Well, that Senior GM is wrong.
Only the starting agent of the arcs is suppose to check standing, all other agents within the arc are not suppose to do that. The reason for the Pirate Epic Arcs having 3 different starting agents is so players can easily access the arc and gain positive standing with the Pirate Factions. That’s also why the standing reward for completing the arcs is +30% standing gain. It’s to help players gain positive standing to access regular Pirate agents.
That’s how it’s been ever since those arcs were implemented. Now if CCP has changed it and all Agents within the arc now check standings for access, then CCP needs to post a Dev Blog about it to inform players. Not to mention if that is indeed the case, then the Empire starting agents are no longer viable and should be removed.
Anyway, when I did the Pirate arcs, I had negative standings with the Pirate Factions and used the Empire starting agents for access. I was able to access all agents within the arcs and complete them to gain Faction Standing increase with the Pirates. I’m sure that’s the same for a lot of other players as well…
@Geo_Eclipse_Oksaras @Imiarr_Timshae Do you agree?
Anyway, the original Dev Blog for the Pirate Epic Arcs states :
We understand that your pirate faction standings may be bad, and we’ve designed around that. Each pirate arc has four starting points for you to begin your swashbuckling adventure. There are multiple agents you can go to for each arc in order to start these epic arcs, including both empire agents and pirate agents. Thus, if you don’t have Guristas standings, for example, but you do have high Caldari or Gallente standings, you can still run the Guristas arc. All you have to do is find the right initial agent to let you in the door.
I’d definitely press that point with the GM, especially since that’s how it’s been for as long as I can remember…
EDIT:
Training Social, Criminal Connections and Diplomacy skills will help a lot, especially Diplomacy which gives 4% effective standings increase per level with NPC’s you have negative standings with.
I’ve only done the Level 3 Epic Arcs once, and that was in 2018. I used the Empire Starting Agents for access and every agent within those arcs was available. At that time these were my Faction standings:
Guristas Pirates -5.91 (-9.89 base)
Angel Cartel -6.00 (-10.00 base)