Let’s talk difficulty!! (As a Gen 5 Hunter)

With the recent influx of difficulty discussions due to MH:Wilds reviews talking about it I felt like giving my two cents on the discussion as both a casual and dedicated player.

I think MH shines at its absolute best when fights switch between both fun and exciting to scary and challenging. The best moments I’ve had in every game is being beaten down by a monster then beating IT after both studying that monster’s move set closely and humbling it with newer; better gear. So I understand why the community is split between each other of the people that like having fun and enjoyable funs to those who prefer getting pummelled by being challenged.

I sit firmly in the middle of both. I don’t want hunts to be too easy but I also don’t want them to feel too hard. I think the easiest way to talk about both respectively is giving some examples

Glavenous in Iceborne was hellish for me, a hard wall. I was trying to advance through the story immediately but I was getting humbled for using the wrong gear (and also refusing to use clutch claw 99% of the time). I was stubborn and didn’t change my approach until I felt hard stuck and got every armour piece and my weapon to max level and eventually hunted it successfully. Then there was Nergigante who despite me having everything ready at the start humbled me by challenging my weapon and brutal attacks. Both cases left a large impression on me, where I felt genuinely challenged; one where I was taught to work hard to match the monster’s level and the other was learning how to beat someone new

I’m 100% sure that those two examples I bought up were either hell or an easy fight for someone else and that’s the beauty of MH. I remember seeing so many people saying how World’s Anjanath was so brutal, such a hard wall when I easily slayed him in 20 minutes without carting at all with just the bone hammer. I think as long as Monster Hunter has these unique experiences where everyone has their own challenges while playing then I think it’s still as Monster Hunter as ever

If everything is too easy, too hard that everyone playing it says the same thing I believe it’s only fair to address that. If Wilds releases and the majority of the player base isn’t happy with how easy the game feels then it’s only fair it gets addressed early with early updates. Yes we’ll have the MR expansion later on for the real beat downs to begin but some challenges in the meantime wouldn’t hurt at all.

I’ve seen some people suggest handicaps if the game is too easy which isn’t the worst idea but still has some issues. If you’re leaving your palico in camp and not using your mount to escape knockdowns I think those handicaps are good and fine but if handicapping means using weaker gear then I don’t think that’s good for the reason that Monster Hunter’s progression is all about upgrading your gear to be even better. If subtracting the core progression is your only way to be challenged in the game that feels more so that you’re working against the way the game is supposed to work and feel for you.

It’s why I hope tempered monsters and the star system help players choose how hard they want their hunts to be. In the beta the difference between a 3 star Gypceros and a 5 star Gypceros felt very noticeable to me in DMG especially. Both fights felt equally fun for different reasons and I hope heavily that Wilds continues to support a similar system where casual and hardcore hunters are able to deicide how their hunts feel

That’s where I’ll end my thoughts. In the end I just really hope Wilds is able to treat players to an experience where difficulty feels balanced or at least controllable in a way that doesn’t harm the experience for everyone