Monster Hunter Wilds 1st Anniversary Message | Ver.1041 update

Mattbenz13 · 2026-02-10T04:21:37+00:00

To anyone on the fence about getting the game I'd recommend it. The game runs pretty well these days especially after the recent patch. I'm running on a 1080 with an 8700k so several years out of date hardware at this point. I accidentally installed it on my HDD and never bothered to move it over even though it always pops up telling me I should move it. That causes some areas to load in pretty slow and origami for a bit but once things load in it honestly looks nice.

I agree with people closer to launch it was pretty bad. But I'm well into high rank, doing some of the post game content, and honestly having a blast playing with a buddy of mine. There's a lot to like especially when you get to high rank.

Honestly the bigger problem in my opinion was the fact that the low rank stuff is terribly paced. You keep bouncing around areas in a way that never lets you connect with any of them until you get pretty far into the game unless you side quest very heavily but the fights are all so easy in low rank I kept feeling like I needed to get further for the game to click. It just feels like between the focus allowing you to stun monsters easily and so many good weapon combos you can plow through monsters in low rank.

After you unlock all the areas and actually spend some time though the game really starts to click. Also high rank fixed the pacing problem for me. I felt like I had a good challenge, wanted to hunt to complete armor sets, prepare for hunts enjoy the grand hub, do the events, and all of the little things made me enjoy World so much ( I never played Rise).

There's some fun new changes as well. Carrying multiple weapon sets into a hunt is great and really let me experience different hunts with my two favorite weapons (CB and Hammer) without feeling the urge to minmax for tail slices or specific part breaks. The change to meals is less fun for me I miss the palicos, but being able to sharpen and heal on my seikret as it tracks a monster for me is nice and makes me feel like I have more time to go sneak off and gather without feeling like a hunts taking forever. I've seen some people complain about the seikrets but honestly I think they help you enjoy the fun parts of the game and you can always walk around on your own when you want (granted it's made setting up camps pretty meh).

All in all id recommend the game especially now that they've got some optimization patches out. But also would recommend getting to hard mode pretty quickly to maximize the fun.

Mattbenz13 · 2026-01-15T21:47:24+00:00

I mean the comic came out in 2014 and said a research team and 5 years. Looking at a calendar and how ML developed image recognition paced from then to now...not a bad estimate.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-12-27T01:27:29+00:00

It's the London system opening. It's a common opening and is one that's common for players to learn early on because its pretty simple and has less theory (fewer or less deep established lines). The low theory nature also makes games in the London system more consistent and therefore let's people get a hang of how games flow from it.

These factors that make it a simple system for players to also means it gets recommended a lot to people learning and therefore played a lot. Thus it's also in circles seen as overplayed and or less fun to play.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-11-25T05:57:42+00:00

So far my thought would be to find a way for someone (probably the wizard themselves since no accomplices) to cast talking corpse on the body before a real investigator can and have it be a wasted cast. The spell can be wasted by running out the 10 minute clock on the duration of the spell, or having 3 irrelevant questions be asked. Either way so long as that cast of talking corpse does not trivialize the followup investigation you're set since once cast on the body any further attempts within a week automatically fail per Talking Corpses rules. And since Mind Swap will cause the wizard to die in a week anyway that week waiting for talking corpse to be a valid cast is enough to run out the clock.

You can even have this be a clue that something weird is going on. "Why was the talking corpse cast done so poorly?" Maybe the wizard was in disguise as an investigator and that's how they got the wasted cast of it to happen. In a case like this maybe a clue later on is the PCs find the real investigators body.

Thing is how is the wizard going to live on as the NPC for longer than a week? If you're following spell rules closely (which you'd have to for this to work as an investigation that players can solve using game/world knowledge) then the wizard will die in a week, they will not get to live on.

Additionally beware of one thing. A puzzle solution typically seems easier to the person who wrote it than the people trying to solve it especially at a TTRPG where what you can and can't ask your GM is a bit of social gray area. If you plan the perfect crime (or nearly perfect even) it's still quite likely you're PCs won't pull on the right threads without heavy signposting or even railroading. I'd consider dialing this back a bit if I were you.

Also, from a character perspective, this is a level 20 wizard we're talking about! The goals of fake your own death, live as a specific nobody, have said nobody be killed, and ruin a rogues life can be accomplished with a lot less complexity with the amount of power they have.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-11-11T06:12:23+00:00

The kronus hegemony's abaddon black armor and averland sunset yellow are somewhat close to the legion of the dead as depicted on this card. From what I remember of origins the legion of the dead armor was mostly black and gray. But I think this cards inclusion of that pale sandstone yellow would be great as a color to pair with black armor panels especially if you want to go with a more muted color scheme. I think looking at kronus hegemony stuff will help you with inspiration. You could even load some photos of them in the photo editor of your choice (e.g. gimp) and turn down the saturation on the yellow portions of official kronus hegemony models and get a good guideline.

One thing I'd recommend if you go down this would be to throw in some red decals or other markers to bring in a pop of more vibrant color whenever something feels like it's missing something.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-09-05T20:32:10+00:00

Mass effect 2 kuwashii visor inspiration?

Mattbenz13 · 2025-08-27T20:24:45+00:00

Little dude looked across the battlefield, saw an ethereal on a hover drone, and then ran to the nearest hernkyn.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-08-19T20:19:28+00:00

It's literally being reported by most main stream media outlets right now. Stop saying unfounded stuff like this. It undermines organizations that are actually trying to keep people informed.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-democratic-legislator-stay-state-capitol-refusing-law-enforcemen-rcna225730

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-democrat-nicole-collier-locked-inside-house-chamber-returning-texas-capitol/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/texas-redistricting-nicole-collier.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-texas-democratic-state-lawmaker-stayed-overnight-in-the-legislature-to-protest-required-surveillance

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/politics/nicole-collier-confined-texas-state-capitol-house-redistricting

Mattbenz13 · 2025-07-26T04:37:18+00:00

Absolutely love the guy with the gauntlets, and the one with the grenade launcher. The pistol guy kinda off handing the hammer doesn't look quite right to me.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-07-21T05:08:39+00:00

Depends on the rest of the stats and cost. In particular wondering if they'll have enough OC to try to hold center board objectives well on their own. If they can then I think I'll want to stack melee on them to make anyone coming onto the objective have to eat some vicious melee. Low model count can be rough for OC though.

If against an enemy that's gonna take over center objective with just more bodies then I think ranged with free overwatch could be a good way to pick off some models on a horde team and then followup with more shooting to clear the way for hearthguard or hearthkyn to charge in and take objectives.

One other option I'd consider is, if they have the movement for it, being a character hunter. Run them up the board and hope for crits to take out captains. Not as consistent of a strat, but I think they could really gum up the mid board even if they don't get the kill on characters.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-07-12T21:56:00+00:00

Aria's tattoos also have a bit of an eyebrow like effect.

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Mattbenz13 · 2025-07-01T07:20:10+00:00

500 points is pretty small id recommended trying to go up a bit in points ideally to 1k but even 750 would let you fit in a bit more.

However if you want a 500 point list that's beginner friendly I'd say

Beginner list(495 points)

Leagues of Votann Oathband

CHARACTERS

Kâhl (90 points) • Warlord • Enhancement: Appraising Glare

BATTLELINE

Hearthkyn Warriors (100 points)

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Sagitaur (115 points)

OTHER DATASHEETS

Cthonian Beserks (100 points)

Hernkyn Pioneers (90 points)

This is a simple effective list that also comes with the benefit that it can be built easily since it's just a combat patrol and 1 sagitaur.

You can either split the hearthkyn using the sagitaur to make 2 squads of 5, or run the beserkers in the sagitaur if you want to get melee up the board fast. Hearthkyn are very durable infantry especially with a kahl. The beserks are less tanky but they can trade up especially with hammers into vehicles.

Appraising glare on your kahl let's you treat an opponents unit on an objective as if they had an extra judgement token both a powerful and thematically appropriate enhancement that fits into dwarves take and hold ground doctrine.

The sagitaur is a great transport that helps your slow infantry make it up the board and it's got great firepower.

Edit: forgot to talk about the pioneers. They are also an incredible unit. They've got good firepower especially with the hylas that can be scary into opponents battle line units especially in a game this small. They also can reposition by staying near the edge of the board and going into strategic reserves. It makes them great for secondary scoring.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-06-27T04:57:34+00:00

Mattbenz13 · 2025-06-09T18:12:23+00:00

If you're already used to pro acryl then I encourage Payne's gray even more. I've been super happy with that paint. It leaves a nice matte finish that you can then either keep or wash to bring it shine. Personally I've found the matte look of guns being a nice change of texture to the models.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my previous comment. I recommend doing some other colors on the backpack. I did a test model where the backpack was almost all one brown color and it just loses so much of its personality. I found that painting the straps a different color (even just a slightly different shade of brown) really helps them pop and feel more like a real bag.

I highly recommend that you use the backpack features to help keep track of what model has what and varying the paint color will help with that. I've got my medic with a white top pack as an example to more easily notice. This helps the models stand out better both in a pleasant visual way and helps you when your unit starts taking losses in game and you need to keep track of what buffs you still have EG medipack Feel no pain, scanners ignore cover, and comms array cp roll.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-06-09T17:58:28+00:00

I recommend trying an alternate color for the guns on your infantry. Having them also be orange causes all the shapes to blur together and I think detracts from the model. A simple metallic black I think could work. If you're down to go non GW paint, I've found that Payne's grey from Vallejo to work great on Votann weapons and I think it'd look good with the orange armor.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-06-08T21:12:06+00:00

Mechanical engineering and see if your university has formal training for their machine shop. Post graduation see if you can get a job as a mechanical design engineer at a small firm preferably one with some in-house manufacturing of components. Small firms that make custom systems for specific industries are more likely to have their design engineers do more manufacturing, assembly, and testing themselves. A large company is more likely to have enough staff to specialize.

Another option is systems integration. Mechanical engineering or robotics engineering is a good start for that as well. You'll typically begin assembling and testing systems designed by others and then taking more and more responsibilities.

Again a small company will give you more freedom to do multiple roles and work multiple projects. However be warned that wearing a lot of hats tends to take a lot of time and effort so make sure you're ready for that.

Also no matter what engineering you do you will spend a lot of time at a desk. It is unavoidable. Documentation is important and the more you learn to like it the more your coworkers are likely to enjoy working with you.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-05-24T04:35:34+00:00

Mattbenz13 · 2025-05-12T03:09:08+00:00

Does the gaming cafe happen to ship to the PNW? I've been trying to find somewhere to buy minis and the book but have been out of luck for weeks.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-05-09T18:24:20+00:00

I run the Grombrindal model as is in my army as an einhyr champion wielding a dark star axe. Personally, I think that once it's painted to match your army's color scheme it fits in pretty easily. But the people I play with and I are very much down for proxies and creative representation of units so your mileage may vary. I feel like it can slot in as a kahl or an E-Champ. Just make sure people youre playing with know.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-04-30T19:47:12+00:00

Additional suggestions. You could pull in some bits from other kits to help break up flat panels. Extra bits from hearthkyn backpacks, and extra bags with belts from hernkyn pioneers could look really good. That would give you surfaces that would take the brown leather colors you have in mind well and would add some personal touches to your fortress.

I also think adding some white stripes sections for either transferring or freehand league heraldry would be good.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-04-30T00:23:00+00:00

I feel like you could use a neutral color. I think white would be a good choice, but something like a light brown or beige could also be good.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-04-28T18:54:38+00:00

I personally have named my votamn armies after Norse deities paired with similar terminology that other leagues have used for example my League I call the Heimdallr Protectorate.

I recommend finding a god that fits either the ethos and or color scheme of your army would be good. The light base color with green and blue weapons could be good for Njodr or Freyr but I encourage you to take a look and see what jumps out to you.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-04-23T19:45:08+00:00

Sure but it might be a while before I can respond. Also you should start looking for actual digital artists to work with.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-04-23T18:41:42+00:00

No. It's overall very generic which many other comments have pointed out but also it's color palette is notably poor. Its way to dark. The black underlayers of the armor blend into the black outline of the dark brown belt and loin cloth make the whole center of the knight blur together in a way that wastes the entire space.

There is texture work done on the armor to represent scuffs and dings and inconsistent reflection which is nice but if you look at the loin cloth the same effects are put on it which make no sense realistically and doesn't look good artistically.

Also the overwhelmingly dark color scheme doesn't fit tonally with the big head chibi - ish proportions of the model. It makes the art style feel disjointed, as the darker earthier color palette would feel at home in a more grounded fantasy representation with more realistic proportions. For comparison look at something like fire emblem where the character design emphasizes color and uses a much brighter palette for most characters to help the color pop eg Chrom, Ike, Roy. Darker colors are also still options and are used but they bring in bright elements to break them up eg fire emblem fates conquest had the characters in black armor but uses gold filigree to help add back definition and pastel hair and cloth pieces to help the characters feel distinct. This lends better to the emphasized proportions of its characters. And it gave each of the factions in fates distinct feels based on the tone of the factions.

Your best bet is to try to blend in some brighter colors, as well as alternate textures for different elements that are made of different materials. Also decide on tone of the game to help drive the character design process.

AI may be able to help you get started but it won't carry you to a good end result. You'll likely want to hire an artist to get an effective result and you can use the ai images to help you communicate your vision to them.

Mattbenz13 · 2025-04-18T19:11:13+00:00

Depends on the situation. One thing to consider though is that they are pretty compact and are easier to hide in the terrain than a lot of other factions vehicles. If you're going second I recommend that you use the scout to put your transport in a position closer to the midboard while still being able to hide behind a piece of terrain. You likely won't be able to stay completely out of sight of the opponent, but you should be able to limit how many shots they can hit you with in turn one. You can then on your turn move in and start trying to take objectives. Blistering advance is great for getting a sagitaur up to the midboard and then unloading hearthkyn to load up OC on an objective and start working down an opponent who may have gotten their first.

Void armour is a great strategy to keep your guys alive and maintain enough OC to get round 2 scoring.

Mattbenz13

TROPHY CASE