How terrible a person am I for wanting to opt out of invasions in Dark Souls?

[Ickorus]

It's sad really, the PvP in Dark Souls is very fun and very satisfying when you play against an opponent who isn't either cheating or being extremely cheap.

What's even sadder is that these are the same idiots who go onto the Dark Souls forums and complain that there aren't enough people PvPing in the game never seeming to realise it's because they drive every potential PvPer away by repeatedly trolling them and making sure their first ever experience of Dark Souls PvP is a negative one.

I was in the Dark Root garden yesterday and invaded a guy, first thing he does is run off the the staircase at the entrance in order to make the fight significantly in his favour sbu I know this trick so I just start casting spell at him trying to poke him into fighting me and instead of being a man about it he just Alt-F4s to disconnect from the game so I wouldn't kick his butt.

Then I invaded a guy in full poise tank gear with a fully upgraded Lightning Halberd. Fun.

 

[Uratoh]

I've heard they're going to be actually establishing a server for the online Dark Souls 2 on PC, to give them a bit more control over this...I'm cautiously optimistic, as I said, I *DID* have one good fight, it's just...part of it, I think they need to maybe 'lock down' an invader's gear and use that to help determine their actual effective level for who they can invade, or somesuch...I say lock down, because if they didn't, people could just swap out if it only checked equiped...and if it checked all, it might unfairly pit invaders against people out of their league due to random items they have in their bag they're not gonna use.

 

[The-Fiction]

I can see the appeal to wanting to opt out of the invasions and during my first play through I was very rarely human anyway so didn't experience that many. But when I was human I have to say the tensest moments in that game for me were the first few invasions I faced. Just the message on the screen "Dark Spirit PLAYERNAME has invaded!" and me going into full panic mode, not even knowing the layout of the level, nor where I had to go, nor where this invader is going to come from.

But this was early in the Xbox 360 release so there weren't too many fully kitted out low-level players so it was a bit more of an even playing field, I get annoyed even now as an experienced player when I'm invaded in the low level areas by someone fully kitted out in crazy good gear who is clearly just after easy kills.

However,I still support it. The idea that to use the co-op system and have someone help you out through the tougher parts puts you at further risk from more dangerous enemies is a great idea and gives that real sense of risk/reward.

 

[Ickorus]

I've heard they're going to be actually establishing a server for the online Dark Souls 2 on PC, to give them a bit more control over this...I'm cautiously optimistic, as I said, I *DID* have one good fight, it's just...part of it, I think they need to maybe 'lock down' an invader's gear and use that to help determine their actual effective level for who they can invade, or somesuch...I say lock down, because if they didn't, people could just swap out if it only checked equiped...and if it checked all, it might unfairly pit invaders against people out of their league due to random items they have in their bag they're not gonna use.

You heard correctly, we'll be seeing servers in DkS2 and I couldn't be happier about that.

Hope they go with something like your idea for matchmaking too, would make so much more sense to have Item Levels instead since if I stick on crappy gear as a high level character I'm barely any more effective than a Lowbie.

 

[Little Gray]

If you dont want to deal with invasions then dont play online. Dark Souls is all about risk vs reward and the invasions/summons are no different.

"So hey, our game has this awesome mechanic where people with much better stats and gear can just teleport into your game and kill you, robbing you of progress and XP in the process. Awesome!"

Yeah, fuck that.

My tactic was to wait until they were in sight, then just yank the internet cable.

Actually they cant. There is a level restriction on who can join your game be they friendly or hostile. The higher level you are the more lax the restriction is though since once you get past 150 or so level doesnt matter. There is however one area in the game that removes those restrictions because its part of the covenant.

 

[Windcaler]

I know the common response is 'take the good with the bad' and I do like being able to summon help, or see all the messages, death replays, etc...but I've only had *ONE* good battle with an invader, the rest of the time it's been an unending barrage of people either backstabbing me from the near front due to the lag issues, having such high stats I can't possibly touch them (the stat hacking is apparently highly prevalant for the PC version...) or them having set up a blatent 'trolling' position, such as hanging out with the basilisks in the Depths so any attempts to actually go in and get them will result in death due to difficult enemy set AND the player with his setup. And of course, you can't ignore them...since the area locks down. I'm seriously considering entering offline mode and never returning...I've beaten the game once, I'll miss the tips etc, and miss leaving them...but really...WHY is it like this?

Becoming a human is one of the many risk/reward mechanics in the game to give a grander sense of accomplishment and discovery. I can relate to not wanting to get invaded by people who stat hack but the nature of being an invader is to kill your opponent however you can. If you arent participating in a fight club or series of matches with clearly defined rules you shouldnt expect any quarter. Whether you give quarter and show repsect to invaders or those you invade is up to each individual

That said when you're human and online you have access to summoning help. If it really bugs you so much summon people. That your way to even up the odds (or make it completely unfair depending on your point of view). There are also some summons (like me) who will not under any circumstances double or triple team invaders. In my case I refuse to do it because I dont feel its fair to the invader, the host already has estus and help. The alternative is to just stay hallow or go into offline mode. Obviously the issue is you cant summon player controlled help but thats the risk reward mechanic. When going human you are risking an invasion for the reward of making the game easier through player controlled assistance

Of course there is one, often overlooked, thing you can do to decrease the number of invasions you get. That is to join the way of white covenant. Obviously that doesnt work for people whose builds are based around covenant specific items or magic but again its a risk reward mechanic.

I dont think youre a bad person for wanting to summon others without the threat of invasion but there are tools in the game to help with that desire. It up to you to decide if using the tools are worth it or not