Alright so I spent about 2-3 hours playing last night.
I've been soloing the story getting my HR up just hit 6 last night.

So far i have no idea where items are - i.e. honey, bugs, ores. I know they're in the same exact spot everytime but the map is pretty damn massive in MHW. I also think the map that you carry with you shows where they are, but it's really small and requires you to zoom in to get a good view.(i'm way too lazy for that)
There's also the fact that there are multiple levels in MHW so there's a butt load of areas to explore. Which is awesome. but when you're looking for materials it might be a hassle unless you know exactly where to go.

Some of the bounties i've picked up so far are

• gather X honey
• gather X bugs
• gather X plants
• mine X times at a mining spot
• gather X times at bones

these usually take a few missions for me to clear especially honey and bugs.
reward : 40 ~ 60 caravan/research points and 1 armor sphere

plants and mining ones are usually the fastest, bones are fast too if you remember where to find them.

lastly the farming system is just like MH4U, I picked honey shoved it at the researcher. and he gets me 2 honey for every mission i complete.