Way of the Blue? Really? Isn't a common complaint of its counterpart that you get almost no action until high soul levels? Or that your host is often murdered before you've finished loading in to defend him? You can't actually believe that Way of the Blue works well, because it simply doesn't. It works "occasionally" at best.

Giant Seeds are similarly "occasional". They're uncommon at low soul levels, since they're not exactly a guaranteed spawn, and if you're invader is good/knowledgeable enough to handle NG+x territory while gathering his murder toys, he's probably not going to be all that bothered by the shitty low level mobs now assaulting him. Would you be?

And, yes, you can burn effigies, but that also cuts you from any co-op potential and you're burning an item not easily farmed in the early game. Honestly, why not just disable Internet at that point? It's basically the same thing and hardly a solution to the problem.

Don't kid yourself into thinking that Soul Memory is for your benefit. Soul Memory exists to prevent Undead Parish-esque invades from being common occurrences. A few clever or resourceful trolls might slip through the cracks of the system, but it stops most of them.

One of my first PvP experiences in Dark Souls was a dude invading in Undead Parish wielding a Lighting Washingpole +5. I haven't experienced anything remotely close to that in Dark Souls II. Rather, invades were much more "balanced" in terms of my chances for success. Soul Memory is why. It doesn't exist to make sure that you get a fair match-up. It exists to ensure that newbs don't get absolutely trashed by weapons or tactics that they can't reasonably hope to combat, especially if they're wanting to experience the game without a bunch of spoilers from a wiki.

As for Soul Memory's place in NG+ and beyond, I think that it shouldn't impact matchmaking at all. Once you get into NG+, you have had plenty of time to explore the world and figure stuff out. The kid gloves should come off at that point.