At 1600 you might have moved above those who play that way. I've played a bit in the past and I reached 1200 and it seemed like opponents really relied on their openings. If I recognised their opening and played a completely random move they did not know what to do.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Openings are very hyped because "crush xyz in 12 moves" is a really good sell. "Do the hard work and you'll actually improve after like months or years if you do it consistently" is not such a good sell.

And so every new player studies a lot of openings, gets a theoretical grandmaster position (yay, you're equal as Black) and then blunder a piece and lose anyway.