Dark Souls has been out for a little over 5 months now and if I’ve learned anything about the people who play the game, it’s this: The majority of them can’t play the game without looking everything up on a Wiki site or
Havel's Equipment
cheating. Now, before I go further with this article (complaint), I just want to clarify that I play Dark Souls on Xbox. I don’t know how the PSN community is, but I’m sure they have their share of glorified miscreants as well.
I just want to say that I love this game. It’s my favorite game from last year and it has given me well over 400 hours of fun game play. I enjoy the online aspects such as joining in jolly co-operation with other players and doing invasions via the Forest Covenant or Dark Moon Blades. The thing I don’t like about the online aspect of the game is all the players out there who read the Wiki sites for tips, such as how to build a character around vitality and endurance for PvP. I have seen Havel’s Armor set so many times in PvP that I’ve grown tired of it. I just can’t figure out why players can’t build a character without looking up on the Wiki site for how to build their character. Seeing the same gear on players in 7/10 PvP fights makes the fights boring and repetitive since they all seem to fight the same way as well. That’s why it is always refreshing to see a player wearing random mixed armors and weapons.
Just for an example: A friend and I were doing PvP at the Kiln of the First Flame to build up souls to spend on more weapon upgrades. While we were there, we were both invaded by the same 3 players a few times each. All of the players basically had the same exact set up, with the exception of what armor chest piece they used. They had on the Mask of the Mother, Gold Hemmed equipment with varying chest pieces, and were using what I assumed to be an Uchigatana +15. They all started the PvP fight the same exact way. They ate a Green Blossom and then proceeded to cast Crystal Magic Weapon on their blade. If they started to lose the fight, they would start spamming Wrath of the Gods , Crystal Homing Soulmass, or just ran away and healed with Humanity. What honorable fighting skills right? I mean it’s bad enough that we have players who take cheap shots while you’re bowing to them to win a PvP fight, or even use the game mechanics against you to get cheap kills (such as summoning a Black Phantom friend into your world and then summoning a normal phantom so your friend can kill them), but I can’t figure out why so many players are afraid to just lose a fight honorably when they’ve obviously been beat. Quit running away or using quick easy tactics that require no skill to save your arse. Die with dignity!
Another aspect that gets pretty annoying in PvP is the ‘well what is it’ gesture. There are very few circumstances where that gesture can actually be used and it be justified. I invaded a level 116 player when I was at level 25 and of course when he won the fight he did the ‘well what is it’ sign to me like he did something amazing. Let me break down the fight for you. First off, I was part of the forest covenant and I got summoned in by Alvina. When I was pulled into the host’s world I could see he was 
already battling another Forest Covenant member. Before I even made it over to the fight, the other covenant member died. So it was just me and the host. He was wearing all Havel’s gear (wow what a surprise!), the Mask of the Child (another big surprise!), and he was wielding the Black Knight Great Axe. He healed himself to full health before he started battling me. I got him down to half health with a couple of Great Combustions and he backed away and healed himself again. So I Great Combusted him back down to half health again and he backed away and healed again. In the middle of this he had hit me with the axe and I had lost about 75% of my life. I was using a mage type character with weak armor so my defense pretty much sucked. He managed to get in another hit and I died. This is when he proceeded to do the ‘well what is it’ gesture as if he was an awesome player. So, naturally I sent a message telling him that if he was as awesome as he thought he was then he could have easily beat me without running away and healing. I also let him know that I was only level 25 and that had he not healed he would have died. Of course, that led to his foul mouthed response in which the majority of the words were spelled wrong. It’s OK, though, because I know I fought honorably and didn’t act like a coward behind the controller when I took a little damage. To each his own I guess.
The following is a list of items that are overused in PvP. Are they overused because of Wiki readers? I don’t know for sure, but I have a pretty good idea that they got the tip from somewhere. And by the way, I have read about stuff on the Wiki site(s), but it was only to figure out what few items I missed after playing the game through the first time without any tips or help (with the exception of messages left by others, which is more than enough help). I was a noob at the game the first time through, as should have been everyone, but I have played with other people who have just barely started the game and they know more about hidden stuff than I do because they used a Wiki site for every section of the game. But enough of that. On to the list!
Mask of the Child- I honestly can’t count how many times I’ve seen this mask in PvP
Mask of the Mother- Like the Mask of the Child, I’ve seen this mask way too many times to count
Mask of the Father- This one doesn’t seem to be used as often as the other 2, but I have seen it pretty frequently
Havel’s Armor Set- This ranks up there for me as some of the most common PvP items used.
Giant’s Armor Set- I see this fairly frequently, but not to the extent of Havel’s stuff
Dark Wood Grain Ring- This item really should be patched. You can literally dodge anything with it if you’re timing is right… and almost everyone I have faced uses it.
Katanas- Take your pick. I’ve seen the Washing Pole and the Uchigatana used quite often for PvP
Crystal Magic Weapon- I’ve seen this used a lot in conjunction with a Uchigatana or Washing Pole +15
Wrath of the Gods- This is a cheap spell. If you are battling two people then I don’t see it as cheap, but if you are getting your arse kicked by one person and you start spamming this spell to save your skin.. well shame on you.
Crystal Homing Soulmass- Another cheap save your skin spell that more people seem to use when they are losing a fight.
Well What Is It- This gesture isn’t necessarily overused by players in general as much as it is just overused by idiots.
Anyways, those are just few of the items I’ve seen way too much of in PvP. I’m sure I have missed some items, but going off of my experiences these were the ones I saw the most of while doing PvP. If you have any qualms with the PvP in this game or with other players’ etiquette while playing this game, I would love to hear about it. Thanks for reading!
ITS DARK SOULS. YOU DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO TO WIN! OR ELSE….
PREPARE TO DIE!!
People choose these tactics because they work. the family masks are useful, why should someone not use them? In a real fight you don’t tell your enemy to stop spamming bullets, you just shoot back, anyone with skill can still kill a spammer, you just need practice dude, dont get so pissed because people know what works
I realize this is plugging my own stuff, but I bemoan some of the same things as you do, and thought you might appreciate the sentiment. I made a build recently and tried to avoid some of these overused things. I guess I still use Mask of the Father, but I created the build from scratch and hand-tweaked it, so maybe I’m excused?
I much prefer the “Joy” emote.
I read the info on your build and I think it’s great! Definitely different from the majority of stuff I have seen. And in this case I can forgive the use of the Mask of the Father since it is indeed used in conjunction with a random collage of equipment. I enjoy the use of different weapons like the Rapier or Estoc myself. I am constantly trying different combinations of armor for fun and I like to see what looks best. Today I put my new bandit character “Sinclair” in Pharis’ Hat+1 and the rest Leather Equipment+1. I also gave him a Rapier+7. He looked like a Musketeer or something, well minus the tunic. Needless to say I had a lot of fun poking and prodding my way through areas with that set up. No shield was required either as long as I kept myself at a distance from certain enemies. I also just finished killing Stray Demon a little while ago before answering this post. I was not wearing the Leather equipment or Pharis’ Hat though. I used the regular Brigand equipment with the Crest Shield and Rapier+7 to take him down. I died the first try due to a dead angle blow that bypassed my shield, but I Rapiered him on the second try. My current character is level 35 with 19 vitality, endurance, strength, and dexterity. All other stats are at starting level.
I too make use of the “joy” gesture. I also do “look skyward” or “shrug” a lot when things don’t go as planned during jolly co-op
I love the “Pulp Fiction” reference too. It’s actually one of my favorite movies!
I played Demon Souls and learned very quickly that PvP and playing through to acquire all the trophies are two completely different monsters. If you like to throw-down against online challengers then you must accept your opponent’s choice of weapon as well as gear. I agree with the lack of imagination you’re referring to, but a couple of those items are imperative. Dark Wood Grain is a must and Green Blossom is an alternative to sacrificing valuable defense points – instead of wearing a crappy mask, that is.
As a side note, did you know you can farm humanity from the little skeleton babies, just before Gravelord?
Oh and I hate seeing PvP’ers in the fat guy armor (Smough) – “I just don’t dig on swine.”
Thank you for your comment!
“I just don’t dig on swine.” Haha that’s funny! I’m glad that you understand what my point is with this article. It’s true that a lot of players are very unimaginative when playing this game online. Well probably with any game online, but that’s beside the point. I don’t have a problem with the green blossom being used, I was just pointing out that each opponent did exactly the same thing when invading. It made each fight feel like I was fighting a scripted enemy rather than a free thinking human opponent. As far as the DWGR goes. I think the only reason it has become imperative is because so many people use it. I have run across people, however, who were not using this item and still managed to defeat me with ease. The reason is because they were just good, creative players.
You are the biggest fucking complainer I have ever seen if u don’t like the game fucking quit, if you don’t like the players don’t play online, if u don’t like what I’m saying then suck on this dick, have a great day!!!
Video courtesy of CrosshairNY
Comment to video courtesy of Lu666Ka600AA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoSEsQllqWA&feature=related
Trolling in a nutshell;
taunt like attacks;
angry user who thinks is punching the troll but is only hitting thin hair in the PC room;
until the only way to beat it it’s revealed: ignoring and going away.