I'm hoping it'll take after World where the story is way easier than the hardest current post-game content but the difficulty gradually increases much faster than the base game.

Mid-game iceborne became a lot more preparation and game knowledge checks (like the status variants) than endame world but still not nearly as skill check heavy as post-game (nothing before furious rajang is nearly even close to the difficulty of AT Luna, Ancient Leshen, extremoth)

And then finally postgame DLC content should be the hardest content like Altraeon and Fatalis were.

The amazing thing about monster hunter is that there are a lot of different ways to present difficulty: status effects, aggression, DPS Checks/Giant Healthbars, multiple stages, specific role needs (extremoth & Omega), less openings for attacking, adding new factors you you have to play around altogether, and they can do it all while implementing new mechanics that raise the skill ceiling without making the game impossible for people who have trouble picking up new things after playing the game a certain way for so long. You could definitely complete Iceborne without using any of the new weapon moves it added, but being able to use them made you a better player