Hunts in Monster Hunter Wilds often don't take as long as hunts did in MH World. Although they still last longer than in Rise, it's easy to assume that monsters in Wilds have less health than in World, but this isn't the case. Monsters in Wilds actually have more health than their MH World counterparts to balance out the new mechanics. It seems, however, that monsters might not have been given enough health to make the hunts last as long as they did before.

Shorter hunts aren't necessarily a bad thing, as they're more convenient when it comes to grinding monster materials for gear. This makes fights less like a war of attrition against monsters, which does mean that MH Wilds loses a little of the series' famed difficulty, sitting between the difficulty of World and Rise. For newcomers, this might make the game more approachable, and it feels like Wilds' shorter hunts have nothing to do with the monsters and everything to do with the player.

Monster Hunter Wilds Lets Players Do More Damage Than MH World

The Focus Mode Can Make Fights A Lot Easier

Hunters in Monster Hunter Wilds deal far more damage than those in World because of Focus Mode attacks. Targeting wounds to deal extra damage would be enough on its own, but attacking these wounds with the Focus Strike staggers monsters and, after completing it, there is a chance that the monster can be knocked over for a short period. These Focus Strikes can be chained one after the other to continually stagger a monster since it cannot attack during a successful Focus Strike, and if there are several wounds, one can be hit after the other.

In this chain, the monster cannot fight back, and while it can be tougher to hit a wound the first time with a melee weapon, something like the Bow makes hitting wounds with its Focus Strike considerably easier. The damage output from breaking wounds is ridiculous at times, especially since Focus Strikes can put some weapons in buffed states, like activating the Charge Blade's chainsaw mode. The closest thing to this in MH World was the Clutch Claw, and although it helped to increase damage output, it pales in comparison to the Focus Strikes.

The Clutch Claw could wound monsters to deal more damage and could have been the basis for the Focus Mode in Wilds.

Seikrets also help with increasing damage, letting players take more than one weapon with them for different situations. For example, trying to hit a Hirabami with a slow melee weapon can be more trouble than it's worth, but switching to a ranged weapon makes the fight easier until the monster is knocked down. Jumping from Seikrets can help too, since it allows players to jump attack and mount a monster far easier than in World, provided they aren't using a jump-heavy weapon like Wilds' Insect Glaive that makes mounting easy enough on its own.

MH Wilds' Monsters Actually Have More Health Than In World

They Just Haven't Been Given Enough To Maintain World's Difficulty

In an interview with IGN, directors Kaname Fujioka and Yuya Tokuda spoke about changes to the game compared to MH World, one being that Monster Hunter Wilds' monsters have more health and greater flinch resistance. This change sounded tedious at first, considering how long some hunts in World could go on, but now it seems like it wasn't enough to maintain the former difficulty of the series. Hunts are still shorter in World despite the change, and the developers may have underestimated the damage output of the Focus Strikes.

The increased health and flinch resistance aren't felt at all, especially since the Focus Strikes can stagger monsters, and hunts at Low Rank can often end in less than ten minutes if the player is comfortable with the game's mechanics. While High Rank hunts last longer and provide more of Monster Hunter's trademark difficulty, it still seems like hunts don't last as long as they did. Capcom could have done a bit more in the health and flinch resistance buff department to make fights feel more difficult.

There are typically three tiers of hunts in Monster Hunter titles: Low Rank, High Rank, and Master Rank.

Then again, this is less evident in certain fights where there are mechanics to counter the Focus Strikes, as is the case with the Zoh Shia boss and its regenerating carapace that makes the wounded flesh underneath harder to access. This is a specific case, however, and the Focus Strike mechanic feels quite exploitable for the most part. It also doesn't help that there are a lot of returning players who started with MH World, and now that they are accustomed to the gameplay, they find the game easier by simply being better at it.

MH Wilds Makes The Player Stronger Than Ever

The Monsters Are Practically The Same Strength As In MH World

In general, the issue with difficulty has less to do with the monsters and more to do with the players being given more tools than before. Focus Strikes, weapon switching, using mounts to jump attack, and being able to run away from a fight to heal make it all easier than in World. Palicos are also more versatile, with the ability to heal, remove status effects, and put in Flash Pods for attacks. Combine this all, and Wilds' Hunters have even more ways to go about a hunt than their World counterparts, despite monster behavior being largely the same.

The health and flinch resistance buffs aside, monsters feel the same as in MH World in of aggression and behavior. Gathering in packs does add a layer of complexity to a hunt and can make things slightly more difficult. With all the tools at a player's disposal, though, packs aren't anything to fear, especially since something hyper-aggressive like the Arkveld is a loner. It almost feels like the monsters can't keep up with the player, and not the other way around, which does lower difficulty but makes narrative sense.

The player character in Monster Hunter Wilds comes across as a veteran who has done it all. Story-wise, the Hunter is almost a superhero, able to beat anything in their way, so giving the player more power makes sense for the story. However, it makes some fights in the story feel a little too easy, so Capcom could probably look into sneaking in another health buff to its monsters. There's an appetite for harder single-player games now, although the inevitable Monster Hunter Wilds expansion's Master Rank will probably scratch that itch.

Source: IGN