“Monster Hunter Now” will celebrate its second anniversary and it’s going to be a big one, with a new season called “Advent of the Exploration Base.” It introduces several major updates while adding to the changes from Season 6: “Scarlet Gaze in the Gloom.”
Kicking off Sept. 18, “Advent of the Exploration Base” introduces the concept of bases to the game. Niantic Games tested the idea over the summer and incorporated player feedback to improve it. Originally, Exploration Bases were designed to foster more face-to-face interactions with players. Players would grab emblems from their travels and deposit them in a singular spot in a neighborhood.
Espinas is one of the new monsters players will hunt in “Monster Hunter Now.” (Niantic)
BASE BUILDING
It’s a combination of postcards, gyms and showcases from “Pokémon Go.” Emblems taken from Gathering Points act as postcards and the Exploration Bases are the node points where players meet together a la gyms. As players add more emblems, the base expands. It creates a central point that makes players feel like they’re building toward a goal together and also competing as in showcases.
As part of the improvements, the developers took into account privacy issues and deleted information from emblems. They also allow players to remotely check in from multiple bases in case players have one they contribute to at work and another one at home. They also added another emblem that credits players for slaying 10 large monsters. Lastly, those who travel will help the effort out more because emblems from farther away have more value in base building.
Bases will run for a three-week period with a monster outbreak held in that span. At the end, players will see an evaluation of all their work on the Exploration Base. The biggest contributors will receive awards such as item box expansion, making it a worthwhile endeavor.
2ND ANNIVERSARY GIFTS
As part of the “Monster Hunter Now” second anniversary, Niantic will be giving players a major item box expansion just for logging in. Artist Yusuke Kozaki also designed a special layered armor for the event. For hardcore players who have reached HR 300, a special hat will be available.
Garangolm is an ape-like creature coming to “Monster Hunter Now.” (Niantic)
MONSTER INVESTIGATIONS
With more than 60 monsters in the game entering its seventh season, players have run into a problem: They are too many creatures and not enough real estate. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for players to hunt specific monsters to complete a set or level up a weapon.
Developers are solving this with a new feature called Monster Investigations that will let players toggle what type of creatures are on the map. Players will need to unlock the feature, and it will allow players to switch out the type of monsters on the field. Changing it to Thunder will switch out the field so that more Zinogre, Fulgur Anjanath and Tobi-Kadachi appear.
The element has a three-hour cooldown, so players have to commit to it.
MORE POWERFUL WEAPONS
In the past season, Niantic added another wrinkle to crafting weapons with the addition of Style Customization. It allowed players to unlock more powerful versions of weapons with a boost to Elemental Values and Attack Power. In Season 7, they’re buffing those types of weapons so that players can notice more of a benefit. The team is also adding visual effects to style customized weapons so that players who use them stand out in the lobby.
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They have a Riftborne blue flame effect that grows more pronounced as its powered up.
The team is doubling down on these improvements by adding more style customization for the Hammer, Gunlance and Great Sword. These come with higher stats and, of course, new ways of attacks that fundamentally tweak how the weapons feel.
The Hammer has the Water Strike, which is focused on countering enemy attacks, and the splashy Impact Crater, which lets players jump in the air only to come crashing down on the foe. The Gunlance has the Blast Dash, which lets players quickly cover ground against a faraway foe, and Guard Reload, which lets players reload while blocking. Finally, the Great Sword has the Rage Slash, which is great for countering, as players don’t flinch when using it, and Surge Slash, which is more combo-focused and offensive.
To make weapons more accessible, Niantic said it will reduce the material requirements for weapons, so that hunters have more opportunities to try weapons and builds they couldn’t before.
Lunagaron will make its way to “MOnster Hunter Now,” and It brings the Vital Ice skill. (Niantic)
NEW MONSTERS
The Advent of the Exploration Base season wouldn’t be complete without new monsters, and the team is bringing Espinas, Garangolm and Lunagaron to the fold. They bring with them new weapons and armors that are game-changing for some builds.
Espinas is a wyvern type that has a new skill called pursuit and has gear focused on part break. Garangolm is an ape-like creature that has an elemental attack tied to each arm. His weapon has a skill called Reckless that disables perfect evade but increases the damage dealt while his armor gives players a skill called Guard Up, which lets players block attacks that were previously unblockable.
Lunagaron is the most intriguing creature. It is essentially a frigid variant of Odogaron that freezes the world around it. Its new skill is Vital Ice, which ties damage to health and it will likely upend the way people play if it follows the same path as Vital Thunder. It’s another skill that can change how players build their characters.