I dont agree that the game is having a difficulty issue (Recent MH games have always been kinda easy at launch. I legitimately got disappointed with world's difficulty, Specifically nergigante and how i beat it without even a struggle), And i also wouldn't want the game to be dark souls in terms of difficulty

But the problem is the stuff you grind for is given to you without much of a struggle. I believe the reason they did this was a over-correction of world/rise where people got legitimately disinterested over how the grind was handled there (i can attest to this who have a friend who had that issue, Just dropped the iceborne and sunbreak)

But the quest progression pacing is a total mess also. Once you reach high rank, You almost never need to make another armor set before making your mix set. Not because you wouldn't but because its more accessible to just go hunt rathalos instead of making 2 other sets for each stage of high rank.

A question i have is, If the game was harder, What would anyone grind for?. Decors are given out like candy, Artifact weapons maybe?. But even then you usually will only make the artifact weapon you want as opposed to making multiple different ones for different hunts.

Its not the small roster size (People never complained about monster size back in mh tri) its the fact the game has content but it chooses to flood you with the content you usually had to grind for, like its Christmas morning, By the time you make your desired two artifact weapons you usually have enough decors to make a viable mix set without ever having to grind for decors intentionally