fine. if you want to annoy them away... go ahead. its the same damned effect.

I say keep the newbie sector magic shields as well.

Nonono, there should be a no magical defence for newbs. I'm not saying I kill newbs in newb sectors, or even want it to be possible, but there should be a none magic way to defend them (like an affective strike force, or more missile turrets at newb sectors) so that even the most experienced of us would find it so hard to get a kill in a newb sector, that it would just not be worth the effort.

I think this is the reason for the delay in removing magic shields in nation space, period.

Thats a pretty good idea to fend of newb killing. And maybe just explain the faction system to newbs in tutorials so there won't be any mishaps.

I'm down with immense defenses in newb sectors. Only thing is that takes dev time to really implement. As a stop gap I think leaving FF on for now would be the best option, but I'm not against really, really damned good defenses.

btw, I have a suggestions thread on this issue here (might be best to move the conversation there): http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/21067