Now that I have beaten the game, World is definitely my favorite Monster Hunter and I wanted to give general advice on how to fully appreciate this masterpiece.
You don't need specific advice to enjoy and beat the game, because there are no missable trophies and you simply can't make mistakes in this game. You may feel you might have wasted materials, but you can always farm more, and the game gives you so many chances of getting even the most rare items, that if oops, I used up Rathalos Ruby on the wrong equipment (I actually got one finally as a drop!), you can actually buy one now!
That being said, I agree you shouldn't willy-nilly upgrade rare equipment (common equipment is fine because it's easy to get these mats) because the farming is real, so in these situations, do look up on the internet what the strongest armors, skills and weapons are for your weapon type as you upgrade.
First Advice
The most important advice is to try all the weapons in the training room, even ones that you think you won't like. You do that by going to your room on the first floor (Trading Yard), to the right of the elevator lift and talk to the cat housekeeper, then chose Training Room.
As with all Monster Hunter games, there are weapon tier lists, which I would completely ignore, as every single weapon is absolutely viable. The temptation is to use the S-tier weapons, which are considered the dual blades and long sword from one list, but why?
I can understand wanting the most powerful weapon if this is PvP, but this is a single-player and COOP game. If you don't find these weapons fun, what's the point of playing the game?
If you love more than 1 weapon, definitely use ALL the weapons that you're interested in, or even vaguely interested in and find interesting. The concern I see floating around the internet is that it will be a lot of grinding to make more than one line of weapons.
However, at the very beginning, you're given ALL the weapons (Ore Tree) so you can try them all out, and even un-upgraded, they're all viable for quite a few story missions. Therefore, just use the starting weapons for the first few story missions. At least up to the third upgrade, it doesn't take much grinding to get enough materials to upgrade all the ones you like along the ore tree path, as these materials are common.
Now, as you go higher, some of the materials are hard to get, and will require a lot of farming, but you can take your time upgrading your secondary weapons. It's not like you MUST get the maxed out Nergigante (Ore Tree) and Diablos (Bone Tree) line immediately of all your weapon types. Work on upgrading your main one first, and then your other ones later.
Further, a lot of the weapons along the ore tree are considered the strongest up through the Nergigante line, so it's not going to be a waste of materials, since you're investing in a very strong weapon line. Furthermore, if you need materials, you can "roll-back" the upgrade and get materials back, up to a certain point. The smithy gives you a warning when you can't roll-back so pay attention before you commit.
In conclusion, you can use ALL of your interested and favorite base starting weapons at least on the low-rank, easier monsters, maining and upgrading your favorite, and then come back and upgrade the others down the road.
So, even as you find just one weapon that "clicks" I would still experiment with other ones as you move up the ranks. For instance, I loved the hammer out of all the ones I tried, but I needed a severing weapon to cut off tails since blunt weapons such as the hammer and hunting horn can't do that. I tried out the long sword and the Switch Axe, and settled on the Switch Axe due to how it feels. Both are equally great at cutting off tails.
However, since Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I've always wanted to try out the Charge Blade (CB) and Insect Glaive (IG) because I fell into the trap of wanting to main the S-tier weapons, which were considered CB and IG for that edition. I simply didn't understand the CB, and I really can't aim at specific parts of monsters with the IG. Therefore, when I used the IG, I wasn't effective because you really need to get at least the red essence to increase your attack power.
After finishing the game maining Hammer and secondary Switch Axe, I decided that once and for all, I really want to understand the CB and when I stuck with it, I fell in love with this weapon. I find Gaijin Hunter's tutorials the best. He hasn't yet done a tutorial of the CB for World, but I watched his ultimate MH4U CB tutorial, which has almost similar move-sets as World and he goes through every single move precisely. He explains each step clearly and slowly so you can follow what's going on, and you can try these moves in the training room while watching his tutorials.
Now that I have some mild success with CB, I'm going to revisit IG, the lances, the hunting horn (another weapon that I always wanted to master) and the ranged weapons!
So I strongly agree that if you love a lot of the weapons, try them all out! You get the base forms of all of them so at least you can use them on the low rank, easy monsters, and slowly upgrade them from there, rolling back mats if you feel you need them.
On the flip side, do NOT main the weapons that you don't like even if they're S-tier weapons! So if you don't like the dual blades and long sword, don't use them!
Second Advice
The second advice as with all great games is to truly savor the game, and not worry whether you're good or not. I was taken aback when one of my PSN gaming buddies was struggling against Anjanath and was about to quit. He wrote that he didn't understand the game so of course, being an evangelist, I gave him basic advice and he agreed to stick with it, and give it a second chance as this is his first ever Monster Hunter game. The key here is this is his first ever Monster Hunter so we don't expect him to be a pro like Arekkz Gaming or Gaijin Hunter, which is a ridiculous expectation.
A few days pass by, and he wrote me and was in the HR50's! I was floored because this was someone who was about to quit but he achieved way more than me at that time!
I'm sorry, if you get to that rank, you have to be good at the game because there are monsters that are walls, such as Anjanath, Diablos and Nergigante, that you can't just level up and tank through. For each point in the game, you can max out your weapons, armors, and charms/gems only so far, as you have to open up upgrades through story missions, so you're blocked from raising your attack and defense power. But as you practice and recognize attack patterns, despite having the same stats, you can defeat them.
However, after he told me that he beat the game and was very highly ranked, he then said he sucked at the game despite this being his first Monster Hunter game. He mentioned that he must be awful since he's seen people take down monsters in well under 5 minutes, but it takes him 15 to 20 minutes to kill hard monsters. He said he was bad due to "slow kills" despite the fact that he was maining the long sword, the light bowgun and now the insect glaive. So he has mastered ranged and melee weapons!
Of course I wrote him back and said he was excellent at the game, and that in order to get to 3 mins and under, every swipe of your weapon has to hit the monster with absolutely no wasted movements, and fully optimized gear.
The point of this is that even a first-time Monster Hunter sees the fetish of needing to kill monsters as quickly as possible, so this goes to my second advice. Who cares, unless you're going to join Capcom's upcoming competition of fastest arena kills? Most hunts you get a full 50 minutes, so why not enjoy the environment, farming resources along the way, and take time killing the monster? With the gorgeous, living environment (except for the intentionally grotesque Rotten Vale), why not stop and smell the roses?
In fact, this is the problem I'm facing as a CB user, with this fastest kills culture of Monster Hunter. I also feel this pressure to kill monsters as quickly as possible even SOLO, so I fixate on this ultimate move, and keep missing as a result due to its long animation, because I don't wait for the most opportune moment.
Further, with this need to kill monsters as fast as possible, I try to charge my shield and sword immediately, even if the charging doesn't attack the monster at the same time. To be technically good at CB, you have to time your moves precisely, but with the pressure of destroying monsters quickly, I'm developing bad habits.
In fact, I feel the panic of charging the shield and sword as quickly as possible, that I would sometimes forget the initial R2+Circle (RT+B) to put the energy into the phials first. For instance, I would collect up to the red phials, but then straight out charging the shield and wonder, why the shield didn't charge? Well, that's because in my rush to kill the monsters fast, I didn't put the energy into the phials first, before charging, missing basic steps!
So I'm going to follow my own advice and slow down, and perform the movements at the best times, even more necessary in COOP play as you don't want to trip your hunting buddies!
Furthermore, as you get better and better at using your weapons and knowing the monster attack patterns, you're going to kill the monsters faster.
TL/DR: Experiment and enjoy all weapons that you find interesting, and don't worry about killing monsters fast!
The How of Happiness Review
You don't need specific advice to enjoy and beat the game, because there are no missable trophies and you simply can't make mistakes in this game. You may feel you might have wasted materials, but you can always farm more, and the game gives you so many chances of getting even the most rare items, that if oops, I used up Rathalos Ruby on the wrong equipment (I actually got one finally as a drop!), you can actually buy one now!
That being said, I agree you shouldn't willy-nilly upgrade rare equipment (common equipment is fine because it's easy to get these mats) because the farming is real, so in these situations, do look up on the internet what the strongest armors, skills and weapons are for your weapon type as you upgrade.
First Advice
The most important advice is to try all the weapons in the training room, even ones that you think you won't like. You do that by going to your room on the first floor (Trading Yard), to the right of the elevator lift and talk to the cat housekeeper, then chose Training Room.
As with all Monster Hunter games, there are weapon tier lists, which I would completely ignore, as every single weapon is absolutely viable. The temptation is to use the S-tier weapons, which are considered the dual blades and long sword from one list, but why?
I can understand wanting the most powerful weapon if this is PvP, but this is a single-player and COOP game. If you don't find these weapons fun, what's the point of playing the game?
If you love more than 1 weapon, definitely use ALL the weapons that you're interested in, or even vaguely interested in and find interesting. The concern I see floating around the internet is that it will be a lot of grinding to make more than one line of weapons.
However, at the very beginning, you're given ALL the weapons (Ore Tree) so you can try them all out, and even un-upgraded, they're all viable for quite a few story missions. Therefore, just use the starting weapons for the first few story missions. At least up to the third upgrade, it doesn't take much grinding to get enough materials to upgrade all the ones you like along the ore tree path, as these materials are common.
Now, as you go higher, some of the materials are hard to get, and will require a lot of farming, but you can take your time upgrading your secondary weapons. It's not like you MUST get the maxed out Nergigante (Ore Tree) and Diablos (Bone Tree) line immediately of all your weapon types. Work on upgrading your main one first, and then your other ones later.
Further, a lot of the weapons along the ore tree are considered the strongest up through the Nergigante line, so it's not going to be a waste of materials, since you're investing in a very strong weapon line. Furthermore, if you need materials, you can "roll-back" the upgrade and get materials back, up to a certain point. The smithy gives you a warning when you can't roll-back so pay attention before you commit.
In conclusion, you can use ALL of your interested and favorite base starting weapons at least on the low-rank, easier monsters, maining and upgrading your favorite, and then come back and upgrade the others down the road.
So, even as you find just one weapon that "clicks" I would still experiment with other ones as you move up the ranks. For instance, I loved the hammer out of all the ones I tried, but I needed a severing weapon to cut off tails since blunt weapons such as the hammer and hunting horn can't do that. I tried out the long sword and the Switch Axe, and settled on the Switch Axe due to how it feels. Both are equally great at cutting off tails.
However, since Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I've always wanted to try out the Charge Blade (CB) and Insect Glaive (IG) because I fell into the trap of wanting to main the S-tier weapons, which were considered CB and IG for that edition. I simply didn't understand the CB, and I really can't aim at specific parts of monsters with the IG. Therefore, when I used the IG, I wasn't effective because you really need to get at least the red essence to increase your attack power.
After finishing the game maining Hammer and secondary Switch Axe, I decided that once and for all, I really want to understand the CB and when I stuck with it, I fell in love with this weapon. I find Gaijin Hunter's tutorials the best. He hasn't yet done a tutorial of the CB for World, but I watched his ultimate MH4U CB tutorial, which has almost similar move-sets as World and he goes through every single move precisely. He explains each step clearly and slowly so you can follow what's going on, and you can try these moves in the training room while watching his tutorials.
Now that I have some mild success with CB, I'm going to revisit IG, the lances, the hunting horn (another weapon that I always wanted to master) and the ranged weapons!
So I strongly agree that if you love a lot of the weapons, try them all out! You get the base forms of all of them so at least you can use them on the low rank, easy monsters, and slowly upgrade them from there, rolling back mats if you feel you need them.
On the flip side, do NOT main the weapons that you don't like even if they're S-tier weapons! So if you don't like the dual blades and long sword, don't use them!
Second Advice
The second advice as with all great games is to truly savor the game, and not worry whether you're good or not. I was taken aback when one of my PSN gaming buddies was struggling against Anjanath and was about to quit. He wrote that he didn't understand the game so of course, being an evangelist, I gave him basic advice and he agreed to stick with it, and give it a second chance as this is his first ever Monster Hunter game. The key here is this is his first ever Monster Hunter so we don't expect him to be a pro like Arekkz Gaming or Gaijin Hunter, which is a ridiculous expectation.
A few days pass by, and he wrote me and was in the HR50's! I was floored because this was someone who was about to quit but he achieved way more than me at that time!
I'm sorry, if you get to that rank, you have to be good at the game because there are monsters that are walls, such as Anjanath, Diablos and Nergigante, that you can't just level up and tank through. For each point in the game, you can max out your weapons, armors, and charms/gems only so far, as you have to open up upgrades through story missions, so you're blocked from raising your attack and defense power. But as you practice and recognize attack patterns, despite having the same stats, you can defeat them.
However, after he told me that he beat the game and was very highly ranked, he then said he sucked at the game despite this being his first Monster Hunter game. He mentioned that he must be awful since he's seen people take down monsters in well under 5 minutes, but it takes him 15 to 20 minutes to kill hard monsters. He said he was bad due to "slow kills" despite the fact that he was maining the long sword, the light bowgun and now the insect glaive. So he has mastered ranged and melee weapons!
Of course I wrote him back and said he was excellent at the game, and that in order to get to 3 mins and under, every swipe of your weapon has to hit the monster with absolutely no wasted movements, and fully optimized gear.
The point of this is that even a first-time Monster Hunter sees the fetish of needing to kill monsters as quickly as possible, so this goes to my second advice. Who cares, unless you're going to join Capcom's upcoming competition of fastest arena kills? Most hunts you get a full 50 minutes, so why not enjoy the environment, farming resources along the way, and take time killing the monster? With the gorgeous, living environment (except for the intentionally grotesque Rotten Vale), why not stop and smell the roses?
In fact, this is the problem I'm facing as a CB user, with this fastest kills culture of Monster Hunter. I also feel this pressure to kill monsters as quickly as possible even SOLO, so I fixate on this ultimate move, and keep missing as a result due to its long animation, because I don't wait for the most opportune moment.
Further, with this need to kill monsters as fast as possible, I try to charge my shield and sword immediately, even if the charging doesn't attack the monster at the same time. To be technically good at CB, you have to time your moves precisely, but with the pressure of destroying monsters quickly, I'm developing bad habits.
In fact, I feel the panic of charging the shield and sword as quickly as possible, that I would sometimes forget the initial R2+Circle (RT+B) to put the energy into the phials first. For instance, I would collect up to the red phials, but then straight out charging the shield and wonder, why the shield didn't charge? Well, that's because in my rush to kill the monsters fast, I didn't put the energy into the phials first, before charging, missing basic steps!
So I'm going to follow my own advice and slow down, and perform the movements at the best times, even more necessary in COOP play as you don't want to trip your hunting buddies!
Furthermore, as you get better and better at using your weapons and knowing the monster attack patterns, you're going to kill the monsters faster.
TL/DR: Experiment and enjoy all weapons that you find interesting, and don't worry about killing monsters fast!
The How of Happiness Review
Thanks Alice! Reassuring and helpful, as always! I definitely feel the pressure to excel in this game - everyone seems to be racing, but you keep reminding me to enjoy it and once I finish story, I'm definitely going back to just enjoying the game and trying different things! <3
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard Shreya! There should never be pressure in video games, b/c the whole purpose of games is entertainment! I'm glad you're slowing down and really take in the sights of this magnificent game. Even though there's not as many monsters as I would've liked and the usual reskins of rathalos/rathian that's a bit tired, I have a feeling they're going to introduce classic monsters, such as the upcoming Deviljho (Pickle). I'd like to see fan favorite Nargacuga making a return, as well as my favorite Yian Kut-Ku.
DeleteIf you're not entering a competition, why rush and pressure yourself? And congrats on reaching High Rank! So if anything, you're ahead of the curve! I can't wait for you to face Nergigante, one of my favorite monsters, old and new!