Starting Monster Hunter: World now with massive expansion Iceborne on the horizon may seem intimidating, but additional changes and features coming with updates will help players get through the base game fast. Some of these were just revealed, like the Guardian Armor set and Helper Hunter incentives, alongside the newest trailer.

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New Monsters in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne 27 IMAGES

Guardian Armor Set

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“ I think that this is the best time ever [to play Monster Hunter: World]

We talked to executive director and art director Kaname Fujioka, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, and director Daisuke Ichihara about how the Iceborne expansion and accompanying updates will change the experience for new-comers to World, and they offered a lot of insight."If you currently have World and you're thinking, 'I don't want to buy the expansion because I'm not done with World yet,' well, there's a bunch of balance updates and content that's being added into World with Iceborne," said producer Ryozo Tsujimoto.One of those new features added with Iceborne is the new Clutch Claw, which is available in World regardless of how far along you are. This tool allows hunters to grapple onto a monster, control its movement, and send it flying into walls. It also enables you to soften up a part of a monster's hide - essentially creating a weak point wherever you want."The Clutch Claw actually makes a great, fun way to get through World content easier because those monsters weren't designed for it...so it's quite an advantage to have it," Tsujimoto explained.All weapons can fire Slinger ammo while drawn and gain new moves with Iceborne installed as well, changing gameplay up a bit and offering some new advantages.On September 4, regardless if Iceborne is purchased or not, all players will be able to download a new, free Guardian Armor Set . This set was made to make staying alive easier, and includes incredibly defensive skills. It's a High Rank set, but even hunters who are just starting World will be able to wear it."The thing is, we didn't want to make just some sort of cheesy set that is invincible to get through really quickly because then you won't learn how to play the game, and ultimately you'll get to the new content and you won't be any good at it, and that won't be satisfying for you or for anyone who's trying to play with you," Tsujimoto said.You'll still have to learn the monster's moveset and tells, prepare with the correct items, and master a weapon, even with the Guardian Armor Set. It comes with skills that increase health, stamina, recovery, and gives a chance to decrease damage taken by 50 percent."If you put [Monster Hunter: World] aside because you were just having too much difficulty it should make it easier to stick with it and get through that stuff. But it's by no means a way to just zoom through spamming attacks because that's not what Monster Hunter is about," Tsujimoto emphasized.It's also apt to note the Guardian Armor Set isn't meant to be useful into Iceborne--so once a player gets into Master Rank, it will be time to trade it in for something better made with Master Rank monster parts.Ichihara explained the Hunter Helper system, a new sort-of incentive program that automatically recognizes the rank-discrepancy and gives extra rewards to the more experienced player who has helped the lower-rank player."It's a way to motivate higher-rank players who might not have other reasons to do lower-rank quests anymore," Ichihara explained. "I mean, I think you'll want to help people, but it's going to also give you a concrete reward for doing so."Players can earn a new in-game achievement or trophy (like via PSN or Xbox Live), and there is an extra slot in post-quest rewards which will be filled with things like vouchers or tickets. Lastly, you'll be able to earn special Pendants by helping players. Pendants are purely cosmetic--they're decorations you can attach to your weapons.There's also quite a laundry list of updates coming with the Ver. 10.00 update that will apply to all Monster Hunter: World players, with or without Iceborne, like the new dynamic two-player difficulty scaling . Among these updates is change in how collecting tracks to progress through the story works, a part in Monster Hunter: World where many players stopped playing."I think people were finding it difficult to locate tracks, like there weren't enough of them so they couldn't find where the next one was," Tsujimoto said. "We've rebalanced that and increased the number of tracks there are, so maybe anyone who was finding it hard to get through the tracking phase of quests in World, should find it easier now."The Monster Hunter World: Iceborne developers hope with all of these new features and re-balances, getting through Monster Hunter: World to meet up with friends in Iceborne will be as streamlined as possible.For more on Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, don't miss these 9 Quality of Life Improvements in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne , and our Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Subspecies Preview with Gameplay

Casey DeFreitas is an Editor at IGN who loves monster hunting, slaying, and catching. Catch her on Twitter @ShinyCaseyD