We Rooks know what are problems culture wise.
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- Unless you are part of a squad its rather lonely to be an independent in Rook land. We are working on that and the C.O.s of several squads are making an effort to communicate and work with everyone independent and squaddies alike to make everyone feel like they are apart of a community.
- Less jovial atmosphere. Yes, that is true and I am not sure what really can be done about more jokes, etc. Problem stems from a very hard nose attitude now in place in the game. We log on into a viscious fight where many times we are the bone of contention that the other two sides are trying to reset. Its the nature of the fighting we have right now that simply put most of us don't have alot of time to type since we are in a desperate fight within minutes of being in the arena. On the other hand you should hear us on VOX and range VOX. Easier to talk and fly than type and fly in the situation we in. Of course that does not help making an independent or a newbie feel apart of things.
We are working on this too to make Rook land more chatty and such.
- A few monkeys screaming and ranting making new people to Rookland feel unwelcome. This has been recognized and many squads are working to calm the monkeys and stop the harrassing behavior.
Lazer came over last night and the monkeys started in on him but others jumped in and calmed the monkeys down and started chatting with Lazer.
xbat has also visited Rook land with his squaddies and they were not chased out.
- RJO schedule .. yes, we can organize and yes we can turn out the numbers. We did last night, although even at our peak of 203 the knights still had more. But we did well and came back from 3 bases to hit a peak of 33 bases at one point in 3 hours.
It takes alot of behind the scenes work to do this and get an ops rolling. Rooks are an independent lot and often in the MA we get so immersed in the moment of trying to hold the line that we forget to communicate and coordinate.
This is being addressed and while I can't vouch for all time periods I have seen a marked increase in Rook numbers in the 9-12 EST frame. With us putting up around 100 pilots to 110 pilots. Doesn't seem like a lot but its 20-30 pilots more on average. Give us time to rebuild our numbers.
RJO purpose is to get all Rooks to work, communicate and coordinate more. Buts its a volunteer thing. There is no dictator saying you must do this, or do that, or fly this way. Its a bunch of squads talkign to each other and asking where you are fighting and how can I help. A dictator would be more efficient but less fun. A voluntary group is more fun but takes more time to get things rolling and make changes to the culture. Again give it time.
- One side switching to Rooks when RJO is steamrolling. Personally I don't believe this. Some might come over but take last night as an example. Our peak was 203 but at the beginning of our drive we had maybe 140 .. up to our peak and afterwards we were in 190 - 180 range. For whatever reason when we started taking Bishop bases and their numbers dropped off dramatically ours did not increase dramatically. And we were not guaranteed the reset .. while we closed on the Knights they held a base lead and always had more players. So I am not sure how many switched to us since they thought we were going to win.
- Overall for three months Rooks have had a number drop off. Part of its cultural and that is being addressed. There might be other factors also involved. As for what they are I am not sure.
Part of me wonders if we have more Rooks on the east coast than in other time zones. I have noticed that our numbers really drop off around midnight EST. Could be indicative of the east coasters logging off because they have to work the next day.
There could be more loss of pilots base do to burn out. Many of the Rooks squads are long term squads that existed here and in AW. Its possible that many squads are suffering pilots losing interest in flying or cutting back there flying hours since the shine is off the apple. Personally I like MA but I look forward to friday night TOD and plan for it and do maps, etc. I don't do it for MA.
In my case I spend about 20% to 25% of my flying time now in events not in the MA. Not sure if others also have switched flying to more in TODs, CT, special events, etc.
Point is that it could be a cyclical thing where some pilots in the established squad have lost interest. Numbers go down and becomes a siege environment and others lose interest.
Squads are working on reversing this. Again it will take time.
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RJO consists of 33 squads now trying to make things better in Rookland. We are working on it and have seen some improvement in the last two weeks since we really started making a push to address things.
Its hard to wait and deal with being outnumbered and its frustrating to watch things slowly turn around. I think they will but I also think it might take a full camp to start really seeing results and numbers rebuild.
