Elden Ring PvP: Solo Invasions MUST change because of mount, but "Opt-In" isn't the Solution

The Elden Ring Gamescom Gameplay Reveal showed that Invasions are changing. In this video we discuss why Invasions MUST change, and what we think is the best approach to keep everyone happy.

EVENT: FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3RD, 6PM CEST/12PM (NOON) EDT at https://www.twitch.tv/fextralife

Recently we revealed that Invasions in Elden Ring will not be possible unless the player being invaded has at least one Cooperator in their game world. This came as a huge surprise to many, ourselves included when we first found out, but FromSoftware made it clear of course that this decision is not yet finalized. It has however sprung up a number of conversations across Reddit, Social Media, and YouTube about whether or not this should be changed. In this article I want to explore why I don't think players should be able to opt-in to Solo Invasions, and my logic behind this opinion.

REDDIT THREAD TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK: https://new.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/pfk6jt/pvp_poll_how_should_solo_invasions_work_give_your/

ELDEN RING WIKI: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Elden+Ring+Wiki

Timestamps
00:00 - What Makes Souls Games Special
01:28 - You Cannot Be a Hero Without a Villain
03:01 - The Hero Becomes the Villain
04:14 - The Solution To The Problem

There are some core problems with Traditional Invasions unique to Elden Ring:

Open Landscape needs to be sectioned or invading becomes a game of run around, and the mount's speed makes this difficult to do on the fly
If you section the Open Landscape and the host uses a jump point before the invader spawns, they would be in a completely separate and inaccessible vertical level.
There is no hollowing mechanic so no way to use asynchronous features without being open to PvP
Plethora of builds will mean much harder to balance anti-griefing

The simplest solution to the mount and open landscape issues is to disallow single player invasions on the overworld, so that zoning problems with the mount and the scale of exploration do not create a frustrating experience. Solo invasion pvp could be relegated to the "Legacy Dungeons", and Dungeon areas where there are no mounts, and the layout is more conducive to these encounters.

Obviously, players don't want to be "Griefed" by uber geared players, and From Software has taken more and more measures over time attempting to remedy this problem. And, it's likely Elden Ring will have some form of "Anti-Griefing", whether that's weapon level matching or some other means. Implementing a penalty system for PvP could be a solution to prevent twinked out players from chain-invading the game's starting areas.

Options to control griefing can include invader total attack rating scaling to match that of host, limit invasions to mid-level and onward, or simply adding a spam control system where the invader will sacrifice some sort of progress or resource for each successive kill. Less Griefing means better experiences for new players, and hopefully more interest in PvP and Cooperative play.

It's for these reasons that I don't think there should be an "opt-in" option in Elden Ring, but rather an "opt-out", and preferably after at least one Invasion has happened, so that players can have "that" experience before making up their minds.

So what is then the best way to design an opt-out? I'm not a fan of the "Covenant" idea that allows you to control Solo PvP Invasions, because that would then lock you out of all other Covenant mechanics, which may hurt the activity of those Covenants or the depth of their RPG implications. Similarly a player shouldn't have to sacrifice an equipment slot of any kind for the option to stay out of pvp while remaining online.

I'd much rather there was an item you could use that would lock you out of being invaded while solo for like an hour, being given to you after your first invasion, regardless of whether you win or lose said invasion. Maybe the counter to the "Dried Finger" that instead of making you more likely to be invaded, it wipes you from the list of detectable invasions for a specific amount of time, or until you rest at a "Site of Lost Grace".

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