yes, a lock on feature would undermine so many aspects of what makes this game fun. Attempting to hit key areas on a dragon (which react differently to attacks) would completely go away, as would the whole learning process of what those key areas are.
This game is great, but has a learning curve. Any reviewer that complains about a lack of lock-on in monster hunter simply doesn't really know what monster hunter is trying to do. Im a huge fan of the series, sure, but this franchise is easily the most misunderstood one I have ever seen American reviewers continuously slam, for reasons deriving from only playing the game for a few hours, then writing about what was frustrating.
I put together some thoughts on what I love about the series, for anyone interested in finding out more about the franchise (as it sounds like many people in this thread have never actually played the game before). The occasional light spoiler is in there I suppose. The meat of it is focused on why I think this series has the best creature and environment art around.
MONSTER HUNTER BLOG