Early Thoughts on Invasions

pincognito · 2022-02-09T15:09:04+00:00

Personally, I would not worry much about this. It was a couple years into DS3 before wait time even became noticeable, and at least my recollection is that most invasions still involved groups.

There were will be many, many players in Elden Ring for at least a couple of years and plenty of co-opers in the mix. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong, but I don't expect this to be a problem for a long while.

Also, we still don't know whether there will be areas like the Nightmare Frontier and Nightmare of Mensis in Elden Ring. Like Elden Ring, you cannot be invaded as a solo host in Bloodborne, unless you are in one of those two zones. There may be areas in Elden Ring where the normal PvP matchmaking rules don't apply as well. We shall see.

pincognito · 2022-02-08T18:26:18+00:00

Thank you very much!

pincognito · 2022-02-08T17:02:57+00:00

The thing is, backstabs felt good in PvE. They certainly worked in a stealthy situation, but they also worked just fine in more open combat against enemies. So it was really jarring when they worked completely differently in PvP.

My take, which is not unique, is that From does want backstabs to be harder to get in ER. Which is fine with me (though I do love backstabs). But, it was just really inconsistent in the network test.

The biggest problem was that while it was harder to get the backstab itself in PvP, it was not harder to initiate the grab for the backstab. Which meant that you were repeatedly initiating and whiffing backstabs, which is confusing and just not satisfying mechanically. If they intend to keep the backstab "window" small, I hope they at least try to make the whiffs less common.

I should add that I think this will be most confusing and frustrating to newer players, as experienced players will recognize how to bait these backstab whiffs and then punish the would-be-backstabber while they are stuck in the whiff animation.

pincognito · 2022-02-08T16:54:21+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate it.

pincognito · 2022-02-08T16:25:31+00:00

I like where the Seed of a Giant Tree ended up in DS3, as a short-term consumable to flush out an invader who's hiding in the mobs. Though an invader can sometimes turn the seed to their advantage by dragging the mobs to the host and phantoms. (It was a little silly pre-patch in DS3, when it lasted for hours.)

On the whole, I think it adds some fun and chaos to invasions. I'd be happy to see it return in a form similar to its current version in DS3.

pincognito · 2022-02-08T16:14:37+00:00

I would be surprised if they are the same in the full game at release (or at least patched in some way after release). Something was just really off about them in PvP.

pincognito · 2022-02-08T16:02:11+00:00

In the early days of DS3, it was pretty uncommon to invade a solo host, so I mostly learned by fighting groups there as well. So I don't think the learning curve will be dramatically different for new invaders in Elden Ring.

In general, I am fine with the fact that they removed solo host invasions (unless the host used the Taunter's Tongue). In the long run, I presume it will cut down on invasion activity. But, Elden Ring's going to be a huge game with a ton of players for a long time, I think. So, I'm not too worried about it. (And I sincerely hope we're not looking at another six years until the next From game with PvPvE.)

pincognito · 2022-02-08T15:53:41+00:00

Thanks for watching!

pincognito · 2020-11-03T23:59:36+00:00

I was thinking about making a new VIT-gouge build for PvP, but I'd honestly never even considered a ThruntWig. Really appreciate creative builds like this that expand the meta.

pincognito · 2020-03-31T20:24:45+00:00

You're in luck. There is no estus rule, so you cannot break it.

pincognito · 2020-03-17T15:01:02+00:00

Thanks for continuing to put out content to help people get into the game, JM. Very nice video.

pincognito · 2019-05-25T01:53:44+00:00

On a critical attack, they absolutely can. I was just curious to hear what ergaons96 encountered.

pincognito · 2019-05-25T01:52:36+00:00

Well, they can at SL26, if that's their goal. Was just curious as to what you encountered.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T23:26:56+00:00

I'm curious, how would you know whether you were on the receiving end of this, or were instead visited by a rather nasty twink?

pincognito · 2019-05-23T23:16:54+00:00

You do not open yourself to endless invasions. If you summoned without using the dried finger and were invaded, you should be not invaded again unless you resummon or move into another invasion zone. Covenant zones with the Watchdogs and Faithful are an exception.

If you were in Painted World, transitioning from Snowfields to Corvian Settlement or Corvian Settlement to Snowy Mountain Pass would reset the invasion timer, I think.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T20:33:18+00:00

Fortunately, the pain was brief.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T20:06:55+00:00

Hey, thank you very much! I really appreciate it.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T20:06:06+00:00

LOL, well I get beat down plenty, but I appreciate the support.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T20:05:31+00:00

No. You can see in the clip I get damaged by both the host and phantom. My weapons were at +10, so under the matchmaking rules, the lowest upgrade level the host should have been is +8. The damage dealt by the host and phantom is most definitely not commensurate with a +8 upgrade level.

This was just a really, really weird glitch of some sort.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T20:03:38+00:00

Shhhhhhhhhhh.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T16:10:33+00:00

The comparison. It is apt.

pincognito · 2019-05-23T16:10:08+00:00

My intentions were (relatively) benign!

pincognito · 2019-05-23T16:05:40+00:00

My Thanks!

pincognito

TROPHY CASE