Has Fromsoft been trying to make invasions less viable?

[JUMBO PALACE]

Hmm interesting how many people are having trouble with the Sentinels. I keep my Blue Sentinel badge on most of the time and I get summoned as help fairly often. Maybe the population/functionality is spotty depending on your region?

 

[EvilRoy]

Hmm interesting how many people are having trouble with the Sentinels. I keep my Blue Sentinel badge on most of the time and I get summoned as help fairly often. Maybe the population/functionality is spotty depending on your region?

A lot of people have also guessed that maybe as you progress the game fewer and fewer people remain in the covenant asking or giving help. Things like the sunbros are quite a bit more functional for summoning because it increases the level range you can get into, and other covenants are a bit more fun/interesting as the game goes on.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Hmm interesting how many people are having trouble with the Sentinels. I keep my Blue Sentinel badge on most of the time and I get summoned as help fairly often. Maybe the population/functionality is spotty depending on your region?

A lot of people have also guessed that maybe as you progress the game fewer and fewer people remain in the covenant asking or giving help. Things like the sunbros are quite a bit more functional for summoning because it increases the level range you can get into, and other covenants are a bit more fun/interesting as the game goes on.

Yeah I can see that, but I just beat

Spoiler

The Nameless King

last night so I'm pretty deep into the game. I'm sure it's affecting people differently.

 

[EvilRoy]

Hmm interesting how many people are having trouble with the Sentinels. I keep my Blue Sentinel badge on most of the time and I get summoned as help fairly often. Maybe the population/functionality is spotty depending on your region?

A lot of people have also guessed that maybe as you progress the game fewer and fewer people remain in the covenant asking or giving help. Things like the sunbros are quite a bit more functional for summoning because it increases the level range you can get into, and other covenants are a bit more fun/interesting as the game goes on.

Yeah I can see that, but I just beat

Spoiler

The Nameless King

last night so I'm pretty deep into the game. I'm sure it's affecting people differently.

Hmm, I dunno then. I guess it could be majorly regional. Maybe people from my neck of the woods don't believe in helping people vs invaders?

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Hmm interesting how many people are having trouble with the Sentinels. I keep my Blue Sentinel badge on most of the time and I get summoned as help fairly often. Maybe the population/functionality is spotty depending on your region?

A lot of people have also guessed that maybe as you progress the game fewer and fewer people remain in the covenant asking or giving help. Things like the sunbros are quite a bit more functional for summoning because it increases the level range you can get into, and other covenants are a bit more fun/interesting as the game goes on.

Yeah I can see that, but I just beat

Spoiler

The Nameless King

last night so I'm pretty deep into the game. I'm sure it's affecting people differently.

Hmm, I dunno then. I guess it could be majorly regional. Maybe people from my neck of the woods don't believe in helping people vs invaders?

You know what though it kind of makes sense in a way. If there are fewer people in the Sentinels that means there's fewer to go around to the those in The Way of Blue. So to me, as a Sentinel, it looks like traffic is high because there's a large pool of people who need help. But to the actual host, it seems like there's no Sentinels because I can only be in one place at a time. So I guess that supports the idea that people move away from the Blue Sentinels later in the game.

 

[Benpasko]

You know what though it kind of makes sense in a way. If there are fewer people in the Sentinels that means there's fewer to go around to the those in The Way of Blue. So to me, as a Sentinel, it looks like traffic is high because there's a large pool of people who need help. But to the actual host, it seems like there's no Sentinels because I can only be in one place at a time. So I guess that supports the idea that people move away from the Blue Sentinels later in the game.

I have the opposite problem, I've worn Darkmoon Blade (Which, in case you don't know, is a straight upgrade from blue sentinels) for >10 hours on my primary character and NEVER been summoned once. The Way of Blue covenant should have a benefit, so that people will actually use it.

I got invaded probably 2 times by a player red during my first playthrough, so the second I got a real covenant, Way of Blue was gone forever. Blue Sentinels were worthless in DS2 for that reason, and it's a shame Darkmoon Blade got hit with it too. It's a good covenant conceptually, but the reliance on people to equip what is essentially a 'blank' covenant ruins it.

 

[hermes]

I hope. As if it wasn't enough with the environment and the bosses, I had to worry about trolling douchebags that invaded my game time to fill me up with status effects and break my equipment, with little to no risk for them? As others have said, the PvP in those games sucks, it was only another way for the game to troll new players, it can't be opted out of, and made unplugging the console/PC a viable option.

Any feature that forces me to physically unplug my PC to turn it off and make the game enjoyable is not a feature at all.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

You know what though it kind of makes sense in a way. If there are fewer people in the Sentinels that means there's fewer to go around to the those in The Way of Blue. So to me, as a Sentinel, it looks like traffic is high because there's a large pool of people who need help. But to the actual host, it seems like there's no Sentinels because I can only be in one place at a time. So I guess that supports the idea that people move away from the Blue Sentinels later in the game.

I have the opposite problem, I've worn Darkmoon Blade (Which, in case you don't know, is a straight upgrade from blue sentinels) for >10 hours on my primary character and NEVER been summoned once. The Way of Blue covenant should have a benefit, so that people will actually use it.

I got invaded probably 2 times by a player red during my first playthrough, so the second I got a real covenant, Way of Blue was gone forever. Blue Sentinels were worthless in DS2 for that reason, and it's a shame Darkmoon Blade got hit with it too. It's a good covenant conceptually, but the reliance on people to equip what is essentially a 'blank' covenant ruins it.

Question for ya. I know the Darkmoons are basically the same functionally as the Sentinels but why are they an upgrade? Is there a reason for me to wear the Darkmoon badge over the blue sentinel badge?

 

[Benpasko]

I have the opposite problem, I've worn Darkmoon Blade (Which, in case you don't know, is a straight upgrade from blue sentinels) for >10 hours on my primary character and NEVER been summoned once. The Way of Blue covenant should have a benefit, so that people will actually use it.

I got invaded probably 2 times by a player red during my first playthrough, so the second I got a real covenant, Way of Blue was gone forever. Blue Sentinels were worthless in DS2 for that reason, and it's a shame Darkmoon Blade got hit with it too. It's a good covenant conceptually, but the reliance on people to equip what is essentially a 'blank' covenant ruins it.

Question for ya. I know the Darkmoons are basically the same functionally as the Sentinels but why are they an upgrade? Is there a reason for me to wear the Darkmoon badge over the blue sentinel badge?

Darkmoon actually has rewards, is all. You can turn in items and learn a couple spells, whereas Sentinel is purely a 'for fun' thing.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I hope. As if it wasn't enough with the environment and the bosses, I had to worry about trolling douchebags that invaded my game time to fill me up with status effects and break my equipment, with little to no risk for them? As others have said, the PvP in those games sucks, it was only another way for the game to troll new players, it can't be opted out of, and made unplugging the console/PC a viable option.

Any feature that forces me to physically unplug my PC to turn it off and make the game enjoyable is not a feature at all.

This isn't really true though. Lots of people play this game almost solely for the pvp and like to duel without estus and all kinds of other etiquette. Plus, you can opt out of the PVP in all of these games. Just stay hollow in Dks1 unless you want to summon for a boss, burn an effigy in 2, and don't use an ember in 3, again, unless you want to summon for a boss.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I have the opposite problem, I've worn Darkmoon Blade (Which, in case you don't know, is a straight upgrade from blue sentinels) for >10 hours on my primary character and NEVER been summoned once. The Way of Blue covenant should have a benefit, so that people will actually use it.

I got invaded probably 2 times by a player red during my first playthrough, so the second I got a real covenant, Way of Blue was gone forever. Blue Sentinels were worthless in DS2 for that reason, and it's a shame Darkmoon Blade got hit with it too. It's a good covenant conceptually, but the reliance on people to equip what is essentially a 'blank' covenant ruins it.

Question for ya. I know the Darkmoons are basically the same functionally as the Sentinels but why are they an upgrade? Is there a reason for me to wear the Darkmoon badge over the blue sentinel badge?

Darkmoon actually has rewards, is all. You can turn in items and learn a couple spells, whereas Sentinel is purely a 'for fun' thing.

Oh gotcha. Well I turned in the tokens I earned as a Sentinel to Yorshka anyway so really I don't think it matters.

 

[Benpasko]

Oh gotcha. Well I turned in the tokens I earned as a Sentinel to Yorshka anyway so really I don't think it matters.

That's true! I also think Darkmoon Blades earn double rewards for killing Aldrich Faithful, now that I think about it (I only read about this in the guide of course, since no summons). It's mostly a prestige upgrade, I guess. Being a Darkmoon Blade makes you a bigger badass than being a Blue Sentinel, in terms of titles.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Oh gotcha. Well I turned in the tokens I earned as a Sentinel to Yorshka anyway so really I don't think it matters.

That's true! I also think Darkmoon Blades earn double rewards for killing Aldrich Faithful, now that I think about it (I only read about this in the guide of course, since no summons). It's mostly a prestige upgrade, I guess. Being a Darkmoon Blade makes you a bigger badass than being a Blue Sentinel, in terms of titles.

Right, cause as a Blade you get that extra rivalry with Rosaria's Fingers. I guess it's really just a PR move. Whether you want to be an aggressive Blade or a stoic Sentinel haha.

 

[EvilRoy]

3 is the first souls game I've played (and just completed), so this is newbie talk:

Invasions don't seem particularly well thought out. My guess is that you're supposed to go have some PvP fun once in a while, because you've come across cracked red eyes, not because you want to deck out a twink, min-max stats and continually try to ruin other peoples day with absolutely no risk (with the full orb), other than crying because they have options to mitigate the damage you can do.

Being invaded/invading is supposed to be an "oh shit" moment that adds to the game, instead it's a 3 times per ember event where you think about how to piss off the opponent as much as possible before an actual fight happens. Whatever "fun" was intended for the invadee, was lost at the launch of the game.

So my answer to OP is a yes and no. As long as people who want to play in co-op or actually want to use embers (I don't get why you would as solo) don't get a choice to opt out of the PvP mechanics, invaders should have every disadvantage they can get and more than they do now. I'd say add time limits to that shit so they don't wait for you to progress the game before actually engaging (a couple of times I've just gone to the bonfire and waited to be killed so I can get on with my life, but then they just wait until you fight or move on).
If people had to opt in at the beginning, then I'd say invasions should be easier, but also have added rewards for killing invaders.
FromSoftware recognizes that people don't want to be invaded, which you can see by the other requirements (level and weapon level), so it makes absolutely no sense to me why they're trying to have their cake and eat it too.

My bet is that there are other people than me and my friend, who bought the game seeing that there was "co-op" on the steam store page, without knowing they'd get invaded 1-3 times between every single bonfire. I found myself thinking that the game was piss-easy in single player because I could actually concentrate on the game instead of having to outsmart some invader all the time, that's how ridiculous it is right now.

With all that said, in half a year there'll only be a fraction of people playing it anyway, so it'll be less intense then. I'd even welcome the occasional invasion at that point, no matter when and where.

I agree that a lot of the invasion mechanic is a long term kind of thought. In a month or so random invasions in non-pvp common areas will drop to almost nothing. At the same time though, previously you never had the option to so easily and regularly coop with a friend. It just wasn't set up for it, so typically people would play solo, get invaded maybe once per area, and it would add a little bit of extra tension to an area. You only unhollowed for runs on the boss, to kindle a bonfire, or if there was an area of the game that was just too hard. By having a summoned partner for a whole segment of game your kind of experiencing way more than what I think was the originally intended level of invasions.