Looks like all the cool kids are playing MHW, at least until Tuesday when Battle for Azeroth drops.
This is my first serious foray into this franchise. I tried playing 4 Ultimate on the 3DS, but the controls made me feel rather ineffective with my starting weapon, the Insect Glaive. I chose this because it’s what I chose on 3DS and I really wanted to like it.
So the controls I feel, are pretty good, as does my brother. A lot of it I think is having the mouse instead of the little tiny 3DS dot. I’m sure having a right joystick works pretty decent as well.
I do have a couple of gripes with the game to put up front though. Session management and doing story quests together are a real pain. Having a private session means that even if he sends me an invite, even if I can see it, the only way to succeed at joining is by using the session ID, any other method fails, often without telling you why in a way clear enough to know how to fix it.
Joining each other on story hunts is also a pain. Generally one or both of us have to do half to three quarters of the mission so that we’ve “seen all cutscenes” or “advanced the story” then drop out of our quest and join theirs. I expected this problem, as it existed in the console version as well and I understand why they did it. It feels like they took a cheap way out though.
I also try not to look at NPC faces while they’re talking. The lip… missync?… is distracting. I don’t care so much, but some people don’t like that kind of thing.
Those things aside, I’m quite enjoying the game. My brother and I operate as a pair. I mostly just annoy it and occasionally get a mount and drop it for a second. He does most of the damage, sets the traps, etc. We’ve managed to get an almost 100% capture rate so far. Except when we get disconnected and I have to try and kill it myself.
Now, it does get compared to Dauntless a lot these day, with good reason. They do feel very distinct from each other though. Dauntless has a more colorful and exaggerated art style while MHW stays closer to the realistic. MHW is also somewhat less forgiving in many ways. Dauntless lets you pick up downed allies while MHW not only doesn’t bother, but everyone seems to share the same revive pool.
Unidentified Signal Source 
I have my eye on MH and Dauntless. Need to find a lull in the other games I play. I have too many on my list tbh.
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Amen to that. To many games, not enough hours.
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I’ve seen it compared to “Raid Boss – the single player game”, or say “in small groups” – and seeing as I stopped raiding, I suppose this game is not for me. The thought of spending 10-20min on a single boss fight, over and over again. Or am I missing a key ingredient that makes the game fun?
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Your description isn’t that far off the mark. Most of the hunts I’ve done in the last couple of days are between 15 and 45 minutes. Most of the long ones were because we deliberately hunted two monsters, one for parts then one as the mission target, but it’s still 45 minutes.
Most of the popularity comes from the fact that it’s combat system is very reliant upon your skill level as a player. Knowing your weapon and how to use it. Knowing the movement style, tactics, and tells of the monster you’re hunting. It can be extremely punishing to the unprepared.
It’s certainly not for everyone. There’s a reason it’s a niche genre that’s only just now making it’s way to PC.
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Hehe, does raiding count as a niche then? 🙂 I guess so, seeing the old number of “only 3% of WoW players saw the original Naxxramas” cited again and again.
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In the grand scope of the entire gaming community I’d say so. Even within the subset that plays MMOs raiding is only one part of the player base.
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