Perhaps the most common complaint most veteran players have about Monster Hunter Wilds is that the game doesn’t offer the same level of challenge in its monster fights compared to past entries.
It’s hard to argue against that at this point, but you could choose to see the change in difficulty as a way to incentivise players to use more of the game’s weapons. Regardless, many have long since finished Wilds and they couldn’t remember any fight that truly put their skills to the test.
This has changed with today’s release of Title Update 1.
Title Update 1 arrived earlier today for Monster Hunter Wilds, bringing some new content to the game in the form of a new monster, and a new multiplayer gathering area. But a key goal of this patch was to address the ‘game is too easy’ feedback by adding tougher versions of existing monsters, and unlocking a new quest to take on Zoh Shia.
Previously, the monster was only available to fight as part of the campaign, but players can now challenge it as they could with any other monster. Zoh Shia was/is a tough fight – and the quest only becomes available at Hunter Rank 50 – but players simply weren’t prepared for how tough it ended up being.
Over on the Wilds subreddit, early player reactions about the fight have been mixed. Some welcome the fact there’s finally a formidable foe that demands gear optimisation and good weapon proficiency, while others are just shocked by the jump in difficulty Zoh Shia represents compared to other major fights.
“I been telling all of you,” wrote Reddit user kingzoro112 in a thread titled ‘F**king Zoh SHIA!!!”.
“What happens when you tell Capcom their [Monster Hunter] games [are] too easy. They drop some ‘f**k around and find out on you’. Oh f**k it feels so good.”
Many players have been sharing their first experience with the fight across multiple threads, and it seems most simply weren’t expecting the level of challenge this one requires.
“25 min fight before I carted 3 times… oof,” one player wrote. “Brutal. I’ve failed the quest 6 times so far,” added another.
A frequent observation about the Zoh Shia fight was how infrequent wounds appeared on the monster. Wounding a monster is one of the major new mechanics in Wilds, and it’s responsible for some of the ‘game is too easy’ complaints, since it enables competent players to effectively stun-lock monsters and deal immense damage quickly.
Some of Zoh Shia’s wider area attacks have also been called out as being almost impossible to dodge, with some advising players to bring a shield until they can learn how to perfect dodge these attacks. Many are comparing Zoh Shia to the Fatalis fight in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, which remains one of the most challenging in any Monster Hunter game.
Some of that excitement (and rage) will likely die down a bit once players spend more time with the monster and figure out the best ways to deal with its most devastating attacks (and optimise their builds). Until then, you can always call on Support Hunters by firing off an SOS, or take on the fight with a group of friends instead. If you need help with either of these topics (and many more besides), our Monster Hunter Wilds guide is here for you.
Oh, and don’t select Sekka when you trade with Nata right now, because there’s a bug that may cause the game to crash when you do.
