Topic: Monster Hunter: World

Is it just me, or is Rathalos way tougher now then ever before? I crafted some much better gear just before the story asks you to hunt one, and still struggled with it. It seems way faster and more fiery than before, and gives less warning before his poison swoop attack.

@JaxonH I know right! I'm not the person that sits still in while gaming. I probably don't play more than 30 minutes without pausing the game, bathroom breaks, grabbing a drink or some food, checking my mail/phone, etc. Not being able to pause the game is pretty annoying. I have to find a safe spot, or pay attention to what's going on while I'm doing something else.

@Octane
What makes it worse is your quest has a timer.

On Wii U, 3DS and Switch there was a pause button in the menu, and on the portable systems you could just put it in sleep mode. I sure hope Dark Souls Switch doesn't prevent sleep mode pausing. That might be a deal breaker for me.

@JaxonH At least with Dark Souls you can just quit the game and return to the title screen. It auto saves every few seconds, so it'll take you right back to where you were.

I can deal with the timer. I decide when I start the quest, so I can plan ahead, but if I'm just exploring or gathering materials, that's when I miss the pause button the most.

Just unlocked 8 star quests. Nergigante rocked my would it took me five tries before I got him. I really am in love with this game. It's just so dang satisfying...

How do you actually play with strangers? It seems like any quests that are there on the quest board are always for people who are a higher level, and I'm just generally not sure what I'm doing.

@KirbyTheVampire SOS is the fastest way. Either send out one yourself or answering someone else's.

@Octane
Even planning, sometimes it's "dinner is ready" or bathroom or grab a glass of tea downstairs or text message or, whatever.

@KirbyTheVampire
Can filter your search but yes, SOS is easiest, if you get a response that is.

@crimsontadpoles
His tells aren't as telegraphed as previous games due to more natural animations, and that made it harder for me the first time I tried, but honestly, by the time I got to the quest to hunt him he went down pretty easy. I did a quest right after with Rathalos and Rathian together, end it got pretty hectic and chaotic but I took them both down with relative ease then too.

The one I'd say is noticeably more difficult, is Diablos. His underground attack gives you such short notice, and if you have a weapon like charge blade that takes a while to sheath, you have to plan accordingly to get that weapon tucked away in time to superman dive. But even with Diablos, which I was a little nervous going into... I played it safe and didn't get greedy and he went down pretty quick. Barely got hit, in fact. Of course if you've been playing this series for a while you know most of their moves already- I know he bashes his tail around after a charge, I know to sheath and get ready to dive when he burrows underground, etc etc.

Take advantage of those flash pods and rake his butt down to the ground when he's raging in the air. And I chopped the tail off right away. That makes the fight much easier to manage, especially with Rathian due to the tail spin no longer having the same reach, and lack of poison afterwards.

@JaxonH I actually defeated Diablos fairly easily, though that could have been due to weapon choice. I was using the Bow, and so I could play it safe and keep my distance. Staying away from it also meant that I had time to prepare for the charges and underground attacks. Its attacks could take out most of my health, so I can see how it would be a pain with melee weapons.

Also, I've reached High Rank. So there's even tougher monsters for me to look forward to now

Hooo boy, high rank is bringing the heat. Feels like low rank was truly easy mode lol. I need to step up my game.

@JaxonH As soon as you get some decent armor it dies back down. Currently have 300 defense thanks to the High Metal set and a fully upgraded defense charm, and stuff's back to being easy. ED armor sets also have 320 defense at base.

At this point my biggest fear for the future of the series is that they'll do that stupid Rockstar thing and start titling the games "Monster Hunter World: 2, 3, Generations," etc. Not because of the content, but because that is a naming convention that would haunt my sensibilities for years to come.

But less jokingly I'm not sure most players will realize this is a sequel.

There is a pretty notable spike in difficulty between Normal and High Rank. Mostly because the monsters just hit harder and take more hits, not so much that the monsters themselves become smarter. Lately I just use lots of traps and tranqs to catch monsters instead of fighting them past their last phase. It has made them much more manageable.

I'm busy for a while but will soon join you guys. Is the online community big enough? I want to play this game mostly with other hunters, as I did from my first onwards.

The community seems plenty big, the matchmaking sometimes underrepresents that though.

(Everyone) When searching for SOS I've learned it helps to click the button again after it tells you 'no SOS found,' as it will regularly display a few different results.

Lol I'll have to see when I get the game. I like hunting with people I know with slots open to the public. Perhaps joining first and sos later is the best way to do that, I'll figure it out later I guess

Happy hunting for all of you way ahead of me:)

So I went on an investigation to hunt Kushala in the Ancient Forest... in broad daylight. Are investigations as randomly generated and thoughtless as guild quests, just on normal, well-designed maps this time? Because in development terms it's much harder to say 'If Kushala, then rain' than 'If elder, then vamonos Great Jagras.' I mean hell, no one would bat an eye if they just used the standard rain effects and called it dragon rain. Also, how can there be rain in the Rotten Vale if there isn't any in the Coral Highlands? Have I missed the quests with the rain effect there or...?

Anyway, I think I'm just going to beat the game in Legiana armor. Farming for Kushala gems and horns is making me loopy, and I already wore the armor a ton in 4 so... Breaking its head with randoms is nigh on impossible with how much it moves, it really feels like it's made of metal.

I pretty much always have three hunters join when sending out an SOS. That said it's risky sending one out in high-rank quests because people will join that are just not ready. If they can't take the damage HR monsters dish out joining someone else's game isn't going to help them.

The last boss