While many of us are still picking up the pieces of our shattered dreams of jolly cooperation from the failed experience known as Destiny 2....Monster Hunter World is releasing on Ps4 and XboxOne this Friday.

I highly urge anyone who likes the Loot Grind to give this game a look.

It is an Action RPG developed by Capcom and been around since the Ps2 days, but these have been relegated to the 3DS for the past decade or so. However, this isn't your normal RPG. The game is singularly focused on taking down big Monsters. That's it. Anything you do in the game only goes to support this one goal. Crafting, gathering, resources...all contribute. (Apparently there is some sort of a story as well this go around).

Take down monster, carve for parts, make better gear, take down bigger monster...rinse and repeat.

Do note that the game's systems are deep and complex with 14 different weapons to choose from...many fundamentally changing the way you play. Stats, armor, but most of all skill, are of key importance.

Also, the weapons are heavy...Things control slowly. You have to aim and calculate each swing or be flung across the map. Its much more about strategy and positioning that just fast reflexes. You have to hunt it, not fight it.

Anyway, groups of 4 can group up on line to take these things down (some fights can go on for the full time limit of 50 minutes)...it is intense and exhilarating.

Anyway, give it a go nerds.

Let's hunt.

PSN: Tex117 (veteran but still a new hunter)

I wish I could have played this at PAX South but the line was stupid and I plan on picking this up anyways.

I'm in on PS4! Played Tri and 4 but never too deep.

Started playing promptly at 11pm last night as soon as it was available. Monster Hunter is my all-time favorite franchise, been playing since the original on PS2 and I bought a PS4 Pro just for this game.

I put a decent amount of time into the beta and can confirm this is the best the series has ever been. And it's also the best time to try it out, they've streamlined and cleared up a lot of the more antiquated and confusing systems the game was traditionally known for.

PSN: BTkano247

Also, I have about 1000 hours invested across the series. That's pretty low for most MonHun devotees tbh, but there's not much about the game I don't know at least a little bit about. So if anyone has any questions about the game I'll be happy to answer or at least point you to a source that has the answer.

Getting it after work super excited to play looks amazing, and I have wanted a game like this for a while
New Hunter,
XBlive: Fearbeard4ever

I'll be on later on xbox or ps4 if anyone wants to play

Bought and downloading. Have a party of 2 right now on Xbox. Looking forward to this one.

Picked up today

Saxsoon on ps4

Ticked off at Amazon should've been delivered by now...

I created a squad on Xbox called TexAgs. Free to join. Msg me on Xbox DanielJustin84 if you want to join.

Any word on how well it operates on a standard PS4 rather than a Pro?

I played the beta on my brothers standard ps4 and it seemed fine. I haven't read any complaints about it's performance so far. I think there will be some frame rate dips here and there but nothing earth shattering.

I took off Friday and played for nearly 30 hours this weekend (oops). Needless to say I'm enjoying my time with the game quite a bit.

Playing on PS4 (AggieBones). Rocking the swaxe as my main weapon thus far.

Given how I talked earlier about how much experience I have with franchise, it's beyond embarrassing how badly Anjanath has been wrecking my **** .

Red Five said:

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Given how I talked earlier about how much experience I have with franchise, it's beyond embarrassing how badly Anjanath has been wrecking my **** .

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I normally do pretty well with him until he enrages and adds that very violent fire breathing attack that one shots me. Then my performance against him just tanks.

That being said I invested in some Water Attack equipment last night and was able to take him out much quicker.

Red Five said:

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Given how I talked earlier about how much experience I have with franchise, it's beyond embarrassing how badly Anjanath has been wrecking my **** .

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Worse than him, I've had ratholas swoop down and just wreck me a couple times randomly.

I've murdered a medium-sized city's worth of Rathaloses over the years, so I dont have any particular fear of him, but I was fighting Anjanath up in the treetop area where Rath usually likes to show up and I didn't notice when he swooped in and he definitely one-shot me with a fireball.

Got it on Xbox. Only done the training mission, trying to find the best weapon for my playstyle. I usually go bows in games but it feels off for now. Xiuhcoatyl Gamertag if you want to team up.

Loving this game. Been using the longsword. ElBiffo on PS4 if anyone wants to add.

Been playing a bit Xbox and liking the Switch Axe so far.

Xiuh said:

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Got it on Xbox. Only done the training mission, trying to find the best weapon for my playstyle. I usually go bows in games but it feels off for now. Xiuhcoatyl Gamertag if you want to team up.

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From what I heard, the best weapon in the game is the one you master. I've tried several and I am master of none so far.

Totally correct.

Some weapons will just never feel right, no matter how much other people swear by them. Finding the weapon that works for you is the most important factor for success. In past games I have almost always played Great Sword, but the changed move set this time around just hasn't clicked with me. Hammer, on the other hand, has been amazing and I'm loving it.

Add me. Psn: Salgambino

New to the series, but absolutely loving it!

I just hit high rank and now farming materials for new gear. The grind is real.

I understand what you mean about the weapons. Been much better hunting with the light bowgun and charge blade. Just grinding all the quests now

What does it mean when you look in the monsters guidebook and it says "elements" and "ailments" for the big monsters?

Enjoying this game, but it could really use a more extensive tutorial.

bangobango said:

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What does it mean when you look in the monsters guidebook and it says "elements" and "ailments" for the big monsters?

Enjoying this game, but it could really use a more extensive tutorial.

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It could be explained better, but in general it does a decent job of conveying the basic idea: 1 star means its not super effective, 3 stars means it is super effective.

TL;DR - When fighting any given monster, use a weapon that has an elemental damage type or status effect type corresponding to the highest number of stars you see on the charts.

More detailed explanation:

Elements are the elemental damage that some weapons have listed. Say you have the basic Tobi-Kadachi sword and shield with 182 attack power and 90 thunder damage. You strike a Rathian in the head with a basic slash and damage is applied as follows:

Physical Damage = [Attack power / weapon modifier] x Motion Value x Weapon Sharpness Modifier x Monster Defense Modifier

plus you deal Elemental damage from the innate thunder damage on the sword:

Elemental Damage = [Elemental Attack / 10] x Sharpness Modifier x Monster Defense Modifier

Each time you hit the Rathian you will deal both the Physical and Elemental damages calculated above.

In the physical damage calculation, the Monster Defense Modifier referenced is related to the areas in the guidebook where it shows the picture of the monster with some areas highlighted red and referenced as weakpoints. It will show pictures of a sword, a hammer, and a bowgun with stars underneath each. Each weapon deals a certain damage type- severing, blunt, and ranged respectively. The stars under each picture reflect what the modifier value will be for those damage types. The modifier will always be between 0 and 1, so a 1 star "weakness" will have a lower modifier value and a 3 star "weakness" will have a higher value.

The Defense Modifier for elemental damage calculations is the same, but is not dependent on damage type. Instead it references where you see the list of elements. Same theory applies- 1 star will have a lower value and reduce damage more than a 3 star which has a higher value.

In the example above, the Rathian has both a weakness to severing damage on her head as well as a strong weakness to thunder damage. So your damage when striking her head will be higher than pretty much anywhere else on her body. In practice, the values for elemental weakness will also vary by location rather than just being a static modifier for the whole body as it is shown in the guidebook. You will notice less thunder damage done when striking a Rathian in the foot vs in the head.

Status effects ("ailments") are a bit different, but as far as weakness goes the principle is the same: 3 stars good, 1 star bad.

Each monster has a certain threshold for each status. Using poison as an example, say a monster has a poison threshold of 100. Status damages are listed similarly to elements. The Pukei-Pukei sword for example has a poison value of 210. In practice, this number is divided by 10 same as the elements when damage is calculated. Unlike elements, Status damage is not inflicted on every hit. On every melee attack, you have a 1/3 chance of applying the status. In order to trigger the status effect, you have to apply enough status to overcome the status threshold. So for our example, it would require 5 attacks dealing 21 status to hit the 100 threshold (in practice this would probably take about 15 attacks with a 33% application rate). Once the status threshold is passed, a couple things happen. First the status takes effect. With poison, the monster begins to suffer poison damage at a certain rate, i.e. 300 damage over 45 seconds. These rates and amounts are inherent to the monster and have nothing to do with the listed status amount on the weapon. Next, the monster's threshold for that status is increased, making it more difficult to apply the status a second (and third, and fourth, etc) time.

On the ailments list, 3 stars will mean a monster has a lower threshold for that status, or has a threshold that increases by a lesser amount, or, in the case of poison, takes more damage when that status is applied.

Thats about it. As i said, the takeaway is that 3 stars means its effective and 1 star means its not. And also that both element and status are unaffected by how much physical damage is dealt, so faster weapons with lower attack values get more benefit from it than slower weapons with higher physical damage.

Sorry if this is confusing as hell, I'm struggling between giving as much information as possible but not being overwhelming and I'm sure this post failed on both counts. And I didn't even get into things like "true raw" damage, motion values, critical chance, etc.

Lol. My eyes glazed over a few times, but I will keep rereading until I get all of it. Thank you!

I have more questions if you're game. Like, what is a guild card?

Also, what determines what goes in the item boxes at the start of quests?

bangobango said:

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Lol. My eyes glazed over a few times, but I will keep rereading until I get all of it. Thank you!

I have more questions if you're game. Like, what is a guild card?

Also, what determines what goes in the item boxes at the start of quests?

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A guild card is basically just a profile. It shows stats like how many monsters you have hunted of each kind, how many trophies you'v earned, what weapons you prefer, etc. In past games on 3DS you could have them shared where it would send them out to anyone nearby when you were out and about with your 3DS. If you had someone's guild card, you could send an NPC version of their character out on a hunt to fetch you certain resources.

I don't believe that still exists but I think you can use their palicos this time around.

As far as item boxes, do you mean the supply box at camp when you start the quest? Each mission has predetermined supplies they will give you. This will always be some First Aid Meds and EZ Rations, and then they may add some different items like traps and tranq bombs for capture quests. Basically anything you would need that is required to complete the quest. Although in general it's good practice to bring your own supplies as back up (potions, more traps and tranqs if capturing, etc).

Red Five said:

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bangobango said:

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Lol. My eyes glazed over a few times, but I will keep rereading until I get all of it. Thank you!

I have more questions if you're game. Like, what is a guild card?

Also, what determines what goes in the item boxes at the start of quests?

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A guild card is basically just a profile. It shows stats like how many monsters you have hunted of each kind, how many trophies you'v earned, what weapons you prefer, etc. In past games on 3DS you could have them shared where it would send them out to anyone nearby when you were out and about with your 3DS. If you had someone's guild card, you could send an NPC version of their character out on a hunt to fetch you certain resources.

I don't believe that still exists but I think you can use their palicos this time around.

As far as item boxes, do you mean the supply box at camp when you start the quest? Each mission has predetermined supplies they will give you. This will always be some First Aid Meds and EZ Rations, and then they may add some different items like traps and tranq bombs for capture quests. Basically anything you would need that is required to complete the quest. Although in general it's good practice to bring your own supplies as back up (potions, more traps and tranqs if capturing, etc).

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Speaking of capturing, how do I do that?

I tried using the next that you start with on the Pukai Pukai (or whatever it's called). At one point it looked like I hooked his foot, but hell if I know how or why.

Also, I have been assigned by a researcher near the second camp you establish to catch a bird that is a small animal and does not attack. How do I go about doing that?

You've got your capturing methods mixed up a bit. The small bird is the one you want to use the net on. Equip it to your slinger and a rectangular targeting reticule will appear. Aim it at the little bird and it will turn orange when you are close enough to use it. Fire the net and you will catch the bird or other small animal. As a bonus, you can display them as a pet in your room.

You don't use the net to capture large monsters. To do that, you will need a shock trap and some tranq bombs. These will both be given to you on quests that are specifically capture quests, but if you want to capture a monster on a normal hunting quest or an expedition, you will need to bring your own. To make a shock trap, combine a trap tool (purchased from the provisioner) with a thunderbug (found in numerous places in the ancient forest and wildspire waste). I forgot what the tranq bomb recipe is but you can probably find it in your crafting list.

In order to capture the monster, it must first be sufficiently weakened. This is usually around the time it would try to limp away from you. The easiest thing to do is let it limp away and go back to its nest. Once there it will go to sleep and start recovering health. Don't worry, the recovery rate is super slow. While its sleeping, have the trap selected and walk right up to the monster until you are basically physically stopped from moving forward by its body, then press Square (x if youre on xbox?) to set the trap on the ground. As soon as the trap is placed it will go off (because it is touching the monster, which is the trigger) and the monster will pop upright and be held motionless by the electrical charge running through it. At this point you want to switch your item over to the tranq bombs and use them. If you stand still, you will throw them right down at your feet causing a cloud of dust to spray out. Do this two times and the monster will be captured and you will get the quest complete notification.

As an aside, the reason you might want to capture on a normal quest is that you will get additional rewards at the end of the quest to make up for the fact that you didnt get to carve the body of the dead monster for materials. Capture reward items come from a different loot table than carve rewards, and rarer materials tend to have better drop rates on the capture table (but not always!). You can see both tables in the monster guide as you collect tracks and improve your research level for that monster.

You get tired of answering these, just let me know. I have tons more questions and I really appreciate your answers.

Next question(ish) - I do not get investigations. Selected one to hunt a great jagtas. Killed great jagras. Investigation is still there.

Also, how do vouchers work?

Nm