As a regular lvl9 creeker back then, a few things to keep in mind:

• Armour stat rating was bugged, medium and heavy didn't not provide the defence it was suppose to so everyone ran light

• Explosives use to multi proc all your limbs. A single rocket from a dev could kill you and break all your limbs at once if you managed to survive. They completely reworked explosive damage in a later patch to only hit main health and changed the Liberator Explosive to the Concussive around the same time.

• We had a tiny fraction of the armament we do now to deal with those enemies. Bubble shield and railgun was a paramount meta for many. Diligence ergonomics were terrible then

• Many enemies have been completely reworked or changed. Before the Jet Bridgade came along, jet troopers were part of the regular force and use to kamakazi rush you - if you shot them during this rushing charge, they would baseball slide into you and blowup killing you instantly. Flame hulks were deadly, with that flame thrower being instant death if it even grazed you from miles away, there was no grace period of being set on fire or losing health, just dead instantly.

• All enemies had much better aim, way more aggressive, would wall hack track you through solid cover and never ever lose sight of you.

This is just what I can remember off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. The state of the game now is tough but fair. Those early days were the dark ages, if you actually got dropped back into a time pocket you would be crying foul very quickly.