As part of my clearing of old quests, I paid a bit more attention to Palico gear and Tailraiders.  There’s something addictive about bars that keep growing after all.

My Vigorwasp has been maxed for a while now – the free heals and 1time free rez is great for breaking new grounds on monsters.  But if I want put damage, then there’s an odd mix with the Orchestra (tons of buffs) or the Meowlotov Cocktail (bombs, bombs, and more bombs).  The latter works best in a smaller area, especially with a stunned monster.  The former just works.   At least now I know, and it will give me a few more options as I hunt forward.  It’s nice to see how much those gadgets have improved since the base game (Plunderblade is arguably worse).  And the best way to get there is to just keep doing Arena battles.

Another bar that moved was the Tailraiders.  These used to max out at level 5, and frankly didn’t do all that much except some minor damage.  In some rare cases, they gave you some extra loot that you needed.  Hunting the Guiding Lands, these guys boost the Dragon ore collection process by about 15%, so it’s worth getting them.  But regular battles?

Sure enough, one hits level 6 and I get a notice that I can Pawswap.  This is a trading minigame where you get extra items (including cosmetics) from exchanging items with the Tailraiders.  It’s a mix between Pickers and a treasure hunt I guess.

Levels 7-10 now have the Tailraider drop loot when they die, use their gear more often, summon a second one when they die, and deal a stupid amount of damage.  And since the Iceborne expansion gives you a gadget that can summon them from anywhere, it’s a whole lot easier to find them.

Leveling them took a bit to figure out.  Attacking monsters certainly helps, but it’s limited to a portion of the bar at a time.  A neat trick instead is to use the Wide Range decoration (level 1 is fine) and chug a potion with them nearby.  See the green mist hit them, then turn to the Handler and check your rewards.   Combined with Free Meal (25% of not consuming the potion) and it should take less than 20 potions to max from 5 to 10.

Finally, Poogie.  You get this pig in the base game and he starts wandering around in Iceborne.  Was mostly just a thing to see.  Now though, there’s a super simple minigame to pet him.  If he likes you, carry him in your arms and wait for the controller to shake.  Put him down and he’ll dig for some pig cosmetics.  It’s both cute and absurd to see a pig dressed in a tutu.

Some weird little bits in MHW that I really wasn’t paying attention to… you know, cause of the giant laser shooting apes and all.  There’s a crazy amount of stuff in here.

Oh, and Anthem hit year 1 over the weekend.  Still has the Christmas lights up in town.  So there’s that.