Star Wars - The Old Republic (Part Seven)

Datacrons

Datacrons are these small tiny glowing cubes which supposedly is a form of technology left behind by an ancient race called the "Infinite Empire". They are usually found hidden in all sorts of hard-to-reach places, on planets all over the SWTOR universe.

Upon finding one of them, you must first strive to get close to it (within touching distance) and activate it. Once activated, the datacron would grant the character either a one-time permanent bonus to one stat (strength, presence, aim, cunning, endurance or willpower) or a colored matrix shard.

Ignoring the stat-increasing datacrons (as what they do is fairly straight-forward), I suppose you should be wondering what those colored matrix shards are for, right?

First of all, you ought to know that there are four kinds of colored matrix shards, Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. Next, you will actually need to collect at least three colored matrix shards before they become useful.

After gathering them, you should then head to a "Matrix Cube Assembler" like the one shown. And for your information, this "Matrix Cube Assembler" can be found inside the Jedi Temple Ruins on Coruscant (for Republic characters) and near the Sith Temple on Dromund Kaas (for Imperial characters).

Once inside, start placing colored matrix shards into each of the three "Shard Input Panels" and then start the assembling process via the terminal in the center before finally touching the finished object to retrieve your assembled matrix cube.

Basically, as far as I know, the stats of the finished matrix cube actually depends upon the color of the matrix shards you use when constructing it (the order does not matter).

• Level 15 Matrix Cube
  

  Name	Shard Color	Stats
  Matrix Cube M2-W0	1 Blue 1 Green 1 Yellow	11 Strength 14 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M2-W1	1 Red 1 Green 1 Yellow	18 Willpower 8 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M2-W2	1 Red 1 Blue 1 Green	15 Aim 10 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M2-W3	1 Red 1 Blue 1 Yellow	18 Strength 8 Endurance

• Level 24 Matrix Cube
  

  Name	Shard Color	Stats
  Matrix Cube M3-J1	1 Blue 2 Yellow	19 Aim 24 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M3-L1	1 Green 2 Yellow	28 Cunning 14 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M3-O1	1 Red 2 Yellow	28 Strength 14 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M3-A2	1 Green 2 Blue	28 Aim 14 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M3-J2	1 Yellow 2 Blue	19 Strength 24 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M3-V2	1 Red 2 Blue	19 Willpower 24 Endurance

• Level 32 Matrix Cube
  

  Name	Shard Color	Stats
  Matrix Cube M4-L0	1 Yellow 2 Green	29 Strength 33 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M4-A1	1 Blue 2 Green	29 Aim 33 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M4-B1	1 Red 2 Green	39 Cunning 23 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M4-V1	1 Blue 2 Red	29 Willpower 33 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M4-B2	1 Green 2 Red	39 Aim 23 Endurance
  Matrix Cube M4-O2	1 Yellow 2 Red	29 Strength 33 Endurance

• Level 50 Matrix Cube
  

  Character Type	Name	Shard Color	Stats
  Force Users	Matrix Cube M7-G0	3 Green	66 Strength 56 Endurance 27 Critical Rating
  	Matrix Cube M7-B3	3 Blue	66 Aim 56 Endurance 27 Critical Rating
  	Matrix Cube M7-R3	3 Red	66 Willpower 56 Endurance 27 Critical Rating
  	Matrix Cube M7-Y3	3 Yellow	59 Strength 68 Endurance 21 Defense Rating
  Tech Users	Matrix Cube M7-G0	3 Green	66 Strength 56 Endurance 27 Critical Rating
  	Matrix Cube M7-B3	3 Blue	66 Aim 56 Endurance 27 Critical Rating
  	Matrix Cube M7-R3	3 Red	80 Cunning 54 Endurance 8 Critical Rating
  	Matrix Cube M7-Y3	3 Yellow	59 Aim 68 Endurance 21 Defense Rating

And from what I can tell, this finished matrix cube is actually just a stat-boosting equipment that you can equip into any of your "Relic" slots. And while it does offer way much more bonus to your stats when equipped, it does not offer any temporary boosting effect like that of relics.

Furthermore, regardless of how many matrix shards you may have found, you are only allowed to create and own one matrix cube. Therefore it may be more advisable to leave these shards alone until you have found more of them and have sufficient level to equip the high-leveled cubes.

But in the event that you have already made a cube, you can always make use of the "Matrix Cube Disassembler" (which is also found nearby) to disassemble the matrix cube back into shards so that you can remake another better one. However, this process requires you to have a "Reconfigured Disassembler Core" in your inventory.

For your information, this "Reconfigured Disassembler Core" can be bought at 10,000 creds from a Jawa named Kitpth (2127, 438), north of Anchorhead, on Tatooine if your Republic or a Jawa named Pitkth (626, 2788), in Mos Ila, also on Tatooine if your Imperial.

Finally, to make your datacron hunting easier, you can visit this website - SWTOR Datacron Locations. The website not only tells you the coordinates of the datacrons, but also provides you with a detailed walkthrough (with screenshots) to help guide you to them.

Conversations & Alignment
Do you remember that in Star Wars - The Old Republic (Part One) that I mentioned about conversation choices?

Now the thing with them that I've discovered is that while most of the option choices you get would lead you towards the same outcome at the end of the conversation regardless of your selection, there are some times where you would get to make a difference.

The greatest tell-tale that you've encountered these life-mattering conversations is when the choices you make affects your "alignment". And the way it is set is that when you make a "righteous" choice, you will gain light points which shifts your alignment slightly towards the "Light" while doing something "sinister" would net you dark points instead and moves you closer to the "Dark" path.

But overall, this "alignment" thingy can be considered as somewhat of an "aesthetic" feature...something that's more in line with a person role-playing and "sculpting" their own character rather than anything that could be considered "life-threatening". As far as I could tell, the only thing that appears to be affected would be a restriction to equipping certain items (like weapons or relics), but please be rest assured as SWTOR has prepared "equivalents" catering to both sides of the alignment.

The last thing that I would like to commend is the way they made the system send these simple pre-programmed messages (via the in-game mail) that appears to be from the various NPC characters that we've encountered or helped in our class and side quests. In my opinion, this small gesture or act simply makes the whole questing and role-playing experience that much better as the characters seem more "alive" compared to other MMOs.

Previous: SWTOR (Part Six)

Next: SWTOR (Part Eight)

Posted in: Star Wars - The Old Republic