The problem with base Rise wasn't the difficulty, it was that it had no balance whatsoever and the wirebug skills ruined most weapons because they were on CD and were overpowered as fuck compared to the base moveset of the weapon. This turned every weapon's moves into filler so you can spam the arts.
Some weapons were actually unplayable because the game was so badly designed that skills (like guard) would cripple wirebug skills (anchor rage). Other skills were redesigned so that their traditional use was no longer applicable (Focus and Crit Draw) and they were now worthless options on weapons that traditionally found them useful.
To add to that they bet hard on their new tower defense game mode which was a complete clusterfuck and impossible to lose. It was the most boring shit they ever put into a monster hunter game and they designed late game around it until they realized people hated it and added other ways to get rampage tickets.
In a base Monster Hunter game where there is no end-game content to keep you going the best you can do is make sure the game is well designed but Capcom clearly did not pay any attention whatsoever to the gameplay in Rise. Hopefully Sunbreak is better (unlikely).
I particularly hate what they did to hammer, lance, gunlance, charge blade in Rise.
When you landed that perfectly placed SAED with Charge Blade in MHW right after guard pointing a fire breath, and the axe drop came down right on the monster's face and you watch those phials rip and roar through your target you were like "fuck yeah!! git #rekt, bitch! not in my house!". There's no such enjoyment from using the weapon in Rise.
Lance was always the weapon that picked apart the monster's moveset with small ball, moderate, sustained offense, now it's spamming spiral thrust. If you're playing lance correctly, you're crowding the monster's space, and bullying them. Now, it's not rewarding enough to even bother.
Hammer used to be the hit and run weapon, get in and smack the monster around a bit, if they KO, hit em with a big bang combo, and now it's the spam impact craters weapon which doesn't do nearly enough damage, and is remarkably lacking in visual/audio feedback. Zero dopamine from landing it.
I loved playing Gunlance in Iceborne with slap lance full burst combos on a monsters head, which also has an explosive mine planted in it, lots of damage, and explosions, the weapon was super fun to use, and very rewarding when you got a good string of bursts off.