“[TL;DR] Inspired partly by the recent patch notes, I'd like to hear folks' opinions on the overall pvp design philosophy.
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To wit- in both of DS2's predecessors, players were introduced to a sort of handicap system upon death. Being in ghost form in DeS made the game considerably more difficult, while losing humanity in DaS meant proportionally lower drop rates and decreased defenses. Not to mention the inability to summon help for Co-op.
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These setbacks were (for the majority of the game) a real pain. And recovering from them could mean a lot of risky work for the player, especially since the consumables to do so were few and far between. But then From gave us these red stones and said "tell you what- if you're a big enough jerk, you can go clobber some poor sap and just take what HE'S got!" And suddenly, there was an incentive for otherwise uninterested players to really think about invading their fellow man. Sure, it's not the nicest thing to do, but how are you going to take down flamelurker with half health?! Or kill O and Smo without help? And so, after being coaxed into using a red orb, the true pvp/pve blend of the Souls series was born.
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A lot of these players realized they enjoyed thrill of the hunt, and many hard-core pvp-ers were born. And in turn, many of these players realized that the innocent needed protecting, and that they wanted to turn their blades on more experienced players in exchange for vastly increased power. Both the strongest buff and the strongest talisman in the game belonged to those who fully committed themselves to this pious act, becoming MORE powerful as they banished more wicked souls.
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And through this whole crazy system, I realized I enjoyed pvp! [separated for dramatic effect]
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But at release, DaS2 seemed to be very… lacking in this regard. Near as I could tell, there was no in-game reason to invade anyone, ever. It was simply “for bloooood,” which roughly translated to being a dick. And instead of bringing more players into the fold of pvp, I think this approach alienated the game into two communities- the people who were already pvp-ers and people who weren’t. And those of us still playing clearly find enjoyment in one of those two areas, but I feel like something was lost by separating them.
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I’m excited about the effigy rewards for defeating invaders, though! And I wonder if this is a return to what made the hybrid pvp/pve predecessors so intriguing. Perhaps the effigies are simply the first step of balancing the equation- they’re incentivizing the victim, and maybe now with the SoTFS they’ll incentivize the predators? And more importantly- is this the kind of playstyle that other people want, too?”