Well I'd say I had my first wake-up calls yesterday.
Lagi actually caused me to fail my first hunt. Got me 3 times. Argh!
The second time around Lagi only got me once, but I was down to less than 5 minutes remaining when he/she finally went down. The same thing happened with Gigginox, who creeps me right out by the way. By the end of the fight I had Giggi down pretty good, but Lagi just caught me off guard every now and then just enough to blast me.
I also got to run around the Volcano level a little bit for a 5 star quest, and I must say it is very well designed, not to mention it has some of the best scenery I've seen in the game thus far!!!!
I'm still using the Lance to learn monsters, then as I start to farm them or fight them again I use other weapons for fun. I dropped Peco in less than 10 minutes the other day with Rough Edge and I've started using a Long Sword for Barroth. Fun stuff! Going to try Rathian with the Long Sword today.