back then, clans did it. Ladder always was about select your “champion”, and boost the hell out of them for your team/clan.
I use the word champion in the sense that this individual will represent your clan.
ofcourse there were people not in a clan who had a solid group, and they did well too.
Ladder never has nor was it ever supposed to be about the solo climb or individual player. this ideal is very new, and makes zero sense to me…in a competition you want to have people backing you up and keeping you ahead of the other guys. like a trainer for a fighter, or the coach of a football team…someone to direct you and make sure you win. This case is different slightly, because this is more like a warrior and their attendants who help them suit up and make sure their gear is ready and in top condition…like the 300 spartans(Leonidas and his personal guard), they each had their own helpers who also fought along side them.
So we each have anecdotal evidence with the exception that my IRL friend made the top ladder by not doing this…? We did runs together, we never did what it’s being done today and we never pooled resources and even after not doing any of that he still made top ladder?
I don’t really care about the race to 99 because its not my thing but Blizzard does have a big history of giving priority server connections to popular streamers. Look at any wow expansion launch or new game release. You have streamers reaching max level before the rift raft can even log in. So to say that blizzard gives no game advantage to streamers is just wrong.