Had a really good successful night with randoms. I think maybe playing late at night when more of Japan is online is probably better haha.
Cleared up most of HR5, no wipes and then I jumped into Mizutsune HR6 and oooooooooooh boy. I heard people say this fight was cart central with randoms and I jump in with my 272 DEF and pump up Water Res to 15 and feel good, then I join the fight and in the first minute I get one-shotted
Well two-shotted technically, got knocked down with a 25-30% hit and then something hit me for 70%
Felt bad for my team. So I went back and played VERY VERY CAREFULLY and learned the fight pretty well, fought good, was blocking and step hopping with my evade extender 3 and getting pokes and blasts in here and there. Someone else got a cart pretty earlier so we were down to the wire and the fight was intense as fuck and we beat it.
First time in Rise that after we beat the monster I just stood there because I was still feeling "...holy fuck, we are alive"
If that's representative of the HR6 fights, gonna have to spend a bit of time working on my gear again. Almost there, just gotta get through these HR6 monsters and then at final HR and endgame/elder fights.
Excited for the rest of the fights. Gunlance turns Monster Hunter into Dark Souls Heavy Build. On the tougher more intense fights it's super satisfying keeping the shield out and hopping around and getting hits in carefully while dodging & countering or side stepping a boss attack and countering. I actually think I prefer it to rolling. You have fewer i-frames, but it just feels more technical and satisfying blocking and stepping. I like playing Souls as heavy builds and it really has a lot of similarities in feel. On the easier fights it doesn't show as much, but on the harder fights where you can just mash damage because hits will kill you it's got a nice dodge and counter flow.