For the most part, Monster Hunter Wilds has delivered on almost everything it has promised, with the best visuals in the series, an open world packed to the brim with detail, some of the best combat in gaming, at least in my opinion, and plenty of monsters. There are a lot of firsts when it comes to MH Wilds, and that naturally means features from other games have to be dropped to make room. While combat is some of the most fun it has ever been in a Monster Hunter game thanks to Focus Mode, tracking is non-existent.

The games have begun to trend away from tracking monsters, making it easier and easier to find them in the world, and despite having a brilliant open world to explore, there isn't much of a reason to do so. Still, if MH Wilds maintained one of my favorite features from World, there could have been a reason to go hunting and tracking of a different kind, giving players another reason to pay close attention to the ecosystems. It would have also provided even more customization, something that fans of MH Wilds have clearly taken to with all the outfits.

MH Wilds Could Benefit From Giving Players True Rooms Like In World

The Grand Hub Would Be The Perfect Location For It

MH Wilds conveys the feeling of arriving in a strange, mysterious land for the first time, with the Avis Unit setting up camps throughout the Forbidden Lands as they are the first most of the areas have had with outsiders. This is different to MH World, where fleets of Hunters have come before the protagonist, and thus the facilities feel more prepared, giving the Hunter a room to operate out of. Although the Hunter in Wilds still has some accommodation to customize in the form of their campsite, it isn't quite the same for a few reasons.

The Avis Unit is the Hunter's squad in MH Wilds, with Olivia being the Hunter of the Astrum Unit.

For one, the inside of the tent can't be customized, and the campsite options are a little lacking, especially compared to the Hunter's room in Seliana. There also isn't a sense of progression as the player rises in the ranks, since the Hunter from World gets a better room in Astera as they complete the story. Finally, there isn't a place to store pets in MH Wilds, despite all the little creatures that players can capture with their nets. There are plenty of quests around capturing creatures too, particularly from the Hunter's Palico.

While the launch version of MH Wilds didn't have a suitable place to put a proper room, unless the base camps decided to make the Hunter's tent three times larger, Title Update 1 added the Grand Hub. While acting as a massive Gathering Hub, the Grand Hub also feels like a base with access to everything players could need, and given its size, it feels like room could be made for the Hunter's personal chambers. This could act as a space to customize, like Iceborne's Seliana room, and to store cute little critters.

Collecting Pets Could Give Players A Reason To Explore The Open World

And Make Use Of The Capture Net

Despite the beauty of the Forbidden Lands, there isn't much of a reason to explore them unless players want to collect specific items to trade or craft with. Sure, a nice jaunt to see how well-crafted the ecosystems are is always nice, paired with a quick fishing trip, but keeping an eye out for little creatures to keep in a room would have given players another reason to pay attention to the environment. MH Wilds can sometimes feel it points players right at the monster to start a fight as soon as possible, but a reason to change the pace is never bad.

A capture net can also be used to catch fish in fishing spots, provided they're in range.

It's strange because it feels that players have a few more options with the capture net, given that it can be used atop a Seikret and there are quests from the Hunter's Palcio in which they will be given more tools based on the capture of some creatures. Information about what is captured is stored in the players' notes, telling them how many of each creature has been captured, but there's no way to physically see them, and seemingly very little reason to collect pets unless for quests. This is unlike World, which lets pets add more customization.

Even in the non-customizable rooms in Astera, players can fill them with creatures they have collected during their hunts. In Seliana, players can even collect plant life to display, put creatures in an aquarium, hot spring area, and throughout their room. The best part was being able to interact with the pets by sitting down on furniture. I, for one, spent too many of my 300 hours in MH World running around the Hoarfrost Reach to collect as many penguins as possible, then sitting down to feed and pet them. It was a nice break from hunting the Safi'jiva.

MH Wilds Already Has The Series' Best Customization

And Adding Customizable Rooms Will Push That Further

MH Wilds already has the series' best customization, at least as far as the Hunter and Palico are concerned. Players are able to craft the exact character they want and put them in a particular outfit at High Rank, which has led to many people dubbing Wilds as 'Fashion Hunter'. Giving players a room to customize, like Seliana, in the Grand Hub would be brilliant, especially if players can show off these rooms to each other, like in Iceborne. It would be another feature that takes advantage of the 100-person lobbies and larger community.

Even if a full room isn't on the cards, Wilds should at least give players a little ecosystem to put plants and pets in, sort of like their own zoo. The Grand Hub does seem the perfect place for this kind of feature, and MH Wilds feels like the perfect Monster Hunter for players to show off what they have collected. It would make the capture of small creatures while exploring the ecosystems more purposeful, and it feels like a small enough feature that could be added in a future update after the addition of the Grand Hub.

Customization feels like a bigger feature than ever in Monster Hunter Wilds compared to the rest of the series, given that there are TikToks and other short-form videos made constantly to show off Hunter outfits. This kind of treatment could be given to private rooms, especially because it's a place that Capcom could put microtransactions in, as they did with Seliana's room. Players could largely ignore this by just filling their room with all the cute critters they want from Wilds' ecosystems, and maybe it will encourage a few more expeditions.