It didn't take long for cheaters to start plaguing Monster Hunter Wilds' new Time-based Challenge and Arena Quests.
Monster Hunter Wilds' first free Title Update released today (4 April), with a new monster in Mizutsune and two new hunts against the High Rank Zoh Shia and Arch-tempered Rey Dau being the biggest highlights. More big additions in this update include the new Time-based Challenge and Arena Quests, where players must use preset gear to complete a hunt as fast as possible to earn rewards and appear in a global leaderboard.
However, players using cheats to complete the Challenge and Arena Quests in mere seconds have already dominated the global leaderboard not long after the update was released. This notably comes after Monster Hunter Wilds developer Capcom issued warnings that players using cheats in the Challenge and Arena Quests will face punishment.
Cheaters plague Monster Hunter Wilds' new Challenge and Arena Quests
Typical hunts against low to mid-level monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds usually take around five to 10 minutes to complete for most players, with more challenging hunts against monsters like Arkveld or Gore Magala and their more powerful Tempered versions taking longer. Skilled players with optimised gear are able to complete hunts in under five minutes, but a hunt taking just seconds to complete is physically impossible unless a player uses cheats.
These cheats often come in the form of overtuned gear stats, making certain weapon attacks deal much more instances of damage than normal, or causing certain interactable objects in the environment that can damage monsters, like falling boulders, deal multiple instances of damage instead of just one.
When Capcom announced that they would be adding Time-based Challenge and Arena Quests where the best-performing players would appear in a global leaderboard, players were quick to voice their concerns that the activities would be quickly overrun by cheaters. Monster Hunter's previous mainline title prior to Monster Hunter Wilds, Monster Hunter World, notoriously faced similar issues with cheaters and Capcom doing little to address or prevent the problem.
But this time around, Capcom issued warnings to potential cheaters that they will face consequences if they are found to have cheated in the new Challenge and Arena Quests.
In an official post on this new addition to Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom said that players they deem to “have committed prohibited actions such as using cheats, external tools, or violating the End User License Agreement will have their times erased and their rights to claim rewards revoked.”
In addition, players “deemed by Capcom to have committed a prohibited action will be suspended or have limits placed on their available features.”
The developer also clarified that players who completed Challenge and Arena Quests alongside another player using cheats will also be affected. “Even if you yourself did not commit prohibited actions, if a party member in multiplayer committed prohibited actions, the completion time of all party members will be deemed invalid, thus, their times will be erased and their rights to claim rewards will be revoked,” said Capcom.
Players were also encouraged to report instances of other players using cheats, which can be done by navigating to the suspected cheating player's Hunter Profile screen and selecting report. Capcom also seems to be cracking down hard on this issue as even players who were "mistakenly deemed to have committed a prohibited act will not be compensated later with participation and ranking rewards."
“To ensure a fun and fair experience for our players, we will take action against accounts participating in fraudulent ranking activity, such as the use of cheating or external tools. Accounts deemed to be in breach of this may be suspended, or have restrictions placed on them, such as being unable to receive rewards from these quests,” said Capcom.
Monster Hunter Wilds' highly-anticipated Title Update 1 released on 4 April with tons of new content, including new monsters to hunt, a new Grand Hub area, Arena and Challenge Quests, and more. Another content update is also scheduled for the end of May, which is planned to feature new 8-star Tempered monster hunts, buffs to the Hammer, and more.
The game is also set to release Title Update 2 in the Summer, with fan-favourite monster Lagiacrus confirmed to be among the new content coming with that update.
Monster Hunter Wilds, the latest mainline entry in Capcom's classic Monster Hunter series, was released on 28 February for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
