Getting together with friends in Monster Hunter: World can be intimidating. There are all these menus! There are session codes! Sometimes, you get error messages when you try to join someone! And do you really have to go on Expeditions alone? There is a lot to process, and it may take some time to figure things out. But once you know what you are doing, it can get a bit easier.
The easiest ways to get hunting with friends can involve the Friends list and invitation system. While it is the method that most often presents me with an error, checking the Now Playing section of your PlayStation 4 Friends list and choosing to Join Session is rather painless. It is equally easy to go into the in-game menu, head to the Invite a Friend option from the Communication menu and invite people you have registered as Friends. This especially works well if you make a Private Session, perhaps even one with a code. (If you want to see each other in this mode, head upstairs to the Gathering Hall.)
If you don’t have friends to play with, it is even easier to find others to work with. The automatic matchmaking reliably assigns people to slots. If you search for certain guidelines, you can try and find sessions dedicated to specific monsters or quests. I’ve found it is easiest to get into one of these specific sessions if you go with one that has under 10 people in it. I am playing on the PlayStation 4 version and find I tend to receive error messages if it is more crowded than that.
Now, working out which quests can be played can be a bit tricky. A good rule of thumb is that your story progress and hunter rank determine what you can and can not do. If you want to work with a particular friend, it is best to have the person with the lowest rank and progress pick the quests. If you are on your own and looking for help, the SOS Flare might be your best option. See, the first time you try to take an Assigned Quest, Monster Hunter: World will not let you have people join you in the hub. You have to fail it once first, before the game lets that happen. But, you can send up the SOS Flare once you are in the quest, even if it would not allow people to join in the hub.
But, what about Expeditions? There is no option to ask for people to join you before you head out into the field for random exploration. It is possible to have people tag along, though. One way to trigger this is to head on an Expedition alone, then send up the SOS Flare. This will allow someone to join you. But, you can also do this by choosing to Return to Camp after completing an Assigned or Optional mission with people. This will not disband your party after the mission is over and will instead allow you to stay and work together.
To help people work things out, Siliconera will be hosting its first Monster Hunter: World afternoon on February 3, 2018. For one hour, we will have a session open for PlayStation 4-owning members of the community to come together and enjoy some hunts. Keep an eye out for our post with the session code!
While it can take some time to adjust to the Monster Hunter: World’s multiplayer options, it is great to explore with others once the details have been worked out. It may still be a bit frustrating, especially if your friend is in another person’s session and it fills up or spawns an error message when you attempt to get into it. But if you take the right precautions, it won’t take too long to get together with people who want to help you succeed.
Monster Hunter: World is available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will come to the PC in Fall 2018.
