I got quake3 in the middle of september 2005, and I downloaded the mod some time later, and got the weapon cfg I'm using now sometime after.
I also used to play with my friend a couple of years ago, but that was with bots and our main technique was setting the mouse on the middle of the screen and trying to hit some1 by strafing

i play q3 since dectember 1999 or first quartal of 2000. Iam not sure. But i was played this game with big pauses to fall (autumn) 2005. But i was maybe the best quaker in our small town (cca 25 000 people). I was all the time offline. Iam online since 8/2005. In this time i was started playing of quake 3 e+. I remember times of version 1.02b and older In this starts i was used total defalut client config. BTW: i was completed q3a singleplayer to hardcore difficulity (without any cheats). Since january 2006 iam playing quake approximately every day

I think that e+ players did big step to forward in one year of playing. If i was started playing, i didnt knew sliding with guns, strafe jump etc. But i was in ffa almost always on 1st, second or third position in scoreboard.

What changes i did: I had big advantage in my aim. Where is this times... But my mouse wasnt unfailing and after 3 months pause i returned to q3a e+ with new mouse - razer diamondback magma. But i have problems with finding optimal settings of mouse up to now so i havent so good aim as in past This was my small story...

i think if i can play now with my old mouse now with my old game style without sliding and strafe jumping then i would not be on so good positions in scoreboards. Enemies are better now than before year

q3 since 2005 e+ from december 2005

It was about 2000 When I started. Excessive a year maybe?