Monster Hunter World in Summary

>Despite the lack of a number, World was developed with the intent of being "Monster Hunter 5" and was built specifically to target foreign audiences who found the series too challenging.
>Like all first releases of a generation, World only goes up to High Rank. Capcom has not confirmed or denied whether G Rank content will be made, or how it will be released if it is.
>World has the first instances of paid DLC in the franchise. All paid DLC thus far has been cosmetic, and Capcom claims all announced monster-related content will be free.
>There is no longer a Village/Gathering Hall distinction. All quests can be done multiplayer. By the same token, players can no longer take on "multiplayer" quests solo, since when in single player the difficulty is set lower, and only switched to the higher difficulty if other players are present. Like in previous titles, it's a purely single/multi distinction, so difficulty is the same regardless of number of players
>Online servers are now region-free, so JP players can play with foreign players and vice versa. Filters can be set by language.
>World is rather story-intensive even compared to 4, with a large amount of cutscenes both between and during hunts. Cutscenes are unskippable. Voice acting in actual languages appears for the first time in the franchise, though traditional "Monster Hunter" language can also be enabled.
>HP damage numbers that indicate how much damage attacks do appear for the first time. They can be turned off.
>Glowing green bugs highlight interactable objects on the screen and guide the player to the monster. The ability to track monsters starts weaker and increases the more experience they gain until they at all times display a monster's position. They cannot be turned off.
>An in-game wiki-like feature has been included that gives rough estimations of weak points and drop rates.
>World launched with 30 large monsters. For comparison the most recent non-G Rank Monster Hunter titles, 4 and X/Generations, had 51 and 69 respectively. Patches will be released to up the monster count, with the first set for sometime in the spring to add Deviljho.
>Armor is no longer distinguished between Blademaster and Gunner. Regardless of weapon any armor can be equipped, with melee weapons giving a defensive boost and ranged weapons giving an elemental resistance boost.
>Armor Skills no longer require a base threshhold of points to activate, even a single point in a Skill is enough to activate it, with the effect increasing at higher levels. There are no Minus Skills. Further, some Armor sets have "set bonuses" that activate when wearing multiple pieces of the same set.
>New tools that can be used an infinite number of times with a cooldown between uses. Effects range from providing periodic healing to status resistance, even up to stealth effects and damage negation.
>Due to the removal of loading screens between zones, maps are about 2-2.5x the size of previous titles.
>Each map now has multiple base camps, which can be freely teleported to at any time when not in combat.
>Base camps allow the player to restock on all items freely throughout the hunt, as well as change out gear wholesale, including any items on cooldown. Players can eat multiple times per hunt at base camps as well.
>Bowguns can now be fired and items used "on the move." For instance, Potions no longer require the player to stand still, and with a slight loss of speed the players can even run while drinking. As a caveat, healing from drink items is no longer instant, and occurs throughout the duration of the drinking part of the animation.
>Whetstones, Bug Nets, and Pickaxes are no longer consumable items, instead simply being infinite use.
>Combinations can be "preprogrammed" to run automatically as items are gathered.
>Areas now contain environmental traps that can restrain monsters or knock them into other areas. Some of these can affect the player as well.
>Regardless of other gear, all players now have a "Slinger" to fire off items that were previously thrown as projectiles, as well as to interact with the environment as a grappling hook for travel or to utilize environmental traps.
>Some monsters will ignore the players entirely until attacked, and monsters will at times ignore the players even mid-battle in favor of entering short interactive cutscenes where they battle other monsters, dealing large amounts of damage to them and possibly incapacitating them.