Encrypted Datacube: Story content in the cartel market?

[Mike_Bluesky]

And here we go again. It's lore and as lore it shouldn't be in CM. Quest or not.

[Sohaim]

So then tell me, how would you like them to guide you to where it needs to be turned in at? There is no way of doing that without it being tracked in the quest log. Your problem is everything is black and white. There is no actual quest involved. It doesn't start a quest line nor does it end one. It certainly doesn't add any info that is required or new that you wouldn't already know from running the ACGUAL Binos quest line. So in spite of everything that pretty much sums it up as not a quest, that because its tracked so you know where to go and get your turn in item its 100% a quest . Hey ya know achievements can be tracked in the quest tracker so those must be story content and quests too right?

What? you are not making it any sense, achievments do not go into the Quest log, there is a just tracker for them, open your quest log, plus those Shroud datalogs are almost at the same level as companion quests, there is no quest involved? the quest are cubes themselfs, and it was not made for the market, who knows what was its original purpose and place, it provides a lot of info and very nice stuff, its the Shrouds personal datalogs, go in the game and do a Companion quest, tell me how different is that, some of the companion quest are very small and sometimes they do not even give you a choice, stop saying that its not Story content and actually bring and Argument, because the Achievment one was kind ... lets just end it here.

[Sohaim]

And here we go again. It's lore and as lore it shouldn't be in CM. Quest or not.

 

the worse part Mike, its that its an actual quest line, its not just 4 cubes, there are more coming lol.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Sohaim

[SweetsPatogga]

The TL;DR (TL;DW?) version of the datacube story is:

 

The Hutt Cartel is (was) Rising

[SithKoriandr]

Just to note: you don't get to define what is/is_not in their MMO.

 

As to the topic.... if people are going to go postal over this.... go for it. But you are being as sily as the folks that complain about armor skins, crystals, weapons, mounts, etc. via cartel packs. You are just working on your own personal stump is all.

 

They are all FLUFF. FLUFF you can obtain directly off the GTN...which is the intelligent approach IMO to people who actually want the datacubes.

 

This whole thread is largely a rinse and repeat "hate the CM for having fluff content" thread. The only difference is the piece of fluff being pissed about. Yes, yes... I understand.. your fluff is special and not_fluff... yada yada.

 

Please continue with gnashing_of_teeth, brandishing_of_pitchforks, and ripping_ at_chest.

 

Personally, I don't consider the datacubes to be story content. They contribute nothing to the story of any of my class characters. They are disconnected fragments of story without relevant context... which is probably why they resulted in a simple reward at the end. Imagine the anguish and outcry in the forum if you only got the cutscene.... because let's face it... most people could care less.. but it's a nice fluffy perk for people who collect lore, even if it's just lore fragments.

 

And weren't you one of the posters going on about how it was really an item meant to give you a choice of items, which they've now done away with?

 

I'm sure those level 55's with Social X, who obviously don't need the an XP Boost or Social Boost are thrilled, THRILLED, with having the one useful item they could get out of this worthless bit of fluff as it's been called by those who think this isn't enough content to be considered paying for additional content.

 

So, we have an item that was said to be really a "pick one" item that had a nice little fluff piece for pure giggles, taken away and left with...this.

 

Maybe when they "fixed" it they should've replaced the XP/Social/Credit Boost with a Pick One of these much sought after dyes or armors!

[Sohaim]

And weren't you one of the posters going on about how it was really an item meant to give you a choice of items, which they've now done away with?

 

I'm sure those level 55's with Social X, who obviously don't need the an XP Boost or Social Boost are thrilled, THRILLED, with having the one useful item they could get out of this worthless bit of fluff as it's been called by those who think this isn't enough content to be considered paying for additional content.

 

So, we have an item that was said to be really a "pick one" item that had a nice little fluff piece for pure giggles, taken away and left with...this.

 

Maybe when they "fixed" it they should've replaced the XP/Social/Credit Boost with a Pick One of these much sought after dyes or armors!

 

Oh, i think that was HyFy and not Andryah.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Sohaim

[SithKoriandr]

Oh, i think that was HyFy and not Andryah.

 

Eh, they're pretty much saying the same thing anyways

[Andryah]

And weren't you one of the posters going on about how it was really an item meant to give you a choice of items, which they've now done away with?

 

nope... sorry.. that was not me.

[SithKoriandr]

nope... sorry.. that was not me.

 

Post still stands though.

[Hyfy]

What? you are not making it any sense, achievments do not go into the Quest log, there is a just tracker for them, open your quest log, plus those Shroud datalogs are almost at the same level as companion quests, there is no quest involved? the quest are cubes themselfs, and it was not made for the market, who knows what was its original purpose and place, it provides a lot of info and very nice stuff, its the Shrouds personal datalogs, go in the game and do a Companion quest, tell me how different is that, some of the companion quest are very small and sometimes they do not even give you a choice, stop saying that its not Story content and actually bring and Argument, because the Achievment one was kind ... lets just end it here.

 

Just because you can understand the argument doesn't mean one isn't being brought. I layed it all out plainly and simply for you, minus my spelling error with "actual". Then used your own very logic to show that achievements must be story content , well at least by your definition. Either way you gain nothing that you wouldn't already know from the actual (let me make sure Steve Jobs doesn't strike from the grave here again) quest line and what you are getting doesn't start nor does it complete an actual quest or quest line. Yep that would seem to not be story content but just a way to spice up your turn it so its not just some run of the mill turn in like a terminal turn is. You have however dodged answering how else you would of made the turn in point tracked on the map. Not surprised really because if answered honestly it would poke holes in the house of cards like argument that because its tracked its automatically a quest. I mean that was one of the arguments being made here.

[Dokar]

Just because you can understand the argument doesn't mean one isn't being brought. I layed it all out plainly and simply for you, minus my spelling error with "actual". Then used your own very logic to show that achievements must be story content , well at least by your definition. Either way you gain nothing that you wouldn't already know from the actual (let me make sure Steve Jobs doesn't strike from the grave here again) quest line and what you are getting doesn't start nor does it complete an actual quest or quest line. Yep that would seem to not be story content but just a way to spice up your turn it so its not just some run of the mill turn in like a terminal turn is. You have however dodged answering how else you would of made the turn in point tracked on the map. Not surprised really because if answered honestly it would poke holes in the house of cards like argument that because its tracked its automatically a quest. I mean that was one of the arguments being made here.

 

Do the cinematics tell a story?

[Hyfy]

Post still stands though.

 

That was me that said part of the point was because it is taking up one of your slots in your RNG when you open the pack that they give you the opportunity to allow you to choose 1 item from a list of 3 static items. Well until they took one of those items out because of people using the system beyond what they intended, that was absolutely a true statement. Now it's a choice of 2 static items, but that didn't make the statement any less true. You turned in the item at the spot on the promenade and then were given the option to choose 1 item from a list of 3 items that were the same every time. You weren't give 3 random items picked by RNG each time you turned in a data cube, you had the same 3 every time. A major XP boost, a Credit Boom, or a major valor boost. Most people chose the credit boom apparently but that's a topic for a different thread.

[Hyfy]

Do the cinematics tell a story?

 

Nothing that you don't already know from running the quest. More of a recap of stuff we already knew. And again it doesn't start nor does it end any actual quest or quest line. It's nothing that is required, and again nothing that's even any new information. At best you could call it a teaser for someone who hasn't run Makeb and the Macrobinoculars quests.

[Dokar]

Nothing that you don't already know from running the quest. More of a recap of stuff we already knew. And again it doesn't start nor does it end any actual quest or quest line. It's nothing that is required, and again nothing that's even any new information. At best you could call it a teaser for someone who hasn't run Makeb and the Macrobinoculars quests.

 

Does it tell a story?

[Hyfy]

it simple destroyes many of the arguments we've seen so far in this thread, like "it was made to give you a choice of a item", this should be a drop from either Seeker, or rewards from something else.

 

No it doesn't destroy the argument, they had to adjust it because people were using the system beyond what they intended it for. Because you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar when you weren't supposed to and the cookies got taken out, does that change the fact that the cookie jar was there to hold some goodies for you to have once in awhile? No it doesn't.

[SithKoriandr]

No it doesn't destroy the argument, they had to adjust it because people were using the system beyond what they intended it for. Because you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar when you weren't supposed to and the cookies got taken out, does that change the fact that the cookie jar was there to hold some goodies for you to have once in awhile? No it doesn't.

 

What was it intended for? To obtain an item that gave you the choice of 3 items, and that you could put in your collection for all your characters.

 

That's what people used it for. That's what people paid additional CC to unlock. That's what people just got cheated out of.

 

If that wasn't it's intended use, then it's intended use had to be to tell a story, in which case, they just charged for non-expansion content.

[Hyfy]

Does it tell a story?

 

Would you like me to write it out on paper and staple it to your head so you can get what I already answered through your head? No go back and read it again.

[SithKoriandr]

That was me that said part of the point was because it is taking up one of your slots in your RNG when you open the pack that they give you the opportunity to allow you to choose 1 item from a list of 3 static items. Well until they took one of those items out because of people using the system beyond what they intended, that was absolutely a true statement. Now it's a choice of 2 static items, but that didn't make the statement any less true. You turned in the item at the spot on the promenade and then were given the option to choose 1 item from a list of 3 items that were the same every time. You weren't give 3 random items picked by RNG each time you turned in a data cube, you had the same 3 every time. A major XP boost, a Credit Boom, or a major valor boost. Most people chose the credit boom apparently but that's a topic for a different thread.

 

And people paid additional RL money to continue to have that choice of 3 items and they just took it away. When before it was a feature. And there can't be anything wrong with that feature, because before this, I know I had made a character, leveled them up some, decided I didn't want them anymore and sent off their items/creds to another character and it wasn't considered an exploit.

 

Sometimes, I even did that across fractions

[Dokar]

Would you like me to write it out on paper and staple it to your head so you can get what I already answered through your head? No go back and read it again.

 

You in your own words call it a recap. When you get home and recap your day to your family your are telling a story.

[Hyfy]

What was it intended for? To obtain an item that gave you the choice of 3 items, and that you could put in your collection for all your characters.

 

That's what people used it for. That's what people paid additional CC to unlock. That's what people just got cheated out of.

 

If that wasn't it's intended use, then it's intended use had to be to tell a story, in which case, they just charged for non-expansion content.

 

And apparently there were people going on creating alts en masse to take advantage of that to the point that Bioware felt it needed to be changed. If you would like to question them further on their reasoning they do have a thread about it already where they stated as much. Dev tracker is your friend. Because people apparently abused it and they decided to change it doesn't change original intentions, that is a thin strawman argument on your part.

[Hyfy]

And people paid additional RL money to continue to have that choice of 3 items and they just took it away. When before it was a feature. And there can't be anything wrong with that feature, because before this, I know I had made a character, leveled them up some, decided I didn't want them anymore and sent off their items/creds to another character and it wasn't considered an exploit.

 

Sometimes, I even did that across fractions

 

Hey I'm not arguing the intelligence of their decision to take out the credit boom and make the boosts bind on pick up, I'm just going off their own stated reasoning for changing it like they did. But really to make the argument that they changed it therefore it couldn't of been what you said is just ridiculous. It was quite obvious they did it in part because it was taking up an epic item slot in the pack so they made it worth your while to turn it in or sell. Sitting down and looking at it rationally you could see that, unfortunately that, being rationality, seems to be in short supply.

[SithKoriandr]

And apparently there were people going on creating alts en masse to take advantage of that to the point that Bioware felt it needed to be changed. If you would like to question them further on their reasoning they do have a thread about it already where they stated as much. Dev tracker is your friend. Because people apparently abused it and they decided to change it doesn't change original intentions, that is a thin strawman argument on your part.

 

Read the thread. What that thread hasn't said is "We're refunding players! We're removing these items from the packs since we obviously dropped the ball on this, and now you can get a different, likely better rare item!"

[SithKoriandr]

Hey I'm not arguing the intelligence of their decision to take out the credit boom and make the boosts bind on pick up, I'm just going off their own stated reasoning for changing it like they did. But really to make the argument that they changed it therefore it couldn't of been what you said is just ridiculous. It was quite obvious they did it in part because it was taking up an epic item slot in the pack so they made it worth your while to turn it in or sell. Sitting down and looking at it rationally you could see that, unfortunately that, being rationality, seems to be in short supply.

 

I see why they did, I think they never should've put any story content in as a RNG pack item. And the sad part is, we know they're going to continue to do it.

[Hyfy]

You in your own words call it a recap. When you get home and recap your day to your family your are telling a story.

 

If you've already told them what you did during the day and then later on in the day you mention something you told them earlier then yeah THAT would be a recap.of things they already knew. Seriously if you are going to try and use my own words against me at least try to compare apples to apples and not to kiwis.

[jamesvasquez]

So then tell me, how would you like them to guide you to where it needs to be turned in at? There is no way of doing that without it being tracked in the quest log. Your problem is everything is black and white. There is no actual quest involved. It doesn't start a quest line nor does it end one. It certainly doesn't add any info that is required or new that you wouldn't already know from running the ACTUAL Binos quest line. So in spite of everything that pretty much sums it up as not a quest, that because its tracked so you know where to go and get your turn in item its 100% a quest . Hey ya know achievements can be tracked in the quest tracker so those must be story content and quests too right?

 

It's not a question of where it is to be turned in at. They could have just as easily played a video upon activation and given you the option of the 3 (now two) items. They chose to put it in the quest log. You can continue to try and slice it up, but it's still this simple: if it falls under the quest log (regardless of the reason behind it), it is a quest. There's no simpler way to phrase it.