[DISCUSSION] Do you consider online gameplay to be a core pillar of Monster Hunter?

[Lutyrannus]

NOTE: By online, I mean online, not just multiplayer. I mean connecting to a server of some kind, and meeting up with players across the nation/globe in order to socialize, hunt, and so on.

Monster Hunter clearly and obviously began as an online RPG - essentially an MMORPG, without the "massively multiplayer" part. However as time has gone on, and Monster Hunter became more well-known for it's local play rather than online in Japan, this aspect of the series has been de-emphasized considerably.

So, I'm curious - how important do you consider this element of the series?

For me, it's incredibly important. Not necessary, mind you, until a year or so ago I didn't really care about playing Monster Hunter online or in multiplayer at all. It wasn't until I played MH1 and realized how magical a specialized online multiplayer experience can be, that I began to consider online multiplayer to be one of the most important parts of a Monster Hunter game for me.

Hell, my favorite memories in MH1 often tie back to me just chilling in the town tavern and using the game like it was a glorified chat room.

[Artylo]

I'd say that if there wasn't any real online element, I wouldn't be playing the series as much. It's pretty much the only reason why I keep playing, really. I'd go as far as saying that I hate playing solo outside of maybe the first couple of hours of each game where the monsters are relatively easy.
I even wrote about this recently, considering that I've been digging into Freedom Unite as of late:

Since I've somewhat wrapped up with doing the single-player portion of the title, excluding the new high rank Nekoht quests, I've been dipping my toes into the Gathering Halls and I have some impressions on Freedom Unite's idea of multiplayer. One really big disappointment to me is the lack of any real social features in Freedom Unite. Yes, you can still use gestures and make vaguely rounded threats or compliments by vigorously crouching like your forefathers before you, but the whole sense of community is fairly limited by the lack of centralised servers and the reliance on the PSP's ad-hoc local network multiplayer. Having twenty four guild halls, housing one full party of four hunters each is a bit of an unpleasant system. Not having any build in chat also results in multiple minutes of just vague gesticulations in the direction of what each member wants done. This is somewhat circumvented by the advent of new P2P networks and emulation's ability to provide a separate network chat, but it is still a work-around for what I can only assume was a pretty terrible multiplayer ecosystem outside of Japan.
You'd need to have a group of people, all with their own independent systems and copies of the game be physically around you, people that you can sit in a room or loiter somewhere outside so you can play a couple of hunts together. And then again, if you didn't know each-other, you'd have to sift through twenty four guild halls to see which one they've connected to, lest their option was set to automatically connect to the first empty one.
Being able to talk with one another physically might explain the lack of actual chat systems, but I'd also imagine you wouldn't exclusively be playing with people you know, so shouting "Can we capture this one!" across the train, might not be the most efficient way to divulge such deeply held desires as far as being sociable is concerned.

The whole shift from eight player slots in town to the local multiplayer four, where there'd only be one full party is a real deal-breaker for me. I'll even take the online implementation in World/Iceborne over it with it's big 16-ish player lobbies (even though no one ever really used the Gathering Hall in those games unless they were a pre-made party to begin with).
Rise/Sunbreak was also much less reliant on having a big hub town and just letting you assemble parties or matchmake, but it still let you search for lobbies if you wanna find a long-term hunting group. The way it handled quick join and let you randomly join in on a LR, HR or MR quest also contributes to the sense of community, despite being very indirect. I also think that seeing the "You mutual like X has joined the quest." is a really nice touch, considering that most people automatically give out likes at the end of hunts. It makes it so you go "Hey, it's that hunting horn guy from before!" and maybe they remember you too.
I also think the reason why there's a minute-long timer at the end of hunts isn't because of any real technical limitation, but it's meant to give you time to socialise and celebrate with the other hunters in the group. When I'm on MH1, there isn't a hunt that doesn't end in "Good job ♫" or spamming gestures. I've also been doing that when I play Rise, instantly busting out Prance like the good ol' days.
I also really like seeing other people's weapons and armour, especially nowadays with the layered armour systems. I do wish there was some return to the full blown town system, and I think Capcom are working in that direction in developing the technology and infrastructure to make stuff like Street Fighter 6's Battle Hub. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a similar system whenever the next MonHun gets announced.
I haven't played Frontier yet, so I don't know how the actual MonHun MMO handles the hub towns, but if my fantasies about it are correct, it's just a bunch of people in glowing armour walking around doing trivial stuff, which is exactly what I want. My only real fear about online being a real fundamental part of the game is that it might turn MonHun into an always online service, which I desperately do not want.

[AmyRoxwell]

NOTE: By online, I mean online, not just multiplayer. I mean connecting to a server of some kind, and meeting up with players across the nation/globe in order to socialize, hunt, and so on.

Monster Hunter clearly and obviously began as an online RPG - essentially an MMORPG, without the "massively multiplayer" part. However as time has gone on, and Monster Hunter became more well-known for it's local play rather than online in Japan, this aspect of the series has been de-emphasized considerably.

So, I'm curious - how important do you consider this element of the series?

For me, it's incredibly important. Not necessary, mind you, until a year or so ago I didn't really care about playing Monster Hunter online or in multiplayer at all. It wasn't until I played MH1 and realized how magical a specialized online multiplayer experience can be, that I began to consider online multiplayer to be one of the most important parts of a Monster Hunter game for me.

Hell, my favorite memories in MH1 often tie back to me just chilling in the town tavern and using the game like it was a glorified chat room.

It is 100% a crucial aspect of Monster Hunter, solo hunting is nice and all, but without the multiplayer aspect this game series would be absolutely death since mh1, being able to hunt with other people motivates people to try other stuff, to improve, to even form strong relationships, without multiplayer it feels more lonely and the world feels dead, static, like you are the only hunter that cares to hunt.

[Risky(Glyph)]

without multiplayer it feels more lonely and the world feels dead, static, like you are the only hunter that cares to hunt.

Can confirm, it was rough to go back after the MH1 servers shut down at the end of 2007.

Also, idk how it is with Rise, but a solid amount of content is online-only in almost all of the games afaik, so I'd definitely consider online to be a key part of the experience.

[AmyRoxwell]

without multiplayer it feels more lonely and the world feels dead, static, like you are the only hunter that cares to hunt.

Also, idk how it is with Rise, but a solid amount of content is online-only in almost all of the games afaik, so I'd definitely consider online to be a key part of the experience.

RISE IS TERRIBLE, THE SOS FLARE SYSTEM KILLED LOBBIES

[Rune]

yup, being able to meet new hunters is important. i don't really play monhun games without a plan to play multiplayer because i find it kinda boring if my progress isn't eventually going to translate to the ability to participate in tougher hunting parties and help weaker hunters

(this was not always the case though since mh1 was the first one i played online in this way)

i think this community aspect is currently strongest in mh1 which is probably one of the reasons i like it

[Excylis]

RISE IS TERRIBLE, THE SOS FLARE SYSTEM KILLED LOBBIES

So true queen

[Draculestia]

I didn't play much online when I started the series in Freedom Unite - just a small number of poor-connection interactions on Adhoc Party. When I jumped on Tri however, that online interaction became what I enjoyed about Monster Hunter. The building of my character in the offline portion of the game is solely to be able to use that to play with others, either for fun or to help them. Any game where I haven't been able to do that (and the number of those games are dwindling fast) was always missing a big chunk of the fun for me.

[Lutyrannus]

Also, idk how it is with Rise, but a solid amount of content is online-only in almost all of the games afaik, so I'd definitely consider online to be a key part of the experience.

The only Monster Hunter games with a significant amount of content locked behind an online connection (excluding things like update content and DLCs, I mean things that require an active connection to a server when you play it) are MH1, MHG, MH2, and MH3. Every other Monster Hunter game has the vast majority of content accessible while you're offline.

[BabyRath]

Over time, I've started to think it is a crucial element. At the start I was only playing local multiplayer in FU, then 3U (3DS gaaaang...). But playing 4U, I started seeing how meeting and joining forces with new people was such a great aspect of the series. The games with a focus on local multiplayer were like this because they expected you to find random people around you and wanted to allow you to hunt with them on a whim, essentially meaning you'd have to do the online part of the multiplayer with your own two feet. So now I'm very happy that the community has not only rehabilitated the possibilty to play the online mode of the older games, but also retroactively made it possible to do so in games like FU and P3rd through communities and hosting servers for the members of it.