As of Playing Capcorns Monster Hunter Wilds which available on February 28, there is now a 54.7% Steam user and 47.1% Play Station 5 owners have reached High Rank. Almost half of the users have already achieved this within only a few days of the release. On the other hand, when comparing previous versions, Monster Hunter: World required fewer quests to unlock. In comparison, the average completion rates for Steam and PlayStation 4 is 53.9% and 47.5% respectively.

In Monster Hunter: World, you had to complete at least 16 key quests to reach High Rank. In Monster Hunter Wilds, that number has gone up to 21. But even with the extra quests, players are moving through the game pretty fast—most likely thanks to Wilds’ smoother pacing. A big part of that is Secreto, the new rideable creature, which makes getting around a lot easier. It takes the auto-navigation from Iceborne’s Monster Riding and mixes it with the freeform movement of Rise’s Palamutes. So far, Secreto’s AI seems smarter than previous systems, making it easier to traverse the open environments without getting stuck.

Capcom has made a few changes to keep the game feeling more accessible. One of the reasons they introduced Secreto’s auto-travel is that, in World, some players quit before they even got to the hunts. Wilds also does a better job guiding players through weapon choices and eases them into the difficulty curve, making it less overwhelming for newcomers.

Some players think early-game monsters might have less health this time around, making those first hunts feel faster. Other quality-of-life updates, like a cleaner UI, might also be helping more people reach High Rank. But when it comes to full-game completion, the numbers tell a different story—only 22.6% of Steam players and 16.4% of PS5 players have unlocked the final key quest achievement. Compare that to World, where 45.1% of Steam players and 38.3% of PS4 players finished the equivalent quest (The Blue Guidance Star).

Of course, Monster Hunter Wilds is still new, so it’ll be interesting to see how these numbers change over time. We’ve seen before how pacing improvements can affect progression—take Monster Hunter Rise, for example. On Steam, 59.4% of players reached High Rank, way more than in World, while the PS5/PS4 version sits much lower at 29.1%. The addition of Palamutes for faster travel in Rise probably had a lot to do with that.

As Monster Hunter Wilds continues to evolve, balancing challenge and accessibility will be key in shaping how players progress through the game in the months ahead.