From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Wirdschowerdn]

dude its April 1

Oh well I believed it because the japanese site dated back to March 28th.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

dude its April 1

Oh well I believed it because the japanese site dated back to March 28th.

naaaah the site and info on it was about upcoming patch 1.03

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

I guess I need to gitgud, because SL125+ (well, lategame NG+ because of Soul Memory's screwy effects on matchmaking) PvP is absolutely wrecking my Dex/Pyro build.
Some lowlights from the sessions I had last night:

-Fighting mages in the arenas, dodging their spells, and then rushing them down to engage in melee only to get trigger the Old Sun Ring, get stunlocked, and then murdered by Sunlight/Crystal/Flame/Resonant-Buffed weapons or a Moonlight Greatsword. No way to even tell if they have the ring on on or not. Completely stymies most Dex-based offenses. Can't seem to think of a good counter here that doesn't basically give them a huge chance of murdering you while you dodge and jab forever. Or that doesn't involve jumping on the magic/hexing bandwagon and completely bypassing the ring.

-Getting one-shotted (or close to it) by, well, everything. Spells, Avelyns, "sweet-spot" backstabs...you name it. I feel like lethality is pretty damn high in PvP...a little too high given the imprecision imposed by latency and hitboxes. Wearing upgraded Alva/Faram/Watcher gear along with Vigor two points shy of the soft cap should produce a little bit of a buffer, maybe only resulting in one-shots from the equivalent of [EDIT] Hornet Ring builds or Red Tearstone Ring shenanigans.

-Arena matchmaking is garbage. I'll be matched against people with freaking Heide Swords pitifully attempting to shoot Great Soul Arrows (in NG+ no less) at me one moment and then a full Havels buff-build with 5-orb Affinity who also happens to be powerstancing Ultra-Greatswords. What. The. Fuck.

-Won a few Blue Orb invasions, even a couple against gank squads. Roll-BS is still pretty good against inexperienced hosts/gankers, but good gank-squads will absolutely wreck your day by stacking magic from afar. Be wary of invasions that take you to Heide's Tower; seems like the new Darkroot Garden...a hive of scum and villainy.

-Ladder in Doors of Pharros is OP. Everything else in that area can be circumvented in some way, albeit requiring a ton of skill/preparation, but winning against a decent ladder-camper is incredibly difficult and more about them punting the match more than anything. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be a trollish area, but once people realize how central this strategy is to the map and the practice spreads, people simply will stop going to the Doors or playing offline.

-Iron Keep is great, not only the RSS/Dragon-Eye PvP, but invasions as well. So much potential for fun environmental interaction, especially in the rooms beyond the optional boss room. Dumping a gank squad into the lava is quite satisfying. Between the solid PvE content and the fun in PvP, Iron Keep is probably my favorite area in the game. Superb design, even if its placement in the world makes zero sense.



Thinking it's time to bring up my STR/FTH build into NG+ and try a build that doesn't suck. I like a lot of the shenanigans and the overall feel of a Dex/Pyro, but it struggles in both PvP and PvE currently. Whereas my "Paladin" wrecks enemies, bosses, and players alike.

Maybe a few patches/calibrations will smooth out the overall experience, but they have a lot of work to do in making higher level PvP satisfying for a multitude of builds, and I think that the one-shot fest is going to become extremely boring. Soul Memory needs to go as well, so people can actually control who they are matched up with and not be forced into "weight classes" theyaren't ready for or don't want to be a part of.

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

Have any of you guys gone back to play DS after the sequel? Wonder how it will feel in comparison, especialy things like the combat gangups and the limited spawns
I think that some things will feel more "videogamey" in comparison as yatzhe said like the level design and enemy types feel more like Super Castlevania rather than Souls you know? While places felt like functional locations in DS and Demons too, on DS2 they actualy feel like videogame levels where you climb up this out of the way ladder to turn off the switch that makes the minotaur statues spew fire while running and jumping to this plataform...
I am really enjoying the game but it somehow feels more gamey than both of its predecesors

I almost brought 2 chars to NG+ and lost interest (one of them didn't kill Nashandra yet). I have been playing my SL1 char in DS1 and I def. feel more involved. You don't realize how much more streamlined the game is with limited respawns/warp anywhere/shitty weapon upgrades/stunlock after you try DS1 again. And man, it's nice to have 3 move speeds and overall more fluid animations. DS2 chars swing swords like shitty console animu warriors.

 

[Invictus]

I just got a drop from the ghost magicians in undead crypt it is their sword called blue flame which acts as a dex sword with some magic scaling and a good magic damage, I don't have an int build but the damage input might be fine for a int build...plus it casts spells with the strong attack. Since it uses twinkies for upgrading it might not be that convinient but it looks pretty great and I have never seen a sword/catalyst

 

[Kanedias]

That's what I intend to use on my mage, it has some cool effects, for example buffing the sword also augments the spells you cast with it, and you can dual wield them and buff both of them with Crystal Magic Weapon.

 

[Invictus]

dual welding those babies with magic weapon might make you a real threat in PvE and make some fun strategies and creative trolling in PvP

 

[Zep Zepo]

What's up scrubs at Dragon Shrine? Ya know, I placed my sign at the bottom so as to help people make it to the top, not to do a long fucking jog to the top with nothing left to kill because obviously you suck at Ancient Dragon and have already died 15+ times.

Protip: Jog your lonely ass to the top and click on some summons there. Quit wasting my time by clicking on mine at the bottom. You die once again to the dragon and I don't get shit.

I swear, if I don't see shit to kill after the 2 doors i'm black crystaling out, bro.

Zep--

 

[DragoFireheart]

-Ladder in Doors of Pharros is OP. Everything else in that area can be circumvented in some way, albeit requiring a ton of skill/preparation, but winning against a decent ladder-camper is incredibly difficult and more about them punting the match more than anything. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be a trollish area, but once people realize how central this strategy is to the map and the practice spreads, people simply will stop going to the Doors or playing offline.

If you think that's bad, I will bum rush you right at the start. Homing Soulmass, Dark Fog if you're too idle, and spam magic. The water makes you slow as shit, charging after me leaves you open to the Elephant and Rat, and trying to kill the enemies will just result in you getting toxiced. I killed 27 people in a row within the span of an hour or so and the only person to get close to killing me was a dual-caestus shirtless fast rolling Old Sun wearing brawler who was smart enough to try and bum rush me (and I carelessly tried to backstab him at the start when he spawned).

Maybe people will smarten up and avoid the area, but it's a good place for Pharros Lockstones and you don't lose anything when you lose to the Brodent.

I almost brought 2 chars to NG+ and lost interest (one of them didn't kill Nashandra yet). I have been playing my SL1 char in DS1 and I def. feel more involved. You don't realize how much more streamlined the game is with limited respawns/warp anywhere/shitty weapon upgrades/stunlock after you try DS1 again. And man, it's nice to have 3 move speeds and overall more fluid animations. DS2 chars swing swords like shitty console animu warriors.

Wut?

 

[praetor]

limited respawns is definitely more streamlined. now everybody can finish the game through sheer attrition, and it only makes the game more frustrating for experienced players because some enemies drop useful shit for your build that can't be gotten elsewhere and at a certain point they stop spawning (yeah, farmed 2 more hours yesterday for the damned lizard staff.. still nothing. anybody care to trade for one?) and the drop tables are as full of bullshit as they were in DaS1 (thankfully nowhere near DeS level pure bladestone idiocy). warp anywhere is also definitely more casual and streamlined and made them uber lazy on the world design (which is complete shit), the new stunlock/poise so far is very reminiscent of the DeS idiocy (thankfully not as stupid) but considering their track record i have strong doubts they will fix it in any way, shape or form. dunno what he's on about the new upgrade system 'cause that one's a pretty cool addition and a welcome change (other than some bullshit combinations by infusing some special weapons, staves etc... yeah, looking at you magic infused MLGS + CMW. but hey, it's FROM, so any resemblance of balance is thrown out the window and the PvP will always revolve around 3-4 OP weapons/spells/rings. it's not better than DaS1 or DeS, just a different kind of unbalanced crap)

 

[DragoFireheart]

limited respawns is definitely more streamlined. now everybody can finish the game through sheer attrition,

Like they couldn't before by farming infinite amounts of souls.

-1

and it only makes the game more frustrating for experienced players because some enemies drop useful shit for your build that can't be gotten elsewhere and at a certain point they stop spawning (yeah, farmed 2 more hours yesterday for the damned lizard staff.. still nothing. anybody care to trade for one?) and the drop tables are as full of bullshit as they were in DaS1 (thankfully nowhere near DeS level pure bladestone idiocy).

This is probably the only legit complaint about limited respawns I have heard.

+1

warp anywhere is also definitely more casual and streamlined and made them uber lazy on the world design (which is complete shit),

No. It removes the tedious bullshit of having to backtrack through Undead Parish fifty billion times. There was ONCE instance in Dark Souls where this mattered with not having bonfire warp and that was Blighttown. Sorry but I disagree with you.

-1

the new stunlock/poise so far is very reminiscent of the DeS idiocy (thankfully not as stupid) but considering their track record i have strong doubts they will fix it in any way, shape or form.

Poise was exceptionally retarded in DS1. Being to ignore attacks allowed for Backstab abuse. Don't miss it.

-1

dunno what he's on about the new upgrade system 'cause that one's a pretty cool addition and a welcome change (other than some bullshit combinations by infusing some special weapons, staves etc... yeah, looking at you magic infused MLGS + CMW. but hey, it's FROM, so any resemblance of balance is thrown out the window and the PvP will always revolve around 3-4 OP weapons/spells/rings. it's not better than DaS1 or DeS, just a different kind of unbalanced crap)

PvP was never balanced, but at least it's not everyone rolling Dex/Pyro and is more like DeS (DBC, BBS, Faith-something, Dex). I'll take 3-4 OP builds over one OP build.

0

I give you a -2.

 

[praetor]

Like they couldn't before by farming infinite amounts of souls.
-1

equipment>SL. -1 for you

No. It removes the tedious bullshit of having to backtrack through Undead Parish fifty billion times. There was ONCE instance in Dark Souls where this mattered with not having bonfire warp and that was Blighttown. Sorry but I disagree with you.
-1

it also kills any semblance of consistency and atmosphere. fuck, even DeS was more consistent than this. not even "themepark" adequately describes this clusterfuck

-1 for you

Poise was exceptionally retarded in DS1. Being to ignore attacks allowed for Backstab abuse. Don't miss it.
-1

i did not say DaS1 poise was better. this is just a different kind of retarded. justify however you liked it

-1 for you

PvP was never balanced, but at least it's not everyone rolling Dex/Pyro and is more like DeS (DBC, BBS, Faith-something, Dex). I'll take 3-4 OP builds over one OP build.
0

I give you a -2.

not everyone in DaS1 rolled a Dex/Pyro. fuck, there's more MLGS wielding fags in DaS2 than there were pyrodexers in DaS1. don't make up shit. they're all different kind of retarded because FROM couldn't see "balance" if it kicked their teeth in and shat on their faces

-1

you score: -3. thank you for playing

 

[DragoFireheart]

#1
equipment>SL. -1 for you

#2
it also kills any semblance of consistency and atmosphere. fuck, even DeS was more consistent than this. not even "themepark" adequately describes this clusterfuck

-1 for you

#3
i did not say DaS1 poise was better. this is just a different kind of retarded. justify however you liked it

-1 for you

#4
not everyone in DaS1 rolled a Dex/Pyro. fuck, there's more MLGS wielding fags in DaS2 than there were pyrodexers in DaS1. don't make up shit. they're all different kind of retarded because FROM couldn't see "balance" if it kicked their teeth in and shat on their faces

-1

you score: -3. thank you for playing

:D

#1

Skill > equipment


#2

DeS was just as theme parky. Castle/Cave/Tower/Undead/Swamp. Dk1 was less theme parky but it was still theme parky. I think you're exaggerating Dk2.

#3

Alright, fair enough. Pick your poison #YOLO

#4

From sucks as balance yes, but they at least tried.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

For fuck's sake, Lizard Staff isn't even worth farming no matter what.

 

[DragoFireheart]

For fuck's sake, Lizard Staff isn't even worth farming no matter what.

It is for OCD jRPG players!

felipepepe

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I got a lizard staff drop for my dex/pyro man completely coincidentally. Straight in the item box

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yea I got it from the first Necromancer I iced. And yep, straight in the item box. The only reason it wasn't sold to Gavlan is because I only wheel and deal duplicates to Gavlan.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I got a lizard staff drop for my dex/pyro man completely coincidentally. Straight in the item box

Yea I got it from the first Necromancer I iced. And yep, straight in the item box. The only reason it wasn't sold to Gavlan is because I only wheel and deal duplicates to Gavlan.

Troll Souls detected. It would not surprise me if From implemented some weird code that checks item drops against your stats.

Lots of Dex and Str? Here, have all the staves!

Lots of Int and Fth? Here, have all these heavy ass strength weapons!

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

But really, most of the Good Shit isn't even drops. Black Witch's Staff is one of the rare exceptions, but those witches are easy to farm for it.

Also, regarding despawns, I'd say it's not really in favour of the newbies. For one thing, it limits their ability to (readily) power up for a boss they can't beat otherwise, and it's not like anyone with a miniscule degree of skill couldn't easily just avoid almost every enemy on the way to any boss in DaS1, and often avoiding all of them.

 

[J_C]

But really, most of the Good Shit isn't even drops. Black Witch's Staff is one of the rare exceptions, but those witches are easy to farm for it.

Also, regarding despawns, I'd say it's not really in favour of the newbies. For one thing, it limits their ability to power up for a boss they can't beat otherwise, and it's not like anyone with a miniscule degree of skill couldn't easily just avoid almost every enemy on the way to any boss in DaS1, and often avoiding all of them.

Isn't there a way to reset the spawns on the levels?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

But really, most of the Good Shit isn't even drops. Black Witch's Staff is one of the rare exceptions, but those witches are easy to farm for it.

Also, regarding despawns, I'd say it's not really in favour of the newbies. For one thing, it limits their ability to power up for a boss they can't beat otherwise, and it's not like anyone with a miniscule degree of skill couldn't easily just avoid almost every enemy on the way to any boss in DaS1, and often avoiding all of them.

Isn't there a way to reset the spawns on the levels?

Yep, but I'm not sure newbies are prepared to use Bonfire Ascetics wantonly.

 

[DragoFireheart]

But really, most of the Good Shit isn't even drops. Black Witch's Staff is one of the rare exceptions, but those witches are easy to farm for it.

Also, regarding despawns, I'd say it's not really in favour of the newbies. For one thing, it limits their ability to power up for a boss they can't beat otherwise, and it's not like anyone with a miniscule degree of skill couldn't easily just avoid almost every enemy on the way to any boss in DaS1, and often avoiding all of them.

Isn't there a way to reset the spawns on the levels?

Bonfire Ascetic.
NG+.

There's ways to farm Bonfire Ascetics as well. This makes the enemies harder, but if there is a PvP area you adore you can just purge them.

That's the other nice thing about despawn: not having to kill the enemies again and again. I know in the Undead Burg in Dk1 you had to kill the enemies EVERY fucking time to have a duel for every time you died. There's lots of nice dueling areas once you rid some of the enemies from existence.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Bonfire Ascetics are also awesome for high-end farming, like say Dragon Aerie farming (beat up some pansy-ass dragons, three zambambos, and then poach Crystal Lizards? Each run with amazing value in return for effort and Ascetic? 100k+ Souls per run? Wawawiiwa)

 

[DragoFireheart]

Despawns also have no bearing on a No-Death run.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

That's the other nice thing about despawn: not having to kill the enemies again and again. I know in the Undead Burg in Dk1 you had to kill the enemies EVERY fucking time to have a duel for every time you died. There's lots of nice dueling areas once you rid some of the enemies from existence.

i did that in Kings Passage while farming for Llewelyn set. Now i just put there my red summon sign waiting for call from Mirror Knight or summon other players for duels