Question Regarding Defender Weapons and rarity 8 weapons.

[Druel]

So I recently finished the story using Defender item set and even though I got myself a different armor set for the glaive, the weapon for the "best" glaive build, which is the rarity 8 Catastrophe's Light is WORSE than the rarity 7 Defender Glaive. Am I missing something or is this it?

[Seamus]

Rarity doesn't indicate how good a weapon is. It's one of those odd things about the MH series.

[Druel]

It's still worse though... Haven't really answered my question

[StormhawkV]

Catastrophe's Light is a bad Insect Glaive. Defender weapons got added to help players complete the base game so they can access the DLC content ASAP and also to make up for the death of all weapons with negative affinity.

[Druel]

I understand WHY the defender set got added. But it tops the top tier weapons in the game? Armor does improve, especially with the armor upgrades, but this makes no sense and doesn't give any incentive to go out and farm materials for better weapons or am i missing something?

[Nico2811]

Originally posted by Druel:

I understand WHY the defender set got added. But it tops the top tier weapons in the game? Armor does improve, especially with the armor upgrades, but this makes no sense and doesn't give any incentive to go out and farm materials for better weapons or am i missing something?

those weapons and the armor were added one month ago, you still will need LR and HR materials for the weapons in iceborne due the weapons trees.

[StormhawkV]

Almost all meta weapons in base MHW have negative affinity and they will cease to function with the release of Iceborne. Of course it takes away the incentive to farm because that's what eats your time when trying to complete the story.

Just look at the crafting materials for the Defender weapons. They are intended to be easy to get. Then look at what it takes to get the old meta weapons like Empress Cane 'Ruin' or even Kjarr Glaive 'Paralysis'.

[Druel]

Basically what you're saying is - There's no point in playing MHW anymore, unless I get Iceborne. Great. I had MHW ever since release though but I haven't played it because my friends didn't. Now it just makes it not fun anymore... Great.

[Rathex 🐆]

Originally posted by Druel:

Basically what you're saying is - There's no point in playing MHW anymore, unless I get Iceborne. Great. I had MHW ever since release though but I haven't played it because my friends didn't. Now it just makes it not fun anymore... Great.

uh no.... did you not read what ppl said? You still need LR and HR materials, you also have to finish the story. even if you finished the story but ignored materials you wont be able to build a single master rank weapon because you will be busy fighting low and high rank monsters to get their weapons first

[TVMAN]

Originally posted by Druel:

Basically what you're saying is - There's no point in playing MHW anymore, unless I get Iceborne. Great. I had MHW ever since release though but I haven't played it because my friends didn't. Now it just makes it not fun anymore... Great.

You could just play for the sake of it. Crazy thought, right? I unlocked everything I could have ever possible needed about 100 hunter ranks ago and i haven't used anything but taroth hammer sleep for ages, but I keep playing because it's fun to bonk monsters over the head with a blunt object.

[StormhawkV]

He's not wrong though. Weapon wise there's no point in farming base materials any more unless you use Bow, Hunting Horn, or Dual Blades. The only weapon materials that are still worth farming IF you don't get Iceborne are Warrior Streamstones, because you'll need them to make the Defender weapons reach 100% affinity.

[♋Phenex]

Defender weapons are only good until iceborne release because they cap out while previous LR and HR weapons are upgradeable to MR strength mostly. I believe they changed the recipes to make weapons and charms as well so you'll want to farm those before iceborne.

[StormhawkV]

But that's the point. If you have no plans on getting Iceborne base MHW is kinda ruined.

[Zplayer96]

Originally posted by StormhawkV:

But that's the point. If you have no plans on getting Iceborne base MHW is kinda ruined.

Yeah but you could always choose not to use them and play normally, you make it sound as if they've forced the defender stuff down our throats.

[Seamus]

Originally posted by StormhawkV:

But that's the point. If you have no plans on getting Iceborne base MHW is kinda ruined.

Mind telling me exactly when they removed every other piece of gear when they added the defender stuff? I must have missed that.

[TVMAN]

Originally posted by StormhawkV:

He's not wrong though. Weapon wise there's no point in farming base materials any more unless you use Bow, Hunting Horn, or Dual Blades. The only weapon materials that are still worth farming IF you don't get Iceborne are Warrior Streamstones, because you'll need them to make the Defender weapons reach 100% affinity.

So by that logic, because I've got a fully upgraded and augmented suit of drachen armor with a fully augmented taroth sleep hammer, I've effectively ruined the game for myself because there's no point in me farming for anything. I should just quit the game now because i can't unlock anything better that suits my preferred playstyle. Is that right?

Look, my point is unlocking gear is only a fraction of the fun in this game. The real fun has always been the monster fights. If you find the game easy with the defender gear, then fight something harder. AT nerg will still provide a great challenge regardless of what you're currently using.