It is one of my all time favorite games. I have played MH since Tri and it's by far one of the best.

The story doesn't matter. The dialogue might as well not matter. The gameplay is fantastic. It's why we MH fans keep coming back. If you just want to do crazy shit and fight giant monsters then it's your kind of game. Also the community is usually pretty great. Sometimes you get some elitists but generally most people are just out to enjoy a hunt. It's where I met two of my "gaming buddies" and we play other games beyond just MH now. It's definitely better as a multiplayer game but solo is still fun.

The story is actually better than most of the other MH games. Still silly and not really why we play. In the end the story just exists for the sole purpose of getting you to the next fight.

There is also MH Rise which came out after World. It's not as fun as world is imo but still a good play. Idk how active world is in comparison. Last I had heard though it's still fairly popular.