I think there are more people playing now than when I first played. Lots of blood stains and animations in the Undead Burg. I had lots of summons partners for Quelaagh, but last time through it got pretty sparse once I got past S&O and was near Darklord Nito. We shall see.

Good luck Simplen00b, and praise the sun, if you can ever see the f***ing thing. 

It's even more amazing as you progress - practically the whole game loops back on itself again and again. It's really quite remarkable as a piece of geometry or mapping - structurally some of the best level design I've ever seen. Every time, the first approach is the long, slow, dangerous one - buit there's always a shortcut, and once you unlock it, it becomes possible to get anywhere from anywhere in a pretty reasonable span of time. And you always see the shortcut ahead of time, though you might not recognize it as such until you've unlocked it.

Simplen00b, your and Helmut's recent experience remarking on how long the early progress takes really reminds me of my first playthrough. It took me about forty hours to ring the first bell, which is pretty much in line with what the early reviewers were saying to expect. As it happens I played through once, my Diaries playthrough, and didn't start again until the game came out for PC many months later, at which point I reached the first Bell in maybe... two hours? It was hilarious. More so when I stopped to consider how little physical progress we're talking. In Demon's Souls you'd play and struggle and claw your way forward for like six hours, stop for a breather and turn around to have a look at the long long long long long way you'd come, only to realize you'd made it like eight feet in all that time.

I'll tell you what, one of the wisest things you can do where you are is leave your summon sign outside the Church, opposite the stone bridge that leads to Andrei's smithy. Help some players. You'll get a look at the real boss, earn some souls, and maybe reverse your hollowing without any penalty. I didn't learn how multiplayer worked until quite a bit later, and it would have made those early hours a lot more productive.

I believe there are a few set places where an invader will spawn based on the location of his/her quarry. Typically they will not spawn right in front of you, and will thus have to spend a little time hunting you down, which should give you a chance to prepare. Black Phantoms (just like White ones) cannot use their Estus in another player's world. Most people who PVP a lot don't need to bother with healing, but the only way to heal in another world is if the summoner heals you, or via spell/humanity use.

My PC copy of Dark Souls hasn't been working. Is it still using GFWL? What's the status of that infrastructure? It's shutting down in July, last I heard. As for your sign disappearing, Simple, it could be a symptom of GFWL's general suckiness. You can tell you're about to be invaded when the bonfires go out and fog doors spring up to block certain areas; at that point it's a matter of waiting for GFWL, which - in my case - failed to make the connection nine times out of ten.

As infuriating as the cheaters and relentless invasions on PC DkS are, it would be heartbreaking to miss out on that element of the game. Getting summoned into another world is a great way to earn souls without penalty, too. Humanity's at a premium early in the game so I understand your caution to use it. Once you visit the Depths it becomes a little more common. Interestingly, in Dark Souls II they changed the mechanic a bit - there's no Humanity any more, and while there is an item that you can use to reverse Hollowing at a bonfire, it's not the ideal way to proceed. The best way to restore yourself is to help another player with a local boss, the technology for which is conveniently a lot smoother in DkS2.

Congratulations on beating Lautrec of Carim! That's a very tough fight for a character at the level you'd have been when you found him, so you should be proud. Between that and your Black Knight (they gave me a hard time when I was level 114), I question your statement about limited skills!

As to something bad happening... his death should prevent the relevant storyline from triggering, but I think that's it. It'll be more convenient for you. Lautrec is also involved in a much more complicated story that I missed completely, one that's quite a bit harder to trigger, but that one might actually still happen if you're able to put the pieces together.

The other disadvantage of being too high a level for your skill set is that is allows invasions by players of higher levels than you would ordinarily encounter. For those Gargoyles they have a couple of primary attacks. There's the horizontal sweep and then there is a downward strike coupled with the jumping attack. For the horizontal sweep it really pays to stay off the peak of the roof unless the gargoyle is busy. Also at this time I had picked up enough stuff to get seriously burdened for the first time. If you feel you're not moving quickly enough be sure your character can roll nimbly and does not perform the 'fatty roll,' that I was so adept at. Oddly the amount of burden you can carry and still roll is tied to your endurance level, and not your strength. I'm not sure if you're aware of these things, apologies if you are. At that stage of the game in my first playthrough I was not. And someone mentioned that the NPC you can summon here is very helpful (Solaire?) if only to draw attention away from yourself.  

I don't know what is different in this playthrough, but I'm finding myself getting constantly invaded in Anor Londo this time. Average time is about 30s - 2min before someone shows up. Last time, I didn't see anyone. 

Totally Botch. I only discovered this the other day when I was reading the stats page in the wiki with fresh eyes. Ditto, the mixup caused by the fact that the main number shown in the UI is a shield's attack power, and not its ability to block attacks and be efficient with your endurance. Simplen00b, if you haven't looked at this stuff psuedo-carefully, now is a better time to find and read one of the several wiki's online than, say, after 250 hours.