Datacrons are arcane

OK, so I'm going to try to explain DCs, with a bit of commentary every now and then.

First off, unfortunate as it is, DCs are here to stay and are an important part of the game, at least in PvP. I myself enjoy the general idea behind them, the main issue I have is that some DCs are laughably pathetic while others are ludicrously OP, and once you put the OP ones in GL teams it just gets even worse. If they made it so that DCs can't be applied in GL teams, or at least make it so only the stat bonuses apply but nothing else, it would be a major improvement in my eyes. Yes, there still would be the issue of, let's say, LV teams with high evasion, but nothing as nauseating as LV teams with ridiculous stats and constant cooldown reduction, Rey with the immortal Resistance and Holdo DC a few months ago, etc.

Second, this is where I try to explain how DCs work, so you'll have to excuse me if it seems like I'm treating anybody like a novice. DCs are special items that give bonus stats and mechanics to teams as long as the characters are at a certain relic level. To be able to apply any DC at all, the entire team must be at least R1 (previously R3). Once you upgrade a DC to lv3, you get an allignment mechanic, e.g., if you get a Dark Side "When DS characters use a Basic ability, they gain Speed Up" that applies to everyone who is a Dark Side character. At lv6, you get a class mechanic - it used to be a faction mechanic, like for Rebels, Empire, Nightsisters, etc., but they changed it to focus on the different character roles, i.e., Attacker, Tank, etc. The entire team needs to be at least R3 (previously R7) for this bonus to be applied (even if you have only 1 character that benefits from it, the team still needs to be R3). The Lv9 mechanics are for specific characters, like right now you have bonuses for Nest, Wampa, Sabine, etc. Unless I'm mistaken, the entire team needs to be at least R3 while the character themselves have to be R7. If you didn't get the mechanic you were aiming at, be it allignent, faction or character, you can reroll to try and get it again. DCs come with their own unique currency and materials. You can't use Relic mats, signal data, gear pieces or crystals to upgrade them, you need to have specific materials. They're mainly available in Conquest, and also in TWs and their own store. This also applies to different sets of DCs, meaning you have one type of materials for the first set and a second type for the other. The materials in this regard are basically the same, just different colors; for clarity's sake, imagine you have blue crystals you can only use in X store, and green crystals you can only spend at Y store. Each set lasts for about 3 months, after that they expire and you are refunded a certain portion of what you used to upgrade them, only you receive the refund in the form of materials for the latest set. As others have pointed out, DCs are locked once you sign up for TWs and GAC, just like Gear, Zetas, Relics, Mods, etc. If you upgrade or reroll a DC , you'll have to wait for the next event to be able to use it. I think that's about it.

Also, I'd like to add that pure GP doesn't matter, unless it's a requirement to enter an event (like needing 4M for Proving Grounds) or for deployments in TB. It's mostly about synergy. You can have a squad with 200k GP against an enemy team with 90k, it won't make any difference if the enemy has amazing synergy while your characters have none.