Starter system

I’ve read your post Rex on the starter system, and because it is locked I reply here.

  1. Promethium meteorite drops were a major major problem, the complete lack of them did do as you would like, but also precluded factions from staying on Starter to help recruit new players.

  2. I understand the issue with the 250 cores, and because the starter was going to wipe, we were going to deploy a base in space as a way to help recruits leave the starter system (after vetting (through talking with them in depth) them for full recruitment). Thus we intended to use the starter system as a way of determining if a new player would have been a good fit for our faction. But yes, because every faction is building in the only place that would allow them an outpost to help their new recruits, the system became jammed. This wasn’t a problem when there were a starter system for each faction. THIS ISN’T greed, this is a sensible vetting process, because there is no way to lock players out of other players containers (not your fault, but rather one the game makers must fix).

2b) One issue I could think of for why so many people not recruiting, might want to stay on starter is that it is not PVP, and that they can build a massive PVP ship to survive leaving starter (and until they could find a more safe harbor to stay on). Something that people need to realize is that these types of games draw a large (if not larger) PVE crowd of players, than they draw PVP players. Your OCD/HWS Autominers are additional incentives to come to this server, as are the fact that you have actual admin who typically try to fix issues that players encounter. That being said, and for the last few months, everyone seems to want to push the idea that the game isn’t hard enough… It can never be hard enough for a player who is willing to spend ten to fifteen hours of their day playing a game, much less who belongs to a skilled group of players. But by trying to make every aspect of the game a death sentence, you are encouraging people to stay where it is safest. Back off on this element of the server, and people would be more willing to take risk.

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Great points! Much agreed.

I’m not even going to think of leaving starter system when I have no fuel or ammo due to mag/prom issues. That’s just suicidal. Yeah, I’m waiting in starter till I’m ready. Foolish to leave without enough preparedness against pvpers waiting for an easy kill.

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I don’t think I would be considered a veteran with only 50 hours between this season and last… But I moved to orbit because of the wipe and I didn’t want to jump out because my faction mates were not online (and on the surface) and the warning clearly states to be very ready before you jump… I have no idea what to expect and if I lost my CV I would very nearly be starting from scratch. So I wanted to store up some resources that I could OCD right away when I jump.

Anyway, I can’t play tonight, but I’ll jump on and move to Inception 2.

Although I have already left the starter, I can attest to the specific pointers brought up which were directly causing the overcrowding on starter space.

  1. Lack of Promethium
    &
  2. Lack of mobs to level up

1. Lack of Promethium
This is probably one of the most major issues grounding people longer than usual on the starters. I joined back onto HWS 2 days late into the new wipe and already the starter deposits of PR were totally bone dry. In the 4 or 5 days it took me to leave starter, I had to make the call to burn through my AM stores brought over from the previous season. Although excruciating, this was a huge advantage I had over the newer players who did not have an AM or had it running pre season.

The PR scarcity was probably caused by a couple of reasons:

  • The players who got on when the new season started and emptied out and hoarded the deposits even without leaving the system

  • Meteor replacements were non existent. In the 4-5 days i’ve been on the starter, I’ve been totally reliant on pulling PR from my AM stock. Something which quite a number of people do not possess.

All this while pulling PR from my AM stock, my level was abysmal, thus just crappy small PR packs which made things worse. (lvl to be covered below)

2 Lack of leveling methods
The Fauna has been given a major gut blow. Hardly any fauna spawns and the only ones i got were triggering the POI traps over and over again when they reset. Leveling was so bad that I had to resort to hand drilling with T2 for XP and farming. Since my faction was already out of the system, there wasn’t much I could rely on which forced me to make a desperate decision. With almost no fuel left, I to leave when I was lvl 15 to the ECC. After which, it was smoother but only because I had a pool of Credits and OCD to fall back on. I shudder at the experience of a new player to HWS.

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If you set your drill/t2 drill/ hv harvester module to stone removal (right click) and start removing rocks and bolders you will get tons of mag and other resources from it and its fast as hell.

I won’t lie leveling has been a pain in the #$# right at start when there was only npc spawning in poi 2 every 5min, but it was later fixed when a lot more where spawning all over the planet, hint a hv with harvester module can be spawned at level 3 and you can grind npc’s for exp with that thing without getting effected by fire rain, heat, cold so on.

I’m not certain whether I’m considered a “Veteran” or not yet. I do have a 70 slot OCD with enough resources to build my CV, but the ONLY reason I considered staying on starter is because of the lack of ability to level. I haven;t built a CV yet, and just sent my SV out to Inception space with all my crap so I can go back to the super slow leveling grind described in the posts above when the planet wiped. I would’ve been gone day 1 if I could find a way to level up. Otherwise, I can’t spawn my CV until I hit 25. And I really don’t think leaving the Starter with my sled at level 7 would’ve been viable if the sled is the only thing I can use until I hit 25. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like there’s some logic to that… It’s not that I’m lazy, or don’t want to leave.

When the choice is leave at level 7 in a s***ty sled and level to 25 in PVP areas, or level to 25 on a safe planet and THEN leave with a sled (so I can at least spawn my nice CV outside the starter using OCD mats), I feel like the choice is pretty clear. Level 20 is all I could manage this whole week, and I spent considerable time looking for ways to level quickly.

Thanks for the tip, Kogami. That is part of why I haven’t moved. Especially with a known warp coming, my unarmed hauler would be fodder for those who knew we would have to leave.

I concur with the sentiments in this posts. I have intent of playing (and even trying a base) on a PvP, but I play 2 or 3 hours per evening, with nights AFK in between. We prefer exploration and an RPG experience, not constantly rebuilding. So many of the vocal posters are solely focused on getting players together for combat, but the experience differential is such that most of us are literally XP fodder for players who have more time on their hands. If I wanted to play a combat-centric space game, I would play Elite in VR.

The biggest reason I was parking, however: my faction partner and I tried to level and warp before he left on vacation, but could not reach level 10 in time. Prom and leveling opportunities were a pain, or we would have done it at our normal rate. If I had known (and a notification received just as I went to orbit and am logging off for the night is insufficient), I would have made other arrangements for the wipe.

An idea that I saw and liked: A portal for players with OCD to warp to EGS when they are ready. RexXxus brought up the OCD. If I could access my OCD and credits, I would have built a defensible ship and left starter in the first hour.

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@Coryopteris I’m in a similar boat. I play 3-5 hours a night and thats all I can do. Occasionally am not able to play, such as tonight. I also plan on trying to get into PVP, but at this point, I would lose everything I have if I tried and lost. Whereas established players wouldn’t risk anything, especially if they already have rep and thus get the weekly FA:Supply (2k combat steel for Guardians!).

I think that the first jump is supposed to be PVE, but there is no info on it (which is fine) and the game explicitly says to not jump away until you are good and prepared. Well, that’s what I’m trying to do…

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I think I am just going to cool my heels for a bit and do some single player. There is way too much drama here and most seems to be between management and players. I appreciate all of the hard work in time and money that Rex and Jas put into this game. And I agree that there seems to be some selfish players trying to game the system at the expense of others. I retired from the corporate world a few years ago to get away from this stuff.

a +1 on the appreciation for RexXxuS and crew. In spite of the log jam, their contributions have added greatly to my appreciation for the game, and the passions shown here from the group reflect that.