*Please note I have not yet finished the game, so if there's something that's fixed later on in the game, feel free to tell me about it because complaining about spoilers is for assholes.
Dark Souls 3 has been out for almost a month now and even though I haven't beaten it, that's because I've been spending a lot of time making PvP builds and as such I've accumulated more than 100 hours of playtime so far in between working a job I hate and listening to my mother tell me to take care of cats I don't own.
Overall, I love the game, but some aspects of the game and it's community have caused my blood to boil. Here's five of them I can think of:
1. Gankers vs Co-opers vs Invaders
For those of you who suck and don't play Dark Souls PvP (or Dark Souls in general), here's what ganking means...it's when a host gathers a couple of his friends, they hide somewhere to wait for invaders (players who entered the hosts world without permission using Red Eye Orb) and they gang up on him for an easy win. Ganking has always been a problem in the early days of every Dark Souls game, but this time it's gotten ridiculous mainly due to Dark Souls 3 pulling in more players than ever thanks to FROM nearly selling-out and actually advertising the game extensively...even more ridiculous is that in DS3 invasions prioritize players who've triggered co-op. Even the Red Soapstone, which allows solicited PvP, can result in you running into a gank.
As a result, a huge schism has occurred within the community: invaders who have gotten irritated with always running into players who summon Phantoms and Co-opers who think the invaders are being little hypocrite douchebags because they're utilizing unsolicited PvP and then complaining about hosts using "unfair tactics." Invaders often bring up how summoners are being little cowards for summoning when invaded and how relying on Phantoms too much means you suck at the game (it does) and that it ruins a core aspect of Dark Souls - it's unusually high difficulty in a market saturated with games my arthritic grandmother could beat. Co-opers rightfully point out that some hosts aren't gankers at all, that invaders are bothering the hosts by entering their world without their consent (they are) and that people should be allowed to play the game with as many phantoms they want. Both sides have good points and they also have stupid points; invader-ire is somewhat justified due to the aforementioned Soapstone ganking, but Co-opers do have a point: if you pop that Red Eye Orb, don't be too surprised if the host uses every means at his disposal to stop you from hindering his progress. After all, you're the one inconveniencing them, not the other way around. As for beating areas with 2-3 phantoms, go ahead...but when you tell me you beat Oceiros for the first time with even a single phantom summoned, don't expect me to do anything BUT make fun of you.
2. Poise doesn't work...seriously, it's turned off
Poise has always been a point of contention within the Souls community, from people in DS1 tired of Havel wannabes to people in Dark Souls 2 jumping ship because the poise-damage mechanic made most heavy armors useless and that it was better to just dodge.
However, for the longest time, people were trying to figure out how poise in Dark Souls 3 works. Some people noted getting stunlocked even in very heavy armor; okay, so maybe it was like Dark Souls 2 and poise-damage came back? Sucks, but at least poise does something. Then when dueling Havel, people noticed you could stagger him easily with toothpick daggers. That's when eyebrows were raised. It wasn't until a PCMasterRace player looked into the game's files that a startling revelation came to light that's left many players (myself-included) with at least 2 years worth of sodium....POISE DOESN'T FUNCTION AT ALL. It's been turned off. Players and NPCs have no poise at all, while enemies do. Why poise is turned off is anyone's guess, since why would you put in a stat that literally doesn't do anything for you? Time will tell, but FROM, you done fucked up with this: if the ocean levels rise soon, it won't be because of climate change...it will be because the seas have soaked up all the salty tears of the Tank-build players you let down.
3. Redundant or dead covenants
Wanna rank-up in Watchdogs Of Farron? Too bad, you kuk; that covenant is D.E.A.D. In the several hours I've walked around on a SL30-40 character with that covenant symbol equipped, I've only been summoned once. In comparison, at about SL50-70, I was getting summoned in Aldrich Faithful every minute. I hear WOF is more active in New Game Plus, but we'll see.
Another thing that irks me is that having the Blue Sentinels around was pointless since Blades of Darkmoon does the same thing with the added benefit of having both the mechanics of B.Sentinels and Way Of Blue rolled into one, making the Sentinels pointless (especially since it has no rewards) and Way Of Blue unpopular until New Game Plus (and Way Of Blue also has no rewards). Not only that, Blades of Darkmoon had their original purpose in Dark Souls 1 scrapped due to there being no sin in this game (see number 4), so now the only way to rank up in the covenant is by defeating invaders in a host's world...but good luck getting consistently summoned.
Rosaria's Fingers also has some problems since getting Pale Tongues requires invading and killing the host, which is a problem due to the aforementioned ganking. It might be less aggrivating if defeating Dark Spirits gave you Tongues too, but no, they don't. Damn.
Thankfully, Warriors of Sunlight is pretty active, Aldrich Faithful is fairly active, and Mound-Makers is also a blast.
4. No Sin and therefore no way to invade sinners
In Dark Souls 1, invading someone and killing them earned you Sin points (bonus sin points for getting Indicted by the host). Accumulating enough Sin would put you at risk of being invaded by Blades of Darkmoon, who punish sinners. Big flaw was, Blades would only invade in Anor Londo, so it saw little activity. The lore was fine, but the execution of it in gameplay terms not so much. In Dark Souls 2, Sin was still around, but indictments were no longer a thing (sadly...). Once a player accumulates enough sin, Sentinels could use a Blue Eye Orb to invade the sinner's world and by killing him gain rewards and the host's sin would drop as a form of "atonement." Although the concept was fine, it also didn't work so well in execution since most players wouldn't accumulate enough sin to warrant arbiter invasions until the higher Soul Memory tiers, making the covenant useless/inconsistent in the early-game. The Sentinel's second function, aiding someone being invaded, was also nearly useless since it required the host being a member of the Way Of Blue, a covenant most players - even new ones - abandoned quickly by the time they got to their first Great One.
In Dark Souls 3, Sin is no longer around, and as such, the function of both the Blades of Darkmoon and the Blue Sentinels has been gimped. With no sin, Blades can only get summoned to aide hosts being invaded, which - lorewise and gameplay-wise - was something the covenant never did in Dark Souls 1. This also means no Blue Eye Orb to invade sinners since there's now no sin. It also makes Blue Sentinels pointless since their schtick is now shared with the Darkmooners, made even more disappointing by how the covenant now has no rewards of it's own.
And lastly...no sin means no salty hosts indicting you. I miss the days of Dark Souls 1 where I KNEW I ruined someone's day by seeing the "You Were Indicted" message across my screen; it made my douchebaggery feel even more concrete.
5. The "Rally-mechanic" known as the Pontiff's Right Eye (or Left?) totally sucks
Low and behold, a gripe I have that DOESN'T have to do with PvP. When Bloodborne came out, one of the most praised aspects of it's gameplay was the "Rally" mechanic - if you took damage, you have a small window of opportunity to recover that health you just lost by quickly going on the offensive and aggressively attacking foes while the Rally lasted. It was engaging, exciting, and it fit with both the fast gameplay of Bloodborne and also the game's lore. It was so popular, many people hoped the mechanic would return in some fashion in Dark Souls 3, especially since DS3 was going to be a swansong-esque, "best of" game influenced by all previous games in the SoulsBorne game series. When people noticed the Pontiff's Eye ring and it's text, people thought that FROM put Rally into Dark Souls 3 in the form of a ring, which is what a lot of people wanted. Problem was...they didn't. The ring was totally misleading to a lot of people.
The ring "recovers HP with successive attacks." This sounds similar to Rally, but it doesn't work the same way. Weapons have a certain amount of hits they must land before activating the ring; problem is, most enemies will be dead or your stamina will be out by the time you've activated it. To make matters worse, the HP you get back is very miniscule for the risk and effort you put into getting it. It sounds like Rally, but doesn't work anything like it. Shame....
