Mini-FAQ: The DLC Clues | Forums

[DanAmrich]

How does this work?
Every Friday – schedule/workload/vacation/holidays permitting – one of the Ubisoft moderators posts a clue of some sort related to the coming week’s DLC. Previous puzzles have contained ciphers, foreign languages, wordplay, historical research, cryptography, and imagery. When someone figures out the puzzle, a mod will confirm it ASAP. That confirmation will not necessarily be everything that the DLC contains – you might learn the artist and one song, only to find more information revealed when the content is released.

When are the puzzles posted?
Sometime Friday – schedules vary based on the team's workload. There is no set time; puzzles have been posted anywhere from early morning and early evening Pacific time, which is the Studio SF time zone.

What do I need to do to participate?
Keep an eye on the DLC subsection of the official Rocksmith forums and jump in. The puzzles are usually solved by groups of people working together and collaborating on ideas.

Why are some of the moderators comments in green text?
Anything a mod writes in green text is considered an official part of the puzzle or a relevant clue. This also means you do not have to waste your time searching for hidden meanings in that person's normal comments, and our mods can still have conversations without worrying that everything he says is assumed to have secret layers. Just remember this stupid rhyme: “If it’s green, what does it mean?” (If it’s black, cut them some slack.)

How hard are these puzzles?
Not that hard, usually. You might have fun chipping away at it over the course of an afternoon. Most puzzles are cracked the same day they’re posted; some have taken mere minutes. Others have taken more than a day.

What if I don't want to solve the puzzle?
Participating in the puzzles is entirely optional. The information about upcoming DLC is always hinted at, officially, on Monday on Facebook, with a gameplay trailer of the DLC on Tuesdays. If you find puzzles to be a fun challenge and like collaborating with other forum folks, then enjoy them for what they are. If you don't, don't sweat it -- you will get the info in a few days anyway. Maybe sooner, if the forum figures everything out before then!

That said, if you don't plan on participating in the puzzle, please don't add off-topic posts in the puzzle thread. That way, the people testing out ideas and theories and solutions can communicate clearly and collaborate freely.

Will the mods give hints?
Sometimes they let the forum know if they’re heading in the wrong direction or if certain guesses are incorrect. Other times, they like to silently watch the forum suffer. They are terrible human beings.

Who makes the puzzles?
These are all homegrown by Dan, UbiVertigo, and lately, primarily by Rollingstone222. They are collaborations and created exclusively for the Rocksmith community every week.

Have the puzzle makers made mistakes in the puzzles?
Yep, and they might again. They are human, but honorable, so they will admit to the mistakes they make. Maybe they are not so terrible after all.

Any advice?

• Don’t guess blindly -- solve the puzzle. Only when proposed solutions are accompanied with some explanation of how you came to that conclusion will they be confirmed.
• Don’t try too hard to fit your wishes and dreams into what you see on the screen. As a Josie & the Pussycats fan, it’s natural to want to see some sign that Josie is coming to the game, but this “confirmation bias” will make things tougher. Work with what you see, not what you want to see.
• Google is your friend.

[DanAmrich]

How does this work?
Every Friday – schedule/workload/vacation/holidays permitting – one of the Ubisoft moderators posts a clue of some sort related to the coming week’s DLC. Previous puzzles have contained ciphers, foreign languages, wordplay, historical research, cryptography, and imagery. When someone figures out the puzzle, a mod will confirm it ASAP. That confirmation will not necessarily be everything that the DLC contains – you might learn the artist and one song, only to find more information revealed when the content is released.

When are the puzzles posted?
Sometime Friday – schedules vary based on the team's workload. There is no set time; puzzles have been posted anywhere from early morning and early evening Pacific time, which is the Studio SF time zone.

What do I need to do to participate?
Keep an eye on the DLC subsection of the official Rocksmith forums and jump in. The puzzles are usually solved by groups of people working together and collaborating on ideas.

Why are some of the moderators comments in green text?
Anything a mod writes in green text is considered an official part of the puzzle or a relevant clue. This also means you do not have to waste your time searching for hidden meanings in that person's normal comments, and our mods can still have conversations without worrying that everything he says is assumed to have secret layers. Just remember this stupid rhyme: “If it’s green, what does it mean?” (If it’s black, cut them some slack.)

How hard are these puzzles?
Not that hard, usually. You might have fun chipping away at it over the course of an afternoon. Most puzzles are cracked the same day they’re posted; some have taken mere minutes. Others have taken more than a day.

What if I don't want to solve the puzzle?
Participating in the puzzles is entirely optional. The information about upcoming DLC is always hinted at, officially, on Monday on Facebook, with a gameplay trailer of the DLC on Tuesdays. If you find puzzles to be a fun challenge and like collaborating with other forum folks, then enjoy them for what they are. If you don't, don't sweat it -- you will get the info in a few days anyway. Maybe sooner, if the forum figures everything out before then!

That said, if you don't plan on participating in the puzzle, please don't add off-topic posts in the puzzle thread. That way, the people testing out ideas and theories and solutions can communicate clearly and collaborate freely.

Will the mods give hints?
Sometimes they let the forum know if they’re heading in the wrong direction or if certain guesses are incorrect. Other times, they like to silently watch the forum suffer. They are terrible human beings.

Who makes the puzzles?
These are all homegrown by Dan, UbiVertigo, and lately, primarily by Rollingstone222. They are collaborations and created exclusively for the Rocksmith community every week.

Have the puzzle makers made mistakes in the puzzles?
Yep, and they might again. They are human, but honorable, so they will admit to the mistakes they make. Maybe they are not so terrible after all.

Any advice?

• Don’t guess blindly -- solve the puzzle. Only when proposed solutions are accompanied with some explanation of how you came to that conclusion will they be confirmed.
• Don’t try too hard to fit your wishes and dreams into what you see on the screen. As a Josie & the Pussycats fan, it’s natural to want to see some sign that Josie is coming to the game, but this “confirmation bias” will make things tougher. Work with what you see, not what you want to see.
• Google is your friend.

[DanAmrich]

I am open to editing and stickying this if people have other things they want clarified. I feel like I've forgotten something.

[DanAmrich]

I am open to editing and stickying this if people have other things they want clarified. I feel like I've forgotten something.

[Yrd]

Why does it look like you're playing a fiddle in the profile pic.

[DanAmrich]

Why does it look like you're playing a fiddle in the profile pic.

I'm actually holding this:

[DanAmrich]

Why does it look like you're playing a fiddle in the profile pic.

I'm actually holding this:

[AtreidesGhola]

I'm actually holding this:

That is one bee-you-tee-full Les Paul, Dan.

And the FAQ reminds me of Seinfeld.

[jgrantham7]

Looks great!

And, again, thanks for all your work on the puzzle.

[Master_Cylinder]

You might mention that the clue "usually" arrives in the afternoon PDT so people don't start asking about it at 12:01 AM...or at least mention something about being patient.

[BazzTard61]

Why is Dan writing about himself in the third-person?
It's a FAQ. It's what you do.

ERROR: shouldn't the answer be "It's a FAQ, it's what Dan does" ?

Jimmy doesn't like that hehe

[Gozer65]

Oh man oh man that is a nice looking guitar. What year is it?

[Moodyblues57]

Why does it look like you're playing a fiddle in the profile pic.

Hahaha! I thought I was the only one who saw that!