Not really an endgame update, this gigantic patch overhaul by Capcom has been offered to Monster Hunter Wilds. The type of update one must be forced to skip work over! The patch 1.021 was released on August 13, and it probably answered a very pressing issue of the community: the replayability of endgame hunts.
So what really is the big deal? Appraised Talismans. I’m sure you’re thinking these have been in MHW forever. No, they’re not. They drop from 9-star and above quests, with random decoration slots AND skills from BOTH armor AND weapon skill pools. That is huge! This means you can have a talisman with slots that grant Attack Boost and Critical Eye, or any crazy combo there never has been before.
Oh, by the way, new Melding Pot functionality for taking unwanted talismans and recycling them into new appraisal items has been added. Gambling, but with monster parts! The customization potential is insane now. People are going to be theorizing build options for weeks.
There’s an interesting reaction to this, though, because napalm, the community is split into two. Some hunters just love it. J.V. Smooth tweeted “Thanks Capcom for trying to make this game the best it can be, we truly appreciate it.” Positive energy.
On the other hand, VOLLDAGGL said: “Who cares fix the Performance…” which, okay fair point, the game’s had some optimization issues but come on man they’re adding content too!
Where the real drama lies is in the replies. The whole debate about whether lower-tier monsters should even HAVE 9-star quests is over. ChanceH62686463 went off saying: “Why the fuck would anyone ever hunt a 9 star Chatacabra? They didn’t get 9 star quests because they’re low tier monsters.” But then GoldenKingV fires back with suggestions about how to make weaker monsters more threatening in high-rank quests. And it goes on like that.
And then there’s the performance crowd, xShephardx and others complain about the game running “like dogshit” on PC while azz_curiou42466 claims they’re “fucking coping little bro.” The console players are just sitting here like “can we get solid 60 fps please?”
Meanwhile, the Japanese player base apparently thriving? MHRisekouryaku posted about MHWilds holding 50k concurrent players during peak times from Friday through Sunday. That’s not dead game numbers, whatever anybody says.
But then basedtweetsonly is calling the game официально dead and Capcom “destroyed their goodwill and sales fell off a cliff.” Meanwhile, elzuxx00 says, “I’m playing the game and I’m having fun. It’s funny that people would go out of their way just to shit on things they don’t care about.”
Weapon balancing talk is equally crazy. Arielyako telling Darth_Beagle their opinion on bow balancing is “invalid if you never mastered it.” Meanwhile, DatsuraIII is defending long sword saying it’s “not stronger than it was in previous games.” Classic Monster Hunter community stuff.
The moral of the story though: this update shows Capcom listens. They heard players wanted more endgame grind; they delivered. The Appraised Talismans tack on that layer of RNG that brings people back hunting again and again. Whether someone’s trying to min-max a perfect build or knowing that they’re enjoying the gameplay loop, this gives more reasons for them to keep going.
Which means that they still have something big to add months after launch. It means that they really want to support Wilds in the long term, and that probably paves the way toward whatever expansion they’re working on. For a game some say is “dead,” there’s a lot of active development going on.
So now’s a fine time for anyone who has been away from Wilds for a while to dust off their weapon and give those 9-star quests a try. Who knows what kind of game-breaking talisman you’re going to get. Just don’t expect buttery-smooth performance along with it; they’ve probably got that on their plate, too.
