Topic: Monster Hunter World PS4

@starhops Yeah wouldn't surprise me! Just eating gives you random boosts.
@crimsontadpoles I kept taking out the Rathian first which took some time and then I would try to deliver the eggs. Kept dropping them, getting attacked and/or running out of time. Did it on my fourth go. At least I got to farm Rathian .

Can someone explain the difference between bounties (I've got a bunch of ecology surveys that expire?) and investigations? Can I ignore them and focus on the regular side quests alone?

@Octane Bounties are quick ways of getting armour spheres that level up your armour when applied in the smithy's. The investigations present you with a list. You activate ones that tickle your fancy and they get added to the Investigations tab on the quest board. Investigations change as you experience the game and they are their for grinding certain monsters. The reason this is better than just spamming assignments and optionals are that investigations give bonus rewards.

The only issue I have is that by the time the investigations I need appear, I'm done farming that monster.

@Octane My response was a little drawn out. Simple version.

Bounties: Always keep stocked up and redeem for armour spheres to upgrade armour.
Investigations: More rewarding than side missions for grinding monsters due to bonus rewards.

@Shellcore I see, thanks! I'm going to do some bounties then!

By the way, my Palico wants me to leave him behind in the forest so he can party with some Jagras, what's the point of this and should I do it?

@Octane If that's what I think it is, he'll learn to mount Jagras and ride them like a horse. He did it by default in the beta.

@Matroska Sounds cool, but is it useful?

@Octane Hmm... I'm not really sure to be honest. The main use of your little buddy is stuff like laying shock traps and buffing you (which he learns by you finding Grimalkyne settlements in each area) so I don't know if it makes him better at direct combat or not. It's still worth getting just for the sake of completion and the coolness factor.

@crimsontadpoles I had the same issue. It was the only frustrating moment I've had in this game. My scout flies kept leading me to the dumb "press circle to jump down" area when, CLEARLY, I could not jump down. I developed a fail-proof strategy though. Transporter gloves and Ghillie Mantle.

@NathanUC Can you definitely not jump down? In 4U you could drop down massive heights with an egg. I haven't done an egg mission in World yet.

@NathanUC My only problem with eggs is I can't see my stamina depleting while running. Is there a way to trigger it?
Never thought about the mantle! Thanks for the suggestion!

@andreoni79 Press L1 to make the health and stamina bars reappear. You can also see if your stamina is low by how the orange diamond flashes.

@Matroska Thanks! I noticed L1 zoom the minimap while I'm in a village but never noticed its other use.

Managed to defeat Diablos by capturing it with only 5 minutes left during one of the story missions. Was struggling big time so I had no choice but to capture it when it was limping back to his resting place.

@andreoni79 if you hold L1, you can see your HP/Stamina bars. Once you get low on stamina, it should automatically pop up too. If you don't see the bar, you shouldn't need to worry about it

@Matroska this is a special jump location. Normally, yes, you can jump down big ledges and fall as far as you want. This particular spot requires you to push circle to jump down rather than just walking/rolling off a ledge. The circle prompt will not show up when you have an egg/meat. There's no way to just run off these spots sadly.

@WanderingBullet he was the first to cart me twice in a single mission. I was pretty puckered/low on mats by the time I killed it. I almost wonder if they boosted him for that mission though... I've since beat him up a few times without any trouble. Perhaps I just learn't....

I've hit a weird spot. The Wildspire Waste seems too strong for me. I did all of the quests I could do, except for the investigations, and a few bounties (no way I'm able to beat four Anjerath!). So I don't know what else I can do. Grind for better gear? I've got the first Pukei Sword at the moment, and full Jagras gear, all upgraded once.

@Octane Which monster in particular is too strong? There isn't a strength difference between the two maps really (or any map until you reach High Rank). Usually, if you're taking too much damage, it might just mean you need more practice with that weapon or possibly to even switch to a different weapon that works better with your play style.

Later on, it won't matter how much defense you have. You get hit by the wrong attack or chain of attacks, you die.

@Octane If you're stuck on Barroth, he has mud armour on. You can use those water shot things you can pick up to wash his mud armour off and damage him normally. Even with his armour on, you can damage him normally by hitting his ass. He'll most likely replace it periodically by going into some mud again (the armour that is, not his ass, lol).

With any enemy, try to stay behind and under them a bit and watch out for the tells that they're going to do a tail swipe or foot stomp. Also make those flashbang grenade things, they make things a lot easier. And in general, one of the reasons for comparisons to the Dark Souls series is that if you're finding something hard, it's not typically because of level or equipment but rather something you're doing wrong or not realising about how the fight works. In this game, there are environmental things you can do like make enemies bash into rocks and knock themselves over, or get stuck in vines, or fall into a hole and get trapped a bit.

@Octane I mix and match gear and each monster kill opens up another "set" with new stats and skills. It might be you need to make some better gear than the entry level Jagras. I focused on weapon upgrades first (you can do the bone tree pretty easy and get a nice weapon of choice) and then added in new armor as they opened up. You can also join SOS groups to farm a certain monster (like Anjarath). I also do some expeditions and farm materials/monsters and learn the map and the "environmental traps" like vine trees.

Good luck! I'm really enjoying this game.

@NathanUC @Matroska I've learned that whenever I say something is difficult and moan about it online, I happen to overcome the challenge on my next try. I beat the Barroth thing. Got through 10 mega potions or so, but I did it.

Anyhow, not looking forward to the one hit kill monsters in that case.