As im just interested, not trying to insult anyone, im just going to name one good example and stay silent about the rest of the names.
Everyoen probably already noticed that some of the most regular ladder players stayed in the bottom of the ladder for the past few years, i seriously dont understand how hasnt their experience helped them improve, just look ata run who was regularly on the bottom and has improved significantly durign the past few months

make the name, i don't want look Whole ladder. if you don't want speak in public, send me a mail =)

My best guess is that their play style has not changed at all based off their experiences, or that they just don't care about the outcome of the games. I for one feel like I am significantly better than when I first started in the ladder (even though I am not active in the 1v1 atm and my rating sucks when I ran into a string of games that I played terribly in). I always look at replays/history afterwards and watch every aspect of the turns now (when I started I would just skip through and not care). I find that I play better in games where I don't rush my turns (if the opponent is online and taking his turns in RT as well), so I take time to watch the previous turns and then plan out exactly what I want to do for the next turn. When I am bored at work I'll pull up replays of games with top ladder players to try and pick up on anything I think I can benefit from. It helps to see your opponent's moves turn by turn, since you're trying to get inside their head and stay one step ahead. Granted each game is different based off of starting positions, luck, the opponent, etc., but every little thing that you can do will help in the long run.

i was thinkign specifically about eagleblast and blowfly
http://warlight.net/LadderTeam?LadderTeamID=299
http://warlight.net/LadderTeam?LadderTeamID=137

personally, I find when I overthink my turns, I tend to do worse, more often then I do better.. and I watch my turns whenever It's relatively close still.
and I could play better, namely when I was in 1v1 ladder, but alot of players change their tactics based on who they are playing.. I prefer to treat each game as unique.

I think the ladder would benefit from an anonymous setting, so that people aren't watching past games to understand the other players tendencies, and instead focus' on their own gameplay.

These types of players, I am assuming, follow similar practices.

and looking at eagleblast, I am presuming he was interested in the game, alot of competition came in, so he started having difficulty, he left for a while, then when he came back he didn't have as much time to dedicate, so his rating/rank have been lagging off.

what i see in this 2 year, that for became very good at this game, you have to be at least good already when you make 1st 500 games. you will improve slowly, you cannot became very good if you are bad.
if you are bad, you can became only decent, not more.
2 other factor are (without consider skill, the most important ofc): age, is quite important IMHO have at least 17/18 year for play good. And play with player better then you. If you play with ppl bad as you, you can't improve.

Catch 'em young and train 'em quick. A child's aptitude for learning peaks from ages 3-7. So, got a 3 year old kid? Chuck them on Warlight to create the ultimate player in a couple years! His midichlorian levels are off the charts!!

lol master l
perrin, eagleblast was never out fo the bottom of the ladder, he just declined a lot in rank now because there are lots of new players, the bottom of the ladder is lower... his rating was always quite low
gnuff, if you are bad (unless you are 12) you will never become very good, btu perhaps you might become average, or good... good players might ebcome very good... i see no progression in those 2 players
perrin (again), players change their tactics accordign to who they are playing with, but also because of the difference in initial distribution, tahts the main reason for might changes in gameplay (different territories where the pick is at whithina bonus, difference in the trerritories with the wastelands, whether you get to know your opponents initial picks or not)

that for became very good at this game, you have to be at least good already when you make 1st 500 games.

I was quite terrible. Even after 500 games. I don't think I improved much during my first year here. I think I had like 40% wins after around 150 1vs1 games... But I really didn't care about it, I played mostly to have fun.

But I was here when membership was introduced. I lost access to some features I really liked.
I played in a few 1vs1 membership tournaments, and I failed miserably...
Some time later I decided I want to get better, to have better chance to win one.

So, I would say it's mainly about motivation. If you don't want to get better, there is a little chance you will make big progress.

Imho, I was alot better around 400 games in, then I am now..

Pink, indeed, but many players have certain habits which are exploitable.. tendencies which make them more predictable...
and according to his rating chart.. he started around 1100, went up around 1300, then after his hiatus lingered around 1100 again. This is consistent to what I described before.

Although likely, I feel, they just got tired of trying as hard as they had been, and their effort/game went down...

not all people have the proper mindset to be good at a game like this.. a pretty good friend of mine on here is at best a decent player.. I attempted to explain to him some of the finer basic details of the game, after he had shown me it maybe a month prior.. and simple could not convey the message in a way he could comprehend readily.

I don't do very well in the ladder but I take my turns as if I'm racing against time. Mostly because I usually am. I don't check past moves. My picks are crap. I just roll with it so my play style is stale. I will try to put a little extra effort into team games but I do not care in a 1v1.I'm only in the ladder right now for delicious points. I want to see what unlocks.

my guess is some of them just dont bother. if you look at blowfly's games you'll seee that he only makes 3-4 picks. Having played for such a long time, he'd know that 6 picks is a must, but he probably just doesnt care...

if you want to keep getting better, my advice is to just keep playing 1v1 games. i had a few lessons with noobschool and iedfoggy back when i was a toatal noob a year and a half ago, it was little help. I got better by just playing more and more. THe 1v1 strategic is such a boring template that Im usually only good at RT. play your 1v1s rt, you'll feel less bored and observe more.join a clan (RSP was great), find people around your skill, keep playing them, Press 'Show All' dont just skip to end. aAlso might like to stalk a particular lladder player and copy their style.