LogFAQs > #961654144

Monster Hunter has basically two tracks on mainline games: the more mechanically dense "mainline" games that improve/change incrementally and the more simple "gimmick" games that usually work sort of like testing grounds for new ideas that may or may not pan out. World is in the first camp and Rise is in the latter. Presumably after another year or two the next step in the World branch will come out.

I don't think either branch is necessarily better but there's more feature continuity in the "mainline" games as the "gimmick" games focus a bit more on their specific thing being different. Generally the "gimmick" games are easier to pick up and they clear up some of the obtuseness of the series in general so the others are easier to play in the future.