not exactly. it was an a204 SGA and clearly marked as such. it also does an extra 2 damage more than the old a204. also, they were only dropped, during that SGA period. and, I don't believe it rained buckets of them, either. so, to me, it's not really the same thing at all. also, I don't think it was a "hype" event as there are many better ways of doing that sor of thing. it looks like and appears to have been treated like it was an error. the really sad part is that if the loot mistakes and the mission mistakes hadn't have happened, we might be discussing a new phase for rocktropia - instead of examining the tarnish and duct tape.
Just to play the devil's advocate here... Would it have turned out better if the items dropped were es600s then?
What ifs don't work ... just the facts that surround the incident ... the point of it all is that the item that dropped, and in abundance, was considered to be a very valuable item with an equally valuable history that had a rather negative impact, and that you can't diminish. It doesn't matter what the name of the item is ... just the facts and the impact. Also, if the item was something that didn't have the value that the es500 does, it still would be a topic of discussion based on the other variables involved (i.e., knowledge, location of drop, who benefited, and relationship to PP/developer ... not to mention that person making an announcement that they would publish a press release to explain everything). It's important to take all of the facts into consideration if you're going to present a hypothetical situation.