I'm about level 75 at the moment and I have 12 areas filled out on the warp grid. I've been hopping into other people's games frequently to help them defeat bosses, so naturally I've accumulated a lot of souls. I've been fairly conservative in using them, in that I've focussed my spending on items such as gems, weapon buffs and bombs, rather than levelling. I'm concerned that I'll start breezing through the game if I spend anymore on levelling my character because I remember finishing the previous games at this sort of level. From what I've heard (which is not much, aside from brief discussions on various podcasts) I'm about a third of the way through the game; not sure if that is accurate, or not.

I finished the game at 174, lol.

I've been farming bosses in co-op and leveling probably more than I should be, but I'm still finding people in every new area I go to. I wouldn't worry about just leveling when you can.

As for being over-leveled, I was concerned about that too. I was taking out some enemies in Iron Keep with 2 hits from my Lightning Greatsword +10, but they'd still ruin me in 3-4 hits or so. And I'm wearing descent gear. The game will always have a way to kill you. Don't worry.

Finished at SL 152 ish. Spend dem souls.

Spending souls on items (that you use) is genereally more beneficial than spending it on levels. Stat scaling is already curbed down in this game compared to it's precessors, so I wouldn't be too worried about over-levelling.

If you want to stay able to pvp or coop you have to level. Eventually your soul level will be too low compared to your soul memory and you'll have a hard time finding partners. If you're not worried about multiplayer, then you're free to play as you please.

man DS is so absurd taken out of context (or even in context)

I'm sitting at around SL130 with (as I've been generally told) about a third of the game left. I think that estimate is generous since I've done every optional boss I've encountered and I'm standing at Drangleic Castle. Looking at how my stats are moving, I'll probably stop at around SL150 and pour the rest of my soul gains into buying complete armor sets and unattained weapons, filling in my missing magics, and stocking up on upgrade items for NG+.

If you don't want to buy titanite and upgrade then level up for sure, I would upgrade gear before leveling, unless you are working towards a requirement for sometging. Don't worry about being too high I'm at like 150 ajd I haven't beat it yet.

I've just been levelling when I beat a boss, not really helping people either. I feel like I'm a pretty high level too so I'd say level when you want and not to worry about it. I don't think levelling anywhere near an amount that is not straight trying to outlevel everything will allow you to breeze through things. That's what heavy armor and a big shield are for.

I'm around level 145 and working my way up through the final area. You need to be leveling or it'll be difficult to find players with a similar Soul Memory.

beat last boss at SL 105, guess it really depends on your play style. I used tons of souls to upgrade weapons and armor instead of leveling.

@ripelivejam: WHAT?!?! You are suxors n00b! DS master race forever!

Praise the sun.

I am sitting at lvl160+ and feeling pretty comfortable, making my way through the last third of the game. I was considering on staying at lower (around 85-90) levels but then again I think I would be severely underpowered for some of the areas or encounters. I feel like DKS2 is gonna have somewhat higher level cap for MP than the previous games, where I generally stuck to the 85-ish zone.

I finished the game at SL 114

I'm a few bosses from the end and at SL 135.

My first time through I finished at 152. My second character finished thereabouts as well. It really depends on the build you want, but with the much, much lower soul requirements to level one point to the next it's clear that From expects you to be around that range.

I'm on NG+ right now and I'm at SL202. The game doesn't get less challenging the higher your stats, but having high stats does give you breathing room in the times where things go rotten. Bump as much as you like as the PVP game (if you're at all interested) is in NG+ and Soul Memory/Soul Level doesn't matter at all in that case.