I did go to the gathering hall and then noticed the hr1 quests. One thing I noticed though when doing those quests is that I get 4 of most supplies at the start. Am I to assume these quests are designed to be tackled in groups? So far I've been soloing most of the HR1 quests but am I eventually going to get to a point where that wont be possible?
Yes, the gathering hall is the multiplayer and those quests are designed for 4 players. The monsters in these quests have a lot more HP than they do in single player, and they are typically more aggressive, so although you can play them in solo, they will be much harder. There will most likely be a point where you won't be able to beat these quests on your own, unless you happen to be one of those super crazy awesome players who can solo them all... without armour.
HR is hunter rank which is basically your rank for multiplayer/online. The HR quests progress a bit different differently than the single player quests and the quests themselves may also differ. There are also quests here that are exclusive to the gathering hall and so you'll have to play multiplayer to get the most out of this game. In the beginning, the HR number will determine which quests you can choose, or join if someone else chooses. However, this is true only up to a certain number (which was HR 8 in MH3U meaning there were 8 levels of quests), and then after that, you can keep gaining HR but it's largely useless after that, with max HR being 999.
Well I'm 4596-9710-4135 FC if you want too.
I added you anyway.