Sorry, trying to farm the last of the ingredients I need for a new weapon. Will be on in an hour with you.

I just rented this and it finally came in, but I have to say I'm having a tough time getting into it. One reason is because the text is so small, and it makes me sleepy to read it all. Is there a way to increase the font size does anyone know? At the moment I can barely see it down in the corner...

I'm going to give it a few more shots, but it might just not be the game for me right now.

Now that I'm done school I'll get this game soon. How is the community?

Also I've never played a MH game before, so any tips you guys can give me? I am looking forward to playing with you all.

@Brick

1. Don't get discouraged.
2. If you need something, the game won't give it to you.
3. Don't get discouraged.
4. Play with us, we're awesome; everyone else is a hotshot.

Fun sessions this weekend with Mustache, OldManFromZelda (never got your Guild Card), cryojin, and anand! "Saving Private Lewis" = excellent. Now I just need to do that missions two more times to be able to forge the reward...I can't believe I played for almost eight straight hours. Thanks for helping me go from HR1 to HR3 this weekend!

This morning, I went in and got the components I needed to upgrade two of my Switch Axes (Arzuros Massafax and Assault Axe+). Even though the Assault Axe+ is more powerful, it's -10% affinity hurts it (basically, I have a 10% chance to do 25% less damage when I land a hit). That and the Arzuros Massafax stays sharper for longer periods. The phials are about equal in sword mode (Massafax is poison, Axe+ is paralysis), so eh...

Ultimately, the one I want to upgrade to is the Saligia Enderaxe in the Assault Axe tree, but if that -10% affinity sticks around, I dunno...

@Brick

I'm relatively green to even though I spent a decent amount of time with Tri (didn't play much online though), so like @Mr_Mustache said, don't get discouraged. This is not an easy game, but it's a very rewarding game.

And yeah, also like @Mr_Mustache said, this group is great to play with. In all of the missions that we did last night, I'm pretty sure of all of the faints, I was all of them but one. And you know what? Everyone playing last night was cool with it and we ultimately finished every quest that we undertook (except for hunting the Pink Rathian, she absolutely owned us, and it didn't help that I was dropped in her room from the get-go).

@-JKR-

Nope. That's a complaint that I have too.

So, surprise turn of events last night. First off, awesome hunts with Ludist all weekend, and then more with Lou and Cryojin yesterday, and then Anando and d'Artagnan into the night, whcih becomes the "surprise" part. Nutty Anand got it in his head that we could handle my "to HR4" Urgent. And we did it. 3 times. "But wait, there are only two of you?" d'Artagnan joined up with us, and we knocked his off at well. So here we are, sitting at HR4, pretty much on a whim. Will wait for you guys to hit 4 before I even consider 5, obviously. My next night on is Tuesday. Theres some pretty awesome stuff to do, I'll probably be taking a few Harvest Tours though; I hear the Tundra is lovely this time of year. (And I still gotta get some Lower Rank Gobul Fins and Diablos Marrow. I messed up one of my branches momentarily, grrr.)

@ludist210

You guys didn't swap Guild Cards?! Oh, the HORROR! That would drive me crazy, legit.

--Yeah, so those Axes and "decisions, decisions," thats why I go with the Weapon Tree route. NO decisions, to be made, get 'em all, woo! Also, I was able to upgrade my weapon (not forge) from Colorful Beasts yesterday; and dig this, it came from the LEAST DESIREABLE "SWORD" in the whole bunch; a bone-like cudgel crated from a Barroth with built in -30% Affinity. Who'd want that crap? Oh, it becomes the best Sword and Shield you have access to with little effort? SIGN ME UP.

@-JKR- and Ludist

I think small text is "in." Remember Xenoblade? Allow me to get my spectacles, please.

Today I awoke with the utmost urge to play Monster Hunter...

@Mr_Mustache

Ha, I sent him mine! He never sent it back...

I found out I can forge the Ground Dasher thanks to our "one more quest" at 11:30 last night (thank you Gobul Spikes), but I think I'd rather do it from scratch with the Wild Axe...though I may just go ahead and do it and take the Wild Axe down the Ludroth Axe route.

Okay, n00b question: how do I tell what element my weapon is?

@ludist210

It should state in blue I think under the attack stats of the weapon.

FI - Fire
IC- Ice
WA - Water
LI - Lightning
PO - Poison

I also think there's a slime element, and probably another I'm missing.

@TheOldManFromZelda

I know if I use the Awakening skill, sometimes an element will come alive. I just don't have +10 in Awakening right now...

Thanks for the info!

@TheOldManFromZelda

SLM - Slime
SLP - Sleep
PA - Paralysis
DR - Dragon

Those are all that come to mind, I think you got the rest.

@ludist210

Oh, right, hidden Elements. Forgot all about that stuff, awesome.

@Mr_Mustache

The sword uses phials (which I can't change), but my two weapons in Axe mode are just plain jane axes until I awaken their power (Paralysis 80 for the Assault Axe+ and Poison 180 with the Arzuros Massafax). Fortunately, most of the higher level weapons don't need to be awakened.

I only played one story quest when I was home at lunch. Finally captured a Qurupeco. Got two flintstones out of it too. It shouldn't have been that hard, but I'm terrible at capturing monsters...now for a Royal Ludroth, then my urgent, and then I'm done with three-stars.

Once I get the ability to fight the Lagiacrus in story mode, I may try to farm it to build its armor set. That's a big step-up from what I have now.

@ludist210

If you get a Bone Set, it comes with Cap Guru built in so you can SEE when the monsters are ready to take down, simply by paintballing them and watching your map. Before this weekend, I was CONSTANTLY wearing that set. Makes things so much easier (though my set now gives me more rewards and much better defense).

Just remember to use those Armor Spheres, too. They can power up your armor a lot more than you think (and eat eat eat for D, too!).

@Mr_Mustache

I think that's a +10 with the Perception skill. I'll see what I can do with decorations and talismen. I'd like to get the Tranquilizer skill to +15 as well (or at least to +10) to increase hauls from captured monsters.

I do use armor spheres and eat for defense when I can, but the problem is the Double Paralysis that comes with the armor (and the ridiculously low fire resistance). Even the upgrades don't fix that. I know the decorations can help, but...I dunno, time for a new set. Weapons first I suppose. I kept getting my rear handed to me last night. Some of that is my skill, but some is my lack of defense, particularly to fire.

@ludist210

Ohhh, Perception. Yeah, I stay away from some of those skills. I'll have to sift through soon. I never really get a minute to just "sit there" though as something is always going on, especially online, what with the bug poisoning and mining and the like.

Do you have access to Tranquilizer stuff yet?? Hmm.

Well, you don't need to scrap that set. Surely that set has a place in SOMETHING. Just get specialized sets; I don't think the game expects you to use one armor clump the entire time, even though we seem to employ that occasionally. I mean, they give you 24 Quick Change sets (in your box) to Register, right? I've got my Leathers for when I'm Gathering (w/ SpdGather and Spirit's Whim both), Hunter (outdated now), Bone (for Capturing monsters; Guru w/ SpdSetup), and now my awesome Guild Gear ("Good Luck" with built in Autotracker among other things, decoration'd up to +50 Health).

I'll eventually get a Water and Fire set, surely, too. Anand has a rough time in the Volcano since he's purely flammable.

@Mr_Mustache

I don't know if I do or not. I'll need to check with the angry, drunken blacksmith and see what he can forge tonight if I get some time.

@ludist210

I'm going to say "I doubt you do." I don't have any Talisman's or Decorations with it on it, and I've only seen it on ONE set so far..something you definitely don't have. Thats not to say that you DON'T have a Talisman with it. We get all kinds of different stuff!

Nah, I've got nothing with it. Captured the Royal Ludroth and successfully hunted the Gobul, so I'm on four-star quests in story mode. Knocked out two of those as well.

i might be on tonight! the past 2 weeks or so have SUCKED. Been so busy doing stupid important things. gah. I haven't even really played much of the single player campaign recently, since Ceadeus is next. And I (sort of) need Rustshards. YAY.

Gotta move up from that lowly HR3. I'm such a slacker...

@vinniebrock

Awesome! I'll be on about 11, yeahhhhhhh!

Well, the folks who moved up to HR4 are few, and we just did those all in a single burst (and we've only done ONE mission in it). Depending on who is on tonight (or even if its just me), I can help you graduate if you're ready to make the move. D'Artagnan will probably be on after midnight EST, too. Its a tough one for two folks though; took Anand and I 40+ minutes, twice.

EDIT- Grabbed the NEW DLC today. Intrigued about the new DLC next week. Gigginox purge? "Kill 'em all?" Gosh, how many are there?!