State of the Division (WT)

My fellow NNG'ers, the state of the division is shaky.

In the days leading up to the creation of the division, support was strong. After the creation, and more so after patch 1.3 where we were then able to create the NNG squadron in game, support was even stronger, and we quickly swelled to 40+ members.

But today, things are very blah. Active numbers are down in the division, and outside recruitment is near non-existant. Here's a few things I can point to as a cause:

1. It's summer. The weather is nice, so people have other things to do besides playing games. I know my personal activity is effected by this by about a third. I assume it's the same for others. Nothing really can be done about this, so I'll move on.

2. There was a flood of activity in the division's early days by our PS2 community. I'd guess that over 80% of our current squadron consist of these people. But it turned out at least half of those played the game for about a week and then stopped. Maybe at the time in PS2 things were slow and they have since picked up. Perhaps some people just downloaded WT to try it out, joined the squadron right off the bat, and then found the game to not be to their liking. Fair enough, but I ask that if this fits you, and you dont plan on playing the game again, please PM me so I can dismiss you from the squadron. No hard feelings, I just dont want inflated squadron numbers.

3. There has been a lack of community events to keep interest up in the division. No one to blame here but myself. I had intended to have, at least, bi-weekly events, but due to reason #1 and my wanting to spend the time I did have to be online to game, I've slacked and failed in setting up the events. I was also a bit let down by WT not having more squadron related benefits available when the squadron system was launched. But I will do my best to get things set up in the near future to foster a better sense of community in War Thunder.

Now, as to recruitment, I've been thinking how we approach this needs to change. I dont have it all worked out yet, and need to talk things over with NNG staff before I make any real changes, but I can say that I personally have denied a bunch of random join squadron requests since the squadron has started, with a rejection letter saying to come apply on the site to join us... yet not a single in game applicant has come to the site. This shows me there is a flaw in the system that needs to be addressed, and it will be.

Also, for those of you that ARE still active in the game, if you meet cool people during a match, and you see they have no clan tag, attempting to send them to our site is never a bad idea. Stress that we are a community of gamers that use TS for teamwork.

I laugh at the zerg squadrons that take anyone with good enough stats that end up with 100+ members, yet few know each other, let alone work together. I have no desire for us to grow large like this, but at the same time, we should be making attempts to reach out to some people and try to bring them into the fold. We do this in BF and in PS2. We should also do it in WT.

So, to bring this to an end, while activity is low, I know we have a core of guys that really enjoy the game, and through them we will attract others. But it will take a bit of effort by those that care, for it to happen.

If you have any concerns, ideas, or comments, please reply here guys

 

I just unlocked my first jet (Yak-15) and it sucks ass! Jet battles for 16-19 bracket are awful unless you have 2-3 jets with some decent guns. Bombers in that bracket are useless too.
Other than that everything is peachy

Anyways, I still love the game and I have decided to level up to 20 by playing in level 15 bracket. Just unlocked lvl14 TU-2S and going to gear it out. What a great bomber. I wanted to unlock the level 16 TU-2s as well, but that would automatically put me into the jet bracket and it wont be fun.
Someone told me that the bombers are still viable when playing vs jets but I happen to disagree. I've been shot down by Yak-9T and 9P in one pass, now going against jets that can move twice as fast... yeah...
Either way, we just have to focus on recruitment but its very hard because its hard to meet people in game and chat with them.
Nobody does recruitment in game either which makes me think, every time one of us gets a high score in a game, we can spam in chat right before the round ends: "NNG - NoNonsenseGamers.com is recruiting pilots for our War Thunder chapter. We focus on teamplay and will help you improve YOUR skills."
Something like that

 

While I agree that chatting in game is hard, if you meet someone that seems ok, remember his name, and after the round send hin a msg. We dont have to come right out and ask him to join, but rather, try to strike up a friendship, invite him into our TS, and if he shows interest after a few days, recommend that they put an app in (with you as their sponsor).

I dont want to be seen as pushy in our recruiting efforts, nor do I want us to look like those other squadrons that will take anyone just to have a bigger squadron. Our goal is nothing more then to find more like minded players that will fit well into our community. Because that's what we are. Many in NNG will still stay in touch even if tomorrow BF, PS2 & WT were gone. So, a goal should be to try to get guys into TS with us so we can better get to know them, and them us, and then odds are good they will want to join NNG without us even asking.

 

Recruiting in game can't be the only way we reach out. NNG only became NNG because there was a BF3 server where people met. And the server referred people to this very forum. In WT you don't have that same luxury. I would strive to actively recruit outside of the game world. Find other game forums. Fan forums. The official WT forums and spread the word. Try reddit, try reaching out to people on YouTube. The structure of the game itself doesn't make it easy to recruit. No one has a home base that other people come to and therefor some great communities go undiscovered.

I've jumped back to BF3 for a while, especially with the scrim stuff going on but definitely intend to play WT more. Especially once they start incorporating different assets.

 

I actually enjoy flying War Thunder in both Arcade and in Historical Battle. I do find myself flying solo alot of the time do to the fact we have not got a big group together yet. I also find it more of a question of what are we looking for in recruits more of a casual player who has fun or that of the hard core gamer. Personally I enjoy flying and just do it for the fun and while I am competitive I do not let it get to the point where I rage on any and everything.

Also Phaedo while you may think you are alone most of the time you are not just due to your tier's being a little bit lower when everyone is trying to get their doubles done they generally do not want to drop down due to the fact the higher the tier aircraft the more exp. I am sure if you catch people when they are not trying to do their doubles they would love to play with you.

 

I think that we're doing fine. There is almost always a squad doing things.
Also, please help me keep this thread alive, it needs bumps daily.
http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/60560-nng-no-nonsense-gamers-recruiting-usna/

Its hard to get our name out there and I don't see other clans/guilds recruiting either in game or in the general chat. May be its against their code of conduct or whatever, who knows.

Phaedo, its very hard to play with you when you're playing a different fucking game man! and I promise I wont KS no moar

 

Things certainly have been on an upswing lately. Seeing some new people, seeing some old people return, and activity is generally up. I think the end of the summer & patch 1.33 both had something to do with it.

The real test for this division will be how active it is once BF4 hits.

But since this is an old thread and alot of what I talked about dont really apply anymore, I'll lock the thread & put it to rest.