When was strife first released?

It seems so easy to do, and I've done it before, but now when I try my absolute hardest I can in matches (I've been in Alpha for a year or so), I always get beaten. There's only a few times I've won and that's only through teaming. Know any good techinques to master a class and which ones could be for me?

I like defense and speed, or attack and speed, just anything that's not super op and needs skill to master (and is speedy)