Read this before buying Iceborne, or even before updating your base game when Iceborne launches (spoiler free)

[chancan]

This thread is mainly aimed towards people who enjoy the game for the immersive world it presents, and the absolute freedom in gameplay when it comes to how you want to approach a hunt. Btw I don't proofread so there'll be typos lol

Also a warning: comment section is NOT spoiler free

These are my experience and opinions as a 10+ year monster hunter fan


Today I reset my Xbox One to factory settings and put it up for sale, as Monster Hunter is the only reason I even bought a console. Iceborne was a massive letdown in many departments, sadly one of them being the most important one to me. It's actually baffling to me how Capcom can pump out a masterpiece like World and then flop so incredibly hard with Iceborne. I filled out their survey and patiently waited for the Rajang update hoping for the issues I have with the game to be adjusted, but none of it was touched and as such I'm dropping this game and likely not buying it on PC at all. Instead I'm probably going to buy World and keep it from updating past the pre-iceborne update


The glaringly obvious issues with Iceborne, with no basis in opinion:

• The Clutch Claw mechanic, while it sounds amazing on paper, is over represented and the game has been largely balanced around it. There's so much unnecessary focus on the clutch claw that its reached a point where, UNLESS you continuously use it in every hunt, the flow and progress of the hunt will feel incredibly slow, like a total slog compared to World. It makes the gameplay feel like some pseudo MMORPG boss fight, where you "have" to do certain activities in order to progress through the fight "correctly". It takes away all that feeling of fight freedom that World (and honestly every single other previous game) gave me, it's the very first game in the entire franchise that manages to not be fun
  
  Oh and the Clutch Claw doesnt even work properly most of the time.
  
• Iceborne has more connectivity issues than the initial release of World
  
• Loading times are almost double that of world's for no explicable reason
  
• Small monster AI took a downgrade straight to the hell that is generation 1 monster hunter. All small monsters in Iceborne past High Rank are so extremely aggressive to a point where it makes you blood boil. Most of the time they completely ignore any large monster, which very much ruins immersion as well.
  
• The Iceborne dev team took a fat dump on the locales and their monster inhabitants by carelessly injecting random monsters into every map. While the Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste were spared from the negative effects of this due to their size, the Coral Highlands, Rotten Vale and Elder Recess end up being a permanent cluster♥♥♥♥ featuring you and 3 monsters whose AI, just like small monsters, is so backwards they will often chase each other around the map and no amount of dung pods will fix it for longer than 30 seconds. Cherry on top Iceborne gets half a dozen new invasion monsters, some of which dont actually ever leave rage mode meaning they will chase you to the end of the world UNLESS you dung pod them, commit to a 5 minute fight to make them sod off or use a ghillie mantle. Said invasion monsters are in virtually every single quest making the entire game feel stale VERY fast.
  
• Hitboxes are horrible. There's very few monsters added to the game whose hitboxes are as proper as all of base world's. It goes both ways: some monsters' hitboxes are so laughable they wont even hit you with attacks that should definitely have hit you more than half the time, while others have generation 2 Plesioth hipcheck hitboxes. It feels like I might be exaggerating, but this is the contrast drawn by how perfectly crisp the hitboxes are in World.

And my personal issues with Iceborne, opinion based:

• The Iceborne update introduces a clutch claw stagger. It's a very out of place stagger which virtually every single monster gets (except maybe Behemoth and Leshen), and it replaces the stagger that would've otherwise have happened under certain conditions
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQiH23xq1vU (possible monster spoiler). This makes me livid, I'm convinced the only reason this is in the game is because Iceborne is rushed and they couldnt make the clutch claw work properly in time, so they HAD to have something in the game to promote its frequent usage. It turns the entire fight on artificial pause and it's by far my biggest peeve with Iceborne. It absolutely ruins the immersion the game had, and WORST OF ALL: the Iceborne update adds this to the base game as well, ultimately taking a fat dump on the game I purchased which Iceborne is supposed to expand on. What a joke.
  
• A lot of the new monster designs feel super lazy and copypasted. There's a severe overusage of "combo attacks" a la Odogaron except now half a dozen monsters do it, and there's also way too many instances of "monster powers up and has to be hit on the head x amount of times to stagger and trip them" a la Anjanath. The Hoarfrost Reach isnt an offender of this
  
• To me, overall, Iceborne feels incredibly rushed and lazily designed, and this is the very first time a monster hunter game hasnt left an amazing impression with me, instead being severely negative

But with bad things also come good things. There's plenty in the game for you if your reasons for playing are any of these:

• Cosmetics
  
• Social gameplay (aside from the barely functional connectivity lol)
  
• Way more content and monsters
  
• Doing a lot of damage
  
• Rushing towards "endgame"
  
• Not really caring about the game's gameplay and instead only caring for the result or acquiring e-cred
  
• Dopamine shots

Sadly for me, none of these things outweigh the trainwreck that is all the negative additions/changes to the game. I hope to spare at least one other person from throwing away their money on this joke of a monster hunter game

[Wombutt]

Sad to hear. Maybe they will fix some things.

[TyresTyco]

They at least fixed The Pinata Lands a lil bit. The last update is overall an improvement.

[𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒶𝒶𝒶𝒶𝒶]

This is not going to end well, capcom has a lot of unpaid shills here that will attack you for not worshiping capcom.

I feared that the clutch claw would overstayed its welcome and everything would be balanced around it, seems like they went full potato, what a bummer. If they had to do a survey to fix things it means the game is a mess and the majority are unhappy with it.

Kinda glad they artificially delayed the expansion, as I would have paid for it without any hesitation a while ago, now not so much as it seems it has way too many issues and it's just a lazy cash grab.

[Tamerlein]

Nice bait m8

[chancan]

Originally posted by .•°°•Lumika•°°•.:

This is not going to end well, capcom has a lot of unpaid shills here that will attack you for not worshiping capcom.

Funny you said that, cause I've worshipped Capcom without question all the way until and including World. Never regretted a purchase in the slightest. From a business perspective I understand these changes completely, though. It's very prechewed gameplay and the Claw focus feels like an attempt at retaining the new playerbase that World brought with it. The feelings of Iceborne been rushed seems to be the same thing; pump out the expansion fast to not lose grip on those new players.

Longterm dedicated fans to the series aren't the biggest source of income since they're a small portion of potential customers. And even then, I know very well that many oldtimers like Iceborne a lot. The subset of players like myself who want the total immersion and to just chill out must be an incredibly small portion of players.

Originally posted by .•°°•Lumika•°°•.:

If they had to do a survey to fix things it means the game is a mess and the majority are unhappy with it.

With the survey they reduced the "grindiness" of the endgame (which I think makes no sense to call it grindy, because the "grind" is killing lots of monsters, isnt that the whole point of the game? It just extends the amount of hours you can get out of it. If you think hunting the monsters is grindy then it doesnt sound like a game for you, but thats my opinion)

They also added layered armor pieces for almost every High Rank armor set, but I remember seeing the layered armor crafting window in one of the leaked videos with a lot of options and to me this just seems like unfinished content being finished.

And to put more strain on the "unfinished aspect": the Zinogre trailer has a bunch of things you cant even find in Iceborne (yet): m-rank xeno and kulve, it also had a snippet of a Kirin in a volcanic area which wasn't added until the Rajang update. It's all so weird and unlike the Capcom I know, doesn't sit right with me

[Chrysalis]

I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree.

I personally love the Iceborne expansion and I never encountered any of the problems you sadly seem to have with it.

It's strange that you have such a big problem with it that you even sold your Xbox, because most people seem to really enjoy the Iceborne expansion and it got great reviews, but of course not everyone is the same.

[Nox]

im doing iceborne endgame right now and EVERY SINGLE POINT in this post is Wrong.
I dont care enough to write more about it, but its easy to debunk just watching videos. Clutch claw is very situational, unless you enjoy being hit and losing half HP or more...

[VALLICE]

I feel like you are very wrong. They are constantly updating Iceborne and adjusting it, they just released a Dev-video explanining quite a bit. How can you enjoy World so much and not Iceborne? Sounds like your problem, not the game.

[VALLICE]

None of your points are true, or even accuarte in the slightest. And the clutch claw is working just as intended, just because you aim at the monsters leg you cant expect it to attach to the leg when it's wing comes flapping in the way. You know what, your whole post is just some sad kid complaining about a game that's too hard and not tailor-made for you. Please leave. You are way too ignorant to be playing this game anyways.

[Zheppon]

everybody gonna keep buying Iceborne because its an improvement.

if you enjoy hunting a small roster well you can stay in world, but 99% is going forward.

[Seamus]

"Load times are bad!"

That's what you get for playing on a console.

[[Countess]Vol†z]

I respect your opinion as well but I will have to agree to disagree. As a vet of the series, Iceborne is just following the game formula established since the portable days with releasing a "G" expansion. And to me at least feels just like one without needing to buy the base game again unlike previous titles. (Although in the sheer size this would exclude the massive celebration title of Generations Ultimate which had almost a decade of reusable Nintendo content to cram into one game.) I do have to say MHW is super easy compared to the older games, but I still love the game just as much.

My gripe with IceBorne personally is the "Grinding Lands" endgame content but the devs in the last diary update have come out and acknowledged that people are finding it tedious and openly apologized to players who are playing the current version. While they are trying to find ways to fix this.

So my suggestion if you haven't, consider trading that Xbox for a Switch and get MHGenerations Ultimate it's way better than World and more bang for your buck.

[chancan]

Originally posted by Nox:

im doing iceborne endgame right now and EVERY SINGLE POINT in this post is Wrong.
I dont care enough to write more about it, but its easy to debunk just watching videos. Clutch claw is very situational, unless you enjoy being hit and losing half HP or more...

You're confusing the word "focus" with "spamming". 10% of total game focus on a single hunt gimmick is too much. Mounting didn't have this much focus in MH4, underwater combat didnt have this much focus in MH3. Why does Iceborne expects you to use a gimmick to such an extend it covers 10% of the entire hunt?

Originally posted by Vallice:

I feel like you are very wrong. They are constantly updating Iceborne and adjusting it, they just released a Dev-video explanining quite a bit.

They didn't touch the biggest faults of Iceborne in the first two updates, instead giving priority to menial elements such as "content being a little too grindy" or "not enough layered armor sets". That's a clear indicator that those in charge of maintaining the game have their priorities in a place where I don't want them to have them.

Originally posted by Vallice:

How can you enjoy World so much and not Iceborne?

Well, I opened this thread with a 3 page post pointing out why I enjoy World and dislike Iceborne. Sounds like your the problem, not my posts.

Originally posted by Vallice:

None of your points are true, or even accuarte in the slightest. And the clutch claw is working just as intended, just because you aim at the monsters leg you cant expect it to attach to the leg when it's wing comes flapping in the way. You know what, your whole post is just some sad kid complaining about a game that's too hard and not tailor-made for you. Please leave. You are way too ignorant to be playing this game anyways.

I never mentioned the clutch claw attaching you to incorrect body parts. I also don't understand why you're suddenly getting so hostile. Does the notion of differing opinions offend you? Sounds pretty intolerant

Originally posted by Gravefoot:

everybody gonna keep buying Iceborne because its an improvement.

if you enjoy hunting a small roster well you can stay in world, but 99% is going forward.

More does not equal better. You'll remember this post when you get carted for the 100th time to having your entire view blocked out by a threesome of monsters who don't even fit in the locale they're in lol

[NovasGoSuper]

These are vaild reasons. Also I have been a fan of this franchise since I was 5 years old ( I’m 22 years old now). Oh and something to had to that list is that some is that some of the monsters pathing is messed take a look at acidic Glvainus he gets stuck in a rock and if you are Melee player well sucks to be us because the area you have your first encounter is in the rotten vale. At the lower lvls of the vale there is the acid pool area, he basically gets stuck on that damn rock out of players reach in the acid.

[chancan]

Originally posted by Seamus:

"Load times are bad!"

That's what you get for playing on a console.

Not what I said. I said load times are twice as long as they were in World, and even with an internal SSD they become tedious (especially for the Reach and Guiding Lands), but good bait attempt nonetheless.

Originally posted by MissVol†z мвм:

I respect your opinion as well but I will have to agree to disagree. As a vet of the series, Iceborne is just following the game formula established since the portable days with releasing a "G" expansion. And to me at least feels just like one without needing to buy the base game again unlike previous titles. (Although in the sheer size this would exclude the massive celebration title of Generations Ultimate which had almost a decade of reusable Nintendo content to cram into one game.) I do have to say MHW is super easy compared to the older games, but I still love the game just as much.

My gripe with IceBorne personally is the "Grinding Lands" endgame content but the devs in the last diary update have come out and acknowledged that people are finding it tedious and openly apologized to players who are playing the current version. While they are trying to find ways to fix this.

So my suggestion if you haven't, consider trading that Xbox for a Switch and get MHGenerations Ultimate it's way better than World and more bang for your buck.

I already have an imported Japanese 3DS with MonHun XX. I've played literally every monster hunter game except for Explore and the felyne village spinoffs.

Iceborne just so happens to be the first G expansion which actually altered the flow of the base game's gameplay, which spits on the product I bought in the first place.

MHW is only as easy as you let it be, because things like mounts, flash bombs and traps aren't really overpowered or "required". Maybe that's why I dislike Iceborne, the clutch claw doesn't feel optional at all due to the stagger and as a result I'm incapable of raising the difficulty except in artificial ways that aren't fun to me in any way.