I don't really care about elder dragons. It is true that it doesn't really mean anything.

The issue I have is the game just feels incomplete. It really seems like they had development trouble. Things are toned down or feel incomplete so often it must be that they ran out of time.

It is extremely easy, regardless of what any apologists say. The only somewhat difficult monsters are gore and arkveld. Even then, only the tempered variants.

I losing a few hunts in World, and that was before any DLC. Nergigante dive bomb ruined a lot of hunts. Even Diablos was a real threat. I lost quite a few hunts in base World.

I've only lost 2 hunts in Wilds. One to the big ice monster because I didn't understand his AOE attack, and one to a tempered Gore. I'll also point out my defense was significantly under leveled for both of those fights and I would die in 2-3 hits. I still almost won both and went back and won the second time. That low defense would not fly in any previous games.

Environmental hazards and status effects are also majorly tuned down. I haven't been paralyzed by a vespoid once, poisoned by poison flowers, and very rarely need to consume a hot/cold drink because there are free ones on the wall everywhere.

Aquatic/Oilsilt mobility? It was always niche, but extremely useful when you could take advantage of it. It doesn't feel like there's even a movement penalty in Wilds. It has got to be bugged, right?

Did you know Odogaron inflicts bleed? I had forgotten until I had already fought it ten times. Lala Barina can paralyze, but those florets are a joke. I can count on one finger the number of times I've been dazed from taking multiple hits. It was the Gore fight I lost.

Anyway, no, Elder Dragons don't matter, but there are a plethora of other things in the game that feel off or incomplete. It's a shame, too, because otherwise it's by far the best MH ever. It plays really well and got rid of a lot of tedium.

I gotta say I haven't seen any performance issues. Granted, I do have a 9950x and 4090, but other than the occasional textures not loading it's been fine.

I've noticed other players in the quest hubs will substantially impact performance. If I didn't have a 4090 I'd probably dip into the 20s or maybe even teens. I wonder if that's where a bunch of complaints are coming from. We're talking a 20-40% drop in FPS.

The random lobbies seem pretty pointless and, beyond performance, just make the game worse. People just spam emotes in chat and it blocks you from pausing -- even in cutscenes.

Choosing single player you can pause as long as you're solo. You can still use SOS flares and respond to other's flares, so I've just started choosing the single player option every time I load the game. Performance is also better without all the other players running around.