After collecting 100 medals and savoring the victory over countless invaders, I feel qualified to give you some tips revolving around co-op and how to make it as jolly as possible, as well as a few general observations I've had in the past 50 hours of playtime. (You don't actually get anything for handing in more than 30 medals and hitting Rank 2, sadly, but if you count it out, I'd be a grossly incandescent Rank 9.)

The State of Things

There's no better time to collect some medals than at the launch of a Souls game. Summon times are almost instant (as long as you are at an appropriate boss for your level), and the level range is wide; I was around SL115 and still getting snatched up in under 30 seconds for bosses that, frankly, I didn't expect anyone would bother doing in co-op (I'll get to that in a bit). It's also the best way of farming souls by a long shot; I was getting 20-25k for a boss that'd keel over in a minute flat. Even with a random failure here or or there, you're still pulling in hundreds of thousands of souls per hour.

And you get embers on top of it! The hell am I going to do with 100 embers?

However, not all is bright and glorious; this IS a Souls game, after all, which means the netcode can be sketchy. Somewhere between 10% and 20% of the time, all of the animations would just completely break, causing both the boss and other players to glide around in a T-pose. This is a blessing in disguise, however; you still do full damage to the boss, and he can't hurt you a bit. The flip side of that is when it doesn't break fully, and instead of a benign sliding statue, you wind up with a teleporting, undodgeable rage monster that you can't really land any hits on. But the worst by far is a bug that prevents you from crossing the fog door. No amount of emoting, rolling or pleading is going to save a host that is forced to fight a boss now balanced for three people.

Still, the netcode is mostly not on fire, so it's well worth your time for an occasional lag fest.

The next batch of observations deals with being summoned and what you are being summoned for. One thing that struck me was just how often people would summon me in for their very first attempt at a fight. Certain bosses have tells; as the host, you might be able to run up to a boss before the fight actually starts, but you lose that advantage after your first try, while us phantoms are stuck at what would be the fog door until you actually engage him no matter what. I mean, I'm not complaining; it's more work for me, and that's a good thing. But it leads to silly situations like having a host with no clue what to dodge or move away from, and no amount of frantic "HEY!" emotes is going to save them.

Finally, I was summoned in the most for a boss that I felt was a pushover; his attacks are slow, he has very little health in comparison to other bosses at that point in the game, and most of all you've seen his attacks before. Again, not complaining; we could wallop this guy in a minute and I made thousands because of it, but it just goes to show that one person's easy is another person's difficult, or at the very least some people summon just to summon, and not because they're in a tough spot.

Tips and Tricks for Getting The Most Out Of Your Jolly Co-Operation!

There's a few things you can do as a host to get the most out of a random co-op buddy, and a few things you can do to improve co-op for everyone, with no cost to you!

If the summon sign is by a boss door, don't drag your new friend across the whole level.

Some Sunbros love to play tour guide, doing their best to point out hidden treasures and helping to slay the various flora and fauna that inhabit a level before a boss. I salute them for their determination and willingness to fight waves of invaders. With that being said, people who put a sign down before a boss door simply want to offer help beating a boss (and that boss in particular), and aren't interested or assume you've already cleared the level. Do everyone a favor and only use those signs if you intend on heading into the boss room immediately; it saves everyone a lot of time, and gives work to those who really want it in the first place.

You don't always have to summon in multiple people.

Far from me to tell you how to play your game, but unless you are really down for a three person gangland beatdown on a boss, just one Sunbro is more than enough to turn most enemies into putty. The AI just cannot handle target prioritization, so simply adding one other person into the mix will make your victory a near certainty. So many people are trying to grab up summons right now that your sign will often be picked within seconds, so spread the love unless you are really in the mood for a party.

With that being said:

Summon other people before summoning NPCs.

Every person you bring into a boss fight cranks up their health by a good amount. I would prefer if all summons had a functioning brain, and I bet you would too, so if you are going to bring more than one person to a fight, make sure to chose humans over NPCs if you can. While the AI isn't completely useless, I've found that things often go faster without them there at all. So, if you can, try to take humans first, or roll purely NPCs if they are available.

Try the boss once before summoning people.

There's nothing wrong with summoning on your first shot, but I think you'll find that you'll have a lot more fun in co-op if you aren't getting smacked around like a gnat by a boss with buffed health, and the best way to do this is to at least see the enemy's patterns once or twice before calling in the cavalry. Sunbros are in it to win it (for you), and we will happily solo the whole boss if that's your aim, but there's nothing more disheartening than doing 90% of the work only for you not to realize you're in-range of the instant death zone, and none of my frantic waving or emoting has ever saved someone whose death is due to inexperience over lack of skill. There's no quicker way to turn people off of co-op than a host with his thanatos drive set to maximum.

Don't want to lose your ember/souls on a failed run? Why not try and do some co-op yourself? You won't lose a thing and you still get to learn the boss' patterns before giving it a go for real.

Don't worry about invaders, they're going to have a bad time.

I almost feel bad for them. Almost.

Stick close to your summons.

Beyond generally knowing quite a bit about the area or the boss, your summons will often have area of effect buffs that they can drop before entering into a big fight. Rather than activating a sign and immediately running in, hang back a bit and see if your new friend needs a few seconds of prep time. You might fight yourself with a healthy armor/damage buff if you just wait a bit before throwing down. This goes double for exploring the level; not only are you better protected from enemies and invasions, but you might find a few things you've missed with the help of your buddy!

Toss any of those rules out the window if it means you won't try co-op otherwise.

In the end, there's no Warriors of Sunlight without people to summon us in, so if any of the above feels too restrictive or frightening, ignore it and summon away. After all, we're here for you, even if you sometimes act like a blind lemming with a penchant for blocking the biggest attacks with your face.

Have you done any co-op, either as a host or as a summon? Are you a dirty invader who's had a bad time? Let me know if your experiences match mine, and any tips that I've left out.