Amino said:
Not using eyecandy to improve your skills also shows that you don't have skills because you need something to improve them. Owning with the eye candy on shows not only that you can aim and move, but also that you can deal with the inconsistency and unpredictability that is tyhe internet and the limitations of a PC. That's the way they intended the game to be played.
Altough this discussion is a bit beyond this thread's scope I'd like to address your points nonetheless.
Whether I have "skills" or not is an empirical question, but your reasoning for proclaiming a lack thereof is not sound.
Imagine a virtual skill-scale of 0 to 100. Suppose I score 54 by myself. Now whether I suck or rule at that level is not so important. What is important is that it can be improved by tuning the game experience ever so slightly. Maybe I can scrape a couple of points and play at 60 on the scale. That is good for me no matter how you look at it.
You could claim that I should reach 100 all by myself on a P2-300 with all the eyecandy on, but that is just not realistic. There is no absolute maximum, there is only the drive to progress.
Now this is all still quite abstract and one important thing is missing from the discussion. That is how big the difference actually is. Hardware alone creates a huge gap. Ping most of all, but also FPS and screen real estate. There is no denying this and it leads to an unfairness inherent to the game. Now why should you take this hardware (dis-)advantage for granted but refuse to attenuate it by setting up the game for better performance?
As far as the visuals are concerned- the eye candy adds needless clutter, creating quite a few situations where you cannot see what is happening whereas you could have with the stuff disabled. Yet, more importantly it will drop your framerate overall. This in turn leads to decreased damage given by dmg/sec weapons. Note that this is directly tied in with your hardware's power.
However, the real kicker is in the heaviest fights- when the screen is filled with moving foes, bursting and flying projectiles and when you move and turn very fast. Even with the burliest system, framerates will slow to below acceptable levels and when the screen stutters so does your own performance.