A long night in the moonlight

TL:DR I'm not better than people, just smarter.



It's been a pretty long day. I spent several hours completing my "BlueBlood" legacy build and then several hours on moonlight queen assassinating in the forest. After so much time to think about things I've realized something pretty big: I'm not too good at this game.

With 50 faith, I'm able to hit around 800 with a 1-handed sword. With that kind of damage, I shouldn't ever lose a match. But I've been losing about 70% of my fights. The only characters I'm good with are my "Pure "Perfection" spear build, my poison build, and my assassin build. I thought about why and I figured it out. I can't fight.

My spear user has longer range than almost every melee user and a shield that blocks 80% magic damage or has almost 90 stability which makes it completely safe to turtle and attack when I know I won't be hit back. That's HARDLY fighting.

My plague build relies on poison and toxin so I just have to wait patiently for them to die without fighting.

My assassin build...gets 1-hit kills 90% of the time so I don't have to fight then either.

Each of the characters I'm good at rely on some kind of trick or deception that minimizes the amount I actually fight. And I'm beginning to realize that's how it is in most other games and sports. It's not that I'm good, it's just that I'm clever about it. Armed with this knowledge, I think I can go on to make much more efficient builds for myself in dark souls and every other game I play.



Just for the sake of discussion, has Dark souls ever made you come to some kind of self-epiphany?

Everyone has their tendencies. I know that I'd probably have trouble getting used to fighting with a plague build. It's just the natural order of things.

yup, I'm a guupy compered to the professional PVP'ers. I've been with the series for 3-4 years now and I still suck. Especially at back-stabs, I hate-back stabs

I just kept experimenting till I found my strenghts and weaknesses and made builds that use my strenghts and wits, and negated my weaknesses. Am I considered good at PvP? No I'm just average, some days are good and others...I feel like I just got the game again. WhatDoesThePendantDo? is right that we all have our tenedices, yours at the moment is having a build with something that uses your cleverness to win. Just test and see what you feel good at.

If you were on PS3 we could duel damn it. I'm not that good at PvP either, I just make the builds as efficient as possible according to the weapon I'm going to use. I was playing with the mage king last night in the FC and it was hilarious, I had 93 poise medium roll and the only thing I was doing was spamming the MLGS like a boss. They tried many times to stunlock me and trade hits and the thing didn't stagger at all. I got many wins and I didn't had to use those crazy PvP techniques, maybe a bit of counter bs. It all comes to being clever with my fighting style as well.

There was a time when I thought I was amazing at all forms of PvP.

I'd go hundreds of invasions in a row without dying.

Then I tried dueling in the burg, died pretty quickly.

Found out I was only good at invading Darkroot, and killing gankers. Anywhere else and my success rate takes a huge dip.

Now that I'm rusty at the game and barely PvP, a quester could probably kill me.

I'm better at Dark Souls PvP than perhaps any other online game I've ever played, both FPS and action. For some reason, I started off winning a majority of my fights, and I did not start to PvP until nearly a year after the release of Dark Souls. In most games, I need to use my wits to outsmart my enemies simply because I'm just not that good. But for some reason, that's not the case with DkS. I literally just fight like a mad man, using nothing but my reflexes and natural reactions to win my fights. I do of course incorporate some sort of strategy when fighting, but I'm not even thinking while fighting.

I believe it may have to do with how much research I've done on the game, especially the PvP. I've probably spent just as much time watching videos on YouTube and browsing these forums as I have played the game. Because of that, I've done my thinking prior to playing. That way I can just react to whatever I may need to with all of these strategies already in my subconscious.

To answer your question, I believe Dark Souls has showed me that I perform much better when I do my research.

I preordered the game on Amazon and it arrived early, so I actually got it a couple of days before it was released in Europe. I still haven't finished it. I'm hilariously overleveled, my character is a walking, rolling tank (Silver Knight Helm +5, Havel's Armour, Golem gauntlets and leggings and Havel's ring, meaning I'm just below 50% equip in case you were wondering) with nearly 50 faith, a fully upgraded divine winged spear and enough offensive miracles to level a small town. And yet I can never seem to find the will to push forward. I'm afraid of wasting my time, of accidentally doing something stupid (and permanent), of not being prepared for the next fight or of missing something important. And I realised it's just cause I'm cowardly.

And so, having realised this, I decided I didn't like being a coward. Now, after nearly a year of not advancing, I'm finally pushing forward. I hope I find the strength to finally finish, but I know I at least found the strength to make one last push. And that's enough.

That's the epiphany Dark Souls gave me.

I seem to adapt to a lot of things, especially the slowest and strangest weapons...
But I can NEVER get along with curved swords and rapiers. I have trouble with decently using them even at the Gargoyles. Some things work out for you, some things just don't

After using the Chaos blade so much, I found it hard to use other weapons.
Straight swords? doesnt have the reach.
Great swords? Easy to parry and slow

I just couldnt find the right weapon to use.
But...Then I found it.

The painting guarding sword.

Oh sweet jesus i loved it. Had no range, but that little bastard could stun lock those havel flipping bastards before they could get two hits in.

but sadly...That file got corrupted and I never got around to making another.

Not to mention the bleed it has. It is the range that gets me.

I used to have the same problem as you until I got the Giant's set, Mother's Mask, +15 Uchigatana, Ring of FaP, and the wolf ring. Then I pwnd everyone!

but seriously, Dark Souls is unique because of what you can do with your character. You have tons of choices for weapons, armor, ring, etc. You just have to find the equipment and build that is right for you. Keep experimenting and you will begin to see a change in your pvp win/loss ratios.

The biggest epiphany for me was when I realized I was significantly better at PvP when I think there is something at stake -- usually defending a friend or a noob in coop. Duels, arena, invading etc are fun and all, but never feel completely authentic to me, more like matches in Street Fighter or something. I realized I actually care more about protecting other folks than my own skin, and now when someone goes after my host I totally hulk out and do horrible things to them I could never even pull off in a regular duel. Some of us were just made for sunbroin' I guess.

i actually kinda suck when fast rolling... whenever i midroll i tend to do better...

I realised I enjoy staying new characters(or games, that's in general, for that matter). I probably have an unhealthy obsession with starting over and doing better every time.

befowler wrote:The biggest epiphany for me was when I realized I was significantly better at PvP when I think there is something at stake -- usually defending a friend or a noob in coop. Duels, arena, invading etc are fun and all, but never feel completely authentic to me, more like matches in Street Fighter or something. I realized I actually care more about protecting other folks than my own skin, and now when someone goes after my host I totally hulk out and do horrible things to them I could never even pull off in a regular duel. Some of us were just made for sunbroin' I guess.

I know the feeling man! I suck at pvp, but when I'm a summon, I'm randomly decent

Oh if we're talking about an epiphany I had one after learning how to use great curved swords. I was very experienced in the use of the Great Scythe, even used the Lifehunt Scythe with awesome results. Then after using a Server I said: Holy **** this thing is like using a scythe, but it can stunlock!!!! The sprinting attacks and the R2-> R2 combos, same as the scythe's. More useful when 2 handed for stunlocking.