Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Details New Gathering Hub And Much-Needed QoL Improvements

Capcom shared its Developer Diary #1 for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne with a look at what’s new including new Gathering Hub features and plenty of QoL improvements from solo to multiplayer.

 

 

Check out our full recap below, for everything that was revealed in the Developer Diary #1:

 

New Gathering Hub

• Since we’ll be in the much colder area in the Hoarfrost Reach, the devs wanted to have something with a sense of warmth for the home base, so they added the hot springs.

 

• You can go for a bath with your gear on or switch out to something more appropriate with the press of a button.

 

• In the hot springs you’ll get to use special emotes such as falling into the water. You can also splash water at other players for a bit of extra interaction in the Gathering Hub.

 

• The hot springs area has a place to eat, a sauna, and small pool for a cute bonding moment with your Palico while giving your feet a soak.

 

Greater Accessibility

• In an effort to improve game cycle and lower loading times, there’s been several improvements made, including the addition of the blacksmith in the Gathering Hub. This was also done as a way to get players to interact and communicate more as a tighter community. You can also manage your Layered gear at the Smithy as well.

 

• With the addition of the Resource Center and Botanical Research Center, the Gathering Hub now has all the facilities necessary in preparing for hunts.

 

Greater Squad Functions

• Squad leaders can now create Squad Cards that include info on the Squad and can send invites to others. Players who receive the invite can accept it afterwards without being in the same online session. That way players can check out several Squads before deciding on one they want to go with.

 

• By sending out Squad Cards the same way you do with Guild Cards, the developers hope that it can improve on the way people stay in touch and interact with each other.

 

• There are new “Sub-leader” ranks that Squad Leaders can hand out. Squad-leaders can send out invites and accept requests. Sub-leaders can also edit the Squad emblem.

 

Balanced Difficulty

• Up until now Monster Hunter games had a difficulty that went based on whether the session was single player or multiplayer, meaning it didn’t matter whether you had 2 or 4 players. This time a new difficulty level has been added for 2 players.

 

• This means that the difficulty scales based more on party size, so if you go with three players and one player gets disconnected, the session scales down to a 2 player difficulty.

 

New Palico Gadgets

• With the new 2 player difficulty, the developers expect to see players feel more comfortable playing in pairs along with their Palico partners. This means we’ll see more changes and improvements such as new Palico Gadets.

 

• Shieldspire Stooge – A mobile decoy that draws a monster’s attention away from the player

 

• Meowcano – A giant jar that shoots out fireballs at enemies.

 

• Vigorwasp – Enhanced to now revive players immediately back into battle if they faint.

 

Multiplayer Compatibility

• Players with the standard Monster Hunter: World and players with the Iceborne expansion will get to play together. The Iceborne players will get to join the World players to take on Low Rank and High Rank quests together.

 

• Iceborne players can use the new actions in the Monster Hunter: World parts of the game. That means players who have yet to finish World can take advantage of the new moves to catch up.

 

Your Room

• You’re now free to change up your furniture and wallpaper in your room in Seliana. To give that extra feel of customization and personalization. However, you can’t change the placement of the furniture, unfortunately.

 

• You can customize the color, design, and material of the furniture.

 

• Some furniture are obtained through quests and deliveries. More furniture will be added in future updates.

 

• The Deluxe Kit comes with extra decor that can be used to change the entire look of your room. This was previously revealed but the developers couldn’t share further details at the time. The Deluxe Kit allows you to change the walls from wood to stone.

 

• Inviting friends to your room is planned for future updates.

 

View Mode

• View Mode is a new feature found on the start menu. It allows you to take screenshots from various angles, allowing you to take shots from areas you weren’t able to.

 

• More gestures have been added to pose for screenshots.

 

• Palicoes will also gesture together to match the player.

 

Meet the Monsters

• Fulgur Anjanath – Affinity towards lightning. Uses lightning as a means to charge its body and strengthen physical attacks. It uses electric-based attacks using its charge.

 

• Ebony Odogaron – Carries its prey in its mouth and eats it when hungry. Think of it as a constantly powered up state. The Ebony Odogaron also is Dragon element so if a player is hit they’ll lose the elemental power of their weapon. Has added attacks with wider range.

 

• Glavenus – Basic attacks revovle around heating up its tail and swinging around for devastating hits. It can also build up fire for heated attacks. That fire itself also has features not seen in Monster Hunter Generations. The developers are working on the balance of keeping certain elements intact while adding extra spins they’re adding for all the returning monsters.

 

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne releases for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, 2019. It’ll arrive to PC via Steam in Winter 2019. Check our previous report for a look at the latest trailer. More information will be announced in August.

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