or lose as a learning experience. The results have been pretty awesome, since I went into season 3 with a deep thunder and only one piece of arena gear. I fully believe that an improvement in opponent skill and my adaptation to that is responsible for better ratings. Yes I have gear now and that helps, but I didn't have much gear when I first hit 1850 playing with a shaman healing in 3 pieces of his elemental set. If you have the right attitude, and a partner with the same desire to improve, you can do really impressive things even despite the gear gap that might exist.
As Tigs said, if you can learn to overcome the adversity of being grossly undergeared, you can learn to play at a very high level.