"WHY DO I HAVE TO STAY IN GREY UNTIL LVL 10?"

"WHY DO I HAVE TO STAY IN GREY UNTIL LVL 10?"

Great Question!

The simple answer is... you don't.  Feel free to take you shuttle into Black and battle the reapers and let me know how that works for you.  Or after you have battled a wayfarer down to very little health and 2 new ships jump into the sector and you have no mets left.  Oh the scenarios are unending, but if you want to go into black or come to the yard, be my guest... but, it is not what I or any of the alliance leadership would advise you to do.  

Why don't we advise it?  Let me show you...

As a new player there is SOOOO much for you to learn and you cannot learn it all in grey.  It will take you coming out to the yard and farming black to really learn some of the more advanced aspects of the game like:

Invasions
Rifting
PvPing
Busting and other fun adventures

But in order for you to do those things I listed you will need to have (at a mininum):

A big SHIP: (Titan or larger) if you have a Bship with GREAT GEAR you can do it, but you have to get the gear.

A big HULL: with a min. 3000 and in some cases 3500 req., because if you don't you could be inst-popped (die in one shot).

A big WEAPON: which COULD mean level XI or higher OR it could mean you need a certain level of rarity OR it could mean it has to do a certain amount of damage (Pulv).  Common and UC gear may not cut it.

A big Storage: this is the least of the group, but if you are out in the wild you need mets on hand, without them you will die.

You will also need to have a group of friends who have SPECIAL ITEMS like Technician, Tank, Scout, and or other items that require a LOT of credits ($1M+) to purchase.  If you don't believe me go check the Auction House for one...

So now to the question... why stay in Grey and not experience the thrill of dying over and over again?  Here is why...

You need credits.  Lots of them.  Unless you are wealthy and want to buy Black Dollars from Whalesong and can buy an Assassin or Reaper from the start (but that is not most of us).

So, how can I get more credits in grey than in black.  Doesn't black have better ships and drops?

Yes it does... and those bigger ships do MUCH more damage and will require you to KEEP mets on hand.  In grey... you don't need a hull, nor do you need to keep mets on hand.  You can SELL your mets everytime you get to a starport.  Mets are the most common drop item and being able to sell them every time is credits you build with quickly.  

In black you can't sell your mets, you NEED them.

When you sell mets you make $75 per met.  When you are in black and you have to BUY mets because you are out, you have to spend $150 per met.

So, if you are in black and you cannot sell your mets, that is a huge part of making credits in the grey.  I can effectively (meaning focused effort) farm grey for about $35k in a hour with one ship.  I cannot do that in black.  In black maybe $20k with help and single focus.

Now you might be thinking, yeah but the experience points from the ships in black rank me up faster.  True, but if you have not earned the credits you needed to purchase the equipment you need, you leveled too fast and now you are in a tough spot.  I see this so often where people complain that they cannot participate in invasions or rifts because they don't have the right equipment.  They jumped out to black, ranked up, but don't have any credits.

So, it is your choice what you do, I have 4 ships currently, one that is over level 15 and is STILL a Battleship, but with Ultra-Rare Gear  (which means I have spent well over $1M on it)  and can participate in all sorts of events.  The other 3 are in grey farming hard making me credits that I cannot earn in black (I use VirtualBox on my PC).

But do the math....  

$1M / $35k = 28 hours to make $1M in grey.

$1M / $20K (if your lucky) = 50 hours to get to $1M.  

It will take you HALF the time to get to $1M in grey and you will have the right rank to move into black and participate accordingly.   

Good Hunting!  I expect to see grey full of alliance members under level 15!