So, who is not looking forward to dedicated servers?

I personally like the current online system, its set up so i can ALWAYS play online. I believe with dedicated servers there will be much less online activity which i'm not looking forward to. Some people may counter this by saying there will be less lag, while this is most likely true, i'd rather face an opponent lagging slightly than not facing one at all.

What makes you say that there will be less people online?

Because right now we can play with people in other countries, with dedicated servers we will only be able to play with people in your country. Therefore there will be less players online.

Also, welcome to the forums mate.

I can't find exactly where it says it will be country locked, but it can be reasonably assumed that they will throw us a bone and make it specific to each country to avoid massive server loads and lag.

With a dedicated server, players won't need to muck with their router to get hosting to work, and summons and invasions will likely have a much lower failure rate.

EDIT: Also thanks. Wanted to get a word in here and get some more information about your reasoning, but didn't have an account until now.

I fall upon my previous reasoning. If you've got 32 people to invade (The current system i believe) and its full, then there is a higher chance of invading someone opposed to say it being half full on a dedicated server. Now while you are right about there would be less failed to invade/summon, the more players would balance that out though.

Also, if i read your post right, you made an account just to comment on my thread, i feel so special :oops:

Edit: I'm also a bit of a night gamer, and if we get dedicated servers than i will not be able to invade nearly as many people. That is part of the whole reason i made this thread.

i'm not looking forward to it honestly.
when a dedicated server is pulled offline... the online world dies. Dark Souls will have online so long as two people with internet ever play it.

I don't really see there being a player count problem. If Dark Souls 2 is Dark Souls but more polished, it's likely going to attract a lot of players. There's also going to be a lot more people who participate in online because they will get the summoning to work. I know plenty of times where I've just simply refused to reverse hollowing because I know I'm going to be stuck outside the bonfire waiting and getting a bunch of failed summons.

I don't know if the current system prioritizes invasions at all by latency, it would be smart if it did, but I usually interact with players inside my country anyway.

The dedicated server also doesn't have to come into play until 2 players are supposed to be connected. It could theoretically select a dedicated server based on distance between the two or with the least latency for the host. I haven't seen a post saying it will be region locked.

Hmm, you bring up a valid point. If Dark Souls 2 does attract a lot of people then i don't think online would be AS bad of a problem. But for people who play late, then it could quite possibly lead to many problems. And then there's the fact that many players might not be online at the same time, i only go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and only have homework. As such, i have much time to game during the game, while other people are at work/school. But since i can invade people in other countries, then i always have someone to invade and normally don't have to wait more than 5 minutes if i'm the right SL for that area.

Edit: And generally speaking, when they have dedicated servers than the servers are dedicated to one country.

It's very possible that the dedicated servers could only matter for the host and not the invader.

You could have a global system like the one now that dictates how players meet each other, and then simply connect the players to the dedicated server the host would be on.

EDIT: So to break it down, the player is connected to two servers at all times when not a phantom in another players game, the global system that determines HOW players are connected, and the regional system, that actually hosts the connection.

When you invade another player, it selects that player, prioritizing based on latency to provide the smoothest connection, and then connects, if necessary, to their dedicated server to actually make the game work.

This kind of system, if configured correctly, would solve both problems.

EDIT2: To clarify, this is a system I made up, and is in no way an accurate representation of how any existing or future Souls game actually works, because I don't know how they actually work.

Yes, but i believe when they said dedicated servers they are going back to Demon Souls dedicated servers, which are country dedicated. If they did the system you speak of, i would have no problems. But i believe they are going back to Demon Souls Style.

They have a much larger player base now, they could probably make it work.

Most players are probably accustomed to global play now anyway.

Demon's Souls Servers were supposed to be shut down in NA but they kept them up due to the amount of people still playing. The game generated enough interest over the length of time (Dark Souls helped) that the game was just released as a PS+ "free" game. Being a PS+ member I've looked at a lot of feedback on each week's releases and Demon's Souls' release has been one of the most positive responses I've seen in a long while. Unless they really botch Dark Souls 2 I don't see the amount of players being an issue.

I'm also a late night player typically and even with the current system I have a lot of down times. These are further exacerbated by failed connections, etc. I tested out Street Fighter IV turbomegaawesomearcadiestbyfarlookathowgreatitis edition the other night which has servers and allows you to prioritize regions if you're worried about lag, etc. I tried the "play arcade but let other people challenge" you game mode. I NEVER got to fight the first arcade guy thanks to constant "invasions." Some additions to this, I only played persons theoretically near my skill level and only USA players (so similar to Dark Souls' level limits and region locked).

If Dark Souls 2 uses a similar regional priority system (which I was unaware of until I tried Street Fighter) I could see it being a major step in streamlining the experience.

lol have you played Demon's Souls recently? Place is hoppin. I got invaded twice (killed both!), tried to summon 2 phantoms and successfully summoned 1. All last night.

Anyway, dedicated servers are a great idea so long as you can pick which server you want to be on manually. Which you can do already by registering a foreign account.

It all sounds great but I for one am going to miss co-op'ing with a number of you and playing in tournaments, many of which are organised on EST, which probably means we wont get a chance to join in.

I'll also miss those all nighters griefing the Japanese players and fending off one katana after the other... Naaaaahhhh! Those I wont be missing much. Except when you you keep invading the same guy and winning.. that was pretty funny.. oh and the messages they send you... I mean, it's like Japanese or something!

With the dedicated server from Demon's I found much less lag than Dark, and I was constantly being invaded or summoned. Even now!

Only issue I have on the dedicated servers is that I really like to play against Japanese people. Some of my best matches have been against them.

Guys. Register NA, JP, and EU accounts. Fixes all your problems.

Lag is a huge problem, I'd really rather be region locked than try to fight someone who travels around the area by warping.