datajacks are still a thing and function as they always have ... cyberjacks are just the superturbo version with nitros ... and I said in the article they are not explicitly required to have one ... as for essence they are comparable to wired reflexes but have 6 levels total
Does this mean there also a Matrix init boost with the implant?
I'm still not understanding why this must live in my skull when it never needed to before. Hardware is hardware. Because Technomancers - that are, what, 0.01% of the population, are that big a threat we will now need to upgrade all our VR workforce to this tech - and whoops it still didn't work? Sorry about your soul, Joe Deckslave, but now you just paid less for an implant than for a deck...which would now also cost less also if we didn't implant it in you minus the surgery costs--what the heck is the extensive biological interface possibly providing that somehow is better than a cyberdeck could?
Sorry, this will be the last question on this. Only seeing a small window here, and it's got a crack in it. I guess for me, if I can build the same capability without it, that's fine. I'll quit fussing.
Think about it like this. When the matrix first went online, you entered via cyber-terminal. It was clunky and slow but it worked. Then cyberdecks came out that used the datajack to let you directly activate your programs. Security rose to meet the new challenge, leaving the terminal users in the dust as they simply were not fast enough to deal with new intrusion countermeasures.
When matrix 2.0 came online, security was a joke and even a script-kiddie with a second rate commlink could hack things. Then the new De La Mar matrix went live and security tightened like a noose, forcing deckers to once more ply their trade fully. Turns out that the De La Mar matrix and security was based on the gestalt power of 100 technmancer brains in jars, which is why the matrix (and especially the Foundation) behave in odd ways sometimes.
Security is now moving in a new direction. Using the inherent power of the matrix to make smarter, more adaptable IC. Computers are great at crunching numbers far better then any metahuman ever could, but they can't easily adapt without an operator to direct that. Make a program that can adapt to new information on the fly and you'll have something truly scary. Even with a DNI connection running HotSim, datajacks just simply can't adapt their otherwise deck bound programs quickly enough for the new security, so a deeper connection was needed.
A decker with a datajack simply enters the matrix and interacts with it. Anyone with a datajack can also interact with a car the same way, jack in and interact with it via thought. But a rigger with a VCR doesn't just interact with the vehicle, they
become the vehicle, putting them above any plebeian who simply "plugs in". That's what a cyberjack does. A decker with one no longer just interacts with the matrix, they become one with it, activating and adapting programs with a speed and fluidity that can't be matched by someone simply "plugging in" with an old deck. The deeper, faster connection lets them meet the new security on an even battleground, but the cost is deeper, more extensive augmentation then someone who simply dabbles in the matrix.
PS: This is all just speculation and world building that constantly runs though my head as I look over new stuff and shouldn't be taken as anything more then that. Unless the devs like it and want to use it then go right ahead cause that would be cool and humbling.