Just to make Jutom's point a bit clearer, i'll present you with a free
example:
Saldas, the clueless newbie owns a class 2 sloop. He has spent many hours
building it as a merchant, to save the all-too-precious cash that he can spend
on other more urgent things. Now, after the new map change has been made, he
suddenly finds out that he absolutely needs his ship to survive (he wants to
avoid paying for ferries as much as possible, since if used often enough,
they're a singnificant drain on his resources). He also finds out that to have
a semi-decent chance of getting to a different continent he has to have A)
lots of upgrades to his ship, including two more sailors quarters to make
moving faster than one square a minute (literally!), a console, and lots of
other crap, (which he is unable to build by himself, being a nomad), a
navigator (level 4-5) for his ship to be at least marginally useable in
traversing oceans and C) lots of other different specialized crewmembers to be
able to defend himself from pirates that plague anyone who owns a ship. Now,
after all of this, he does some research, and is told that firstly, a level 4
or 5 navigator would cost him around 1m cash (roughly) which he doesn't have,
and secondly, that people like to abuse the trainers in the shipyard so that
getting a good crew to man his scow is a pain in the ass. Is there anything
wrong with this setup? I say there is. At least Saldas has a ship that -can-
possibly in the distant future be upgraded or made useable. Most people don't.

Disclaimer: This is NOT a whine. This is meant as an example to illustrate
some problems that many people face in our great new world. So don't bother
flaming.