We should be able to disable summon range for public multiplayer.

[Aetrion]

One of the things I really don't like about this game is the fact that it enforces a level range on you for matchmaking unless you connect to someone through a password.

I personally find the 125 or 150 meta to be obnoxious. I reached level 192 before I was finished with my first playthrough. Only about ten of those levels came from grinding, and that was early on in the game to raise my vigor a bit. The rest was simply me spending the souls I was getting from exploring and killing bosses.

I don't want to stop leveling on a character that isn't anywhere near reaching their potential, and is still regularly getting level ups from killing bosses. Getting those runes and seeing how far I can push a build is fun for me. The whole idea that you cut yourself off from enjoying the primary risk/reward system in the game two thirds of the way through is ridiculous to me. (And yea, I get it, PvP players don't want every single fight to be between characters that can all do everything, but I'm not saying they can't have their 150 meta)

I think people should be allowed to opt out of the summon range. There is a scaling system in place that scales you back a bit if you get summoned by someone much lower level than you via password, so just allow people to use that system for public multiplayer if they want to.

I think there would be a lot of people who would prefer that, even if it means getting hit by some very powerful invaders from time to time. It would also mean being able to play with people of all level ranges.

I enjoy just throwing my sign in the pool, getting summoned, meeting people, seeing weird builds, fighting off invasions, beating up bosses, getting runes and not having to throw them in the trash when I'm done.

[Nickk]

then invasion will be full of lvl 700s

[Aetrion]

Maybe, but I'm just not worried about that. I just want the freedom to play with anyone in the game who also wants to do that. There is a level scaling system in place that trims you down a bit when you're way too powerful, so just let the game use that.

[Sparhawk 59]

You have the freedom using password matching

[yannypr]

Unfortunately, much of this community thinks that if you have the choice to shoot yourself in the foot or to shoot yourself in the head, then that means you have freedom of choice, and all is good in the world.

You're right that power scaling is already there for password matching, so it's odd that they brought the level range system for summoning.

[0wnz0r]

i think if u get to 306, u can invade n infinitely coop upwards, plus pretty far downwards.

if u got to 192 that easy, then it mite not be a bad idea to try to get to 300 so u get a massive coop pool.

u mite wanna double check that info before u commit tho. matter fact ima look it up myself to make sure i heard that right.

[Aetrion]

Originally posted by Sparhawk 56:

You have the freedom using password matching

That's hardly the same thing though. How am I supposed to get every single person who wants open multiplayer to use the same password?

Being able to play with randoms is half the fun.

Originally posted by yannypr:

You're right that power scaling is already there for password matching, so it's odd that they brought the level range system for summoning.

Yea, it's also just weird that the way they currently do it is actually extra unfair to invaders, because a level 150 could theoretically invite two 700s to their world by password, but can only get invaded by 150s.

There is no way to ever get invaded by someone who's higher level than you, but you can password in people who are way higher level than any invader.

Originally posted by 0wnz0r:

i think if u get to 306, u can invade n infinitely coop upwards, plus pretty far downwards.

Yea, I've never heard about this, but I guess it would be nice if it stopped caring after 300 or so where characters mostly just become more versatile, not more powerful.

I still think they should just include a multiplayer setting where you can decide if you want to play level range or open.

[Sifer2]

Just because you played the game like an MMO, and leveled up every chance you got is no reason to break the game balance. You have the password system at least. But like every past Souls game if you get anywhere near 200 or over your going to have a pretty limited pool of people to play with. At those levels everyone is wearing the highest resist/poise armor, using the best weapons, and has pretty much every spell they want on their hotbar all while having max hp. It's just not as interesting.

[Aetrion]

Originally posted by Sifer2:

Just because you played the game like an MMO, and leveled up every chance you got is no reason to break the game balance. You have the password system at least. But like every past Souls game if you get anywhere near 200 or over your going to have a pretty limited pool of people to play with. At those levels everyone is wearing the highest resist/poise armor, using the best weapons, and has pretty much every spell they want on their hotbar all while having max hp. It's just not as interesting.

First of all, I don't think it breaks anything if people can voluntarily turn off level matching for more than just people they are already friends with.

Secondly, I don't think it's true at all that characters at level 200 can do absolutely everything. Let's say I make a sorcerer with 60 vigor, 40 mind, 80 intelligence, that's already a level 150 character without a single point in any other stat.

So the way I see it:
Level 150: Lean build specialist
Level 200: Specialist with a comfortable amount of creativity points
Level 300: Dual Specialist / Jack of all trades
Level 400+: Character loses definition.

Also the mere existence of the talisman system makes it so that even two characters with 99 in every stat would still be somewhat different depending on how they gear themselves up. Any given style of play can be boosted by at least 20-30% with appropriate talismans.