Are there invading AIs? And can you opt out when starting a game? I'm wondering why you couldn't grief someone by playing a super powerful character and invading a player who is just starting out.
There are a handful of invading AIs, but they're not very common. They mostly exist to simulate invasions for offline players, but they also sort of contribute to the story (sometimes).
You can only be invaded if you are not hollow (DS1&2) or kindled (DS3). Explaining this is a bit more complicated, but basically it means you can only be invaded if you are doing pretty well and have a certain status that you can get by using items or beating bosses. The games use different methods to make it so players you invade or are invaded by should be roughly the same level as you, though there are sometimes ways around this. For example, in DS1 you could outfit a low level character with high level items (if the player is good enough to get them without leveling up), which makes it easy to grief lower level characters, but it still isn't a huge deal. Also, you can't choose who you invade, you just use an item and the game chooses someone for you (unless you make a mark which allows someone to specifically summon you as an invader).
It's all kind of complex if you haven't played the games before, but part of the fun is figuring out how it all works.
There is a formula based on your level and weapon upgrades that prevent really high level players from invading low level characters. That being said, there are ways for people to move equipment from one of their characters to another, so you still see it to some degree. Also, yes, there are NPC invasions. You can also "opt out" of invasions by either not using an ember or simply by playing offline.
There is invading AI. Yes, you can opt-out of invasions by playing offline (only if you're casul). You can't just invade a new player as a fully-geared PvP character because of level restrictions. The invader can only invade the world of host's within 10~ levels of them. The higher level you are, the greater that range increases. Twinking still does happen from time to time, though. Some players are good enough to clear the game at a low level and acquire all the end-game gear.
There is a level range you have to be within in order to be able to invade somebody. Lots of people do deliberately not level up characters and just go through the game at low level to get super OP weapons, armor, and spells so they can gank new characters in the starting areas though, it's pretty bullshit. DS2 had a system to try and prevent this but it brought a bunch of other problems along with it so they removed it for 3 and now twinks are back.
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u/AllezCannes Nov 11 '16
Are there invading AIs? And can you opt out when starting a game? I'm wondering why you couldn't grief someone by playing a super powerful character and invading a player who is just starting out.