I would imagine it's because they want to know what we can do now, we're able to defend properly again and with the merging we've doubled our MO staff so attacks should also be easier to coordinate, and judging from the last two nights roidgain it's gone pretty good too. I also think that they're interested in finding out who these new people are, I know I am, and so far they've turned out to be a bunch of nice guys with the same sense of humour as us. That may be the most important of all imo
Gaining ranks is just a bi-product, although I'm sure they're happy with that too...