The Great Arms Race

The Great Arms Race is an event for the Xbox 360 servers which is began June 10, 2011, and is scheduled to run through July 14, 2011. The equivalent Japanese PC/PS2 version, GRM・ヨウメイ・テノラ　グラール最大の決戦, began December 24, 2009, and ran through January 28, 2010. In this event, players must pledge their allegiance to one of Gurhal's three weapon manufacturers: GRM, Yohmei or TENORA WORKS. Each company is developing a brand new, high-grade weapon, but they require the GUARDIANS' help to collect battle information to be used in the development process. At the end of the event, all three weapons will be produced and awarded to players based on whichever company they sided with, but only the weapon made by the winning manufacturer will have a little extra something that the other two will be missing...

Event overview

Registration

In order to participate in this event, you must register with one of Gurhal's major weapon manufacturers: GRM, Yohmei or TENORA WORKS. Choose wisely, however, as once you have made your selection, you cannot change it!
The company that you register with determines which weapon you will receive as a reward at the end of the event. Rewards differed between the Japanese PC/PS2 and Xbox 360 versions, so please see the weapon rewards section below for full details.
Registration is handled in the prologue mission Weapon R&D Project.

Data points

Following registration, you will be granted access to the main event missions where you will go up against hordes of monsters. As monsters are defeated, you will earn "data points." These points are then added to a running server-wide tally for the manufacturer you have chosen to support.
Data points have no effect on individual player rewards. They are used only to determine the winning manufacturer at the end of the event.

Data point multipliers

Because manufacturer registration is likely to be uneven, thus making data point distribution uneven, a system of data point multipliers will be put into place to even out the playing field. Under this system, a manufacturer with a large number of followers will not have an unfair advantage over the one with the least registrants.
The manufacturer with the largest number of registrants will have the smallest multiplier, while the manufacturer with the least registrants will have the largest multiplier.
During the event, multipliers will change as new players register with their weapon maker of choice.

Boost time

At various points during the event, a temporary bonus called "boost time" will come into play.
Whichever of the three manufacturers is in last place as the point boost time begins will receive a special data point multiplier on top of their current multiplier. If used wisely, this bonus can completely turn the tables on the competition!
The boost time bonus will remain in effect for the manufacturer it was awarded to even if that manufacturer moves up in overall rank.

Event missions

The following missions will be available for the duration of the event, unless otherwise noted.

Prologue mission

Weapon R&D Project

Main missions

The Visitor's Memory
Blizzard Cavern
Seabed Vibrations (Unlocked through reward panels.)
Shape of Evolution (Unlocked through reward panels.)

Special mission

Hit the Counter!

Event rewards

Panel rewards

The total number of enemies defeated during the event will be tallied and used to unlock various prizes.

Xbox 360 version

5,000,000	10,000,000	???	???
Two weeks of megaholy light for all races!	Free makeovers and half-priced clothes and parts for two weeks!	???	10x daily Vol Coin allowance for two weeks!
???	???	???	???
???	Boost rate +15% for the next GUARDIANS Boost Road!	Weapon/armor synth success rates +10% for two weeks!	Photon art EXP boost for two weeks!
???		???
Weapon/armor synth success rates +20% for two weeks!		Weapon grinding success rates +10% for two weeks!

Japanese PC/PS2 version

10,000,000	20,000,000	30,000,000	40,000,000
Two weeks of megaholy light for all races!	Free makeovers and half-priced clothes and parts for two weeks!	New event mission, Seabed Vibrations, unlocked!	10x daily Vol Coin allowance for two weeks!
50,000,000	60,000,000	70,000,000	80,000,000
New event mission, Shape of Evolution, unlocked!	Boost rate +15% for the next GUARDIANS Boost Road!	Weapon/armor synth success rates +10% for two weeks!	Photon art EXP boost for two weeks!
90,000,000		100,000,000
Weapon/armor synth success rates +20% for two weeks!		Weapon grinding success rates +10% for two weeks!

Milestone rewards

After clearing one of the event missions, if the number of enemies defeated by your party brings the overall point total to a multiple of 100,000, everyone in the party will be granted special access to Hit the Counter! where they can claim their very own Kakwane Madog!

Weapon rewards

Each manufacturer has a specific weapon they are developing during this event. By aligning yourself with a weapon maker and completing at least one run of one of the main event missions, you will be guaranteed to receive your respective company's weapon as a reward following the end of the event. Below are the weapons up for grabs. The stats listed here represent each weapon's full potential. Keep in mind that only the one produced by the winning company will match these stats; the other two will have slightly reduced stats. Furthermore, weapon rewards differed between the Xbox 360 and Japanese PC/PS2 versions of the event. Please verify that you are viewing the correct weapon selection for your server.

Xbox 360 version

Please note that the models for the Xbox 360 version's weapons have not been confirmed yet as they were not displayed on the official event site. The following images are from the Japanese PC version.