There seems to be no slowingMonster Hunter Wildsdown, with Capcom’s latest entry in the long-runningMonster Hunterseries continuing to post impressive daily player counts on Steam after already breaking several records for the service. The daily average player count forMonster Hunter Wildsis just over 1.1 million concurrent players at the time of writing, making it the third-most-played game on Steam and the uncontested most successful launch for theMonster Hunterseries. It’s a safe bet to assume that a sizable contingent of those million-plus players are hunting together through the co-op system, which makesMonster Hunter Wilds' approach to scaling all the more confusing.
Monster scaling has been refined over the course ofMonster Hunter’s history, andMonster Hunter: World’sIceborneDLCintroduced a three-tier health system. Under this system, a monster’s HP is determined by how many players are in the hunting party, and monsters have different amounts of health when engaged by 1-player, 2-player, or 3/4-player squads. Capcom may have quietly altered the system forMonster Hunter Wilds, though, as the change to a monster’s health pool feels barely noticeable when switching between solo and co-op play, and that’s a bit of a “catch-22”.
Monster Hunter Wilds May Take a Unique Approach to Multiplayer Scaling
Based on the way previous games in theMonster Hunterseries have worked, it was reasonable to expect thatMonster Hunter Wildswould incorporate a scaling system for monster difficulty and health that considered how many players were participating in the hunt. WhileCapcomhasn’t said anything official to indicate howMonster Hunter Wildsincorporates scaling based on player counts, the player base has already been hard at work trying to determine exactly how multiplayer scaling works in the new title.
This work has led to the belief that monsters have a standard baseline health when playing solo, and they receive increased health when hunted by more than one player. This is a seemingly modest increase, though, and it leads to situations where hunting large monsters as a solo player inMonster Hunter Wildsfeels noticeably slow compared to hunting with a group. In fact, the speed at which players in groups of two, three, or four can take down imposing foes makes several fights feel almost trivial. Even onHigh Rank, where monsters become more difficult, completing a hunt in a group takes significantly less time than it does while playing solo.
What Monster Hunter Wilds' Multiplayer Scaling Means for the Debate Over its Difficulty
Part of the discourse surroundingMonster Hunter Wildshas been focused on the game’s difficulty. Specifically, players have been discussinghow much easierMonster Hunter Wildsiscompared to other games in the series, especially when working through its main campaign. Things become noticeably more difficult in High Rank, as they typically do inMonster Huntergames, but playing with a group of friends almost trivializes what’s supposed to be the game’s apex challenge. Without a harsher scaling system for hunting in 2, 3, or 4-player squads,Monster Hunter Wildsstands to have a hard time shaking the impression that it’s “too” easy.
Of course, the flip side of the argument is that, thanks toMonster Hunter Wildsbeing the most accessible game in the series yet, it also stands to become the franchise’s most successful entry. Any adjustments that may have been made to multiplayer scaling could have been an intentional move on Capcom’s part to continue lowering the series' barrier to entry, with the unintentional side effect that groups of veteran players will quickly burn throughMonster Hunter Wilds' toughest challenges.Monster Hunter Wilds' campaign is easier than the campaigns in most games in the series, and that’s to be expected with the franchise’s push toward accessibility, but High Rank should be where the gloves start to come off.
