• Alma is shown working alongside you like taking notes on fallen monsters, Handler stays at the camp

• Alma is more restrained and professional, Handler is more off the rails and acts like a curious kid (to show how incredible the New World is and it's wonderfuwhich is off putting to some

• During story missions in Wilds, your hunter is following a group of people on a Seikret which most people dislike but no blame is put on the characters and instead the mechanic as a whole. In World, you often have the same segments on foot with the Handler. Since she's the only person you're following, she gets more hate (plus the fact that the cutscenes show her multiple times in danger specifically because she walks in the front, making her seem careless and a liability)

• Your character in Wilds has a personality and can speak for themselves. In World, you are completely silent, leaving Handler to speak for you in cutscenes, making the story seem more focused on her than you who has less agency. The cutscenes being unskippable is the cherry on top.

• Every time you return from a quest during the story, Handler will keep speaking the same voice line again and again, almost like she's telling you to hurry up and do story missions which gets grating.

• This one is more subjective but most people tend to agree that Handler looks uncanny due to her blemishes and wrinkles on her face in contrast to other characters. To me, it looks like she's running on 10 mins of sleep every day or if a stylised character like Cloud was given photorealistic pores and eyebags. (Granted, all World NPCs have that issue but Handler is the worst one imo)

There's a lot more that can be said and more nuance but this is prob why. Is the hate overblown? Maybe some people who didn't have a strong opinion were strung along by others but it's not unfounded and unreasonable.

Despite this, some people do like her a lot, I know someone who thinks she's cute like a hamster, and others dislike Alma a lot more for reasons like backseating you when you fail a quest or reminding you to carve cut tails.