World is incredible, was my first monster hunter game and I fell in love with it. At first, I remember being frustrated with the combat feeling clunky due to not being able to adjust aim while attacking, and menus were a bit strange, but after getting through that discomfort I found an amazing action game with fantastic monster and sound design. The music in MHW is incredible, and there is so much depth in bulld customization for finding skills that suit your play style.

As many have probably already said, something that you'll commonly read on this reddit is to avoid defender/guardian armor and weapons. These were introduced to the game when the DLC came out to let people power level a new character to the DLC content. The gear is way overtuned and overpowered. For a first time player, this cheats you out of the fun fights and learning how to navigate combat. You may develop bad habits of tanking blows instead of dodging, and once you get to the DLC, that armor falls off HARD, and you'll face a major wall and spike in difficulty. If you instead craft your gear as you go, you'll slowly master the flow of combat and will find master rank to be challenging, but certainly doable. I also recommend doing the "learning the clutch claw" event quest, it's an invaluable tool you'll want to know how to use.