Posted by Lethality in Blue Milk & Cereal | 11 Comments
Blue Milk & Cereal: Will You Be A Datacron Hunter?
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One of the most unique things we’ve learned about Star Wars: The Old Republic so far, in my opinion, is the existence of datacrons.
Datacrons are Holocron-like objects placed throughout the galaxy for players to find. Some are out in the open and easy to access, while some are in hard to reach places that take some exploration and ingenuity to figure out how to reach. We got our first exposure to them at last April’s Fan Site Summit at BioWare’s Austin studio when Carla from Corellian Run Radio spotted on on her map, and found it in the world, but had to use some creative jumping and maneuvering to get to!
The reward for finding these is of course the feeling of accomplishment, but beyond that they also grant an in-game Codex entry according to BioWare’s Damion Schubert, “While most codex entries can be obtained with the players stretching their legs (searching the whole map, killing obvious targets you don’t normally need to kill), finding datacrons typically requires a little extra exploration and a even little ingenuity.”
Beyond the Codex, these datacrons also grant a permanent increase of one of your stats. “If you successfully reach one and interact with it, one of your stats will be increased — permanently,” said Schubert. This decision has not come without some controversy, as it would seem to force exploration for those that wish to maximize their combat stats.
So with several compelling reasons to go after these little buggers from lore to combat performance, will you be a datacron hunter? Will you make it your mission to find them as you level, or maybe go back and explore during down time between content patches?
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I’ll definitely be on the lookout while leveling, but It won’t be my sole mission to find them all. Not until I get heavier into end-game and start min/maxing.
Then it shall be my ultimate quest, more important than rescuing the snobby princess.
I plan to do a LOT of exploring as I level my Characters in swtor. I am in NO hurry to get to end-game. I would rather explore the worlds as fully as I possibly can first.
I voted #2, but will probably end up #1. That’s to say I’ll keep my eye out for them in the beginning and then once I’ve leveled and am looking for things to do, I’ll probably be a datacron hunter.
Part of the game for me is gathering, and while out finding useful items to craft with I will be looking for that “chime’ that was discussed. I mean, do the math. even if you have access to 13 planets (because of faction restrictions) 2-3 per planet that is about 30 datacrons. That is a lot of buffs and/or crystals to be gathered.
I love to explore. I’m pretty sure Bioware added these in game just for me. Everyone else, you’re welcome. :P
I’ll certainly gather every datacron I can get my hands on, but I’m unlikely to make it My Mission In Life until I have them all. I’m not even much of a badge hunter in CoH, despite the bonuses and buffs they can provide.
I will definately be keeping my eyes out for them as I level up. Once I am max level I will then go back and hunt down all the ones I missed. With the datacrons raising your stats, I would say it is a must at some point.
Of course I will! ;)
I would bet money that there will be picture/video’s of where each of them are within weeks of the launch. Since they do not move location I doubt it will be much trouble for anyone to get to them eventually.
Will these be something everyone will be fighting over or does everyone have access to all datacrons (so long as they can figure out how to get them)?
Too often competition over such things leads to some pretty crappy behaviour in-game.
Ooo..I found the answer one. :)
Originally Posted by GeorgZoeller
“Just to clarify a few things here, to avoid unnecessary panic attacks.
We put a lot of focus in SWTOR on making your character’s journey mean something.
We’re trying to eliminate grinding as much as possible, make your character’s story matter and give you meaningful things to do on your way through the game.
We’re also not shying away from rewarding or encouraging certain activities. The primary example, of course, being story. It’s very hard to ignore, definitely not something we consider optional. It’s hard to convey to people just how much impact it has on our game, but if you look at the feedback from all our recent events, people usually walk away surprised by just how powerful of an impact the feature has.
Exploration is another example. Exploration is an optional activity, but it is encouraged. If you choose to play just along the critical path, you can beat the game, have a good time, but you will find it is not necessarily the path of least resistance either:
Without exploring the world and stumbling on unique treasures, hidden quests, codex entries, the occasional world boss or encampment of rebels, you will be missing out not only on equipment rewards, XP, chances to further affection with your companion or build your alignment… but also you will deprive yourself of some very interesting stories
Datacrons are an exploration reward.
Yes, their effects are permanent, however they are also predetermined (there are X datacrons with exactly these effects, not randomized) so we can ensure they are balanced and luck has nothing to do with their effect. Their locations are fixed, not randomized and they don’t ‘spawn’, meaning they will always be there for your character when you get to the location.
We’re not talking about people having to find the 99 hidden flowers on each planet or something like that; the number of datacrons is small, scaling with the size of the planet. Think single digits. Not the kind of thing you would usually associate with grinding.
Do they matter? In the grand scheme of things, sure, they’ll matter. How much? That depends what type of player you are. If you are in pursuit of the most optimized character ever, you will probably want to pick them up, but most people will probably do just fine with finding just a handful of them.
If you are not an explorer – no big deal – datacrons always stay accessible to you, so you can’t lock yourself out of them and you can come back and pick them up later in the game when you have your comfy personal transport to get around in.
In short – we think it’s a feature that adds to the game, that rewards going off the beaten path and discovering the wonders we put all over the worlds.”