I wonder. Is FromSoft ever going to do anything about hackers who have infinite health and stamina, or worse break all your gear or kill your NPC's or teleport you to other areas and break your game? Just check the Steam forums in particular. Cheating is not exclusive to the PC from what I've read, but it certainly is more rampant and seemingly much worse of late.
Now, I can't say I've come across a hacking invader in all the 100's of hours I've played Scholar. Know why? I hate invasions so I burn an Effigy at every bonfire I'll need to visit often, even when the immunity is over after defeating a boss. For example I burn an Effigy at McDuff or other vendors, or if I'm doing co-op monotonously grinding 50 Loyce souls and helping others do the same without interruption. I won't give them the pleasure. They can waste all the Cracked Red Eye orbs they have and I don't care. I have lots of them in my Item Box I bet they would love to have.
People who like to harass others for fun will have a different opinion of course, but since the Agape ring arrived "twinks" have come out of the closet in droves to make things miserable for players inexperienced in PvP, or who just want to play the damn game without being invaded by overpowered scumbags who spam Toxic Mist and Acid Mist or Dark Fog.
The Agape ring was not a cure for soul memory matchmaking problems. It just made things ten times worse.
I defeated an invader in Huntsman's Copse last night, but he or she wasn't very good. The Blue Smelter sword was their downfall. Easy to dodge. I was only invaded because I forgot to burn an Effigy. I have a lot of them being in NG+.
It's not enough that we now have more NPC invaders with OP weapons and spells, which is OK in theory...Armourer Dennis for example, and the universally hated Maldron the Assassin in Eleum Loyce. A Seed works against him in Fume Tower though, which is very, very satisfying.
I can manage Dennis but why do most of them have lances or spears, read every input like magic, have seemingly infinite stamina and are able to interrupt their animations mid roll. It's one thing to give the player a challenge, but sometimes it's a real chore to come against superhuman AI invaders with huge health pools, among other things. But, it's not as bad as being ganked by human invaders who want to get their thrills hunting newbies and low level players because in real life they are probably timid little mice too scared to say boo to someone who could retaliate violently and bloody their fragile egos.
I rarely summon other players now because they either take off and aggro every enemy, do their own thing and ignore what I want to do, or now that we can have more players at once, make boss fights trivial or a big mess by thoroughly confusing the boss and getting in everyone's way. I can solo most bosses and if not I use the new NPC's. I still co-op to help others out though because it's like returning the favour. I had a lot of help when I first started playing Dark Souls 2 original.
Another thing I would like to see is an option at game startup to choose whether to play online or not as some of games do, instead of having to take other measures. Sometimes one just wants peace and quiet to do their own thing.
I know being invaded is part of the game mechanic, but it's a faulty mechanic at best and a trollish mechanic at worst. It will never work properly. For every time you get a genuinely good fight you get a twink, or a lagger who backstabs you across a room. I will never ALT-4 or jump off a cliff, but I will do anything else that prevents invaders getting their jollies in my game.
Some people claim to love invasions. So let those people choose to do that and give the others the option to opt out without stopping them from being able to co-op and help others. I would bet a lot that if there was an option in the Menu to opt out of PvP and invasions the majority would take it.
See this topic at the Official forum.
http://forums.bandainamcogames.com/showthread.php?136497-Option-to-turn-off-invasions
It describes my feelings exactly. The people against it that is. Their reasons are legitimate not just whining.
If there were no way to avoid invasions, eg burning an Effigy, I would play offline forever or not at all. This game has ruined all other games for me. I'm addicted to it, and have played it more than any other game ever in 20 odd years, and this is the only real complaint I have.
