I have a friend who we would like to play with us but he does not have good internet where he lives. So it would be him coming over when he can to do hunts with us. Is there any idea how the single player will be for him when he is hunting along between group hunts?

Thank you for the help!

@propagandapanda: All previous Monster Hunter games have been beatable solo, but World seems to be structured in a way that makes that even better than before. All quests can be done solo or in a squad, and the monsters are balanced whether you are solo or in a group (in 2, 3 and 4 player hunts monsters have one health/defense value, and in solo they have another).

What this means is in World literally all of the quests and content will be available to your friend while he is playing. They have removed the separation of "Guild" and "Village" quests from the older game, where Village quests could only be done solo and Guild quests were always balanced for multiple players even if you were alone (which meant doing them solo meant hours of grinding). This should make transitioning between group and solo play a lot easier!

The only requirement with the new Story quests is that you have to play solo until you have seen the main cutscene for the mission. After that friends can join, so when you meet up you can both pick up from where you currently got up to solo.

Sorry if that all sounded a bit vague, but I hope it helps :)

Just so we're clear, there's no split screen or anything, so I assume he'll be bringing his PS4/PC and you have a spare TV/monitor.

Some people like to say the series is only good multiplayer, but I strongly disagree. Outside of high rank hunts I kinda prefer solo honestly. Most low rank fights are just way too easy in a group. It's like the difference between fighting a Dark Souls boss solo or with player phantoms. You learn a lot more and it's often a lot more satisfying to overcome the monsters all alone.

@zeik correct well he will be bring his PS4 I have the set up for him.

@bollard thank you for the help.

I just want to make sure there is something to do between our major group gatherings with the game so he does not feel like its a waste. He lives out in the middle of nowhere with no chance of good internet so he is hesitant on getting games with a multiplayer aspect to them.

@propagandapanda: He'll have more than enough to keep himself busy while playing solo!

@bollard: Does the game also scale based on player count (i.e. do monsters scale from 2 to 4 player)? I'm mostly interested in playing this with one buddy of mine, but our impression from the demo was that the monsters were much easier in a group of 4.

I don't know about World, but in previous games Guild Hall (multiplayer) quest monsters have inflated HP, but it's not dynamically scaled based on the number of players.

@fenster said:

Unfortunately not, the monsters are only balanced two ways (solo, or 2-4 player). One thing I would stress though is that in the full game this would be much less of an issue than it was in the beta. In the beta you only have a 20 minute time limit, whereas in the full game you (almost) always have 50 minutes to take down a target, so you will be much less likely to run out of time. The other thing that I should mention is in the old games there were "Guild Quests" that were only balanced for 2-4 players (they had no solo variant at all). Despite this, I was able to get into High Rank Guild Quests playing entirely solo by grinding for better gear for longer than I would need to if I had been playing with friends. So everything in the game will be doable as a 2 man group, you just might have to have slightly better gear than a 4 man squad to do it.

Hope that helps.

@bollard said:

Very helpful, thank you!

@propagandapanda: I don't know if I can add anything else that would be helpful but you can complete the storyline solo with a good amount of research and knowhow. World is unique because of how they are bringing these large monster hunts into a more modern atmosphere. Seeing some of the quality of life improvements, I would say that single player in MHW will cater to those players that want to play solo. I am sure if he wanted to get into the later game hunts or wanted to specialize in an armor, that is where multiplayer comes in. I played way more local multiplayer with the 3DS than I thought I would, playing locally with brothers and friends will help with materials. In his multiplayer "free time," I would gather mats and get ready for big hunts so that when he comes over, you don't waste time making Mega Potions.

@rempresent thanks for the post. We got him to get it so we have a crew together and will be joining the hunt!

This was the exact question I was looking for myself. Happy to hear single player balancing is even better than I thought it was.

...Goddamn, am I about to get into a MonHun game? Must be only 30 degrees Celsius in Hell right now...

I have a update. He got it at midnight and has been lovin it. Let the Hunts begin!

@bollard: Does anyone know if internet connection is required for single player story mode. My girlfriend might like this game but she does not have internet. She has PS4.

@scotty_gun: internet is not required.