On the 25th of June, a media event for 'Monster Hunter: World' took place in Seoul Korea. Including Tsujimoto Ryojo, multiple developers from Capcom attended the event to introduce the upcoming DLC for MHW, Iceborne, in person. 

Iceborne is a large-scale DLC for MHW that comes with a new area populated with new monsters. In addition, Iceborne also reintroduced some of the old monsters from the sequel's previous titles. The first public showcase of Iceborne took place on May 10, and the developers continued to provide further information regarding the DLC through major gaming events such as E3. 

MHW producer, Tsujimoto Ryojo himself, climbed on stage to present Iceborne to the crowd. "There are many MHW players here in Korea... I'm more than happy to showcase Iceborne here," he said. 

With Iceborne, a new rank called 'Master Rank' will be added to the game. And alongside it, a new storyline will also bee added and it will be accessible for players who have completed the main storyline. 

A mass of Legianna who inhabit the Coral Highlands has been spotted crossing the sea. In pursuit, adventurers came upon a new, snowy land, Hoarfrost Reach. The DLC's story will take place in this area. Hoarfrost Reach is planned to be the largest map in MHW. 

There is a new home base in Hoarfrost Reach called Seliana. Unlike Astera, which had been built and fortified over a long period of time, the construction of Seliana was rushed by the guild. As a result, the new base will be much smaller and compact, with all of its important facilities concentrated in a small area. This could be good news for a lot of the players as everything from storage to blacksmith will be far more convenient to access. For example, previously in Astera, in order to access room services such as Tailrider Safari, you had to enter your room. In Seliana, you can access it through a booth outside your room.

Seliana is run with geothermal energy, harvested from a new facility called Steamworks. You can play mini-games in this new facility to earn new items by spending fuel that you can obtain through quests. The mini-game comes equipped with a gauge that increases the more you play. Once the gauge is full (at MAX), you can obtain even better, rarer items. 

In the 2nd beta test that'll be available on the 28th, players will be able to play up to three quests. They will also be able to get on a "Raider Ride," which is a new mechanic where players will be able to ride on small monsters. The raider ride can automatically find monster tracks on its own while you're preparing your arsenal for the hunt on his back. You can sharpen your weapon and perform other actions while on your raider ride. 

A new '2 player difficulty' will also be featured in Iceborne, and if a player disconnects while in game, the difficulty will automatically be adjusted to the single player difficulty. 

Every new weapon will have a new action called 'Clutch Claw'. The Clutch Claw action can injure a monster's body part, and following attacks on those injuries will have its damage amplified. You can also make the monster flinch with your slinger.

The map in Iceborne is also very dynamic. While in battle, avalanches and/or blizzards could occur. 

■ Developer Q&A

Q. How did you come up with the idea of 'Clutch Claw'?

A. We had already thought up the idea before the release of MHW. The main concept of MHW was for players to use the environment to hunt and collect resources. In order to amplify that element of the game, we added the Clutch Claw.

Q. You stated that Iceborne is a huge DLC. Just how big is it when compared to the original game? I also want to know if there are more 'new' monsters than 'old' ones in Iceborne. 

A. I can't go into detail regarding the monsters. In order to answer that question, I'd have to tell you how many monsters there are in Iceborne, and we can't spoil anything yet. I hope you can understand. 

We still have a lot of monsters that we have yet revealed to the public. We'll introduce them one by one before Iceborne's official release. The new DLC will not have a tutorial, as it's a content designed for veteran players that have already beat the original game.

Q. There are new actions and animations for each weapon. How did you balance them?

A. There are still 14 different types of weapons, as we're trying to strengthen the individuality and uniqueness of each weapon. This is necessary in order to keep each weapon feel unique... otherwise, every weapon will feel the same. 

Q. In the beta tests, some players stated that the Charge Axe felt a lot stronger than before and that the Longsword felt weaker.

A. There are still things that we need to adjust in the beta version of the game. Each weapon requires proper affinity and item builds to function properly. So the weapons could feel different in the beta. There will be a lot of new weapons when Iceborne officially launches, so I hope that the players will try them out. Some monsters are either easier or harder to take down depending on your weapon and skill set, so I hope the players enjoy that element of the game as well.

Q. On Capcom TV, you did a 'special gesture' when answering a question regarding a monster that was showcased in the last Monster Hunter: World promotional video. Can we expect Dinovaldo?

A. I never said anything about Dino Valdo. A tail appears and it heats up... that's all I can say. 

Q. Are there interactable NPC's such as the Gajalakas in Iceborne?

A. We created the Gajalaka and the others as something that can affect your adventure in very minor ways. Recently, when we did the collaboration with the Witcher, it may have seemed like they are a part of the game's story. No new tribes or races like the Gajalaka will be added in Iceborne. You can expect to see more existing characters that you've previously met in your adventure to appear.