early game ranged weapons are kinda hard to use. it takes alot of effort just to kill a minor mob.

i wont stop u from using ranged weapons coz who knows u might get the hang of it. but if that doesnt happen, feel free to use sns (dont let the "low" damage stated make u feel it's weak, its quite solid and fun to use)

just wanna point another thing, if the mob is waaaaaaaaaaay far away, your shots wont hit or will hit for low damage.

even when playing range you will realize that the best distance is more or less always be around 3-6 (hops/rolls) away from the monster.

one more note, monster hunter is not like normal "rpgs/adventure/action" games

sometimes on difficult levels, it would take you half and hour to 45 minutes to kill the monster.

in a way just imagine it as "whack when got opportunity" while staying alive.

and

dont be greedy. sneak in few hits then get away!

Use range weapon at mid or late game because it's money consume.
Im started to like GunLance SOOOO MUCH!.. It's owned LOL.

I for one started using range weapons during early game and hell it's pretty crazy for me. Each boss kill takes way too long and once you reach HR2-5, U will really start cursing because you won't have sufficient materials to upgrade your weapons to higher ranks and u tend to run out of time to kill.

Then later on exsea started influencing me on GS and taught me the basics on how to use melee weapons, that's where i started learning on Hammers (Sorry exsea, i still don like GS  ). Imaging this, killing a boss using melee -> 10 min, using range, 30-50 minutes. 

Timing is pretty important here, and few things that i think really made range weapons look like crap during early-mid game would be :
1. Expensive to make
2. hard to get materials to upgrade on your own
3. Dies easily, (Rathalos rush at you, weeeee! u get to see stars and angels.. then a bunch of cats will throw u from a cart later on in the camp )
4. Distance is a problem, u need to know when to draw weapon, when to aim, when to keep weapon, when to dodge, when to run..
5. Raw materials needed to combine, u need lots of them due to the limit amount of bullets, u won't be able to kill fast enough if u use the normal unlimited bullets..

So, like wat exsea said, use a melee weapon to play first (LS? lol) and use that to support your needs for better range weapons and armours..

@tkgan: I also just started playing. HR 1 still haha. Damn hard la the game. I keep getting smacked around by the monsters.

abit off topic but i've spent 3 hours trying to set up the xlink program but keeps failing...everytime I clicj start kai it crashes...sigh

yeah i did learn this the hard way haha. congalala fooked me upside down cause i got tired killing it for too long n ended up being pwned.
currently i found that hammer suits me well, and also LS.
GS too heavy n slow, GL n lances can only hit in one direction and slow as well (although the shelling n wyvern fire is awesome).
Hunting horn...powerful but somehow i don't like it.
As for the ranged weapon,the need to aim n fire n reload is just too slow.
Finally for SNS,i found that it's weak n dangerous to use lol.

ah! free refills are the best!

mc D anyone?

Location? I can bring my laptop and 3g router and set up a mini wifi station LOL

i wonder weather MHP2G can play with MHFU in the same mission...
anyone knows these?? so far i only played with my friends who were also playing MHP2G...

bangsar mcD? need to walk 5-10 mins from lrt

mv would be convenient provided got place to sit
omg!