Astera After the Jagras Investigation

After the Jagras Investigation, learn to forge and upgrade gear at Astera's Workshop, understand Research Points, and unlock online play at the Gathering Hub.

Alright, you've taken down your first big monster! Now it's time to see what Astera is all about. First things first, let's head back to the Workshop. You'll want to chat with the Second Fleet Master – that's the guy by the conveyor belt. He's super excited because you've brought him materials, and he's ready to show you how to turn those monster bits into awesome new gear!

He'll explain that you collect materials from hunts, and he uses them to craft new weapons and armor for you. As a welcome gift, he'll even give you some basic materials to get started. Once you're done chatting, the Workshop's full capabilities will be unlocked. You'll see options like:

• Forge Equipment: This is where you'll craft new weapons and armor using the materials you've gathered.
• Upgrade Equipment: Here, you can spend materials (like ores and monster parts for weapons, or Armor Spheres for armor) to make your gear even stronger. Weapons have upgrade trees, meaning you can choose different paths to evolve them. Don't worry about making the wrong choice, though – you can reverse upgrades and get your materials and Zenny back!
• Forge Palico Equipment: Just like it sounds, you can craft and upgrade your Palico's gear using materials, Research Points, and Zenny.
• Customize Bowgun: Bowguns upgrade differently; you add special mods to them. The number of mods you can equip depends on the Bowgun's rarity, and identical mods stack for extra power.
• Manage Kinsects: If you're using an Insect Glaive, this is where you'll manage your Kinsect. You nurture them, and this indirectly upgrades your weapon, similar to an upgrade tree.

Seriously, don't be afraid to experiment with forging and upgrading. It's a core part of getting stronger in Monster Hunter!

After you've had your fun at the Workshop, head outside. Look for a seated NPC called the "Airship Engineer" – he's usually at a table. He'll tell you a bit about the Third Fleet's troubles and his plans to rescue stranded scholars. It's a little hint about future adventures, so keep it in mind!

Next up, let's check out the Ecological Research station. It's on the western side of Astera, just north of the Provisions Stockpile. Chat with the Chief Ecologist there. He's going to teach you all about Research Points.

Basically, when you're out on hunts, follow those helpful Scoutflies to monster tracks and other points of interest. Gathering this intel progresses your Research Level for each monster. The more intel you gather, the more the researchers back in Astera learn, and the better they can help you. You'll get passive bonuses as your Research Level goes up, like faster Scoutfly leveling.

Then there's your Scoutfly Level. This one's a bit different – it's more like your hunter's short-term memory of a specific monster's behavior. It increases as you gain research points, but it can degrade over time if you stop hunting that monster. As your Scoutfly Level increases, your Scoutflies get smarter: they'll start by showing you the monster's next track, then guide you directly to the monster, and eventually even show you its location and status on the map! Keep researching monsters you hunt often to make those hunts much easier.

Think of it this way: Research Level is your general knowledge about monsters, while Scoutfly Level is your specific, up-to-date intel on a particular beast.

Finally, let's unlock online play! Head over to the Lift and find the Squad Manager. They'll tell you that the Gathering Hub (also called the Celestial Pursuit) is now open. This is your online social space where you can join or create Squads (groups of up to 16 players, and you can be in up to 8 squads). Playing with friends makes Monster Hunter much more fun and way less tedious!

Besides managing your squads, the Squad Manager also points you to the Quest Counter and Arena Counter attendants. From them, you can join or host online quests (it works just like the regular Quest Board) or take on special arena challenges.