Iceborne is.... pretty damn good. I won't pretend its perfect and that it fixes all of the issues i have with world, but it definitely helps make up for a fair amount of it. MAN I had such a better time going through iceborne than i did all of base world.
the monster roster here is almost immaculate: plenty of hard hitting returning monsters, and the new ones that were added are all great to fight (except maybe namielle, you're pretty but annoying). shara ishvalda alone makes my top 5 fights in the series, though only at number 5. Seliana is a much better hub town than Astera (which i didnt mention in my original review but, astera kinda sucks lol), and the quest progression in Iceborne feels better, but still not perfect. Most of the weapon designs, even with the scrappy trash ones, are fantastic and really shine here. Hoarfrost is also probably the best map in the game? Ties between that and Vale, but not decisive on it yet. I also like what the clutch claw adds, as far as moveset improvements and being able to wallbang.
So what about the bad stuff? Multiplayer is still pretty fucked here, as you can't play through Iceborne at the same time as other people. And since monster health scaling values are fucked up (thanks clutch claw), single player hunts are ROUGH. Both of my Iceborne playthroughs I felt like I practically needed to grab people to play with since I didnt want to slog through 30-40 minute hunts just for like.... Banbaro or Glavenus. The balancing also took a deep dive here, with every post-game update completely making all builds made prior to that update irrelevant. Not as much an issue now with everything being out, but making a whole build just to pretty much throw it away next update was a horrible feeling. I also think the endgame grind here is not particularly good, but honestly i dont think its ever been good in any monster hunter. Definitely not THE worst.
Overall, Iceborne is pretty great. If you want to try out monster hunter, or play world for the first time, PLEASE pick this up alongside it. The game is practically incomplete without it (and kinda middling if you ask me), and some of the fights here will stick with you for a long time.
the monster roster here is almost immaculate: plenty of hard hitting returning monsters, and the new ones that were added are all great to fight (except maybe namielle, you're pretty but annoying). shara ishvalda alone makes my top 5 fights in the series, though only at number 5. Seliana is a much better hub town than Astera (which i didnt mention in my original review but, astera kinda sucks lol), and the quest progression in Iceborne feels better, but still not perfect. Most of the weapon designs, even with the scrappy trash ones, are fantastic and really shine here. Hoarfrost is also probably the best map in the game? Ties between that and Vale, but not decisive on it yet. I also like what the clutch claw adds, as far as moveset improvements and being able to wallbang.
So what about the bad stuff? Multiplayer is still pretty fucked here, as you can't play through Iceborne at the same time as other people. And since monster health scaling values are fucked up (thanks clutch claw), single player hunts are ROUGH. Both of my Iceborne playthroughs I felt like I practically needed to grab people to play with since I didnt want to slog through 30-40 minute hunts just for like.... Banbaro or Glavenus. The balancing also took a deep dive here, with every post-game update completely making all builds made prior to that update irrelevant. Not as much an issue now with everything being out, but making a whole build just to pretty much throw it away next update was a horrible feeling. I also think the endgame grind here is not particularly good, but honestly i dont think its ever been good in any monster hunter. Definitely not THE worst.
Overall, Iceborne is pretty great. If you want to try out monster hunter, or play world for the first time, PLEASE pick this up alongside it. The game is practically incomplete without it (and kinda middling if you ask me), and some of the fights here will stick with you for a long time.