this game got easier than tri on low rank. the subspecies feel like I'm playing tri though. that's where the fun comes in.
offline I have all low rank quests completed. never fainted once. completed it all with the default armor and was just hording materials.
Just getting started on offline high rank, but I decided to move to online.
I'm hr3 so far, just completed the urgent to get to hr3, which is hunt a rathian and rathalos. When in the online guild, the monsters have more health and are overall a bit tougher. I decided to solo it since I was tired of waiting for someone to join me, and came out victorious in 10 minutes. I even managed to trap both dragons with the same shock trap. it was pretty cool to see them both stunned by it next to each other, I didn't know who to attack lol.
started building armors, maining a maxed out lagiacrus armor as I'm mainly a great sword user, but I dabble with long swords at times. that armor is good for both styles though. also built great jaggi armor, but I used it for like 2 quests. I stick to lagia for now. as far as weapons right now I just have a ravager blade, thunderclap, flame sword, wyvern blade fire, and the default weapons. they work for me but right now I'm working towards having blades of different elements so I can be more prepared for certain monsters; however fire and thunder are good main elements to have as they are pretty good overall for most everyone.
I guess now I'm focusing on high rank armor gears as well, but I'm not sure what I want. I really like lagiacrus for tenderizer, and fast charge skills. I can do level 3 great sword charges like no tomorrow.
I helped someone hunt brachydios last night. it was fun. he's pretty fun to hunt and it's nice to see a new monster to learn.
as far as secrets go, if you want to use the farm quickly (like make the days go by faster), pick the one star quest in moga woods that requires you to deliver 2 kelbi horns. Bring 2 kelbi horns with you, start the quest and deliver them right away. You will always get 2 kelbi horns as a reward, on top of other stuff. the 2 kelbi horns will always be there. Take the horns, send everything else to your box. Rinse repeat till you are done farming. this is a good way to make okay money fast. takes like 30 seconds to complete the quest.
Swimming monsters, always fish them out with a frog! It damages them, and gives you an advantage by fighting on land at the start. Gobul for example I always fish him up. he can be fished at 4, and the frog can be found in 2 right next to the exit that takes you to 4. there's a grass patch there that you can always harvest worms and frogs. pretty convenient if you ask me.
Duramboros, this giant cow has 2 broken tail phases. Smash the living crap out of his "knob" at the end of the tail, once it's broken let him do one of his crazy tail spin attacks where he spins around then flies in the air. As he lands he will be chilling there for a bit, immediately run to the end of his tail which can now be mined once for extra parts. the tail after that can be cut off. other parts you can break from him are his horns and his humps.
thunderbugs for shock traps can now be farmed in the farm. couldn't do that in tri.
barroth has weird elemental properties. When he's covered in mud, he's weak to shock (or water but i'm pretty sure it's shock I can't remember), but when his mud has been hacked off, he becomes weak to fire. same goes for his snow version subspecies
in high rank, always eat for felyne explorer if you can. Each map has a secret area. you can only access that from having felyne explorer or if you get warped to it at the beginning of a high rank quest. These secret areas are a small area, have a mining spot, a bug gathering spot and a harvesting spot they will always give you rarer stuff and sometimes even really really rare stuff.
hunting multiple monsters but don't want them both in the same map? ever wonder what dung bombs are for? throw one at inferior species on the map and there is a god chance they will fly away. It always has to be the specie inferior to the other specie. For example rathian and rathalos. don't throw it at rathalos or he will just stay. Throw it at rathian and she will most likely leave. If you want to be 100% successful that's what the dungmaster skill is for.
these aren't really secrets just strategies I suppose. there's plenty more to talk about in terms of monster behavior and ways to be efficient.
anyone who has online come hunt with me!
P.S. yes that brown dragon guy is rathian
nnid: petoly
mh name: spoonus