ok, they are no fun :(.

what can a newbie with a complete free ship do agaisnt 2 sentries chasing him..., I can run yes, but after 2.6 km they caught me, and I catch 25 - 30% damage rolling and all "complete newbie will get more damage prolly". Then I can boost again for about another 2.5 km and catch another 25 - 30% damage. Before I reach the exitpoint I have at least sustained enough damage to be killed.

So I propose to either send the first level tradroutes within the system, in stead of letting people travel from point x to y in different systems. It takes me 12 mins just do to 1 traderun in a bus(back forth, like fetch missions). Or to make a checksum that as long as a level in any of the 4 stats isnt 4+, that you will not be subjected to any ion storms whatsoever.

Since they will break the fun for newbies, heck they broke the fun for me :(.

It is only an idea, but I know for sure that the newbies will thank you...

PS: move it to whatever spot you like fm, posted it on the first place I was.

Rene: I've had good luck scraping the bots off my bus' butt by going through the asteroids then, on to the jump point.

I don't want to advocate to newbies that they avoid roid sectors because that would defeat the purpose of storms but, telling them to go through the roid field is a possibility.

[I vote suggestions]

I agree with Renegade ++RIP++. Players lower then level 4 should not be dumped into storms. A complete newbie to the game isn't going to be able to survive long in a storm.

I created a "n00b" avatar to try out the tutorial mission. I then took on a trade run (intrasystem) for grins and was sucked into a storm right off the bat. I somehow managed to make it to the jump point with all the AI bots in the sector swarming on my tail, but died while trying to get to the jump button. I will be so glad when we can just use the "ACTIVATE" button.

Hopefully storm frequency will be toned down at some point. There are way too many of them at the moment. If low level players are going to get sucked into storms, then at least let there be a level check and make the bots level dependent.

[I second vote for Suggestions]

The People have spoken

[moved to suggestions]

How bout we keep storms the same frequency, but when in the nav screen (in charted space) a red line will show the route least likely to give a storm. That way people who think they can risk it and save time by doing so can still go in a straight line from A to B, and the more cautious people can take the safest route.
And uncharted space would have no line (unless unlocked by the super secret mission tree!)

*Edit This could also add some pirating possibilities. "Do I sit in this storm and hope a high level trader with lots of good cargo comes by, or do I camp the system highway jump point and try to kill a few low level traders with low quality cargo?"

silent,

what amount of money can a lowlevel person "with not 1 statistic above 4 ferry around and be worth pirating".

Not to mention that I dont see newbies just ferret all over the universe to explore. I mostly see them go around a couple of sectors, and then start shooting some bots, doing some missions... Mostly involving 2 system hops at max. And knowing that people start within their own territory, the chance of encountering any pirat can be considered small to non existant. Not taking into account, that they arent even worth the trouble, since the profit isnt worth the danger.

And agaisn tthe time that they are doing larger hops, they will most likely have an atlas or a better ship. And probably be somewhere around level 4 in combat or light weapons. And at that time the ionstorms will kick back in again, and so will be the dangers of being pirated. Not to mention, that these newbies will have at least got a couple hours of adjusting to the controlls, and a general feel for the game. And you know just as well as me, that the first impression is the most important in the acquisition of newbies... If they get their fun bashed in within this time, then hte chance that they will stay drops with 90%."consumerstudies"

cheers

the devs have also mentioned in the interviews that there will be "long range" and "short range" commerce missions. I would expect short range missions to be limited to the system you are in and the ones right next to it.

I'm SURE the devs have thought of this, and I'm SURE they have a solution...

Anyhow, notice how in some sectors the worst you will get in an ion storm is a drone II. Provided newbs stay within these "safer" sectors, the most they will have to deal with when caught in a storm is a couple drone II's... not too difficult. If they wander into high level territory, well... they had it coming.

I for one don't think ion storms should be scaled according to license level, that just doesn't make sense. If anything, include a brief section in the tutorial on ion storms that teaches newbs how to best avoid them or suggest to them that they hire an escort.

This could be fixed by making the AI responsive to lvls as well. If somebody is under lvl 4 maybe only one sentry bot would attack. But drone II for instance would attack normally since they are easier.

Phaser, I created a new character, and started on a tradingmission right of the batt.

And yes, it was an NT char.

I could choose between 2 missions, go and fetch, or bring. They where both to the next system. And it was a continuing mission, like bring from x to y, great, good job, we have another job for you, bring this from y back to x. There great good job, now fetch this from z in 12 secs. And so I did.

Then when I made my warp from wphole to the station, I crossed an asteroid containing sentry bots, with the rest as a consequence...

My point being, It was a new char, and this could happen at any time. And just stating its easy to avoid the hard bots... It might be for itanis and sercos, since their homesector is bigger, but I noticed that because of nts territory being so small it has badass bots just 1 hopdistance away from their startingarea. Which sure isnt ideally

Not to mention that newbies dont know a thing about storms and will generally just use the shortest route to their destination, considering hopping to an empty sector so you can safely get to your destination will cost you precious time that you will not have on a timed mission."I noticed that loading between sectors seems to get counted for your travellingtime also..."

And yes maybe it could be done by making it responsive for levels, although the devs stated that it should be doable to have level 5- 6 in 4 - 5 hours of normal play. So I presumed that giving them the advantage of not having to bother about ion storms at early levels wouldnt mather that much.

Or just make a beginner tradingmission that keeps all the trade for a couple of levels within the startingsystem. This could be a quick solution also. In the same line of thinking as the beginner combatmission...

cheers

Hmm, good point Renegade....

I agree that bashing a newbie over the head with a sentry bot on their second mission might turn them off to the game, but I think allowing newbies to pass through storm sectors would be just a little too confusing.

What happens when a newbie jumps into a storm sector with a higher level character? The hi level character will see the storm but the newbie won't? I just don't think that's a good idea for a shared, persistent universe.

If anything, making the tougher bots less aggresive toward lower level chars might be a good idea. At least that way one of the players won't feel like they're hallucinating.

I cant envision a problem, it will only come to bay when you are in a group, and I hope at that time that that vet knows what he is doing and can help the newbie come out of the storm unscathed.

But it could be solved pretty easilly, by just letting the higher level bots ignore the lower level person.

This could be another quick fix, a check if any level is below 4 or soemthing then sentry bots and higher will just completely ignore the players unless they shoot them themselves. And only if they land in a storm. If you do allow storms for the lower levels.

Still, I really dont see why it would be so strange for a newbie to just not get to see the storm sector. There is nowhere an indication that he got stormed. And a vet can just message hte newbie if they are counselling them to wait a couple secs due to something that they cant access yet because of newbie protection of some sort.

Just as that you cant access a pvp area as long as you didnt complete the tutorial mission. Or are not allowed to go out of the system untill you are at least a certain level. This kind of behaviour also happens in other MMORPGs just to keep newbies from wondering in places where they will be killed off immediately and go bankrupt or lose a mission due to no fault of their own.