Now, I'm sure many of us here will agree with us, but even for subbed players, some items are still almost out of reach, unless we go through other players. In this particular instance, I refer to the Ultra Charge power cells. The requirement is 40 "good" mentor reviews, not a lot on the surface, but completely unrealistic for the average player, as most newbs won't accept being mentored. It forces players to go through other players to acquire them. I propose we petition the devs to alter the Sanction on UCs to something more achievable, though keeping it an item only subbed players are eligible to unlock. There are a few other items that could use addressing, but let's start here. Thoughts?

Goto Odia H-6, get an escort, shoot the moth/taurs in unmonitored sectors.
Rince and repeat until they drop some UCs. This goes faster with an addon or built in cargo scanner like in a hound, but an hog II is perfect for the job too.

-1 to OP

The Mentor system needs an overhaul, no doubt, but having some items being very hard to acquire promotes player to player trade, which is a good thing.

What Deathspores said. Or better yet, track someone doing that and then kill them for the loot :)

-1

the uc power cell is one of the best power cells in the game, if not the best, but it is not so unique that you can not get by without it. there are other options. the ihdpc, the hive fast charge, etc...

the uc power cell is just not important enough to make any changes over.

I'm nowhere near without. I have thousands of UCs. But I cannot buy them in station myself. Why should it take a year, year and a half, or more to unlock them with such an outrageous number of required mentor reviews. Not important?! You're not important, rat. Making the requirements for unlocking UCs more realistic is absolutely reasonable.

I have thousands of UCs. But I cannot buy them in station myself.

Thank you for confirming the utter unimportance of making them easier to buy in stations. The rest of your post is so much virtual toilet paper.

+1

The mentor system, while good in theory, is horrible in practice.

Items should follow the following formula:

Purchasable < Craftable < Rare drops

Currently, the formula is skewed at:

Rare drops < Purchasable < Craftable
Hive FC < UC < IHDPC

I suggest one of the two following corrective actions:
1. Remove the mentor restriction and instead make the restriction POS for the station in question for UC.
2. Buff Hive FC so they are slightly better than UC which allows players to farm them and opens up a channel for player trade.

You're treating UCs like a normal "Purchasable" item, but they are not and never have been. They are more like a "Rare Drop" item that is only obtained by looting convoys--harder than killing hive bots, thus justifying it being marginally better than the Hive FC. The purchasable option for the UC is merely an exception granted to high-level mentors.

They are easy to get, enough people sell them.

I've been playing ten years, I think I only have three mentor points to go :)

Having some items that can only be gotten by certain requirements increases player to player interaction.

Its a good thing.

- a lot

[edit]

10 years? Has it really been that long? Gawd I feel old.

+1 to either of Savet's suggestions with #1 preferred. I'd rather see items limited by actual gameplay.

They already are limited by actual gameplay. You can farm them by killing NPC convoys if you are willing. In fact you can find convoys with any player purchasable item in them. Just grab a hound and go crazy.

Yeah, I'm with Lector on this one.