Blue Archive - The south Korean Gacha game that almost died, is now being released on Steam this summer.

BTW there'll be a new half-fest announcement tomorrow-ish
https://x.com/Blue_ArchiveJP/status/1936409079829934212
It's for Japanese server so for global it's gonna be something to prepare your pyroxenes if you're interested with it. Not really sure if its gonna be summer themed (considering JP just gotten Summer version of the Hyakkiyok-I can't spell the school name girls before this), but it's definitely either some new student or new alt of existing student.

Her EX skill literally duplicates another student's EX skill she is a must have support unit
Yeah I heard she's great because of it, but right now I got amazed by Satsuki because somehow she became the crutch of current Gebura raid. I'm already into Rio for a long while so I'm gonna work on her after I unlocked her memorial lobby.
 
It's for Japanese server so for global it's gonna be something to prepare your pyroxenes if you're interested with it. Not really sure if its gonna be summer themed (considering JP just gotten Summer version of the Hyakkiyok-I can't spell the school name girls before this), but it's definitely either some new student or new alt of existing student.


Yeah I heard she's great because of it, but right now I got amazed by Satsuki because somehow she became the crutch of current Gebura raid. I'm already into Rio for a long while so I'm gonna work on her after I unlocked her memorial lobby.
I just reinstalled the game, tried the extreme difficulty today. Borrowed a Satsuki and she managed to deal 25 million damage out of Geburah's 27 million health pool. Other students are pretty much just to buff her or heal the heating core. I missed her banner completely though so that's pity that I have to borrow.

I got Rio in the meantime as well so that's nice...
 
Apparently, Nexon snuck in disclosure about the game using Nexon's own Anti-Cheat, called BlackCipher, only after it's release:

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Given how Nexon used to use GameGuard anti-cheat in MapleStory, which did nothing to stop cheating, how is Nexon's anti-cheat in comparison?
 
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You forgot Swimsuit Ichika as welfare/free unit.
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Aside of that, the swimsuits is similar to the banners we just gotten in Global. By that I meant:
- Swimsuit Hasumi and Seia's banner comes first, with free 100 rolls.
- Swimsuit Mika and Nagisa banner comes after those two ended, with bluefes increased SSR chances

There isn't any notable main story additions beyond extending the missions to Area 29 (Highlander's train station) and Tier 10 equipments, there's notable QoL updates that you can expect when these hit Global server in 5-6 months:

- 4* exclusive weapons
- Certain amount of students from very early days of BA (Ako all the way to Hifumi swimsuit) will be removed from the standard gacha pool and be placed on a "Archived" banner pool separate from normal and limited banner pools
- The ability to interact with Special-variant students in student squad menu (Yes, you can finally pick up Iroha or Kisaki around)
- Battlepass. (Yes, I am not joking.)
 
Pretty interesting feature they've announced to lessen the amount of characters in the standard pool, you'll be able to remove any launch student or characters who were added soon after launch or characters you can grind in the shop from the standard pool and put them into the archive banner. You'll only be able to pull in the archive banner using archive tickets that you'll get every once in a while just like the recruitment tickets, and when you do 200 pulls you'll be able to spark any character you put in the archive. Unlike standard banners the archive banner's points never expire, so you can just do archive pulls as you get them.

Again, it's all optional and you can pick and choose any of the students I mentioned and remove them from the standard pool.

On the other hand, battlepasses and premium currency shop are introduced... BAsisters... it's over...
 
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Atleast the battlepass is an excuse to get more free mats. I know people run out of them way too often.
 
Okay, this is my current characters, any recommendations what to get for the choice card that I splurged on? It seems like it's only a subset, rather than all the characters possible. I saw recommendations for supporters, but so far my big issue is enemies inflicting too much damage, and I'd rather have some broken character.
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Okay, this is my current characters, any recommendations what to get for the choice card that I splurged on? It seems like it's only a subset, rather than all the characters possible. I saw recommendations for supporters, but so far my big issue is enemies inflicting too much damage, and I'd rather have some broken character.
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Really depends on what you're struggling with because I can always recommend Mika, Saori, or Terror Shiroko.
 
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Okay, this is my current characters, any recommendations what to get for the choice card that I splurged on? It seems like it's only a subset, rather than all the characters possible. I saw recommendations for supporters, but so far my big issue is enemies inflicting too much damage, and I'd rather have some broken character.
View attachment 7665477
Maybe invest in more medic/healer? Serina's pretty good with 2EX cost healing. Hoshino Armed in its tank/shield form is also durable to act a tank, and also investing in more tank-focused student like Yuuka, Tsubaki, Natsu or anyone with shield icon too would definitely help in the long run.
 
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Maybe invest in more medic/healer? Serina's pretty good with 2EX cost healing. Hoshino Armed in its tank/shield form is also durable to act a tank, and also investing in more tank-focused student like Yuuka, Tsubaki, Natsu or anyone with shield icon too would definitely help in the long run.
Who's that Tank unit that heals herself and allies around her? Atsuko? Love that shit
 
but so far my big issue is enemies inflicting too much damage
What that tells me is that you're doing regular content and not putting a tank on your team. Yuuka you get from the start and Tsubaki is all but guaranteed given she's 2*, in regular content for every team you always want a tank and 3 DPS, a healer and the last one can be whatever you want. A tank is obviously always going to be a striker, for the other ones you can have them be a mix of strikers and specials, for example Kokona is a striker but she's a low cost healer so you could put another DPS or buffer into the special slot instead. Early on you needn't match the tank's damage type with enemy armor type as their damage fucking sucks anyway, at least that's the case for most tanks, all the damage should be done with everyone else so always match your damage dealers' color with the enemy's armor.

There are tanks that are better, or more useful in regular content, than Yuuka and Tsubaki but they're usually 3*, for example Tsurugi tanks, does big damage (especially when you use your EX that turns her normal attacks into AoEs) and is completely self-sustaining because she heals herself and can replenish her ammo after killing an enemy, but that also makes her completly unsuitable for bosses or raids since she obviously can't use half her kit anymore (exception is Chesed as it's a raid boss that summons tons of mobs). She can be useful in PvP believe it or not but it requires a very specific setup and PvP fucking sucks anyway.
 
What that tells me is that you're doing regular content and not putting a tank on your team. Yuuka you get from the start and Tsubaki is all but guaranteed given she's 2*, in regular content for every team you always want a tank and 3 DPS, a healer and the last one can be whatever you want. A tank is obviously always going to be a striker, for the other ones you can have them be a mix of strikers and specials, for example Kokona is a striker but she's a low cost healer so you could put another DPS or buffer into the special slot instead. Early on you needn't match the tank's damage type with enemy armor type as their damage fucking sucks anyway, at least that's the case for most tanks, all the damage should be done with everyone else so always match your damage dealers' color with the enemy's armor.

There are tanks that are better, or more useful in regular content, than Yuuka and Tsubaki but they're usually 3*, for example Tsurugi tanks, does big damage (especially when you use your EX that turns her normal attacks into AoEs) and is completely self-sustaining because she heals herself and can replenish her ammo after killing an enemy, but that also makes her completly unsuitable for bosses or raids since she obviously can't use half her kit anymore (exception is Chesed as it's a raid boss that summons tons of mobs). She can be useful in PvP believe it or not but it requires a very specific setup and PvP fucking sucks anyway.
Hoshino and Marina should be good tanks, no? I think I actually need to do skill and gear upgrades (meaning grinding for materials) to get extra protection.
 
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Tsubaki is all but guaranteed given
Yeah I second this, Tsubaki is incredibly good at her job as a Tank and you can easily max her out, don't let the 2* fool you. She's got a degree of flexibility that lets you use her in multiple encounters. Self-healing, increased defense, and the ability to take the enemies attention away from your other units.

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Hoshino and Marina should be good tanks, no? I think I actually need to do skill and gear upgrades (meaning grinding for materials) to get extra protection. Also how is Kokona?
Battle Hoshino, yes, Marina's problem is that she's an Evasion based tank which makes her more useful for PvP while everywhere else she's very squishy early on, so bring 2 healers. Once you get her a T4 bag though you can phase out one healer if you see that you can get away with it.

Also how is Kokona?
Very good. Low cost single target healer, in raids she has an added benefit of lowering cost each time she gives 5 stamps of approval, you get those by using her healing EX and when enough crits are scored. She's not the best at either job but her versatility is what makes her so good.

don't let the 2* fool you
Agreed. For new players here, there are a lot of 1* and 2* who are absolutely fucking cracked and are absolutely worth investing in them and getting them to 3* (and more) ASAP. Serika is probably the least flashy unit, even when looking at just her fellow launch students. Her EX skill is just her sperging out and giving herself an attack buff and her basic skill is just doing a lot of damage to one enemy. However, the amount of damage that angy cat does is insane and she can often outdamage everyone else in your red team. Serina needs no introduction, one of the best healers in the game still. Junko does lots of damage. Nonomi just fucking clears entire waves. Kotama is perfect when you have no idea who the fuck to put in as her AoE damage buff is really good. Haruka can become the tankiest tank of the game but she does need a lot of investment. That's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Really, it's easier to list out 1* and 2* that sadly either fucking suck outright or there's no content where they're useful in yet, like Airi or Nodoka.
 
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