Sep 6, 2011

Posted by in Blue Milk & Cereal | 13 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: What Do You Think About Datacrons?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

Back in April during the UK Press Event held at gamerbase in London, one of the players discovered something called a Datacron while playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Since this was the first time anyone had seen this kind of thing, it was quickly followed up with some further detail by Daniel Erickson on the forums.

Not long after, Principle Lead Systesm Designer Damion Schubert published a developer’s blog on the Codex, with a special section on these Datacrons. Here he explained that these were put in to encourage and reward the explorer. What was interesting, however, was that he confirmed the reward not only consisted of a Codex entry, but also a small but permanent boost to one of your character’s stats.

Needless to say, there was some excitement surrounding the potential Datacrons represented, but the reward caused some controversy. Why would exploration reward you with stats which would ostensibly make you better in combat? It seemed these Datacrons would now be a requirement for those that which to maximize their character’s combat output.

Personally, I’m an explorer, so I like the idea of Datacrons, but don’t think there should be a combat stat boost associated with finding them. BioWare explained that in TOR, you can get rewards from space combat to be better at space combat and get rewards from PvP to be better at PvP. So getting combat rewards from exploration wavers from that position somewhat. Not to mention, based on what we know, they feel a little “gamey.” If they’re really out there in plain sight, it feels more like a spinning gold coin to collect than a rare artifact capable of teaching you about the galaxy.

But what do you guys think? Do you like the Datacron system? Do you think stats are an appropriate reward for finding them?

Do you think finding a Datacron should provide a permanent stat boost?

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A Datacron on Korriban

  1. Well like you said above in the whole press event only one person found it so they must be rare or difficult to reach as stated in the Dev Blog, so I think if someone was to go out of there way to find these things there should be some type of reward, and im not sure what that reward could be to where it is related to exploration as PvP is related to PvP, but I like the idea of a stat boost since im the type of player that will go out and find every one just for that extra 1% :P

  2. I would like to think more along the lines of a title of some sort. As I would imagine these are one time find only a title to show off is a bit more prestigious then a stat increase

    • This is exactly what I was thinking. They had exploration rewards in LOTRO that provided titles, and they were some of my favorites. Problem is keeping them a secret in the age of the internets.

  3. From what I can determine there are 40-50 total in the whole game. Maybe 2-3 per planet, once found they will be mapped and shared so its not like they are always going to be restricted except from the most detailed explorer. I like the concept. Bioware has created a vast universe, why not encourage players to see it? The % is from +3 to +10 based on the world. Some times its just a colored matrix crystal.
    I liked titles until I realized that you can wear one title at a time. So the moment two titles are earned you don’t really get the benefit from both any more.

  4. Doesn’t really matter to me. For the people who don’t like to explore, I am sure there will be a site you will be able to go to and get all the exact points and just run around and snatch em all up. I reckon there could still be titles that go along with it. So basically everyone in the game that wants to maximize their character will be able to do so whether your an explorer or not.

  5. I wish that there was an unmarked treasure finding quest associated with the Datacrons. In this case, finding all the Datacrons on a planet would reveal a secret area and completing that area would net a stat increase.

    Discovering a secret area is both exciting and lets you put in other mechanics, such as a puzzle which increases your intellect or a long combat that increases your dexterity.

  6. Personally I would rather see a sizable chunk of xp appropriate for the planet and area where the datacron is. Then add probably world arc story tie-ins and huge quest chains rather than permanent bonus that everyone will have in a short time.

    That way the explorers will get the lvl appropriate bonuses from the datacrons and maybe access even more potent gear than they would have otherwise. The non-explorers on the other hand that passed on the datacrons the first time thru would have no reason to go back to do the majority of them.

    So in a nutshell I would rather see them be xp/quest chain/story based things rather than end game permanent bonus that 100% of players will have anyway.

  7. I mean the stat boost is kind of immersive in and of itself say that the datacron is a new combat style then your stats would boost

  8. ScytheNoire says:

    Datacron’s also give Lore, so that’s another reason to find them.

    I like them, especially since they are Star Wars canon.

  9. Jason Taylor says:

    I like the idea and lore behind Datacrons. The ones willing to go out and find them should be rewarded, but not sure what is the best way to do s. They are suppose to be ways of storing knowledge, so why not have them give a bonus to crafting or mission skills. That is a stat bonus and seems to fit along the lines of learning something from the Datacron.

  10. Just wanted to give you a heads up, there seems to be more typos in this entry than normal. :)

    I am an explorer so I like the idea. However, you are correct that it in a way forced non-explorers to explore in order to get the stat boosts. Can there be stats that help soloers more than they would others? Maybe like a boost to mount speed or an increase that only works when not in a group. I think there could be a way to still have the reward without making people explore who don’t want to.

  11. I’m an explorer so I will be doing this regardless. I understand that a stat increase is something all player types will want. There are many different bonuses these could yield, from speed increases to hidden caches. To make this something that only the ones exploring would want is by giving bonuses to exploring.

    At the end of the day I am all for this because I would like this kind of a bonus for my character. The non-explorers can just check some database site and get locations of their class-relevant stat. As a guardian I would go after strength and stamina (endurance) but as an explorer I will be going after the ones that are not relevant like aim.

  12. I voted yes. That said, I think there should be other ways to get the same NON-STACKING bonus. So people have options on how to progress.

    All classes are combat, so it makes sense bonuses are for combat. It’s nice to be able to spend time outside combat while still progressing – as long as people aren’t forced to the same path for the benefit.

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