Monster Hunter Now players slam “terrible” Hunt-a-thon event changes

James Busby
Hunters fighting Zinogre

The Monster Hunter Now community has called out Niantic over their Hunt-a-thon changes, which many believe had made the game worse. 

Monster Hunter Now Hunt-a-thons have always been a divisive feature ever since they were added to the game. While they offer a decent challenge for the community, their reliance on co-op hunting can make them impenetrable for solo players. There’s also the fact that certain monsters like Zinogre are locked behind them, which means farming materials can be incredibly slow. 

However, the latest Hunt-a-thon timing changes have only served to worsen the community’s woes, especially for those who live in more rural areas. It’s because of this, that many Monster Hunter Now players have called out Niantic for their latest update. 

Monster Hunter Now players slam Hunt-a-thon update changes

“Why would they reduce the amount of HATs so significantly during the HAT event week? I’m not even worried about getting the event quest done, I’m just bored and even less motivated to play now,” wrote one player on the Monster Hunter Now Reddit page

“I’m on 8-star story and seeing more and more 5-star and 7-star spawns lately, I’m not going to go out for a measly one or two 8-stars when there are no good HATs around either. Only other thing worth hunting for me anymore is Zinogre and can’t even do that reliably.!

While the community acknowledged that the Hunt-a-thon changes had been made to increase the chances of running into other players in the wild, for many players, the changes only serve to limit their playtime. This is especially true for those outside of major cities and areas with high population densities.

Monster Hunter Now Longsword
The Monster Hunter Now community believes Hunt-a-thons have gotten worse.

“Niantic just can’t seem to understand that Japan has the density required for local multiplayer but literally nowhere else does,” explained one frustrated player. “If they don’t get it through their heads that either stop pushing multiplayer required activities, or make online multiplayer a thing, the game will not be sustainable otherwise.”

Many players also noted how a popular Pokemon Go feature would help alleviate a lot of the current issues associated with Hunt-a-thons. “If we could remote invite our friends to HATs, that would be amazing. Like remote raids with PoGo,” replied one Hunter. “Niantic is always weirdly anti-remote invite, even despite it being massively popular among their player base and people willing to PAY them $$$ for the option.”

Whether Niantic will make any further adjustments to Hunt-a-thons remains to be seen, but for now, it looks like the HATs remain a major issue within the game’s community.