PREVIEW -- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne - Developer Diary 5: Raging Brachydios & Furious Rajang Quests, Layered Weapons, and Full Bloom Fest Information

Catch up on #Iceborne Developer Diary #5, jam-packed with info on: 🥊 Raging Brachydios 🙊 Furious Rajang ⚔️ Layered Weapons 🌹 Full Bloom Fest 🐉 Alatreon Title Update 3 releases Mar 22 5:00pm PDT / Mar 23 00:00 GMT on PS4 and Xbox One. Coming to PC on April 9th.

Important: In order to play online multiplayer or download add-on content, you must update to the latest version of Monster Hunter: World.

Available

Monday, March 23 0:00 (UTC)

Required Space

PlayStation®4: About 1.4GB (only this update)

Xbox One: About 2.1GB (only this update)

Main Additions / Changes

General

Raging Brachydios has been added.

This update adds a new special assignment that will bring you face-to-face with the newly discovered Raging Brachydios!

The special assignment for Raging Brachydios can be accepted by talking to the Tracker once you have finished the Recon Assignment after the ending of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

Raging Brachydios Hunter Armor!

And, of course, there will be all-new weapons and armor to craft from Raging Brachydios materials!

Weapon Design

Raging Brachy α+ Armor Set

Raging Brachy β+ Armor Set

This armor has useful skills based around Agitator (when a monster becomes enraged, Attack and Affinity increase) and Weakness Exploit!

Palico Equipment: Crusher Set α+

As with the hunter armor, this armor design is based on Raging Brachydios's active slime molds!

Furious Rajang has been added.

This update adds a new special assignment that will bring you toe-to-toe with the newly discovered Furious Rajang!

The special assignment for Furious Rajang can be accepted by talking to the Tracker once you have finished the Recon Assignment after the ending of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

Furious Rajang Hunter Armor!

And, of course, there will be all-new weapons and armor to craft from Furious Rajang materials!

Weapon Design

Furious Rajang α+ Armor Set

Furious Rajang β+ Armor Set

An armor design infused with strength. The armor also has a set bonus for a powerful new skill.

Palico Equipment: Rajang Set α+

Palico equipment featuring a cute monkey motif!

The new Palico weapon is a magical staff that extends when drawn!

(Both monsters will appear in new special assignments after finishing the main story of Iceborne and unlocking the tundra region in the Guiding Lands.)

System

Added an item that forces a monster to leave the Guiding Lands.
Raised the maximum level cap for master rank armor upgrades.
Added an augmentation feature that lets you customize the look of your weapon.
Added an option to the Steamworks that lets you change the Steamworks' output.
Applied a change to the Steamworks that lets you activate the auto mode after sending the Steamworks into Overdrive.
New decor can now be placed in your room in Seliana.
New BGM can now be played in your room in Seliana.
Added new designs for the Squad Card.
New Pendants added.
Applied a change that lets you receive Hunter Helper Rewards from master rank quests.

Miscellaneous

Added the following charms: Fury Charm V, Power Charm V, Mighty Charm III, Challenger Charm V.
You can now collect item rewards on the round just before a Steamworks overdrive.

Bug Fixes and Balance Adjustments

Base/Facility

Fixed an issue where the options "Take All" and "Sell All" were reversed when the items prepared via oven roast totaled 9999 in your item box.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, abilities wouldn't rotate when storing potential for awakened weapons.
Fixed an issue where the great sword 'Empress Galea "Styx"' would be ordered incorrectly when sorting.
Fixed an issue where numerical values would not correctly display in the Steamworks results screen.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, an error would occur when joining a squad Online Session using the Online Session ID.
Fixed an issue where, after taking certain steps, a posted quest could not be found in a search.
Fixed the description text of some music player songs.
Fixed an issue where the Beetle Ticket could not be used as a material to meld items.
Fixed an issue where Ruiner Nergigante would be displayed in the Guiding Lands monster list, even though the conditions for it to appear haven't been fulfilled.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, an armor's abilities would not be correctly reflected in the hunter's status while augmenting the armor.
Fixed an issue where the color of Dober β Layered Legs would not display properly after changing the color.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, an error would occur when entering your own room.
Fixed an issue where guest players would become unable to move if they were removed from the Gathering Hub at certain times.
Updated the tutorial for additional features of the squad to explain that subleaders can invite other players to the squad.
Fixed an issue where even before you reach Seliana, the recruitment message "Let's hang out in my room!" would be available as an option.
Fixed an issue where some Palico weapons would appear in an unnatural spot when sorting by rank.
Fixed an issue where when joining another player's quest, if the quest host cancels the quest at a specific time, the name of the previously completed quest and not the quest that you joined would be displayed.
Fixed an issue where a weapon from The Witcher weapon tree would not appear when placed on the equipment display.
Fixed an issue where there would be a disparity between the Safi'jiiva siege result screen and the information displayed at the quest counter.
Fixed an issue where the chat recipient could not be changed after entering a loading screen with the chat window open.
Fixed an issue where the items created from the oven roast would not roll correctly.
Fixed an issue where you could not leave the mini-canteen at camp if the mini-canteen menu and the quest complete notice appeared on the same exact frame.
Updated the description text for the Chrome Halberd III gunlance.
Updated the description text for loading Wyrmstake Blast, found in the weapon control section of the hunter notes.

Monsters

Fixed an issue where Raider Ride monsters would get stuck on a wall when jumping from a certain position.
Fixed an issue where Safi'jiiva's behavior would become unnatural on slanted terrain.
Fixed an issue where a player would be afflicted with an abnormal status or blight when using the lance's counter-thrust or counter claw against Gold Rathian's somersault, Kirin's lighting strike, or Fulgur Anjanath's mucus attack.
Fixed an issue where rewards for breaking parts would not be rewarded when breaking Black Diablos' back.
Fixed an issue where Safi'jiiva would not transition areas normally.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, the appearance and fleshiness of Nergigante's tail would not be consistent after it had been severed.
Fixed an issue where in multi-monster challenge quests, the second monster would not appear and the quest would be complete.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, Ruiner Nergigante would appear outside an area of the Guiding Lands.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, a monster would not become enraged.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, Velkhana's ice wall would not break down after it was slayed.
Fixed an issue where an enraged Yian Garuga could avoid pitfall traps even if the conditions for trapping it are met.
Fixed an issue where monsters would sometimes behave unintentionally when near Boaboa.
Fixed multiple issues related to sound effects and visual effects that displayed within the player's tent when Safi'jiiva is in the lowest level of the Secluded Valley.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, Rajang would still perform its pinning attack, even if it had not successfully landed it.
Fixed a game-stopping bug that occurred in the Guiding Lands when performing a flinch shot on a Rathalos that is transitioning areas.
Tweaked to make monster staggers longer when a player uses the clutch claw on a staggered monster in an area where the player cannot enter.
Fixed an issue where a Kelbi would sometimes act erratically after it had its horns broken off.

Player

Mitigated conditions that made it harder to land the long sword's spirit helm breaker under certain conditions.
Fixed an issue where the Handicraft skill would not trigger at the start of a quest.
Fixed an issue where the FINAL FANTASY XIV Jump gesture would be unintentionally deleted from the shortcut of an item loadout.
Fixed an issue where during multiplayer, the other players' mantle effect time would not be synchronized correctly.
Fixed an issue where the Oolong male head armor would not display in certain cutscenes viewed from the gallery when the full Oolong armor set is equipped.
Fixed an issue where the extract bonuses to the Flinch Free skill would be carried over when switching from the Insect Glaive to another weapon.
Increased the element level of the Elscarad and Arginesse kinsects.
Fixed an issue where if the player attached the Melynx Teddy pendant to the Adept Stormslinger and started walking, the pendant would become shaky and trembly.
Fixed an issue where some light would become hidden when applying layered armor from your loadout.
Fixed an issue where Critical Draw would be applied to the long sword's Spirit Blade I when going from Iai Slash to Spirit Blade I.
Fixed an issue where the skill Free Element/Ammo Up would not trigger normally when bowgun capacity is increased via awakening ability.
Fixed an issue that caused unnatural behavior when loading the slinger after performing a forward dodge with the sword & shield drawn.
Fixed an issue where Kaiser Crown β+'s hair color would change when switching from Oolong Hair α+ to Kaiser Crown β+ using specific steps.
Fixed an issue where ammo would behave unnaturally when the bowgun's pierce ammo would hit using certain shooting methods.
Mitigated an issue where if a Zero Sum Discharge connects on certain monsters, the player's grapple point would be unnatural.
Fixed an issue where when the player is wearing Brigade Layered Arms, the armband would overlap with the equipped layered armor on the torso.
Fixed an issue where if the player equips Kaiser Crown α/γ with hairstyle 8-2 and performs actions such as running, the front bangs will float or become detached from the armor and would not correct itself.

Miscellaneous

Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, squad info would be unintentionally deleted.
Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, entering the tent would cause the Palico to face in the opposite direction.
Fixed an issue where certain tracks would not display in the Guiding Lands.
Fixed an issue where certain timing would cause a communication error, which would result in monsters not appearing in the Guiding Lands or in cutscenes based in the Guiding Lands.
Fixed an issue where signs of desync would occur in the Guiding Lands when joining a session without a host.
Fixed an issue where players could designate a snowball as a destination for a raider ride in an area that they can't access.
Fixed an issue where the Handler would go back to her default costume after resetting the game, even if the player changes the settings to Locked.
Other minute game balance tweaks and minor bugs fixes have been made.

Title Update Roadmap for 2020 so far.

Boy, that's a LOT to take in terms of information of all of this new content rolling out in the pipeline.

As previously mentioned, I'm skipping this update for the time being and will rejoin my hunters in arms when the update for mid-April drops. I can do with postponing my own experience until the Full Bloom Festival starts. I tend to get a lot of grinding and farming done when the festivals are on rotation, so I know I won't be missing out on much. Besides, I'm well over Master Rank 200 and a lot further along in terms of upgrades and augmentations than a lot of my friends that I play with regularly (most of which who haven't even cleared Master Rank 100 and nor began the Guiding Lands grind either...), so it won't kill me to miss out this new content as soon as it rolls out.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that Layered Weapons is making it around to the game after being a heavily requested feature for quite some time now. I hope that the materials for Layered Weapons are linked to the Guiding Lands, hence forcing players to commit more time to that instead of neglecting it after the first few months of the game. That was one reason (of many) why I took a break from the game back in February. After Safi'jiiva, majority of the player base went into this mindset that nothing else was more important than the grind for those weapons and once Safi'jiiva went away out of rotation, the bulk of the player base "assumed" that they didn't have anything else to aspire towards when there's a wealth of stuff to do for the Guiding Lands. It's not as much of a slog to grind when it first started out in post-game but with the following patches and updates/tweaks, I have grown to appreciate that mechanic more and more. It's much faster to farm and hunt monsters for weapon crafting and augments there than loading up individual quests (Optional or Investigations) as a group of four players (especially randoms) can enjoy this for hours on end with people dropping in and out at their leisure. Instead, the grind hits a standstill for most players who weren't early adopters to it as most players have done everything they have needed to make everything to their hearts' content and moved on. The other obstacle (IMO anyway...) in this mode is that most players are roadblocked in matchmaking for it as higher ranked hunters are in the MR100+ sessions for the Guiding Lands, leaving players lower ranked completely shit out of luck as the game won't match you with players who don't have either all of the (tempered and Elders) monsters unlocked.

That's one reason why I'm glad to see Kulve Taroth return as an actual hunt for Master Rank than another Siege event quest. Kulve was personally my favorite hunt in the base game (yeah really...) just for the mechanics involved and the layered format to the battle and I'm dying to see how Capcom changes this fight up for the better. They've already taken player feedback into consideration when they improved the Siege event quest format when they introduced Safi'jiiva, so I know they won't let us down in that regard when that festival rolls around.

Speaking of the Full Bloom Festival, I know I'm going to end up caving for the Handler's Full Bloom costume for that event after it's over. I like that one as much as the last few I paid for. Even though I doubt I would ever sink in any real world cash into the Hunter's room customizations, I thought the elegant theme was pretty cool in the developer diary. Can't say that I'm crazy about the "elegant" armor set for that event. Looks like something George de Sand from Mobile Fighter G Gundam would wear though. I did get a good chuckle out of the fish dual blades. Glad to see the other weapon classes are getting "silly" weapons like the chicken drumstick hammer that was added a while ago.

I did happen to watch some of the Monster Hunter Twitch stream where they were hunting Furious Rajang and I can see why people are going to flock to some of those weapons. Furious Rajang's weapons have a TON of purple sharpness while Gunlance mains will want Raging Brachydios' armor set since you can acquire the Artillery Lvl. 5 skill from a mere two sets of armor instead of slotting for it. I'm anxious to see where Gunlance set building goes from here in terms of variety as your options were still pretty slim after Safi'jiiva as you still needed wear at least two pieces of the Zorah Magdaros (Master Rank) armor set if you had the Zorah Essence skill slotted to your Awakened weapon.

I do like the Furious Rajang armor and Palico design MUCH more than the normal Rajang stuff, but the Raging Brachydios stuff induced a yawn from me as I was never a fan of how the normal version of that armor set looked like. Cool points for Capcom making the Palico armor for Furious Rajang look like Sonson (Marvel vs. Capcom 2 shoutout) with some obvious Journey to the West influences that I'm sure more people will confuse with Dragon Ball more than anything else.

Last but not least, that Alatreon reveal... I'm sure veteran players are freaking the hell out after begging for this monster to be added to this game for a VERY long time. I asked one of my veteran friends the same question but does this mean that in terms of lore that the rest of the "Black Dragons" are going to appear in the New World now? This has to be a signal that Capcom is slowly easing us towards the end of new content for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne as a whole once all of those monsters are added to the game. After defeating Safi'jiiva, I vividly remember one of the NPCs mentioning that this was a signal of "the end" leading most veteran players to speculate that Fatalis would be coming to Iceborne sooner more than later. I'm all for new monsters, but holy shit am I tired of seeing ANOTHER damn new dragon added. Like c'mon, Capcom. I get you want to please the veterans but I would like to see some variety in terms of new monsters being added. Alatreon controls every element, so it should be a fun fight though.

At the end of the day, I can't knock Capcom too much though when they have delivered above and beyond with this game with even more content in the pipeline. In the meantime though, stay safe among this coronavirus pandemic wherever you are around the world. Happy Hunting!!