Is the QA / newcomer restrictions required still?
As far as I can see the Newcomer restrictions are there to generate a one-time revenue boost for Dedicated Logic. It essentially means that a player must pay 100AWD or 100 P.Notes (which are only economically gained by trading for steel picks --> similar AWD drain from other players) to enable the player to gain skills in this game.
This is seen as a barrier to new players and therefore preventing player retention.
Given that there is no way for a player to be effective in the game without someone (that player or another player) consuming AWD, I cannot see how this newcomer restrictions help the game.