Part of the problem here is that there is no good definition of Noob or Vet; I don't think there can be in a game like this.
For my part, I am very comfortable with game mechanics and strategy/tactics right up to late game, where SP just can't prepare you for the SC/tactics/things I've read about in this forum. I probably fare better than most noobs in early/mid-game because I've never really used gems in battles, SC, or thugs in my SP victories against all-impossible AIs. But I still consider myself a noob because I just haven't ever felt the sting of defeat or thrill of victory from MP play.
I will now admit that I considered throwing in the towel out of frustration when Lingchih obliterated my first army. I was so demoralized by what I felt was just bad luck but was really a combination of good luck and excellent strategy on Lingchih's part. Then Baalz posted his shiny new pledge thread and I just had to keep going!
(Not really, I had decided before that, but it was so close.)
So far I've learned two incredibly significant lessons among many smaller... the first should be eveident from the above paragraph and the fact that I did finally (barely) put the immovable slab in front of Ermor's tomb. The second is one that every player that faces me from now on will learn the hard way.
I'm not telling.
The point is this: if you read these forums avidly, a noob may not see anything that is completely new to him/her, but I still expect to see applications of force that are new to me and the rest of the noob team.