Just started playing. Does this game get better?

If you just encountered quillshot, you are still at T2 basically (not sure how you're still there after a few hours). Beginning of T3 is charogg, and where elements get introduced. It's pretty much face tank until you get to T3 Drask, which is where the initial gear check comes in. T4 is when some mechanics start to get introduced, and T5 turns up the pace and damage.

I absolutely agree.

Even though I love the game, I also feel like there is an entire branch of the game that isn't there yet.

Regarding specifically your four points, I finished the content currently present, and I must admit that it does not get really better.

• Sure, behemoth get more patterns, more attacks, debuffs also come into play, they will spawn things that you have to destroy but in the end it does feel lacking. After ten hunts (or way before that) the behemoth doesn't feels alive anymore as it always do the same thing, there is nothing to surprise us as Dark Souls bosses can do for example.
• Weapon choice is only a preference thing. I usually play hammer because I feel like there is a little bit more things to do and think about (slightly), so it makes the fight a little bit more interesting, less redundant. Even though I feel like every weapon have it's one charisma maybe it lacks of synergy between them.
• Hmm. Nope, not really. Except revive and maybe interrupts at later stages, that's quite it. I also play with friend through Discord and as you said : while in battle it's either dead silent or we are talking about things completely unrelated.Fights feels like a 4 individuals vs behemoth rather than a team vs behemoths.
• Nope. Not at all. We are not hunters, we are slayers. Coming from Monster Hunter it was a real let down for me.

Overall I feel like the game lacks life (or rather lacks surprises).
The hub lacks life, the behemoths lacks life, the island lacks life, there is no interaction needed between our teammates.
Now, all these things did not stop me to have fun with my mates because I used my "Open Beta" card.
From now on I will play once a week and hope for the best! :)

If you are coming from a Monster Hunter background, unfortunately you're going to be bored. As you get into different islands the mobs will add an extra ability or 2 and they get a little beefier in HP and Dmg output.

That being said, the strategies barely change. Team work is purely optional usually, and only in the aspect of what the weapon teammates might have. Hammers are good dmg and good for interrupts, Pike for focusing individual part breaks, Sword is middle of the road fast dmg no real utility, Axe is big hits with slower attacks, and chainblades are low dmg, very fast mid-range attacks. After weapons the only strategic part would be having the correct armor resistances.

There are some minor details to each encounter for the individual boss type. But that is it really. The terrain and environment seems to offer little to no depth to encounters, there are no other minor behemoths to compete with on maps. The majority of the time will be spent grinding armor materials for upgrades.

So all in all, Dauntless is running into what seems to be the new trend in gaming. Great big world full of potential, with the depth of a puddle. Its really shaping up to be the Monster Hunteresque Sea of Thieves. Which is disappointing to say the least. If anything I would say maybe give them another year of development, and see what happens after MHW drops.

Personally I would like them to add something to break the monotony of go to Island, Go to mob, leave island, repeat. Maybe like adding more engagement than just behemoth fights.

So that depends what you are interested in, and your expectations. Regardless of whether you feel that it’s too easy or too hard at any point, there is a system in place. The behemoth is not alive and not going to make up a new move on the fly to confuse you. I will say that you are in the beginning stages of dauntless in terms of being hard or not. If you have no issues with what you are currently facing. Keep moving up, or better yet, do these hunts private to give yourself the personal clarification if you have been doing as well as you have.

Beside all that. A npc is an npc. Once you beat your head against a fight long enough, you will learn the fight and maybe push yourself here and there to see what else you can do. especially with this shield potion bug that is kinda giving players an unrealistic expectation. as well as medic being a thing, there are a lot of training wheels in the game.

Beside all this. Back to the main point. You will learn the fight eventually and be able to kill stuff. It’s about how you got to that point of entering a new fight and how you react when not knowing the fight at all. And of course how long it takes you to adjust. Anyone can dodge mechanics. It’s the pushing and setting strict limits and boundaries while still getting in effective dps.

So back to your expectations of what a better game would be: if you are thinking quillshot is too easy, at least you will enjoy the trials and tribulations of defeating a newer, most definitely, harder boss in the future hunts.

If you really want a challenge, btw, when you queue for hunts, either do them first time solo, figure out fight for yourself. Then there’s the other option of grouping with others who haven’t killed it, or those who have shitty gear. Then we will see if it’s too easy;). Jk just enjoy yourself and remember that you are in control of how you experience dauntless to a certain extent.

Communication is important in later boss fights. But you are on some of the easiest content atm. Just enjoy it while you are there and figure out you combos so it’s muscle memory. Mess around with different cell make ups. Targets specific parts will become a thing, which communication can be helpful with. Calling out potential interrupts or having one person carrying life drain tonics to heal when all are low in a part of the fight where healing would be a waste of time due to potential staggers or just overall dmg being done with no mechanics to deal with. Just explore the entirety of the game in your way. And don’t get too hung up on gear and weapons until it becomes an issue killing a behemoth, you are gonna wanna save those notes and stock pile potions at some point.

Do any of these behemoths have real mechanics?

Quillshot shoots quills. That's definitely a bit more than just dodge and get back to attacking, as you will get hit afterwards anyway. Not that it's anything great or original, but it is there. Some other Behemoths have other mechanics, yeah, but I see no reason to spoil that. Whether or not they fundamentally change the way you play? I wouldn't say so.

Does weapon choice matter in a meaningful way?

Not really / kinda. Not really the way things are now, e.g. Pikes not really doing the Wound damage they should, most weapons being able to interrupt all Behemoths. Hammers clearly have the easiets time Staggering a boss but you get the same downtime for them by just breaking a part and they have lots of them, so in a way you get multiple staggers during a Hunt anyway - that's another thing they have to improve, because there's almost no difference between Staggering and Breaking Parts in terms of how big of a window of opportunity both offer. Axes deal the most damage per hit break parts the easiest, Sword is good all-around and Chainblades have no real Dodge mechanic (they made it stupidly backwards for no reason at all). In other words, it appears that only 3 Weapons matter for now and everything else is due in for some love, because those other weapons need it badly.

TLDR: game needs lots of balancing to give all weapons their true identity they require.

Does teamwork ever start to matter?

Kind of but again, not really. You get hit for way less in Party than when Soloing, which I find odd. Kind of on the sense that some Behemoths can 'spawn' things, so you might wanna split up to take care of them.

Is tracking the behemoth actually a part of the game?

Absolutely not. Game gives you this impression via the starting Lantern, but really there's only about 5 spawn points on each given island, so once you know where they are, you know where to look for. You can also sometimes see them while approching the island via the Airship or if you just propel yourself into the air via an Aether Jump (blue thingies) to get a wide view of the (nearly) whole island.