Our Update To You, The Community!
The Monster Hunter Wilds – Pre-Launch Community Update [previewyoutube=tWqiYSA-t8E;full][/previewyoutube] Please note, everything in this broadcast, as well as the summary text below is not final, representing work in progress and is subject to change. Also, the content revealed during the event does not cover everything the team is currently working on as we approach launch.The Summary!
For those of you who prefer a written format, below you’ll find a summary of a lot of the points that were discussed during the event. Once again, please keep in mind that the slides and explanations below aren’t as in-depth as our broadcast, missing both the frequent video clip examples and director Yuya Tokuda’s commentary. But, they are in chronological order, so if you find a particular topic you’d like more info about, you’ll be able to find it pretty quickly in the broadcast if you take a look! Performance Performance was the first topic we addressed, knowing this one to be an important one for the community. We covered all platforms, including PC, which you’ll see alongside one of the consoles below:
What does this mean in relation to Steam? The team are working on improving the performance of the Steam version, including frame rate, even when using the same equipment specs that you may have used in the Open Beta Test, although it may vary depending on your setup.
We’re also keen to share a very recent development that the team may be able to lower the recommended graphics board specs a little bit more! Once we’ve got accurate information and can lock this in, we’ll release any info on our official website and let you know!
We also saw that some of you were concerned as to whether your rig would be powerful enough to run Wilds when it launches, so to hopefully help those of you with questions out, we shared that the team are currently considering releasing a benchmark tool, if possible. As above, we’ll keep you looped in on any further details here.
Hitstop & Friendly Fire
Hitstop, making your weapons and overall impact of the game’s weapons feel powerful. During the beta we saw comments that players felt could have a little more “oomph”, so the team looked into it and made some tweaks!
Weapons will now feel more responsive when landing attacks, especially with big moves and finishers for many weapons types.
Director Tokuda shared that the reason for Hitstop initially being less impactful in the beta was due to feedback we’d received from players outside of Japan when World launched was that it was too strong / weighty, however it seems we had the opposite with the Wilds beta! He was deeply moved to think that the weighty action that is the hallmark of Monster Hunter has now been widely accepted around the world!
There’s even an example of this in the broadcast with the Great Sword’s True Charged Slash unleashing a truly meaty chop!
Regarding Friendly Fire, the team, even before the beta, had decided they wanted to tone it down some of its effects, even though this wasn’t fully reflected in the beta build.
Actions such as the Gunlance’s Wyvern Fire and the Hammer’s Upswing have had their impact on other hunters toned down. The Gunlance’s Wyvern Fire was already toned down in this regard during the Open Beta Test, but the Hammer’s Upswing adjustments will be live in the launch version of the game. So, in a nutshell, whilst you won’t send allies flying, they’ll still be briefly knocked off their feet.
The team would like to avoid novice players unintentionally giving their friends and fellow hunters big bumps without knowing, potentially causing some players to avoid multiplayer due to the disruptions these actions caused them in a hunt. We hope this change will bring new and experienced hunters together to have a smoother experience in multiplayer.
Monster Area Movement
Something we encountered ourselves and saw within the community was that monsters seemed to be moving locations very often during the beta. This wasn’t intentional and was actually a glitch where some points were not fully adjusted, leading the monsters to change areas more frequently than they should.
This has now been adjusted in the launch version of the game, so depending on how the hunt goes, you can expect the change frequency to be closer to that of Monster Hunter: World!
Having said that, monsters belonging to the upper echelon of the ecosystem often have nests away from your base camp, deep in the field. So, when tackling these monsters, they may still move across the locale significantly, especially when in a weakened state.
But in these cases, if you’ve placed your Pop-Up Camps in suitable locations that corresponds to the habitat of the monster you’d like to hunt, you can simply fast travel to get there ahead of time.
Weapon Adjustments – Overview
Good news, hunters, multiple weapons have already received adjustments for launch, with Insect Glaive, Lance, Switch Axe and Sword & Shield being the weapon types you’ll notice the most differences with at launch.
The Open Beta Test also had a limited range of attributes and skills available, but the full game has been adjusted to balance for the entire content, including endgame!
P.S. The following weapons mentioned all have example video clips in the event broadcast!
Weapon Adjustments – Insect Glaive
Out of all the weapons, it’d be fair to say the Insect Glaive has been receiving the most attention, so let’s start here:
Even prior to the Open Beta Test, from the gameplay hands-on opportunities at Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show, we saw that Insect Glaive users were disappointed that the weapon no longer had its iconic Vaulting Dance. Whilst we didn’t have time to add it back in the beta version, it’ll be there in all its glory come launch!
Some extra tweaks have also been made to give Insect Glaive players a few more options to play with, as you can see in the image above!
Weapon Adjustments – Lance
The Lance has received some adjustments to give more control to the player over their available options in the hunt, allowing Lance users to further express their weapon’s identity.
Director Tokuda stated that with the Lance, he wanted to give it more options than in past titles, using a variety of guards and movements. However, in doing so it removed the option for Lance users to wait and see what the monster does and react accordingly, narrowing the actions open to them and making it feel a bit monotonous to play.
But fear not, that has been changed! The Counter Thrust from past games has returned as a Charge Counter whilst guarding. You’ll also be able choose a counterattack, such as Power Guard, which charge level changes depending on the power of the guarded attack, as well as another new action which can be done from guarding or Power Guard!
The team have also made further adjustments to expand the range of what you can do whilst following up on what you could do in past games, such as removing unintuitive chained moves and speeding up the cancellation timing of guard dashes that are chained during combos.
We’re feeling good about this as Kaname Fujioka, Executive Director & Art Director on Monster Hunter Wilds, who is an avid Lance main, has been telling us it feels much better now.
Weapon Adjustments – Switch Axe
Overall, the Switch Axe has been significantly changed from what you may have experienced in the Open Beta Test.
In a nutshell, the basic loop of charging the gauge in Axe Mode and releasing it in Sword Mode is the same, but we’ve alleviated some of the difficulty in of Charging in Axe Mode. Plus, Sword Mode has been adjusted to be more powerful and responsive to match its gauge consumption.
You’ll really notice this with Full Release Slash in both its feel and power, as is appropriate for a finisher move!
We’ve also made the weapon easier to handle by adjusting moves that were difficult to use, such as increasing the usability of Counter Rising Slash in Sword Mode, as well as shorting the animation lock after a Focus Strike.
Weapon Adjustments – Sword & Shield
The Sword & Shield has also seen some major adjustments, including the overall feel of the sword.
The first major point for this weapon is that Rising Slash can now be performed whilst guarding. In addition, there’s been extensive modifications made to the basic combos with the triangle / Y button, such as Chop and Side Slashes, whilst moving, and to Perfect Rush to improve response, damage, hitstop and more!
Weapon Adjustments – Other Weapons
For the other weapon types, we’ll also be broadly adjusting their values in anticipation for endgame content, taking into account their individual parameters and skills. As part of this process, we plan to make adjustments to areas that were not balanced as intended, or where unintended weapon type disparities were created.
What does this mean? Well, adjustments are being made with an emphasis on whether the concept and vision of each weapon type is as intended, with our direction being to raise the low, rather than lower the high, whilst also eliminating the weapon type disparity as much as possible.
The Bow is one such example of this, where we saw the damage output of the weapon being heavily biased towards Tracers and Focus Strike attacks. This has now been adjusted by increasing the power of attacks such as normal shots and Arc Shots, the various transitions and responses being improved to ensure that other actions can also deal meaningful damage. Ultimately, giving more varied gameplay styles for the Bow user!
As you can see in the image, we’ve also changed the behaviour of Focus Strike for the Bow so that it locks onto wounds one by one, instead of all of them at once.
Much like the other weapons, there’s a video clip for this in the broadcast, so feel free to go check it out!
Overall, we’ve made adjustments to all weapons with a view of broadening their appeal and making them a good choice for players and their preferred playstyles, and not just making them less powerful.
Skill Builds!
Speaking of weapons, we’ve got more information on their new role within building your skills and set!
Until now, only armour has been equipped with skills, but with Wilds and the ability to take two different weapons into the hunt, it was inevitable that the wearer would have to choose a weapon type that matched their armour, or face difficulties to match their armour with the right weapon type.
So, to address the issue of skill builds having wasted skills, or losing effectiveness from a weapon switch, skills that traditionally are tied to weapons, such as “Attack” and “Guard” are now attached to weapons instead of armour, with armour now focusing on supplementary effects, such as “Speed Eating” etc instead.
The skills you find on your weapons don’t disappear when you upgrade them either, quite the opposite in-fact! Upgrading your weapons can enhance the existing skill’s effect, increase the total number of skills it has, or even both!
But wait, there’s even more! The later the weapon, the more slots you’ll have for decorations to attach more weapon skills, allowing you to really build the skills to your liking.
We’ve got some pictures below for you see it in action:
One skill!
Two skills!
A little more before we finish!
That pretty much wraps up our swift summary of some of the content included in our Pre-Launch Community Update broadcast, but if you’d like to know even more about the topics we’ve shared, including seeing what we’ve discussed in action with various video clips straight from the Dev Team, make sure to check out the link to the full event at the top of the post!
If that’s not enough, we also discuss the following topics:
- That face your hunter pulled when holding a shield.
- More features for multiplayer lobbies, including Squad & Private lobbies.
- Chat & Sticker controls in public lobbies.
- Adjustments to the HUD display.
- Will there be another Open Beta Test?
- And even more!
- Hunter Layered Armor: Guild Knight Set
- Talisman: Hope Charm
