Gundam Battle: Gunpla Warfare - Weekly Event Digest #14 - New Year Special!

It's time to ring in the new year, Pilots, and we're doing in in style! Coming off the tail of our recent Pilot Step-Up Banners, we're diving headfirst into the Sokai Revival Step-Up for the end-of-year-bash in GBGW.  There's a lot of buzz on what to pull and what's good, so we'll be including Should You Pull articles for reference on previous Sokai Events to help give you an idea.

Part 2 of the One Who Breaks the Dawn Event is also starting up, and we've got some info on that as well.  The only new inclusion this week is going to be in the form of the Pilot Pick-Up Capsule, with Gai and Aina, and the Turn X/Turn A Banner will be ongoing until January 7th.

The Ranking Leaderboard for the One Who Breaks the Dawn Event will also reset, and at the end a new Top 5 will be selected and copied for a planned future Event down the road, and will appear as enemies.

A lot of people have been asking around about how Part 2 will shake down, and we've finally got some sort of an idea.  From what they told us about the Exchange Store in the last notice is that some items will be swapped out with the addition of Part 2, and we now know that we'll be earning Part 2 BD Coins as opposed to what we've been earning this past week.

No, we're not going to be seeing a Blue Destiny Unit 2 coming into the Exchange Shop, or a different Akatsuki Banner, or Akaksuki Parts in the Exchange Store either.  Likely the biggest things to change over will be Awakening Circuits, and potentially Akatsuki Coins, discounteed Capsule Medals, and Premium Capsule Medals.  This last part is just speculation, by the way, so don't take it as fact.

Event Bonus Parts are changing up this week, and it's a complete overhaul compared to last week.  ALL 4* PARTS APPEARING IN THE STEP UP BANNERS GIVE 25% BONUS PER PART; TURN A AND TURN X BONUSES ARE REDUCED TO 15%.

We'll go ahead and list things anyway, but that's the major takeaway from the Bonus Part changes for Part 2, and namely it's to give benefit to those pulling on Step Ups, or who have previous Sokai Parts in their inventory.  Remember, bonuses are applied on a per-part-basis, so you can have duplicates of the same Part on multiple squad members to increase bonuses.

We're doing this a little different this time, as the highest bonus per part (except for Gai Murakumo) is 25%, and it almost includes the entire list of bonuses right there. 

Gai Murakumo (Pilot): 100% UP

ALL PARTS from Zeta Gundam, Justice Gundam, Enhanced ZZ Gundam, Freedom Gundam, Kshatriya, Nu Gundam [Ver.Ka], Unicorn Gundam, Qubeley, Hi-nu Gundam HWS [Ver.Ka]: 25% UP

Turn A Gundam (all parts incl. Shield [Turn A], Beam Saber [Turn A], Gundam Hammer, Beam Rifle [Turn A]), Turn X (all parts): 15% UP

Blue Destiny Unit-1 (all parts incl. Shield [BD1]), Crossbone Gundam X1 (all parts incl. ABC Cloak, Beam Zanba, Zanbuster), Aina Sahalin (Pilot): 7% UP

It seems like slim pickings, but keep in mind that there are nine full Gunpla that give 25% bonuses, and they all appear in Step-Up Banners where the only 4* drops are from the 3 featured from that specific Banner.

We've got another week of logins for the Event ahead of us as well, which includes a whopping 1,000 Haro Chips, as well as more Akatsuki Coins and Capsule Medals.  Word on the street is that we may see a review of this beautiful golden kit soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

While I am super excited to see Gai Murakumo get tossed into the 4* Pilot line-up, this is gonna come as a mixed bag for me.  On the one hand, I really liked the character in the animated short that we saw featuring both Gai and Lowe, respectively with their suits. Honestly Gai is one insane pilot, and I'm hoping that they don't do him in like they did to his Astray Blue Frame.

The part that I'm extremely wary of here, is that I'm positive he's going to be yet-another-In/Out-Fighter that either will be really good, really average, or absolutely terrible.  I hate the variance that we see with some of the 4* Pilot releases, despite that I understand not every Pilot or Part can be amazing.  Just give me that 4* Support already, Bandai!

Aina Sahalin is digging her heels in with the 3* rating though, even as one of the pilots for two variants of the RX-79Ez-8 (Heavy Armed Custom and High Mobility Custom), as well as yet another pilot of the RX-79.  I have to admit, I would love to see less Pilots from "The O8th MS Team" and more Gundams from it, but I guess all things in good time.  

Aina will likely end up being somewhere around a Middle Shooter, likely, as it seems that Middle Shooter and both Fighters are the most common Pilots we're gonna get, for the time being.  Let's hope she's got some FIYAH!

This is the meat and potatoes that everyone is clamoring over.  Every Sokai that we have seen since the beginning of the game in August is returning in combined Step-Up Banners consisting of five steps with amazing bonuses.  REMEMBER: The only 4* Parts that will appear in each Banner are the featured Gunpla displayed on said Banner.  So you will see zero off-Banner Parts that appear in the Standard Part Pool.

The first step is a 5x draw of parts for a measly 300hc.  While this doesn't seem like much, there will be those out there that will actually hit on this 5-draw and probably buy a lottery ticket.

The second step is a 10x draw at a discounted 1200hc.  Keep in mind that the Prime Pool is being removed from 10x draws on the Step-Up Banners, so there are no guaranteed 3* Parts included in any draws.

Steps 3 and 4 will consist of the normal 10x at a rate of 1500hc, but with a doubled rate for 4* Parts.  This is absolutely crazy, because at the time of writing this, it appears that we may see a rate of 7% (the Sokai normal rate) across all Step-Up draws, doubled to 14% in steps 3 and 4. 

Step 5 is what everyone wants, and that's a guaranteed 4* Part included as the last part of your final 10x draw at the regular 1500hc.  The guaranteed Part will be the same as the rest of the Banner in that it will only be a Part featured from the Gunpla on that Banner.

Just like the Pilot Step-Up Banners, each "Pass"; steps 1 through 5, can only be opened once each time the Banner appears.  Each new day, the scheduled Banner will rotate in at the listed time and you can pull each "Pass" again.

You can do this a third time the final time each Banner appears.

The first day lists that the Banners will start at 7AM PST.  This is uncommon for Banners to start in the morning for America, and it could very well be a typo... So if it doesn't show at 7AM PST, then you know why, and it'll appear at 7PM instead.

■Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules Schedule

12/31/2019 7:00 AM (PST) – 1/1/2020 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #1
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #2
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #3

1/1/2020 7:00 PM (PST) – 1/2 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #1

1/2/2020 7:00 PM (PST) – 1/3 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #2

1/3/2020 7:00 PM (PST) – 1/4 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #3

1/4/2020 7:00 PM (PST) – 1/5 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #1

1/5/2019 7:00 PM (PST) – 1/6 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #2

1/6/2020 7:00 PM (PST) – 1/7 7:00 PM (PST)
Lucky Bag Step-Up Capsules #3

Honestly, the final step is GREAT, but the two steps before it are honestly what I've got my eyes on.  Doubled rates with only Sokai parts is unbelievably fantastic, and can easily result in a bundle of Parts, easily overshadowing the one guaranteed at the end. 

I'm gonna address the elephant in the room here, though... Honestly the bonuses that are applied to the steps are fantastic, and step-up banners in general are extremely healthy for Gacha games if managed properly, so this is absolutely a step in the right direction for the game in a general sense of progression and Part availability.

This step-up is unreal good, and each Banner is worth pulling on, but it isn't exactly "cheap", though it has immense "value".  A full run will cost you 6000 Haro on the nose, and that's gonna be sorta costly... but it can result in an absolute heap of goodies to help you ring in the new year, and that's where your value is.  Especially if you missed any of the Sokai Festivals before, or you didn't get that one part you were looking for.

To help you guys along with what to pull on, I'm including the links for each of the previous Should You Pull articles concerning all of these bad boys.

Zeta and Qubeley

Freedom and Justice

Unicorn and Kshatriya

Hi-nu HWS and Enhanced ZZ

Speaking of new year!  Our Monthly Gunpla Design Contest is opening up again beginning January 1st!  There will be a two week long submission period, followed by a one-week break before the winner(s) are announced near the time Sokai should start for the month.
Be sure to drop by our discord server and submit your entry today!

Happy New Year to you and yours from all of us here at Gamepress, and the GBGW Community!