Return to World #2 – The Ancient Forest & Hunting Great Jagras!

How’s the hunting?

Welcome to our next instalment of the Return to World community blog! In this week’s post we’re going to be delving into a number of firsts new hunters in Monster Hunter: World will experience - your first hunting location, making your first armour set and weapon, then of course, facing your first Large Monster!

Before we get into that though, just a quick reminder that Steam’s The Game Awards sale ends on December 21st, meaning you only have a couple of days from the time of this post to get World at its lowest ever price on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/582010/Monster_Hunter_World/

Now with that out of the way, it’s time to set out into the Ancient Forest…

Hunting Locations – The Ancient Forest

Welcome to the Ancient Forest, a lush, greenery filled area that’s as dense as it is tall and brimming with life – from endemic creatures and small monsters, like the Jagras, to a variety of powerful large monsters that lurk in the undergrowth and treetop canopies under the watchful gaze of the King of the Skies…

Heading out from camp!

Stepping out from your camp, you’ll emerge onto the Ancient Forest’s shoreline, giving you the options to travel further along down the coast, head into the surrounding forest or even start your approach to the huge tree that dwarfs the surrounding area.

Talking of exploring and gathering items, it’s definitely worth grabbing anything you come by, but keep a special lookout for:

• Herbs – To craft Potions that heal you!

• Honey – Combine with Potions to make Mega Potions, offering much greater healing!

• Bone Piles – To aid in crafting and upgrading your gear!

• Mining Outcrops – To also aid in crafting and upgrading your gear!

Of course, there’s even more for you to forage and find out there, and if you find your bag full, you can always return to camp to deposit your items for later use.

Talking of your camp, you’re not limited to just the one! The Ancient Forest has four total camps you can make use of, including your starting one.

In order to use the other three, first you’ll need to find the suitable spaces and then rebuild them. That’s where your exploration comes in! The verticality of this region hides many secrets, both above and below you – look out for hidden pathways to crawl through on the ground, as well as potential hideaways up in the branches!

Once you’ve found one of these spaces, you’ll get a notification that a camp can be built. Then you’ll want to head back to Astera and select “Complete Deliveries” at the Resource Center, giving you the option to trade materials for a new, permanent camp to be built. (Which requires resources from the area, so if you’ve been stocking up as you’ve been exploring you’ll probably be able to complete the request immediately!)

Once built, you’ll have a new spawn location you can use when starting a quest in the Ancient Forest, or fast travel to when you’re already there, helping you quickly move through the area!

You’ll be visiting and returning to the Ancient Forest frequently during your questing through the New World, so investing some time unlocking these camps will pay off in the long run, but there’s no pressure, discover them at your own pace!

Your First Large Monster – Great Jagras

You’ve been gathering materials, taking down small monsters and settling into the Ancient Forest, but