I've used x30 Furled Fingers as a "genuine" invader

[Artek [General]]

TL:DR - Invasions are dead and we have killed them.
10 years of twinking and abusing the sh*t out of good faith tools these games have provided have finally taken toll to create the single most unrewarding and frustrating invasion experience to date.

Level 48, mostly vigor, some dex, minimal int to cast some basic sorceries.
~1030 HP as an invader
+8 weapons: Great Epe, Parrying Dagger, whatever staff to cast some basic sorceries for fun.
2 talisman slots (Radagon's seal because duh and whatever fits in 2nd slot. Spoiler: it doesn't matter. It really doesn't).

Results:

• Right off the bat: at least 5 instances of "connection failed" bug thing that requires to restart the game to go back online. Lovely. Can't tell if a critical bug or some guy on the other side uses malicious software to nuke your connection. Could be anything.
  
• A good dozen of "Host had initiated boss battle" cases (mostly catacombs, interestingly enough).
  
• Bleed, more bleed, a bit of frost, and a spoon of poison. Status effects have reached peak cringe. And i thought Dark Souls 3 Vordt's greathammer was bad. No counter play either - they still apply even through dodging if attacks themselves don't connect.
  
• Burst damage results in instant death - 9 cases out of 10 i can't even touch the flask before dying.
  
• One guy insta killed me with "giant killer" (summon).
  
• One guy killed me in 2 ultra greatsword hits (summon).
  
• One guy (solo host, but clearly looking for trouble) spammed poisoned auto-crossbow. Cool.
  
• Multiple instances of being insta killed by massive spells, always summons of course. One of them in particular not only had a damage of a nuke, but range of one too. I wouldn't even think to dodge, and yet there goes all 1000 HP.
  
• I parried 2 guys, riposted with Great Epe for... 400 damage. Not even 40% of their HP pool. My weapons might be underleveled of course, but... Still.
  (sidenote: not a single time anyone has tried to parry me and insta kill me with Mesicorde or anything. Is parrying insta-kill meta dead?...)
  
• You cannot heal. You simply can't. When 2 people rushdown you - you WILL die for attempting to heal. Because bleed.
  
• I had ONE fight against a genuine, lonely, non-twink host. It was the ONLY fight i had enjoyed, even though i lost through attrition: i've run out of flasks - he didn't, simple as. Good fight still, what a Chad.
  
• How many times did i "won"? ONCE. And it wasn't even my victory - it was a 2v2 fight and i just distracted the summon while the other guy using some weapon i've never seen before killed the host. I'll take it i suppose.

Yeah... I do not understand how this keeps getting worse. Its not Dark Souls 1 backstab storm i suppose, but i could join Watchdogs of Farron as SL20 in Dark Souls 3, or even just start invading High Wall of Lothric right from the bat and have WAY better experience than this. Don't even get me started on Dark Souls 2... Somehow the ugly duckling of the family is the only one who figured this out. Its puzzling, to say the least, but very much the case of PvP community reaping what they sowed.
At least Varre is happy.

[Gabe Ate My Zombies]

The only thing I would change is phantom scaling. It's been borked since launch and not only ruins invasions but trivializes the game for hosts. The lower the level you invade, the more noticeable this is. The atrocious netcode allowing status through rolls is just icing on the cake when the summon builds for it along with having extremely high resistances to status effects.

[ReBootXD]

I’m going to guess that you meant bloody/recusant finger in the title

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by ReBootXD:

I’m going to guess that you meant bloody/recusant finger in the title

Yeah, whichever one that runs out and you can buy it from various vendors. That's how i had 30 of them - just buying the entire stock of every merchant i come across.
I wanted to double check the name but... I've run out.

[›Kolanaki]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by ReBootXD:

I’m going to guess that you meant bloody/recusant finger in the title

Yeah, whichever one that runs out and you can buy it from various vendors. That's how i had 30 of them - just buying the entire stock of every merchant i come across.
I wanted to double check the name but... I've run out.

A real invader would be using either of the 2 unlimited use items and not waste their time or runes on the consumables cuz they get used up even if you win. lol

[DragonSoundxSG]

I have zero issued with invasions. And many others as well.

[Thirty Days Vegan And Counting]

Overleved cooperators are annoying and so are gank squads, but you can often use environment to your advantage. The main thing that irks me is people duping or getting items dropped for them, so you end up running into people spamming frenzyflame and poison perfumes at as low as level 30

[Nihrahk]

Originally posted by Thirty Days Vegan And Counting:

Overleved cooperators are annoying and so are gank squads, but you can often use environment to your advantage. The main thing that irks me is people duping or getting items dropped for them, so you end up running into people spamming frenzyflame and poison perfumes at as low as level 30

There's nothing you can do about it either, because even if you remove trading, people will just go offline and use CE or a mod to give them full stock of every consumable item or get DLC items at base level.

At least gravity is still an invader's best friend, and sometimes worst enemy.

[SeeDee]

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Ive been bashing my head against a wall trying to enjoy invasions. It started off as great fun since it was all new to me, but once the novelty wore off and I began to get into the meat of it, I realised that its not a great experience.
When I invade now, its not for the fun factor, or the cat and mouse gameplay. Instead, I find myself just mindlessly invading over and over again trying to get better at dealing with 1v3 situations, and I havent been enjoying any of it.

Its a real shame since on paper, invasions are such a unique and interesting idea, and it really appeals to me which is why I dont want to give up just yet. But Im worried if I keep at it, Im gonna get burnt out and grow to hate the game.

Ive done maybe 50+ invasions over the last couple of days and I can count on 1 hand the amount of them I enjoyed, and some of those even ended in me dying. I enjoyed them because it really felt like I was stalking the host, causing him trouble before backing off and setting up another ambush. It made me feel like a reoccurring mini boss for the host, which is how I believe invasions are supposed to be. The rest of the invasions are as you can expect however; high level limgrave phantoms using end game gear waiting for invaders, getting blendered and killed in a nanosecond because I didnt account for the awful netcode, every player and their dog using bleed or frostbite, etc.

Ill keep trying for a bit longer, but otherwise, Ill probably have more fun watching ChasetheBro play pvp then playing it myself

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by SeeDee:

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Ive been bashing my head against a wall trying to enjoy invasions. It started off as great fun since it was all new to me, but once the novelty wore off and I began to get into the meat of it, I realised that its not a great experience.
When I invade now, its not for the fun factor, or the cat and mouse gameplay. Instead, I find myself just mindlessly invading over and over again trying to get better at dealing with 1v3 situations, and I havent been enjoying any of it.

Its a real shame since on paper, invasions are such a unique and interesting idea, and it really appeals to me which is why I dont want to give up just yet. But Im worried if I keep at it, Im gonna get burnt out and grow to hate the game.

Ive done maybe 50+ invasions over the last couple of days and I can count on 1 hand the amount of them I enjoyed, and some of those even ended in me dying. I enjoyed them because it really felt like I was stalking the host, causing him trouble before backing off and setting up another ambush. It made me feel like a reoccurring mini boss for the host, which is how I believe invasions are supposed to be. The rest of the invasions are as you can expect however; high level limgrave phantoms using end game gear waiting for invaders, getting blendered and killed in a nanosecond because I didnt account for the awful netcode, every player and their dog using bleed or frostbite, etc.

Ill keep trying for a bit longer, but otherwise, Ill probably have more fun watching ChasetheBro play pvp then playing it myself

Yeah... I'm one of few people who treats invading as the intended mechanic it was - to be a dangerous, yet ultimately defeatable mob for the host to slay, provided I'll get off at least a combo or two.
But more often than not the whole engagement ends with 3 people running attacking you with dual katanas and there goes your blood and health bar. It's over before it even begins.

I'm a mob, alright... On the same power level as a jellyfish. Why would I bother? It takes me longer to load back and fourth between worlds than the engagement lasts. Anticlimactic, unrewarding, and then the hosts and summons act all smug about it as a cherry on top.

What frustrates me the most is that they had it figured out.
DS3 spear if the church boss fight was mega based for this exact purpose. Just do that! Give invaders buffs for each assistant present and it's perfect. But no, they had to leave it as is which was always bad and everyone knows it's bad and nothing gets done about it.
And then invaders have to develop mega cringe exploit tactics like Estus Cancel and what not to even stand a chance and the negative feedback loop spirals downwards.
It's so tiresome.

[Sc0rpiTr0n]

Originally posted by Artek General:

and then the hosts and summons act all smug about it as a cherry on top.

It sounds to me like you were not "genuine" invader but more like "tourist" invader.

About smug hosts and phantoms: don't take that personally.

Unless you run into some toxic gank squad trust me
typical co-op party don't enjoy killing you as an invader.

They are just thrilled to get rid of you so they can continue doing their stuff,
that's why you'll see all kind of emoting and dancing going on if they kill you.

I remember one time at levels over 300 invader spawned meter or so
in front of 3 of us in sewers which we cleared as we were advancing
through level and invader looked around and thought he is cooked.

He didn't attack and just stood there.
But none of us wanted to attack him. We waved at him and waited his move.

After few seconds he severed and we waved at him as he despawned...

[Nihrahk]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by SeeDee:

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Ive been bashing my head against a wall trying to enjoy invasions. It started off as great fun since it was all new to me, but once the novelty wore off and I began to get into the meat of it, I realised that its not a great experience.
When I invade now, its not for the fun factor, or the cat and mouse gameplay. Instead, I find myself just mindlessly invading over and over again trying to get better at dealing with 1v3 situations, and I havent been enjoying any of it.

Its a real shame since on paper, invasions are such a unique and interesting idea, and it really appeals to me which is why I dont want to give up just yet. But Im worried if I keep at it, Im gonna get burnt out and grow to hate the game.

Ive done maybe 50+ invasions over the last couple of days and I can count on 1 hand the amount of them I enjoyed, and some of those even ended in me dying. I enjoyed them because it really felt like I was stalking the host, causing him trouble before backing off and setting up another ambush. It made me feel like a reoccurring mini boss for the host, which is how I believe invasions are supposed to be. The rest of the invasions are as you can expect however; high level limgrave phantoms using end game gear waiting for invaders, getting blendered and killed in a nanosecond because I didnt account for the awful netcode, every player and their dog using bleed or frostbite, etc.

Ill keep trying for a bit longer, but otherwise, Ill probably have more fun watching ChasetheBro play pvp then playing it myself

Yeah... I'm one of few people who treats invading as the intended mechanic it was - to be a dangerous, yet ultimately defeatable mob for the host to slay, provided I'll get off at least a combo or two.
But more often than not the whole engagement ends with 3 people running attacking you with dual katanas and there goes your blood and health bar. It's over before it even begins.

I'm a mob, alright... On the same power level as a jellyfish. Why would I bother? It takes me longer to load back and fourth between worlds than the engagement lasts. Anticlimactic, unrewarding, and then the hosts and summons act all smug about it as a cherry on top.

What frustrates me the most is that they had it figured out.
DS3 spear if the church boss fight was mega based for this exact purpose. Just do that! Give invaders buffs for each assistant present and it's perfect. But no, they had to leave it as is which was always bad and everyone knows it's bad and nothing gets done about it.
And then invaders have to develop mega cringe exploit tactics like Estus Cancel and what not to even stand a chance and the negative feedback loop spirals downwards.
It's so tiresome.

Yeah... I always used invasions as their intended purpose too and basically be a miniboss of sorts. I even act as a NPC invader sometimes (even using names that could potentially be a NPC so that newer players may think that) But it's just innocent fun. Unfortunately, I feel ever since Dks2, it has lost its magic. I still find pvp fun, but it isn't what it once was. They could have done a boss fight like Spear of the Church with Leda and the gang, but never did. I suppose it is fair, since that fight can be very brutal if you didn't do any of the quests, but still...

[Vagrant]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Don't even get me started on Dark Souls 2... Somehow the ugly duckling of the family is the only one who figured this out.

DS2 really had the best, most balanced PVP experience thanks to Soul Memory. PVP or invasions, it was mostly always fair.

Everything after DS2 on the PVP side is garbage.

[ZTL-Altima]

Soreseal is Twink gear. Are you using the scarseal?

You should win much more with that build.

Pre-mark the map with juicy spots like the Revenant and Prawns in Liurnia if you ever need to escape crazy aggressive blenders and always engage with a clear back.

ER PvP is trash because it has a sh*tty unfun neutral game.

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by ZTL-Altima:

Soreseal is Twink gear. Are you using the scarseal?

You should win much more with that build.

Pre-mark the map with juicy spots like the Revenant and Prawns in Liurnia if you ever need to escape crazy aggressive blenders and always engage with a clear back.

ER PvP is trash because it has a sh*tty unfun neutral game.

Radagon's Scarseal - the one that gives +3 to physical stats at the cost of some 10% defenses, found not too far into the game. Even at its' lesser form its still a must for a character under L60 (especially for me since i lack the DEX to use Nightwatch's Flail otherwise... Which i don't actually use for PvP - its for PvE mobs that are resistant to thrust).

What do you mean i should be winning more? Its impossible. When you are outnumbered - its over by default. The assault of 2+ people spamming everything they have is so fierce - there is no counterplay, and since one of them is a L500 password twink himself - i will usually die in a singular bleed / frost proc or to some ungodly spell i never saw in my life before. As i said - some people literally killed me in just 2 UGS swings. I got some parries there and there but they mean nothing when i take out only some 400 HP from a character that has 1200+. And i'm not the kind to just keep running away to hide behind the mobs, that's just a cringe thing to do. I can tolerate setting up a singular ambush to join the mobs, but after that - its a last stand to the death, nobody likes "that guy".
It doesn't help that rapiers have always been universally ♥♥♥♥ against ganks. There's a reason various straight swords and other wide-swing no-lock-on kings always been the meta for these things. Rapier will just miss half the attacks without the lock on.
I bet i could secure more wins if i used the Flail instead and did the "singular R1 roll catch infinite combo" thing, but its a matter of honor at this point to get a Great Epe confirmed kill.
I feel +8 is just not enough for the kinda of people i'm invading, since it takes me 10 attacks to kill them, yet for them it takes only like 4-5 to kill me. Either that's just the way of the Bleed, or my weapons are about 4 upgrades behind the schedule... I should have the materials to push my Epe to like +11 at least, but i'm not sure i should do that.

Oh btw - i'm wearing the light weight Iron Armor Set (the one with a cool lizard coat), which combined with Scarseal results in some ~12% damage resistance across the board. So when i get hit - i get HIT. Ouchies.

[Mike of the Wypipo]

When invading, level the playing field. I used to lose 10 invasions before winning ONE, Now I just made a Str/Fai build relying mainly on free aiming GIantsflame and a Zweihander for crowd control. If they look like they will all gank/spam at once, they get a fireball to the feet and I knock them back giving me time to respond better. I'm on seamless Coop currently and get a lot of invasions in areas that aren't big open fields. When outnumbered anything goes. Unless it's an honorable group then I fight only physical weapon 1 on 1, no bs