For the Glory of Alvina

Hey all i was just wondering what the average summon time for everyone is? It seems to be taking a bit these last few days. Is the summon rate higher if you are actually in the forest?

10-30 seconds for me. If you're time is taking a bit take of and put back on the ring to reset it and get a new que, I do it all the time and it works.

Ok folks - I am getting reports from other hunters noting at least one mod toon hanging out in the forest this evening(XBOX). This particular host has like 9999 health & endurance and is pretty much killing and taunting everyone who invades. We must anticipate these type of appearances on Sat, 3/24 - I am pretty much expecting campers to be bring out their big guns - be they real or mods.

Remember the only way to kill one - is to knock their butts off a cliff. Bang if u have to because these type of dudes are cheating from the get go - the only honorable thing to do is eliminate them no questions asked!

I'm maintaining a "bingo list" of gamertags noting unsavory characters (mod toons, mental cases, etc) I have fought against. Communication channels will be open during the mass invasion in order to relay this type of information to all participants - please do your part and note the gamertag/PSN names of any mod toons u encounter in the forest. Knowledge is power!

How hard it is for From to sweep for mod chars anyway? If any char logs in with 9999+ health or stamina or armor etc, it should just end up in an endless Abyss area filled with nothing but superpowered black phantom giant skeleton dogs and armored boars, with a soundtrack of the mocking laughter of little children.

Without servers? can't be done. though that would be hilarious. i'd mod a character just to se it

Yeah - since DkS uses peer-to-peer type connections (between player worlds) with no central servers it would be very hard for FROM to get rid of these guys. Oh well we must always assume that someone will find a to pervert a good thing - I guess its just the nature of the beast.

Well, then the game engine itself. Saw a video of a modder who was kicked off a bridge, and the fall did over 30,000 damage. That level of hp is obviously beyond anything even a max level char could ever see, so I don't see how it would be hard for creative designers to set up ways to have the system kick out anyone obviously cheating like that. Like have an effect where any char above X hp or stamina is permanently cursed down to 1 hp or something.

Thats a coding thing. it would stop them for a bit but they'd learn to bypass or alter it. As long as computers exsist, so will modders. The best solution is to report them as it violates the online play terms of service.

Has anyone figured out how to report on PS3? I woulda loved to report the modder I saw. I will defend players' rights to backstab, be flipping tanks, and even farm (although I defend, see "encoruage" our right to murder farmers more, mwah ha ha ha) as these are all built into the game structure but modders are entirely different. Befowler.....can the mocking laughter of children be accompanied in visual form by bleachers (Colosseum style) with hundreds of rows of Skellie babies from outside Nito's area? As a father of a now two year old I was perfectly set up to be thoroughly creeped out by plague and now skellie babies. Add some laughter and it's nightmare time.

Lol yeah the plague babies were the worst, all wet and shiny. And the way they'd pop out of the murk right under your feet, gah. I've got a 4 year old and some of those areas were tough, heh.

I'd also be interested in knowing how to report folks on the PS3. No idea if it'll actually accomplish anything, but worth a shot.

I noticed something a couple times (once last night) that has me wondering a great deal. I invaded a guy in the forest and the fight ended up near the ax man and cleric clearing. Nothing odd there except I noticed Shiva standing at his usual location and foggy like Alvina is when she is in the host's world. What gives? I thought Shiva only appeared in your world if you were a Forest Hunter which makes no sense as to why I would invade another Hunter. I thought maybe it was a glitch like dropping a white sign and the game brings you in as a Wraith (the game sent me to a Hunter's world) but why would a Hunter be waiting for a battle here. I've never seen anyone look surprised to see a Forest Hunter coming at them either.

That is because Shiva is an important NPC, meaning that phantoms cannot interact with him. If the host attacks him his summons cannot help him fight Shiva, that way the phantoms cannot screw with a person by killing their important NPC's.

I figured that's why he's foggy but why is he even there in the first place? Doesn't his presence mean that the person I'm invading is a Forest Hunter? I though he only appeared if you were a hunter and NPCs were a reflection of the host's world, meaning, if he's there the host is a hunter right? I thought we didn't invade each other? I know I spend a good amount of time getting familiar with the forest and have not been invaded.

No, you can invade hunters just as easily as anyone else. Sometimes there are farmers who hide as a hunter and have their summons out to fight, that way their summons cannot hit the NPC's. Those people I destroy with extreme prejudice.

Does he stay there if you join the forest cov and then quit (but don't kill the ninja or lure him down to blighttown etc)? I have a vague memory of seeing him in there once while heading to Alvina to rejoin the covenant.

If you don't leave the area after leaving the cov, then yes he stays there. But he'll attack you, and he'll easily block you from rejoining in which case he might be still hostile unless you quit and reload.

I guess that clears it up. Does the ring prevent being invaded? Because I get jumped by Darkmoons in Dark Londo before I can say "boo" (usually after beating up the two game moons at the base of the stairs) and I spend way more time in the forest and have never been invaded.

I don't think it does prevent invasions, but you can be hollow with it on so that might be why. I'll test out wearing it in the forest while human to see next chance I get.

I'm pretty much always human but will test without the ring tonight. Maybe my rural interwebz is wacky somehow.

I have always wanted to know whether we can invade a human form hunter in the forest. So if we kill the human-form hunter does it count as a sin? I thought we couldn't because technially they are in the covenant - therefore should be immune from invasion (at least from hunters). And I did not know a human-form hunter if he summons a phantom - creates a situation in which the phantom cannot even damage the forest NPCs - that is indeed an advantage for the host & phantom if the hunter is in need of help from the forest NPCs. I have invaded the forest on a couple of occasions as a spirit of vengenance so I assumed I was invading a forest hunter who had sinned against Alvina.

Once again after almost 1000 hours on this game - I am still learning something new. Will this quest for knowledge ever end.

Killing a Forest Hunter host does not count as a sin, it is just like killing any other host. It will only count as a sin if they indict you.

I just avoid the whole issue by going through the forest hollow the first time, joining via Alvina, then heading straight through to kill Sif. Otherwise you get those darkwraiths that hide behind the forest mobs to try and get you kicked out of the covenant.

I tend to keep Sif alive so I can host in the forest and give my hunters some duels to give them a breath in between the farmers.

Btw, another sort of tip I've been using in there is swapping chars. It took some doing, but now I have two sl120s in the forest, a faith build and an int build. Both purposefully have almost the exact same equip and gear loadout except for the talisman/catalyst. As we all know, fairly often you start to get into sorta a loop where you run into the same couple of farmers over and over. When that happens, I will swap back and forth between the two characters themselves, which adds to the mayhem. I look the same, same invasion name, and all that, 'cept sometimes it'll be CSS and CMW and the like, and other times WotG, sunlight blade etc depending on which build I'm using. Had one last night where I got killed on the faith build, swapped out, and 6 minutes later went back and killed them with the int build. I've already gotten a couple of nastygrams demanding to know my sl, as they assume I must be sl200+ or something to have all those spells on "one" char. I've been PMing back "It is the mystery of the dance."

By the way my fellow hunters, always feel free to ask questions here. I'm sure me or one of our other hunters will feel free to fill you in on anything and answer any questions, or discover the answer for you.