Welcome to a new era, somewhat similar to the old era.
Ah, Destiny and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. When Johnny talked of his desire to only play through content once during an MH4U discussion, this is what I expected when Destiny came back on the podcast. It appears more and more video games will have this grind for loot and achievements. You have series such as Battlefield bragging how much more stuff you will be able to unlock. I am surprised that Splatoon hits it as hard as it does, though I shouldn't be given Nintendo has Animal Crossing.
Since we're talking MonHun again, I believe the in-universe explanation of the quest fee is that it takes the village/guild resources to transport the hunter to the hunting area as well as pay for fainting insurance. In the quest rewards, you do get the quest fee back. Still, it is another hassle to a game full of hassles. As for why there are two different shops and quest boards, the Caravan and Gathering Hall boards are the Single Player and Multiplayer split of the game. The two different item shops are on different progression trees too. If your Gathering Hall progress is leaving the Caravan progress in the dust, the Gathering Hall Item Shop will have way more advanced items in stock. These won't translate over to the item shops for Caravan. MONSTER HUNTER!
Really enjoyed the overview of Keiji Inafune's latest antics. While some people hold respect for him because of Mega Man, I find it hard to do so given the results of most of the recent games he is associated with.