I agree that the AoLers have a lot more ability there ... otherwise how could Lanfear have come so close to slicing Rand's connection? There is no way she is significantly stronger than he was at the time ... and I've always thought the WH scene where Talaan shields Nynaeve would lead somewhere.

I'm not sure that necessarily means Moghedien is particularly skilled. She strikes me as the type who was far to lazy to have learned much beyond what she would have found personally useful. Compare her to Graendal or Lanfear or Semirhage and she's a rank amateur. Mesaana at least seems to have a theoretical knowledge of all things OP since she was a wanna be researcher.

Personally I think the AoLers in many ways are less generally skilled as they seem to be specialists having been professionals in the AoL rather than what the AS of the 3rd age do ... be professional Channelers. I imagine the AS of the Compact of Nations era were amongst the most skilled/innovative individual women ever. Clearly they didn't have the body of knowledge that the AoL AS possessed, but they seemed to be the first era of "generalists" with the OP since they didn't have men to link with and seem to have lost the knowledge of complimentary strengths making each woman rely on her own skills rather than working as part of a group.

This certainly has led to some glaring blind spots about working as a group. One of the scenes that highlights modern AS blindness is Mat's healing in TDR ... the AS involved there?

3 Blues, Siuan, Sheriam and Anaiya
2 Browns, Verin and Serafelle
1 Green, Alanna
1 White, Alviarin

Of these women Anaiya and Alanna are considered good Healers, Siuan and Verin are decent and Sheriam is down right poor IIRC. Alviarin and Serafelle are of unknown skill here, but where the hell are the Yellows for this??

This crew seems to have been chose more for raw power and probably politics since they are all either familiar with Mat from Fal Dara or of Siuan's Ajah. If this had been an AoL circle there would have been more Samitsu type women, and the most skilled, not the strongest would have lead the circle.