A little bit of Niantic
Monster Hunter, Right Here, Right Now!
On first reading about it, I loved the idea of ingress. I joined early in the games life and had to dip in when time allowed. I was hampered by living outside the range of large towns and cities, but I also didn't drive at the time and public transport aren't known for hanging out at hackable nodes very long. Niantic has an interesting history in that the company was originally part of Google as Niantic Labs before they parted ways during the Alphabeta formation.
Pokemon GO was the next big title to come out of Niantic, I have never really been a big Pokemon fan, That said I know lots of people that have been playing the game since launch and have really taken enjoyment out of the game over the years since it's launch.
Now time for Monsters
Over the years, I have seen a lot of people playing Monster Hunter titles yet have always meant to pick one up as it looks goof fine, then I get distracted by some other game and it never happened. So when Niantic announced Monster Hunter Now, I was interested as I thought it might be a good way to causally hunt monsters without a huge time commitment that I know the large versions need.
The game is what you expect, there are multiple weapon and armour unlocks, monsters with varying levels of difficulties.
As the hunter you are continually striving to match the monsters' weakness to your weapons damage type, so you can maximum damage during an encounter. The faster encounters are completed the more you can be rewarded.
Things I wish I had known before playing:
- Focus on building one of each weapon damage type as high as possible, I just crafted everything that was available even if I would never use it. Silly Me.
- You don't need to charge ahead on the main story, I only just scrapped by on some fights that I should have taken my time to be better equipped for, this meant I faced harder monsters straight after without the matching equipment.
- Daily tasks are worth doing ASAP so you get more level progression.
- There is an in-game item called the Prime Hunter's Pass that gives you 500 gems instantly, then 50 each day for 30 days. However, there are additional benefits that I find very useful. These are an increase in your assistants' paintball carrying capacity (paintballs tag random monsters for you to hunt within 48 hours, removing the need for you to go find them). It also increases the number of Monsters that can be tagged from 10 from 8, meaning you can do more without having to wander off into the outside.
There are currently two good sites that can help you to understand which armour will give the bonuses you are seeking. Not that you can't look at the data yourself but there is no easy armour filter in the client like the one that exists for weapons.
These are: