So Capcom released the new event quest in Monster Hunter, and well, the community is in a bit of a meltdown over it. The event ‘Hungry for Ore?’ is now active and offers a chance to collect materials for the Mad Scavenger Pickaxe and the Mining Pickaxe weapons. The issue that everyone seems to have lost their minds over is that both these pickaxes are LONGSWORDS. Not hammers or greatswords, but longswords. And the community has thoughts on the matter.
The event quest will remain active until September 16th 4:59PM PDT or September 24th 12:59AM BST if you are on the other side of the Atlantic. That means there’s plenty of time to grind these mining-themed weapons, but for some reason, not enough time for the community to stop whining about the weapon choice.
The initial comments weren’t much of a stretch. To start with, Ethan626794543 simply asked “Why isn’t there a pickaxe hammer?” which I think is a valid query. A hammer pickaxe does seem like the most logical thing to have. That’s when lolsmanor69 said, “why is it a longsword. Of all the weapons, longsword is the thematically worst to pick for a weapon like this.” And for once, they are justified to say so.
From there, the comments moved from confusion to sheer disappointment. The sea of frustration began with Liljon042, “Wait, it’s a LONGSWORD? WHY NOT A HAMMER OR GS???” which perfectly encapsulated the general feeling of the community. Everyone was convinced pickaxes were supposed to be blunt force weapons but just think about this: Everyone expects a pickaxe to be blunt force, “bonk,” and then it turns out to be a slashing weapon, which is the complete opposite of ‘bonk’.
Then some of the more seasoned players started trying to give some context. HoracioHm123 remarked “It has been a Longsword ever since” implying it’s a returning weapon from older games. And, for what it’s worth, mallow_hollow said it was in Iceborne as well. So, this seems to be a thing Capcom does for reasons no one really understands.
The argument escalated in some of the threads with HoracioHm123 telling someone to “Silence Tourist!!” which is always a good indicator of people taking their video game weapon classifications Very Seriously. Others were making practical points – Comay_punto stated something, as simple as “Pick can’t bonk” which is both funny and literally true. Pickaxe is pointy on one end, so it’s not designed really for hammering.
Some players were trying to find the hush though. Heybinsu suggested, “CB would be cool, just copy the SnS but bigger” which shows that even in their disappointment, hunters are still pondering about what COULD have been. And Sully_Schnapps had the smart suggestion of “6th gen seltas drill hammer” which now I want that weapon so bad it hurts.
In the middle of this weapon type drama, some players were just happy there is new content. Knight Artorias celebrated, “The quest is finally here 🥳” while others were making mining themed jokes asking, “The children yearn for the mines” which is a whole mood honestly.
There were some scattered demands in the midst of the weapon type discussions—TrulyRJ requested the diver armor set to come back, and JaMerv777 demanded a “MONSTER HUNTER RISE SWITCH 2 UPGRADE PATCH😍 ” which is, like, I feel you bud, I really do.
What stands out here is the level of heat this sort of thing sparked. For a gaming community that thrives on memes and monsters, the thematic consistency of a piece of gear really matters to Monster Hunter players. A pickaxe as a longsword feels wrong because of how it is a mining tool designed to be heavy and for smashing rocks and monster heads. By making it a longsword feels like a missed opportunity.
The pickaxe longsword does miss the mark on fitting thematically, but Capcom’s weapon design team is known to be creative and out there with their weapon concepts—we’ve had hunting horns that are actual guitars, switch axes that transform in crazy ways, and charge blades that are also pizza cutters (okay, maybe not that last one, but it should exist).
The event itself is straightforward; mine the special materials, craft your pickaxe weapons, and look cool doing it. The Mad Scavenger Pickaxe and Mining Pickaxe both have that rugged, industrial look fitting the mining theme perfectly. It’s just,… you know… swords instead of hammers.
At least from Monster Hunter’s steady stream of support, it is another fun event quest. Even if they are questionable to some extent, the weapons are still new and worth trying. Let’s be honest though—most of us will craft them simply because no one is immune to completionism.
So put on your mining gear, journey into the fields, and start gathering the required materials. You might want to think less about why you’re performing iai slashes with a pickaxe instead of actual mining. Accepting the fact that game logic sometimes doesn’t comply with the real world logic works wonders—although it is soul-crushing.
The event is scheduled to run until mid-September, allowing time to contemplate whether you want to add these weapons to your collection. The longsword pickaxe might just grow on you, or it might make you crave a pickaxe hammer even more. Happy hunting miners, either way.
