The Monster Hunter Wilds USA Championship is a very near event, as it is going to happen on October 17th in San Diego, and a message from producer Ryozo Tsujimoto has come out before the match. The final match will be live-streamed at 4 PM PT on Friday for those who are hunting from their homes. Although the official tweet expresses the event support, the replies show that there is a community which is quite divided over the game.
Is it then the championship that is taking place? A look at the comments can lead one to conclude that many of the players are using the event as an opportunity to voice their discontent with Monster Hunter Wilds. One of the comments made by RaptureOutcast0 was rather blunt: ‘Still no content bugs still not fixed game is still too easy.. you realize that no one plays this shit anymore, right?’ Ouch! This is really a strong opinion, and it does, however, point out the feeling of others who think that the game is too easy and shallow compared to earlier versions.
The wound system that enables players to hit the right monster parts and make them susceptible seems to be the biggest issue in the controversy. A user going by the name of hunter who was very active in the discussion and commenting said the system was irrational. ‘You guys have to let all monsters recover from wounds and scars like omega does. The biggest thing that makes monsters die too fast is the wound system,’ they wrote. They are suggesting that the focus system should stay but the wound mechanic needs to be seriously rebalanced since it makes monsters ‘too weak and guarantees a stagger.’ It is a valid concern; if hunts become boring and predictable, where is the fun then?
Furthermore, there is the discussion of weapon balance. Some users’ comments are simply straightforward demands for buffs. ‘PLEASE BUFF BOW, HBG, AND LBG,’ DillOwner implores. Another player, tanukiballsack, specifically takes on the Heavy Bowgun, querying, ‘where is crouching fire for HBG? why did you take away so much from HBG?’ It looks like some weapon mains perceive their favorite tools as useless, which can be extremely irritating for veterans who have been using a particular playstyle for a long time.
Nonetheless, most reactions are not entirely negative. A user named HeizOllie lightened up the dark atmosphere with a positive comment: ‘The team’s hard work is truly deserving of love, exceptional.’ However, they did have one request, which was for the performance upgrade for Xbox Series S and the possibility of the return of the most beloved monsters like Shagaru or Safi’jiiva. So, the dissatisfaction is not absolute; on the contrary, there are still such players who are on the game’s side and just wish for it to improve.
The discussion even turned weird with the request for collaborations. LitePlays is on ‘Day 70 of asking for a Hatsune Miku Collaboration.’ Why not, right? And devouring_gods prompted for the female character model rework, saying that she ‘looks like a woMAN’ and proposing that they take a model from the ‘Guys next door,’ which is apparently a reference to the fighting game genre. That is somewhat a… colorful feedback indeed.
Then there is the challenge to the championship’s competitive aspect and life in the context of Monster Hunter. KagerisuS sarcastically pointed out the difference tweeting, ‘Capcom creating competition and FOMO in a game meant for hunting/working together.’ That is really an accurate observation. Historically, Monster Hunter has always been about teamwork, so introducing a tournament with high prizes might feel a bit strange for the purists who might think that it is a sin to give in to competition over collaboration. Hunter did take part in the dialogue by stating that ‘technically mh frontier had a competitive mode lol,’ meaning there was competition in the past, but still, it is a shift in focus for the main series albeit not completely without precedent.
In general, a lot of the criticism comes from comparing the current game to the previous ones with their expansion packs. Hunter replies in one of the multiple times: ‘Don’t compare it to fully completed sunbreak and iceborne yet tho. Give it till expansion.’ This is a typical pattern in live service gaming – the base game is released, and players quickly digest the content and then there is a lull period till the next major expansion drops, which has always been the one that adds the true endgame challenge like G-Rank. Hunter is suggesting that the next expansion should be giving players the ‘G rank’ equivalent that will be ‘nice and tough,’ which would then hopefully stop the complaints about the game’s current low difficulty level.
It is very passionate the community’s involvement and that is a positive comment. Even the negative remarks come from fans who of course still want the game to be better. They are investing in it. Their concerns are about monster diversity, weapon balance, and even the main hunting loop itself. The championship is an exciting event for the elite players; however, the majority of hunters logging in daily may actually find the questions raised in these tweets the most important ones. They want the game to be rewarding and challenging and not to feel that it is being simplified.
Thus, the Monster Hunter Wilds USA Championship will take place and it will be fascinating to witness the top players battling it out. But the real drama is in the replies, where players are engaging in a loud, messy, and very human discussion about the fate of their favorite game. Whether PlayStation is listening or not is still unclear, but undoubtedly, the feedback is out there, all over social media, for everyone to see. The hunt is still on, but so is the debate.
