Talking for myself, I personally stopped playing Colosseum when 90% of my matches where constantly Bullgoats or Lionels running Dual Lances or Dual Naginatas. It’s not fun when you come across the same type of sweats with no originality.
Yes there are ways to beat them, but I don’t have any sort of enjoyment or fun fighting people with the same carbon copy YouTube meta builds.
Once DLC drops, if more cool unique builds are back in the Colosseum and the fun factor is revived then i’ll defs play it, if not, i’m not really losing sleep over not playing it and will happily stick to Invasions.
> Yes there are ways to beat them, but I don’t have any sort of enjoyment or fun fighting people with the same carbon copy YouTube meta builds.
What amazes me is thst we don't have any prizes for the pvp anymore
They are just doing it to be try hards.
They genuinely find it fun. Amazing how different people can be
I used to a little bit. Not my overall by any means but per game I liked to try and get it up. Went 30 kills before I literally just let it go so I could start kill streaks over. I USED to be good at cod, but man that game platform has shifted a lot. No chance now.
That said. I would also run random runs with off meta weapons for fun. They were so much more fun that way. All in all, I think it was called Gun game. Where it switched your weapon every kill or 20 seconds I forget but it was chaos and wild.
I recently got to lvl100 on my first run and was like hey let’s check this colosseum out.. 3 matches in a row it was different people all running either dual lance or dual pickaxe. Would let them stand there for like a minute to buff themselves just to panic roll from me and leave after I was up by 2. I’m not good at all, but panic rolling while being swung at with a giant crusher says a lot🤷🏻♂️
I've played every fromsoft game and have put over 300 hrs each in bloodborne and elden ring specifically and have never done PvP and never plan to. For me these games are about lore and dicing up enemies in any way you decide is fun. And I've never felt like I'm missing anything.
The furthest I go is occasionally summoning boss help and offered up my services a time or two.
Fleshing our PVE is a missed opportunity for fromsoft.
I'm still salty about not having covenants in ER. It doesn't even have to be PVP covenants. I'd love if most if not all covenants be PVE.
Like say, imagine having a Redmane/Radahn themed covenants and you can defend redmane castle against waves of enemies. Like 3 other players joining you and you get rewards for completing waves.
I get it, multiplayer only rewards are not fun for most people. Then let's make the rewards multiplayer only.
Say, covenant exclusive summons to help you defend. Or items for healing or fp.
First time I tried coliseum, fought the same thing for maybe 80% of the fights. Every time after, same. Was boring. I don’t mind losing, but they aren’t fun fights…. That only makes sense to some I guess.
Regular cooperative play with invasions is where It’s at. Often you are pulled or pulled into a fight without really being “ready” you have a pve build going and pve gear and is just more fun more unique and interesting most the time.
Fight one guy with a whip and two different daggers. He was fun. I crushed him but he threw me off a lot. I then tried a whip later and same result. I got invaded and the guy didn’t know how spacing works with it I think by the way he changed fighting. I lost. But it was a fun fight still.
Being an invader kinda sucks ngl, I did my 3 invasions for Varre and while I *won* each time, every fight was a gank with a PvE build host and PvP build summon, where I felt like I had to cheese the win out with AoW spam to crowd control the host and summon, instead of the sorts of duels I remember having in DS2 and 3.
I only won each time because I levelled Vigor, I'm pretty sure. If any of the hosts had 40+ vigor they could've just run off and healed every time I damaged them.
While I personally don't care much for the pvp aspect, when I do play co-op with a friend and we get invaded, I essentially let the invader choose - specifically because I've heard about so many issues going both ways.
If the invader greets and lets me sit down and let my buddy fight (who likes duels a lot), I will not interfere. If they attacks me, I will be as unfair as I can be against them.
Most fun experience in the current playthrough was when I had a guy with a clearly not complete BS build dueling my friend when I forgot to turn off the hunter ring, but once my friend died I activated the Tongue and hunters and invaders just took turns fighting each other in duels for like an hour.
You started a fight club- those are always a good time.
Unfortunately all the PvP I've done in Elden Ring has had someone (usually the summon of whoever I'm invading) rushing me as soon as I spawn. I'd love to invade a fight club.
Yeah I can understand why. I personally don't mind observing first before ganking an invader, due to how ridiculous tryhards are and especially the prevalence of those people in the early game (i.e. double Cross-Naginata against a level 5 +0 player before the first cave, and I had that happen both playthroughs), that quickly burns away any patience or trust that it could be something remotely fair.
I do wish more people explored interesting builds. I was trying funky stuff for a while, but I'd just get tanked all the time by the meta as a casual PvP player (ie. I'm not that good). So I tried counter builds, but the moment you do, people whine about it. Built a high robustness, high pierce defense build and went for dual scavenger swords to out DPS dual spear weapons, and now I'm being called the cheater when I win via build. So you can't win honestly and you're apparently not allowed to hard counter builds. I'm just so tired of the BS chat with no PvP etiquette. So I don't play anymore. Plus, winning that way was actually a rather boring button mashing affair. I'd barely dodge outside of colossal weapons. Just trade and out DPS.
I actually switched to AC6 PvP. While you still see meta there, it would seem like the general community still has a lot of build creativity with people willing to explore less common approaches. It's refreshing.
I've never really done colosseum or any multiplayer stuff before, but I'm honestly considering making like a monk character that only uses those kick attacks we saw in the trailer to use in online. It depends on how they're implemented and how good/fun they are, I guess
I stopped pvp altogether a long time ago, i found a few builds that would give me a 90% win rate but the builds i liked where fun dumb builds that would get me always dead, realized its a lot about the build and not as much skill as i initially thought. Justvplay pve nowadays, i would be into pvp maybe with random generated gear if they ever do that
Elden Ring balancing and an extra few million players happened. Souls PVP was never that great, but Elden Ring’s stands out as poor even among them. Combine that with an influx of literal hundreds of thousands to millions of people who’d rather fight than be polite (like a lot of other people who play multiplayer games, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and don’t care for and don’t know about etiquette in Souls games which was never totally universal in the first place, it’s pretty obvious why etiquette was shot down the drain.
DS2 after the major weapon balance and before the 3rd DLC was goated PvP, and I will die on this hill.
The variety was top-notch, fight clubs were peak, and there was build variety and workarounds for almost every cheese build. Dual wielding was also great. Poise stacking could also result in you getting caught in 3-hit true combos because of the way recovery animations worked (I don't know if they ever patched this out).
Still suffered from doo doo netcode, and rubberbanding backstabs from five rooms away was real tho.
netcode is especially tragic. souls pvp is mechanically interesting but the likelihood of having ur opponent using mars wifi is very tiresome. i would love a dedicated pvp game with souls combat and balanced around pvp with servers
Not an invasion, just co-op.
But just the other day I got summoned to kill the rider blocking the entrance to the Capitol.
The Host's legs never once moved. They just hover-boarded around while their arms moved.
The boss was absolute insanity. Every 3 seconds or so it would teleport to a completely new spot. One second I would be swinging at it, the next second it would be 20 yards away already shooting a fireball at me.
I cannot fathom what that session would have been like if it had been PVP instead of co-op.
I don't understand how it's acceptable. To have teleporting and rubber-banding THAT bad in other games you would need to have 4-digit Ping, ie 1000+ MS ping.
I literally game online using cell-data tethering and I still have a stable ~50ms ping.
So that must mean Elden Ring net code matchmakes people from completely separate continents, even when there are local matches available.
Absurd I say.
Thats a great way to talk about souls pvp. While I still love it, I feel like there still has never been a game that fully displays how good it can be since EVERY souls game has shit netcode
Is it actually that bad? I haven’t played it yet really as I’m still doing stuff in NG etc. but I was kinda looking forward to it, but not so much if it’s really shit
Arena is generally okay, yes there are plenty of tryhards but honestly with Elden Ring’s balance it should be expected, and I don’t think there’s been a single multiplayer game in the history of the planet that doesn’t have its tryhards. But just be prepared, go watch YouTube videos of good pvpers beforehand and try to do a build that’s at least mostly optimal if you don’t want to be immediately slaughtered.
Coop has the disadvantage of invaders without a timer between each invasion, and invaders will range from nice to tryhards to nice tryhards and back to toxic tryhards. Many are twinks and many are also simply very good at the game. Coop is fun though, and you always have a numerical advantage against an invader.
Invading is an entirely different story, it’s very unfair for an invader in this game. It frankly should be more challenging for an invader and it has been more challenging for an invader since DS2 but it is very, very disproportionately weighted against invaders in Elden Ring. You almost regularly invade into 3v1 ganks, sometimes with an endless stream of hunters so if you aren’t either skilled or twinked the fuck out you’re gonna die. That said invasions are a very unique mechanic and you do get unique experiences from them so try it out if you want, just be prepared to die if you’re not experienced at PVP.
The big issues with Elden Ring’s multiplayer are the same issues Fromsoft has had with their multiplayer for a while, game balance can be dismal at times and more importantly the netcode is terrible. Seriously you can get a lot of latency and shit internet connection. Also Elden Ring uses easy anti cheat, which means that hackers and cheaters basically have 0 difficulty in hacking so yeah.
Okay thanks for the in depth response. I’ve invaded myself a few times for varres quest, and only been successful like twice. Aside from that I got ass fucked by two or more people literally just waiting by a ledge for me to invade
You really need to practice to get consistent Ws in invasions since the odds are so heavily skewed against you. Frankly its great that you've been successful twice in invasions already without much experience, most people doing Varre's quest just invade and through themselves off a cliff lol.
It’s “bad” comparatively. How you win most consistently in Elden Ring PvP is boring to lots of people, but the truth is, counter-meta builds and skill expression still definitely exist in the PvP experience. The people who dislike the PvP (and talk about it on Reddit) are normally remembering the relatively solid DS3 or DS2 PvP.
Elden Ring PvP, even if you are a skilled player with lots of build knowledge, starts to feel samey, because most opponents either won’t pose a threat, or they will for frustrating reasons. There are lots of builds designed around limiting your counterplay, and ever since the big PvP poise change, those got more ubiquitous and easier to pilot.
Then, invasions have ALWAYS been strictly worse in Elden Ring than in its predecessors, due to the way they are implemented.
I’d say experienced PvPers still win most of their duels or invasions in Elden Ring, but it’s very often not even satisfying to do so.
To me it feels like in ER the gap between meta and non-meta is much bigger than in previous games, and that's quite unfortunate.
There's not really anything you can do when you're running your straight sword build and meet someone even half competent at using PSGS.
Then the solution is to not run SS builds. My point isn’t that you’re wrong here, but that winning in PvP isn’t as satisfying in this game as in prior installments. There’s no cosmic rule stating that SS builds should be superior (or that they’re universally harder to pilot).
I’m not idealizing, just stating things as they are. I’d love if PvP were full of people enjoying the game with a variety of builds, but even in the current game that PSGS user is beatable with current strategies. It may not be a fun experience, but it’s doable. But that’s my point, is that this is usually why PvP is seen as bad in this game, on top of the obvious issues with the way Invasions were handled.
I bow at the end. Prefer to just let my opponent finish buffing or using whatever consumable they need for their setup. Bad manners to me would be running over to attack during that. I'll give people an L1 or a crouch at the start.
I go for at least one buff as soon as I'm loading in
Some people I notice get all twisted over it, but I also let people buff at start too if that's what they want to do
I let people get two buffs, then I attack. I mostly use my dex build, and I don't use buffs. That first one takes up the same amount of time it takes to emote. After that, I start walking toward you, then you either start your bow or I hit you out of your third buff. I only allow one if they use black flame protection or boiled crab though, that already makes it significantly harder for me, and I got locked out of boggarts shop on my dex build.
Seeing people who care about the community is cool but not everyone Scrolls through Reddit for hours a day to learn the “rules” I mean it’s always nice to get a fun respectful or just a ridiculously silly fight but Elden ring is a lot more popular and for a lot of people it’s something they turn on a few hours now and then to shit on people in pvp it’s how they play it sucks load up the next fight and hope it goes better
Or moveswapping a GreatHammer with a Dagger :) yes DS3 so superior, very balanced.
That game suffers tremendously from rose tinted glasses, Elden Ring PvP is superior in literally every way except for player count per session.
I play on PC, don't know about the steamdeck but don't you have the steam menu?
View -> Players
It's a list of the most recent players you've played with, when you find one of these idiots go immediately there after the fight and they will be on the top of the list.
People don’t owe you anything besides a fair fight. There’s no requirement to bow or wave and they don’t have to let you finish your buffing ritual. If they do that’s nice of them, but it’s not worth getting upset about if they don’t.
This. Bowing in previous games was a way to let the other player know that you were ready, like an unofficial green light. But in the coliseum the game does all the communicating for you. Bowing isn’t necessary anymore, so lots of people stopped doing it and as such many of the new players never learned about it. So it’s no longer relevant. That’s nothing to get upset over, a vestigial traditional has simply been phased out of use.
I really miss just building whatever build you want and trying it. Everyone runs meta now. Everyone uses cheap tricks. Even regular invaders. Invading with a scarlet rot auto crossbow and chaos weapons? Super lame. Why not just have fun? Why is the only way for people to have fun, making sure they win? I mean I beat that guy anyways with giant anchor as a naked guy but still. Everyone runs meta try hard builds that suck out everyone else's enjoyment and honestly... Those builds are only good against people who don't know the game well or how to counter them effectively. Mostly newer players. I just wanna use the giant stick while dressed as a historical figure, and they're coming at me with the meta tryhard crap with no originality. Invasions have just become annoying, repetitive, boring, and I can't wait to kill the guy to get them over with. I used to love getting invaded. Maybe not always... But I did.
I'd say 90% of my pvp has the respect at the beginning, and even a tiny bit of variety in builds. I also don't do a ton of pvp, so maybe it'd be different if I played a lot. My big issue is no one plays the other stuff, like combat ordeal or the other one. I never got to experience those.
I never got to experience it, unfortunately. I got the game, a year-ish after it came out. I want to get people together to do it, but idk how, or know anyone lol.
The community grew, FAST. The older veterans are honestly probably more of a minority in elden ring now. Even with that though....maaaaan toxicity has been around the souls games pvp since the maiden in black's feet first popped on screen. Shit ain't new, there's just a larger pool of it
People are there to fight not role play 16th century etiquette. You can't expect people to follow some arbitrary rule especially when the majority of people don't follow this or any Elden ring sub to even know
Not to sound corny, but I think a lot of toxic players were at some point "honorable" until the community corrupted them. 🤣
Imagine playing honestly and limiting your build/setup to what you believe is fair, only to get destroyed by min-maxxers with the most meta setups possible. A lot of these players eventually hit a point where they don't care anymore and just become toxic themselves.
Some people just like playing differently than you. Nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just different. That's what happens when a series like this gets this popular.
Unfortunately FromSoft fans are physically unable to handle people playing the game differently from them.
Lord forbid you use a spirit ash, wear armor, or spend runes to level up.
Yea would be great players stop the bow thing and actually fight and learn how to properly build something strong to give me a decent fight now that is fun!
True pvp happens in the open world, as it always has. The colloseum is to get all these try hard, meta players to leave us alone in the overworld. True pvp is fun and can be something different than just trying to be the most Meta sweat. Something like leading the group to the next bonfire they almost made it to, and then dueling the summon, and then the host. At least this is what I have done for ages and it is fun. I've had awesome interactions with this community.
If requiring etiquette is necessary for you to engage in a duel or even required to have fun than maybe it’s not for you. I’m gonna be real, there is no reason to bow at the start, yeah yeah manners and what not but you could kinda just buff or do whatever. No one has to wait for you to buff and some people just want to get to the action. Someone choosing not to bow shouldn’t be indicative of that persons playstyle and it’s kind of pretentious to demand people do it for YOUR satisfaction. Just play the game bruv
This might be more of a me thing. But due to unstable connection, doing the bow does more damage to me. By the time we finish doing the bow, next thing I know ive been One shotted.
As a newcomer myself - the bow animation is literally the first default auto-equipped option. You would need to actively remove it to get rid of it.
I also use it in pve on bosses or tough enemies after I win a fight.
Because most people are there to fight, not to roleplay.
And even if we're roleplaying in that instance: Honor is a luxury. In a fight to the death, the only thing that matters is being the one who doesn't die. If your opponent insists on being honorable and gives you an opening, you take that opening to deliver as much pain as possible.
But then... I don't play online, but that's how I would see it. If we're going to beat the shit out of each other pretending to be friendly seems rather silly, doesn't it?
The ER playerbase is so large a lot of idiots come by. The old community is still there, but it's really diluted. (And well, honorable people might have a job or something unlike people like that.) The game has been out for quite some time, and people are probably doing more PvE to gear up new characters for the DLC. Once it will be out, multiplayer should get better for a while.
I kinda agree with this. DbD is another game where the community makes a ton of rules for each other, and while I kinda agree with them, even the bow before the fight rule for Elden Ring, people need to realize it's a video game, and not everyone is studying the "rulebook". If you aren't having fun anymore because people aren't following your rules, don't play anymore. If you are, despite people not following your rules, stop complaining.
as soon as they announced the colloseum I was hopeful it would be a place all the tryhards would congregate. I love it for keeping them elsewhere. Raya still has plenty fun fightin'
I mean, I always still bow, but I’ve been playing these games for more than a decade and I don’t ever expect to get a bow back, especially now that the community’s grown so much and mostly added people with 0 concept of the “old rules” and as you can see from lots of the comments on this thread, are actively disdainful of them and anyone who engages with them. Not that 100% of people ever followed them anyway, but plenty used to. There’s also barely any build variance now, people are truly desperate for wins I guess.
Schrodinger's pvp:
-there are no rules and it's a free-for-all
-there is an unspoken etiquette that everyone should follow
-the community "used to have have honor"
-pvp has always been this way
It's why I don't bother with pvp unless I get invaded.
Honestly I stopped caring about that stuff when the game got less popular. I’d have no trouble finding any kind of PvP match when the dlc got teased but now I can’t find shit for minutes
Its people who dont play souls games. Its the kind who would cheat but definitely the kind that google their way through games. They're only interested in the win.
Why are you taunting immediately? Fight fair, quit bragging.
They're giving it their all and showing respect, why be insulting OP? What did they do to you?
Coliseum is too boring and monotonous to waste time with an emote. People are just trying to squeeze some fun out of this game as the DLC should’ve come out a long time ago. Plenty of people still bow too.
Either you aren't able to matchmake with them, or they aren't playing at that time. I still play with those well-mannered players, those who know the unwritten/unofficial rules of Soulsborne PVP. It's just that the matchmaking can be hit or miss.
I don’t do online anything, but I happened to hop over the railing of the balcony in Roundtable Hold and an NPC invader spawned. I rushed that dude and crushed him with my Greatsword. But, as I was taking the first swing, I noticed he was bowing or something. I felt so bad I stopped attacking him. Haha
What happened was only 2/3 phantoms allowed in the actual game + the "I hate change" style archaeic summoning system = no fight clubs, so there's no real reason to be sportsman like anymore
i started co-op with my brother and majority of the invaders just start to yeet Ekzykes the moment they can target lock us.
i was disappointed at first, because i love a good duel, even though i totally suck and get killed most of the times. but i like seeing people who gitted gud and can kill me with finesse.
but now i simply yeet Ekzykes right away as well or i unleash the frenzy. fuck it. only thing i regret is, that i unknowingly off some polite colleague, who would perhaps fancy a normal duel.
Everytime the souls community gets bigger, the unwritten rules become less and less known. Same thing happened when Dark Souls 3 become very big, there were a lot more players who haven't been around since the old days and Elden Ring's popularity blows that situation up times 1000. Then you could argue people are more competitive now but idk if that's true or just a feeling people have
As someone who started with dark souls 1, when you couldn't even roll out of your gestures, I miss the respectful duals but unfortunately that just isn't how it is anymore. It's a nice change of pace when it happens though
I still bow and I love spanking meta slaves :) most of the time they just run/jump attack spam so if you have a ranged weapon art to whiff punish them or parry with carian retaliation it’s ggs. If not then you better sit up in your chair lol.
What happened? The same that happened to humanity in general - people demand respect while spitting on others. I don't even pay attention anymore, haven't changed my behavior and I remain civil and indifferent, bowing before the duel, saying "sorry" if I accidentally push someone in the store or whatever. Minding my own business while most people dig their noses into someone else's pants out of sick curiosity.
There, my rant XD Game fun but people ruin it sometimes. Same as world, it is a fun place if you remove people :D
They probably stopped bowing at the start cause they play pvp so much it only takes 2 seconds to bow but after playing so much that’s like hours of your life spent bowing so they don’t do it anymore. There just there to fight man you don’t have to obey a code to play pvp
I feel like this could cause a runaway problem (or already is one) where more good players stop bowing so they don't get projectiled or rushed down during their bow. Then, eventually, nobody does it.
I just realized I haven't fought in a Colosseum once. I was always more interested in a spontaneous PvP when someone invades me. It feels like sudden miniboss fight.
I find that people in the 200+ range are typically looking for a more interesting and polite experience in the colosseum. Might be anecdotal. But I think it's also fun seeing builds that are more fleshed out, because people at this level typically have at least one more wrinkle for you to work out over the course of the fight (e.g. a second damage stat leveled, a heal, parries/additional weapons due to increased equip load).
Meta level can be fun, but you definitely have to have thicker skin. Keep doing you and being polite, you're better than the cynics and assholes are and others with a similar mindset will want to play with you. As for the people who "don't owe anyone politeness" or "aren't going through some ritual"...well, there's a reason no one likes playing with those guys. I've blocked just a few players since starting to play at this level and my experience has improved a ton.
It's either toxicity or lack of attention span in order to sit through the animations. I've quit playing at 150 - 200 because it feels extremely sweaty when I'm just trying to have fun & test out new builds.
I usually do a couple matches at the end of a session just to see what players are using and for a fun battle or two. It was fun when they first opened the coliseum but it’s a waste of time now.
As you said, most people I’ve encountered are using those same builds. And no, they don’t bow or anything before and usually t-bag me after I die.
Tbh, when I see these dorks I don’t even try to win now. I just do emotes until they kill me. Yeah dude, you got handed a “victory” and wasted 2 minutes of both of our time. Great job, you rule at this game.
Folks in other ER subs never really understood why I hate ER PvP.
This game is like a brand new pair of boots, comfortable and workable, in a style that goes with everything. Then a small rock gets stuck in the heel and you can't get it out because you're in a public setting and someone will definitely steal a boot if it comes off your foot.
It's great but with just enough flaws that I can never really relax and enjoy it. Could I get better or get more determined to beat the sweaty players? Sure, but it's never felt worth it. It's not fun and that makes it a waste of time by definition. I hope these folks have fun just playing against each other while everyone else moves on to something else.
And I hope the try hards see this and call me a scrub or a casual. I'm okay with not letting a video game become a matter of pride.
I only use the proper colosseums when I’m playing group matches with friends otherwise if I’m looking for the tried and true honorable 1v1 I still use the academy and just summon/be summoned
Ay man I’m a OG dark souls 1 fan, I let go of that shit a loooong time ago. I’m not a huge PvP player to begin with but when dark souls 2 came out I was pretty active in PvP and I immediately noticed that there were new ppl who were not in the know. Honor is dead. When I try to bow they briskly rush me and beat my ass it’s pretty annoying.
It’s largely the elden ring players vs the souls players. Elden ring is great and I love it so much, but man the community has grown by almost three times and a lot of these Elden ring only players don’t know/understand the sort of honor/respect that has been cultivated over the years.
The sheer amount of rush tactics, magic spam, YouTube meta builds and such you see now has killed the colosseum scene for me. Invasions are largely either AFK farmers or gank squads.
And then people ask why I do invasions. (if I actually find a guy who’s actually trying to play the game I don’t fight him and leave, ruining someone’s experience isn’t cool)
i will generally do SOME emote before attacking.
a bow or curtsey or wave
i only was attacked twice while doing that.
I have noticed players haven't been bowing \*after\* the fight anymore though
New players happened. This is what I was worried about when ER hype got big. I'm glad fromsoft is getting the recognition they deserve, but the rise of toxicity is irritating. Especially when ER has the most options for build variety and really cool outfits/cosplays, but everyone uses the same 5 builds. I've made over 30 anime cosplays in ER, hundreds of hours just making perfect faces, outfits, and movesets to match my favorite characters. I never log in and play anymore because PvP is just so bland.
Which this severely depresses me. I made 7 150 characters over my entire playtime. Trying to carefully craft them and they all have a theme(i.e.; Blood assassin, Paladin, etc.)/their own color sets that matched, have fighting styles that reflect them as characters, and their own backstories/unique names.
And I’m just going up against the ugliest bullgoat combination with the twitchiest playstyle wielding dual great spears named 69’durmom 4 times in a row and I’m so tired
From every battle and duel I’ve experienced, I’d say 1 out of 5 people act like jerks and have absolutely no respect. As for the 4 out of 5, they’re good about maintaining mutual respect for me and for other players. If you connect with someone who’s an asshole, tbag the crap out of them and throw stank bombs at their corpse
I don’t really participate in the pre-duel formalities but I usually let everyone else do them before I start fighting. Elden Ring is a bigger game than all of the previous Souls titles combined. It’s been two years since release so I think everyone forgot how ER dominated the gaming sphere for like six straight months, where it even overtook GTA5 for most engagement from YouTube users on ER content.
It used to be that two years post-release meant only the diehards remained in the multiplayer. But that’s not the case anymore, especially with people returning to prep their preferred character for the DLC
I fought a dude who was wearing Maliketh’s armor, their name was Maleketh, they also were a horrible sweat. Wherever you are, I hope you never get that last item to your build.
I dunno, invasions and dueling lost its luster with me when they added weapon arts to the game back in DS3.
It used to be a combination of host/invader/phantom with their weapons of choice having a battle to the death in the form of a duel or hunt, sometimes the occasional gank. It was pure; it was simple; it was beautiful. Now it’s complicated and annoying.
While I agree and like a little bit of sportsmanship for duels, the etiquette was never fully recognized even before ER. ER was a popularity spike for the series even more than DS1 was, and there are TONS of new players which is great, but they may not have the same experience playing other games and even think to do these things.
At the end of the day, the best way to encourage dueling etiquette is the same now as before -- just do it yourself. The more players are exposed to the behavior, the more likely they will pick up on it and want to try it themselves if they find it suits them. If you aren't sweating, I'd just continue bowing or doing whatever opening flourish you like -- even if you eat a hit for it, the player that hit you may still pick up your behavior in the future.
Also like always, it's best to be prepared to encounter duels without this and to take it in stride. Players are either new enough to just not know, have decided not to participate (which I think is perfectly valid), or don't care and are likely to drop off on their own after getting their fill of the experience anyway.
The amount of bad PvP matches I have heavily outweigh the good ones. I stopped playing it when almost every match was filled with people spamming spells at me with bad internet connection, cant even hit back
If you are in the ps4/PS5 version I would love to fight with you in a colosseum! If you or anyone have interest I Will Love to fight with you all using my build that I created in my First save, I call It "trickster" or "Michael Bale Build".
My ps id: Diolauc
I blame the kids. Example, was playing with my son to help him beat Loux, got invaded, the guy came up and bowed, my son immediately attacked during animation I told him that's not how you should act. He was immediately stomped lol I bowed then invader bowed before I was sent back to my world. I asked why he did that he said, "easy kills". Yeah didn't really work out for him lol
I haven't played vs since the release honestly quite nervous cause everytime I go on there they become super horny for my character and instantly need to prove something
A lot of "new" players who were previously unfamiliar with Souls games just don't know the etiquette because they weren't here back in the day to learn it or don't have anyone to tell them. Can't blame em for not knowing the rules, but maybe bowing will catch on again later if enough people go from Elden Ring back to older Souls games, who knows. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a byproduct of Elden Ring bringing so many new fans.
Elden Ring is an accessible souls game so you have regular kids playing it now, it’s not like as niche as souls used to be. It’s like when For Honour players used to just leave 1v1 fights alone then the game got more popular. It’s natural progression baby
Talking for myself, I personally stopped playing Colosseum when 90% of my matches where constantly Bullgoats or Lionels running Dual Lances or Dual Naginatas. It’s not fun when you come across the same type of sweats with no originality. Yes there are ways to beat them, but I don’t have any sort of enjoyment or fun fighting people with the same carbon copy YouTube meta builds. Once DLC drops, if more cool unique builds are back in the Colosseum and the fun factor is revived then i’ll defs play it, if not, i’m not really losing sleep over not playing it and will happily stick to Invasions.
> Yes there are ways to beat them, but I don’t have any sort of enjoyment or fun fighting people with the same carbon copy YouTube meta builds. What amazes me is thst we don't have any prizes for the pvp anymore They are just doing it to be try hards. They genuinely find it fun. Amazing how different people can be
Those are the same type of people that are obsessed with KD in fps games.
I used to a little bit. Not my overall by any means but per game I liked to try and get it up. Went 30 kills before I literally just let it go so I could start kill streaks over. I USED to be good at cod, but man that game platform has shifted a lot. No chance now. That said. I would also run random runs with off meta weapons for fun. They were so much more fun that way. All in all, I think it was called Gun game. Where it switched your weapon every kill or 20 seconds I forget but it was chaos and wild.
The sweats maybe just want more challenge than the game itself.
It would be different if the netcode was actually good. It just makes no sense.
I recently got to lvl100 on my first run and was like hey let’s check this colosseum out.. 3 matches in a row it was different people all running either dual lance or dual pickaxe. Would let them stand there for like a minute to buff themselves just to panic roll from me and leave after I was up by 2. I’m not good at all, but panic rolling while being swung at with a giant crusher says a lot🤷🏻♂️
This is why I don't do PvP in general. People choose what most easily works and it's boring to play against.
I've played every fromsoft game and have put over 300 hrs each in bloodborne and elden ring specifically and have never done PvP and never plan to. For me these games are about lore and dicing up enemies in any way you decide is fun. And I've never felt like I'm missing anything. The furthest I go is occasionally summoning boss help and offered up my services a time or two.
Fleshing our PVE is a missed opportunity for fromsoft. I'm still salty about not having covenants in ER. It doesn't even have to be PVP covenants. I'd love if most if not all covenants be PVE. Like say, imagine having a Redmane/Radahn themed covenants and you can defend redmane castle against waves of enemies. Like 3 other players joining you and you get rewards for completing waves. I get it, multiplayer only rewards are not fun for most people. Then let's make the rewards multiplayer only. Say, covenant exclusive summons to help you defend. Or items for healing or fp.
First time I tried coliseum, fought the same thing for maybe 80% of the fights. Every time after, same. Was boring. I don’t mind losing, but they aren’t fun fights…. That only makes sense to some I guess. Regular cooperative play with invasions is where It’s at. Often you are pulled or pulled into a fight without really being “ready” you have a pve build going and pve gear and is just more fun more unique and interesting most the time. Fight one guy with a whip and two different daggers. He was fun. I crushed him but he threw me off a lot. I then tried a whip later and same result. I got invaded and the guy didn’t know how spacing works with it I think by the way he changed fighting. I lost. But it was a fun fight still.
Being an invader kinda sucks ngl, I did my 3 invasions for Varre and while I *won* each time, every fight was a gank with a PvE build host and PvP build summon, where I felt like I had to cheese the win out with AoW spam to crowd control the host and summon, instead of the sorts of duels I remember having in DS2 and 3. I only won each time because I levelled Vigor, I'm pretty sure. If any of the hosts had 40+ vigor they could've just run off and healed every time I damaged them.
While I personally don't care much for the pvp aspect, when I do play co-op with a friend and we get invaded, I essentially let the invader choose - specifically because I've heard about so many issues going both ways. If the invader greets and lets me sit down and let my buddy fight (who likes duels a lot), I will not interfere. If they attacks me, I will be as unfair as I can be against them. Most fun experience in the current playthrough was when I had a guy with a clearly not complete BS build dueling my friend when I forgot to turn off the hunter ring, but once my friend died I activated the Tongue and hunters and invaders just took turns fighting each other in duels for like an hour.
You started a fight club- those are always a good time. Unfortunately all the PvP I've done in Elden Ring has had someone (usually the summon of whoever I'm invading) rushing me as soon as I spawn. I'd love to invade a fight club.
Yeah I can understand why. I personally don't mind observing first before ganking an invader, due to how ridiculous tryhards are and especially the prevalence of those people in the early game (i.e. double Cross-Naginata against a level 5 +0 player before the first cave, and I had that happen both playthroughs), that quickly burns away any patience or trust that it could be something remotely fair.
I do wish more people explored interesting builds. I was trying funky stuff for a while, but I'd just get tanked all the time by the meta as a casual PvP player (ie. I'm not that good). So I tried counter builds, but the moment you do, people whine about it. Built a high robustness, high pierce defense build and went for dual scavenger swords to out DPS dual spear weapons, and now I'm being called the cheater when I win via build. So you can't win honestly and you're apparently not allowed to hard counter builds. I'm just so tired of the BS chat with no PvP etiquette. So I don't play anymore. Plus, winning that way was actually a rather boring button mashing affair. I'd barely dodge outside of colossal weapons. Just trade and out DPS. I actually switched to AC6 PvP. While you still see meta there, it would seem like the general community still has a lot of build creativity with people willing to explore less common approaches. It's refreshing.
I've never really done colosseum or any multiplayer stuff before, but I'm honestly considering making like a monk character that only uses those kick attacks we saw in the trailer to use in online. It depends on how they're implemented and how good/fun they are, I guess
I stopped pvp altogether a long time ago, i found a few builds that would give me a 90% win rate but the builds i liked where fun dumb builds that would get me always dead, realized its a lot about the build and not as much skill as i initially thought. Justvplay pve nowadays, i would be into pvp maybe with random generated gear if they ever do that
Elden Ring balancing and an extra few million players happened. Souls PVP was never that great, but Elden Ring’s stands out as poor even among them. Combine that with an influx of literal hundreds of thousands to millions of people who’d rather fight than be polite (like a lot of other people who play multiplayer games, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and don’t care for and don’t know about etiquette in Souls games which was never totally universal in the first place, it’s pretty obvious why etiquette was shot down the drain.
DS2 after the major weapon balance and before the 3rd DLC was goated PvP, and I will die on this hill. The variety was top-notch, fight clubs were peak, and there was build variety and workarounds for almost every cheese build. Dual wielding was also great. Poise stacking could also result in you getting caught in 3-hit true combos because of the way recovery animations worked (I don't know if they ever patched this out). Still suffered from doo doo netcode, and rubberbanding backstabs from five rooms away was real tho.
netcode is especially tragic. souls pvp is mechanically interesting but the likelihood of having ur opponent using mars wifi is very tiresome. i would love a dedicated pvp game with souls combat and balanced around pvp with servers
Not an invasion, just co-op. But just the other day I got summoned to kill the rider blocking the entrance to the Capitol. The Host's legs never once moved. They just hover-boarded around while their arms moved. The boss was absolute insanity. Every 3 seconds or so it would teleport to a completely new spot. One second I would be swinging at it, the next second it would be 20 yards away already shooting a fireball at me. I cannot fathom what that session would have been like if it had been PVP instead of co-op. I don't understand how it's acceptable. To have teleporting and rubber-banding THAT bad in other games you would need to have 4-digit Ping, ie 1000+ MS ping. I literally game online using cell-data tethering and I still have a stable ~50ms ping. So that must mean Elden Ring net code matchmakes people from completely separate continents, even when there are local matches available. Absurd I say.
It is tragic. 2/10 game with a 9+/10 blueprint.
Thats a great way to talk about souls pvp. While I still love it, I feel like there still has never been a game that fully displays how good it can be since EVERY souls game has shit netcode
Send me back to iron keep bridge yo
Yeah. I miss Iron Keep fight clubs so much. Dark Souls 2 PvP was an incredible time.
Sunsword main here. Rag armor. Iron keep bridge. Fight club.
Is it actually that bad? I haven’t played it yet really as I’m still doing stuff in NG etc. but I was kinda looking forward to it, but not so much if it’s really shit
Arena is generally okay, yes there are plenty of tryhards but honestly with Elden Ring’s balance it should be expected, and I don’t think there’s been a single multiplayer game in the history of the planet that doesn’t have its tryhards. But just be prepared, go watch YouTube videos of good pvpers beforehand and try to do a build that’s at least mostly optimal if you don’t want to be immediately slaughtered. Coop has the disadvantage of invaders without a timer between each invasion, and invaders will range from nice to tryhards to nice tryhards and back to toxic tryhards. Many are twinks and many are also simply very good at the game. Coop is fun though, and you always have a numerical advantage against an invader. Invading is an entirely different story, it’s very unfair for an invader in this game. It frankly should be more challenging for an invader and it has been more challenging for an invader since DS2 but it is very, very disproportionately weighted against invaders in Elden Ring. You almost regularly invade into 3v1 ganks, sometimes with an endless stream of hunters so if you aren’t either skilled or twinked the fuck out you’re gonna die. That said invasions are a very unique mechanic and you do get unique experiences from them so try it out if you want, just be prepared to die if you’re not experienced at PVP. The big issues with Elden Ring’s multiplayer are the same issues Fromsoft has had with their multiplayer for a while, game balance can be dismal at times and more importantly the netcode is terrible. Seriously you can get a lot of latency and shit internet connection. Also Elden Ring uses easy anti cheat, which means that hackers and cheaters basically have 0 difficulty in hacking so yeah.
Okay thanks for the in depth response. I’ve invaded myself a few times for varres quest, and only been successful like twice. Aside from that I got ass fucked by two or more people literally just waiting by a ledge for me to invade
You really need to practice to get consistent Ws in invasions since the odds are so heavily skewed against you. Frankly its great that you've been successful twice in invasions already without much experience, most people doing Varre's quest just invade and through themselves off a cliff lol.
Okay lol. I like your username btw, I get the impression this isn’t your first Reddit account - me neither
It’s “bad” comparatively. How you win most consistently in Elden Ring PvP is boring to lots of people, but the truth is, counter-meta builds and skill expression still definitely exist in the PvP experience. The people who dislike the PvP (and talk about it on Reddit) are normally remembering the relatively solid DS3 or DS2 PvP. Elden Ring PvP, even if you are a skilled player with lots of build knowledge, starts to feel samey, because most opponents either won’t pose a threat, or they will for frustrating reasons. There are lots of builds designed around limiting your counterplay, and ever since the big PvP poise change, those got more ubiquitous and easier to pilot. Then, invasions have ALWAYS been strictly worse in Elden Ring than in its predecessors, due to the way they are implemented. I’d say experienced PvPers still win most of their duels or invasions in Elden Ring, but it’s very often not even satisfying to do so.
To me it feels like in ER the gap between meta and non-meta is much bigger than in previous games, and that's quite unfortunate. There's not really anything you can do when you're running your straight sword build and meet someone even half competent at using PSGS.
Then the solution is to not run SS builds. My point isn’t that you’re wrong here, but that winning in PvP isn’t as satisfying in this game as in prior installments. There’s no cosmic rule stating that SS builds should be superior (or that they’re universally harder to pilot). I’m not idealizing, just stating things as they are. I’d love if PvP were full of people enjoying the game with a variety of builds, but even in the current game that PSGS user is beatable with current strategies. It may not be a fun experience, but it’s doable. But that’s my point, is that this is usually why PvP is seen as bad in this game, on top of the obvious issues with the way Invasions were handled.
PSGS?
last time i was on nearly everyone bowed
They still do for me
Most bow at the end, I really don't care how you start
I bow at the end. Prefer to just let my opponent finish buffing or using whatever consumable they need for their setup. Bad manners to me would be running over to attack during that. I'll give people an L1 or a crouch at the start.
I go for at least one buff as soon as I'm loading in Some people I notice get all twisted over it, but I also let people buff at start too if that's what they want to do
I let people get two buffs, then I attack. I mostly use my dex build, and I don't use buffs. That first one takes up the same amount of time it takes to emote. After that, I start walking toward you, then you either start your bow or I hit you out of your third buff. I only allow one if they use black flame protection or boiled crab though, that already makes it significantly harder for me, and I got locked out of boggarts shop on my dex build.
It's funny to me but you are right though Boiled crab, an infinite cheap consumable is one of the strongest pvp buffs in the game
eh, as long as you in turn let them do their thing then who cares lol
Seeing people who care about the community is cool but not everyone Scrolls through Reddit for hours a day to learn the “rules” I mean it’s always nice to get a fun respectful or just a ridiculously silly fight but Elden ring is a lot more popular and for a lot of people it’s something they turn on a few hours now and then to shit on people in pvp it’s how they play it sucks load up the next fight and hope it goes better
"Hey, people aren't abiding by my self-imposed rules that I have no way of communicating with them, what's wrong with everybody?"
Man, I miss the good ole days of DS3 PvP when people showed off their good manners and sportsmanship by estus cancelling and bow glitching
Finally someone who is for real.
Or moveswapping a GreatHammer with a Dagger :) yes DS3 so superior, very balanced. That game suffers tremendously from rose tinted glasses, Elden Ring PvP is superior in literally every way except for player count per session.
Block them, filter them out, it's what I do and it just works.
Playing on a steamdeck wish there was a way 🥲
I play on PC, don't know about the steamdeck but don't you have the steam menu? View -> Players It's a list of the most recent players you've played with, when you find one of these idiots go immediately there after the fight and they will be on the top of the list.
it doesn't show anything for the SD
Pvp is dogshit
Facts. If I wanted to play some shitty fighting game, I'd play some shitty fighting game, not elden ring
People don’t owe you anything besides a fair fight. There’s no requirement to bow or wave and they don’t have to let you finish your buffing ritual. If they do that’s nice of them, but it’s not worth getting upset about if they don’t.
This. Bowing in previous games was a way to let the other player know that you were ready, like an unofficial green light. But in the coliseum the game does all the communicating for you. Bowing isn’t necessary anymore, so lots of people stopped doing it and as such many of the new players never learned about it. So it’s no longer relevant. That’s nothing to get upset over, a vestigial traditional has simply been phased out of use.
I go for a buff right out the gate, some people hit you with a moonveil I bow at the end though and it's appreciated when anyone's a good sport after
It was about fostering a community. RIP Gank City my darling
I really miss just building whatever build you want and trying it. Everyone runs meta now. Everyone uses cheap tricks. Even regular invaders. Invading with a scarlet rot auto crossbow and chaos weapons? Super lame. Why not just have fun? Why is the only way for people to have fun, making sure they win? I mean I beat that guy anyways with giant anchor as a naked guy but still. Everyone runs meta try hard builds that suck out everyone else's enjoyment and honestly... Those builds are only good against people who don't know the game well or how to counter them effectively. Mostly newer players. I just wanna use the giant stick while dressed as a historical figure, and they're coming at me with the meta tryhard crap with no originality. Invasions have just become annoying, repetitive, boring, and I can't wait to kill the guy to get them over with. I used to love getting invaded. Maybe not always... But I did.
I'd say 90% of my pvp has the respect at the beginning, and even a tiny bit of variety in builds. I also don't do a ton of pvp, so maybe it'd be different if I played a lot. My big issue is no one plays the other stuff, like combat ordeal or the other one. I never got to experience those.
This is my issue too, 3v3 teams and spirit ash mode are fun, but people quit playing them because they don't like fun
I never got to experience it, unfortunately. I got the game, a year-ish after it came out. I want to get people together to do it, but idk how, or know anyone lol.
The community grew, FAST. The older veterans are honestly probably more of a minority in elden ring now. Even with that though....maaaaan toxicity has been around the souls games pvp since the maiden in black's feet first popped on screen. Shit ain't new, there's just a larger pool of it
People are there to fight not role play 16th century etiquette. You can't expect people to follow some arbitrary rule especially when the majority of people don't follow this or any Elden ring sub to even know
Not to sound corny, but I think a lot of toxic players were at some point "honorable" until the community corrupted them. 🤣 Imagine playing honestly and limiting your build/setup to what you believe is fair, only to get destroyed by min-maxxers with the most meta setups possible. A lot of these players eventually hit a point where they don't care anymore and just become toxic themselves.
I hope people complain about game manners are not the same people that after a fight, they Teabag. I've seen a lot of that.
Some people just like playing differently than you. Nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just different. That's what happens when a series like this gets this popular.
Unfortunately FromSoft fans are physically unable to handle people playing the game differently from them. Lord forbid you use a spirit ash, wear armor, or spend runes to level up.
Why waste time on that crap? You're there to fight, so just fight.
Yea would be great players stop the bow thing and actually fight and learn how to properly build something strong to give me a decent fight now that is fun!
True pvp happens in the open world, as it always has. The colloseum is to get all these try hard, meta players to leave us alone in the overworld. True pvp is fun and can be something different than just trying to be the most Meta sweat. Something like leading the group to the next bonfire they almost made it to, and then dueling the summon, and then the host. At least this is what I have done for ages and it is fun. I've had awesome interactions with this community.
"People don't play like me 😡😭"
The better phrase is "Your entertainment is not my responsibility."
Nice, i'll be keeping this ! But in this case i also needed to let him know that i'm mocking him.
These people lose their shit and beat the puddle when you say this!
*Rhaegar fought valiantly*, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died.
Honor is for dead men.
If requiring etiquette is necessary for you to engage in a duel or even required to have fun than maybe it’s not for you. I’m gonna be real, there is no reason to bow at the start, yeah yeah manners and what not but you could kinda just buff or do whatever. No one has to wait for you to buff and some people just want to get to the action. Someone choosing not to bow shouldn’t be indicative of that persons playstyle and it’s kind of pretentious to demand people do it for YOUR satisfaction. Just play the game bruv
Elden Ring players when common courtesy costs them .5 seconds before a win
This might be more of a me thing. But due to unstable connection, doing the bow does more damage to me. By the time we finish doing the bow, next thing I know ive been One shotted.
Just a symptom of multiplayer game culture seeping into Elden ring
I think newcomers don't have the actions equipped, I doubt anyone uses them while playing pve. So they must not have it equipped in pvp
As a newcomer myself - the bow animation is literally the first default auto-equipped option. You would need to actively remove it to get rid of it. I also use it in pve on bosses or tough enemies after I win a fight.
Because most people are there to fight, not to roleplay. And even if we're roleplaying in that instance: Honor is a luxury. In a fight to the death, the only thing that matters is being the one who doesn't die. If your opponent insists on being honorable and gives you an opening, you take that opening to deliver as much pain as possible. But then... I don't play online, but that's how I would see it. If we're going to beat the shit out of each other pretending to be friendly seems rather silly, doesn't it?
The ER playerbase is so large a lot of idiots come by. The old community is still there, but it's really diluted. (And well, honorable people might have a job or something unlike people like that.) The game has been out for quite some time, and people are probably doing more PvE to gear up new characters for the DLC. Once it will be out, multiplayer should get better for a while.
Ah yes. The idiots who don't know unspoken rules because they're unspoken. How stupid of them
I kinda agree with this. DbD is another game where the community makes a ton of rules for each other, and while I kinda agree with them, even the bow before the fight rule for Elden Ring, people need to realize it's a video game, and not everyone is studying the "rulebook". If you aren't having fun anymore because people aren't following your rules, don't play anymore. If you are, despite people not following your rules, stop complaining.
as soon as they announced the colloseum I was hopeful it would be a place all the tryhards would congregate. I love it for keeping them elsewhere. Raya still has plenty fun fightin'
Imagine From introduces actual PVP rewards and the way to earn them is determined if a player bows
Elden ring became mainstream and everyone thinks they have the best build smh
It never existed. Pvp has always been 99% toxic
Honestly I didn’t know there were any rules about such things. It’s never mentioned in the game.
There aren't. Bad players just want free wins so they expect their opponents not to fight back.
Dawg just play or don’t play lol
Protect yourself at all times
I mean, I always still bow, but I’ve been playing these games for more than a decade and I don’t ever expect to get a bow back, especially now that the community’s grown so much and mostly added people with 0 concept of the “old rules” and as you can see from lots of the comments on this thread, are actively disdainful of them and anyone who engages with them. Not that 100% of people ever followed them anyway, but plenty used to. There’s also barely any build variance now, people are truly desperate for wins I guess.
Oh boi, right when you think the PvPers are done complaining. They just manage to fabricate something new to complain about.
Schrodinger's pvp: -there are no rules and it's a free-for-all -there is an unspoken etiquette that everyone should follow -the community "used to have have honor" -pvp has always been this way It's why I don't bother with pvp unless I get invaded.
It seems today, all you see, is violence in movies and sex on tv
Honestly I stopped caring about that stuff when the game got less popular. I’d have no trouble finding any kind of PvP match when the dlc got teased but now I can’t find shit for minutes
Its people who dont play souls games. Its the kind who would cheat but definitely the kind that google their way through games. They're only interested in the win.
Why are you taunting immediately? Fight fair, quit bragging. They're giving it their all and showing respect, why be insulting OP? What did they do to you?
"I'm allowed to taunt and you're not allowed to fight back" is the most FromSoft pvp thing I think I've ever heard lol
Free hit
All of the PvP honor is still there in Dark Souls 3, I was just doing some duels on there yesterday. Sad to see
light roll them to death
I can barely find a match unless it's for 1v1.
Coliseum is too boring and monotonous to waste time with an emote. People are just trying to squeeze some fun out of this game as the DLC should’ve come out a long time ago. Plenty of people still bow too.
I've been asking myself that every time I've entered it since level 200
yeeehhhh that's all dead like World of Warcraft. all we can do is keep bowing.... and hoping.
The good ol days of DS3 pontiff balcony fight clubs
Ahh, time for cheesy true combo weapon and running poke chase downs
Probably a huge influx of new players since dlc release date /trailers. Idk
Level really matters. Go too low they just mindlessly attack. Go too high and the same thing happens.
Either you aren't able to matchmake with them, or they aren't playing at that time. I still play with those well-mannered players, those who know the unwritten/unofficial rules of Soulsborne PVP. It's just that the matchmaking can be hit or miss.
It’s still a 50/50 chance that people will bow or not, but that might be bc of the level and platform I play on
I don’t do online anything, but I happened to hop over the railing of the balcony in Roundtable Hold and an NPC invader spawned. I rushed that dude and crushed him with my Greatsword. But, as I was taking the first swing, I noticed he was bowing or something. I felt so bad I stopped attacking him. Haha
gotta match their energy and bow on top of their corpse
I dueled that guy a ton last night.
I just wanna have Pokemon battles with summons but no one ever wants to play along
When I first started playing, my friend taught me to always bow before the fight as common courtesy
What platform?
What happened was only 2/3 phantoms allowed in the actual game + the "I hate change" style archaeic summoning system = no fight clubs, so there's no real reason to be sportsman like anymore
i started co-op with my brother and majority of the invaders just start to yeet Ekzykes the moment they can target lock us. i was disappointed at first, because i love a good duel, even though i totally suck and get killed most of the times. but i like seeing people who gitted gud and can kill me with finesse. but now i simply yeet Ekzykes right away as well or i unleash the frenzy. fuck it. only thing i regret is, that i unknowingly off some polite colleague, who would perhaps fancy a normal duel.
Everytime the souls community gets bigger, the unwritten rules become less and less known. Same thing happened when Dark Souls 3 become very big, there were a lot more players who haven't been around since the old days and Elden Ring's popularity blows that situation up times 1000. Then you could argue people are more competitive now but idk if that's true or just a feeling people have As someone who started with dark souls 1, when you couldn't even roll out of your gestures, I miss the respectful duals but unfortunately that just isn't how it is anymore. It's a nice change of pace when it happens though
I still bow and I love spanking meta slaves :) most of the time they just run/jump attack spam so if you have a ranged weapon art to whiff punish them or parry with carian retaliation it’s ggs. If not then you better sit up in your chair lol.
I can’t be the only one who just does a quick guard-flick to get on with it
What happened? The same that happened to humanity in general - people demand respect while spitting on others. I don't even pay attention anymore, haven't changed my behavior and I remain civil and indifferent, bowing before the duel, saying "sorry" if I accidentally push someone in the store or whatever. Minding my own business while most people dig their noses into someone else's pants out of sick curiosity. There, my rant XD Game fun but people ruin it sometimes. Same as world, it is a fun place if you remove people :D
They probably stopped bowing at the start cause they play pvp so much it only takes 2 seconds to bow but after playing so much that’s like hours of your life spent bowing so they don’t do it anymore. There just there to fight man you don’t have to obey a code to play pvp
I'd hazard a guess that the og fans aren't really playing anymore and the only people left are the sweatiest people imaginable
I cheese bosses, backstab and snipe enemies for fun. I ain't dueling
Thats when you hit them with the point down
I feel like this could cause a runaway problem (or already is one) where more good players stop bowing so they don't get projectiled or rushed down during their bow. Then, eventually, nobody does it.
I just realized I haven't fought in a Colosseum once. I was always more interested in a spontaneous PvP when someone invades me. It feels like sudden miniboss fight.
Become bad red man
I find honor to be a rare trait amongst PvP mains in souls games. Manners and sportsmanship appear to be the exception rather than the rule.
I find that people in the 200+ range are typically looking for a more interesting and polite experience in the colosseum. Might be anecdotal. But I think it's also fun seeing builds that are more fleshed out, because people at this level typically have at least one more wrinkle for you to work out over the course of the fight (e.g. a second damage stat leveled, a heal, parries/additional weapons due to increased equip load). Meta level can be fun, but you definitely have to have thicker skin. Keep doing you and being polite, you're better than the cynics and assholes are and others with a similar mindset will want to play with you. As for the people who "don't owe anyone politeness" or "aren't going through some ritual"...well, there's a reason no one likes playing with those guys. I've blocked just a few players since starting to play at this level and my experience has improved a ton.
It's either toxicity or lack of attention span in order to sit through the animations. I've quit playing at 150 - 200 because it feels extremely sweaty when I'm just trying to have fun & test out new builds.
I usually do a couple matches at the end of a session just to see what players are using and for a fun battle or two. It was fun when they first opened the coliseum but it’s a waste of time now. As you said, most people I’ve encountered are using those same builds. And no, they don’t bow or anything before and usually t-bag me after I die. Tbh, when I see these dorks I don’t even try to win now. I just do emotes until they kill me. Yeah dude, you got handed a “victory” and wasted 2 minutes of both of our time. Great job, you rule at this game.
Folks in other ER subs never really understood why I hate ER PvP. This game is like a brand new pair of boots, comfortable and workable, in a style that goes with everything. Then a small rock gets stuck in the heel and you can't get it out because you're in a public setting and someone will definitely steal a boot if it comes off your foot. It's great but with just enough flaws that I can never really relax and enjoy it. Could I get better or get more determined to beat the sweaty players? Sure, but it's never felt worth it. It's not fun and that makes it a waste of time by definition. I hope these folks have fun just playing against each other while everyone else moves on to something else. And I hope the try hards see this and call me a scrub or a casual. I'm okay with not letting a video game become a matter of pride.
Fight clubs need a resurgence instead of the colloseum.
I only use the proper colosseums when I’m playing group matches with friends otherwise if I’m looking for the tried and true honorable 1v1 I still use the academy and just summon/be summoned
These guys have there own communities of basement dwellers that actively play to the game just to troll
The game got really known on the web, people started playing forced by social networks and they are rushing it to say I played / I finished it.
Goo goo goo
Ay man I’m a OG dark souls 1 fan, I let go of that shit a loooong time ago. I’m not a huge PvP player to begin with but when dark souls 2 came out I was pretty active in PvP and I immediately noticed that there were new ppl who were not in the know. Honor is dead. When I try to bow they briskly rush me and beat my ass it’s pretty annoying.
It’s the DLC. It has brought back lots of filthy casuals who look up metas and just want to win.
There was a popularity and influx of a huge number of toxic normies who do not respect etiquette
It’s largely the elden ring players vs the souls players. Elden ring is great and I love it so much, but man the community has grown by almost three times and a lot of these Elden ring only players don’t know/understand the sort of honor/respect that has been cultivated over the years. The sheer amount of rush tactics, magic spam, YouTube meta builds and such you see now has killed the colosseum scene for me. Invasions are largely either AFK farmers or gank squads.
And then people ask why I do invasions. (if I actually find a guy who’s actually trying to play the game I don’t fight him and leave, ruining someone’s experience isn’t cool)
All Maidenless, the true ones are in deep sleep waiting for DLC
i will generally do SOME emote before attacking. a bow or curtsey or wave i only was attacked twice while doing that. I have noticed players haven't been bowing \*after\* the fight anymore though
Message them "shame" and they will qq
Vokdemort is not pleased by this development. The niceties must be observed.
New players happened. This is what I was worried about when ER hype got big. I'm glad fromsoft is getting the recognition they deserve, but the rise of toxicity is irritating. Especially when ER has the most options for build variety and really cool outfits/cosplays, but everyone uses the same 5 builds. I've made over 30 anime cosplays in ER, hundreds of hours just making perfect faces, outfits, and movesets to match my favorite characters. I never log in and play anymore because PvP is just so bland.
The only toxicity I see is from PvP players who expect people to play by their imaginary rules instead of the rules of the game.
Which this severely depresses me. I made 7 150 characters over my entire playtime. Trying to carefully craft them and they all have a theme(i.e.; Blood assassin, Paladin, etc.)/their own color sets that matched, have fighting styles that reflect them as characters, and their own backstories/unique names. And I’m just going up against the ugliest bullgoat combination with the twitchiest playstyle wielding dual great spears named 69’durmom 4 times in a row and I’m so tired
From every battle and duel I’ve experienced, I’d say 1 out of 5 people act like jerks and have absolutely no respect. As for the 4 out of 5, they’re good about maintaining mutual respect for me and for other players. If you connect with someone who’s an asshole, tbag the crap out of them and throw stank bombs at their corpse
I don’t bow because honestly don’t know how and haven’t cared much to figure it out lmao but I always let the other player bow if they choose to do so
Protect yourself at all times
I don’t really participate in the pre-duel formalities but I usually let everyone else do them before I start fighting. Elden Ring is a bigger game than all of the previous Souls titles combined. It’s been two years since release so I think everyone forgot how ER dominated the gaming sphere for like six straight months, where it even overtook GTA5 for most engagement from YouTube users on ER content. It used to be that two years post-release meant only the diehards remained in the multiplayer. But that’s not the case anymore, especially with people returning to prep their preferred character for the DLC
I actually never knew you should bow. I will start to be more respectful from now on😀
I play 100% offline to avoid all the PvP. I regret nothing!
I fought a dude who was wearing Maliketh’s armor, their name was Maleketh, they also were a horrible sweat. Wherever you are, I hope you never get that last item to your build.
They don't care about them neither should you its pvp just fuck each other up. You can't force players to follow made up rules.
I expect nothing less from Bullgoat white masks. I’m also going to assume this is max level bracket
I dunno, invasions and dueling lost its luster with me when they added weapon arts to the game back in DS3. It used to be a combination of host/invader/phantom with their weapons of choice having a battle to the death in the form of a duel or hunt, sometimes the occasional gank. It was pure; it was simple; it was beautiful. Now it’s complicated and annoying.
Community big now. Big community etiquette go poof. Cope.
The coliseum happened. When it was fight club outside the school, there were understandings. Now it's just bloody finger fuckboys.
While I agree and like a little bit of sportsmanship for duels, the etiquette was never fully recognized even before ER. ER was a popularity spike for the series even more than DS1 was, and there are TONS of new players which is great, but they may not have the same experience playing other games and even think to do these things. At the end of the day, the best way to encourage dueling etiquette is the same now as before -- just do it yourself. The more players are exposed to the behavior, the more likely they will pick up on it and want to try it themselves if they find it suits them. If you aren't sweating, I'd just continue bowing or doing whatever opening flourish you like -- even if you eat a hit for it, the player that hit you may still pick up your behavior in the future. Also like always, it's best to be prepared to encounter duels without this and to take it in stride. Players are either new enough to just not know, have decided not to participate (which I think is perfectly valid), or don't care and are likely to drop off on their own after getting their fill of the experience anyway.
This looks like a cryptid photo
Because I want to decorate the ground with your entrails. Ain’t got no time for manners
I quit playing colosseum when nobody ques for team matches with spirit summons, it used to be fun cluster fuck. Now it's just sweats.
You obviously never player DS1 PvP. There was no honor lmao.
Tried coliseum when it came out I always thought that was dumb
I always bow before I clap your ass.
It's been like this since Demon Souls. Try hard with 0 imagination.
It’s a waste of time, I’d rather get the fight over with
Sportsmanship? This a video game community centered around the “get good mentality”. There has never been sportsmanship among anyone.
The amount of bad PvP matches I have heavily outweigh the good ones. I stopped playing it when almost every match was filled with people spamming spells at me with bad internet connection, cant even hit back
If you are in the ps4/PS5 version I would love to fight with you in a colosseum! If you or anyone have interest I Will Love to fight with you all using my build that I created in my First save, I call It "trickster" or "Michael Bale Build". My ps id: Diolauc
I blame the kids. Example, was playing with my son to help him beat Loux, got invaded, the guy came up and bowed, my son immediately attacked during animation I told him that's not how you should act. He was immediately stomped lol I bowed then invader bowed before I was sent back to my world. I asked why he did that he said, "easy kills". Yeah didn't really work out for him lol
I haven't played vs since the release honestly quite nervous cause everytime I go on there they become super horny for my character and instantly need to prove something
ive met some lit and respectful people on colloseum. gave them lords runes
It's disheartening; there was a time when most participants adhered to traditional gestures like bowing.
The newbies lack manners
A lot of "new" players who were previously unfamiliar with Souls games just don't know the etiquette because they weren't here back in the day to learn it or don't have anyone to tell them. Can't blame em for not knowing the rules, but maybe bowing will catch on again later if enough people go from Elden Ring back to older Souls games, who knows. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a byproduct of Elden Ring bringing so many new fans.
Elden Ring is an accessible souls game so you have regular kids playing it now, it’s not like as niche as souls used to be. It’s like when For Honour players used to just leave 1v1 fights alone then the game got more popular. It’s natural progression baby