Still people online to summon for help?

Was thinking of playing this on PS4 soon, but was wondering about the player base, really. Are there still people online available to summon when things get rough (heard Smelter Demon can get pretty rough, for example)? Thought it may be more PvP-focused now that the game's a year old, which is something I would only dabble in. I'm sure NPC summons will help a little, but I really do like the idea of teaming up with another player if necessary. Never would have got through Orstein and Smough without assistance, for example.

Anyhow, thanks.

I have been playing it a fair amount lately, and I can't find anyone to summon (i'm on the DLC areas, so that may be an issue too) and I haven't been invaded by another player for a long time.

I wouldn't count on it at this point. I don't think the PS4 version ever had anywhere near the player-base that the original releases had, much less a year after the original PS4 launch date.

I don't know about the weekdays but I was able to summon a number of people over the weekend . I have to imagine that there's a current uptick in players who are interested in playing as something to do before DS3 comes out so I'd give it a shot.

Also I couldn't tell from your post whether you had played DS2 before or not. If you haven't it's worth noting that there are NPC summons available in a number of areas to help you out with bosses if you need them. Some are more convenient than others but they're there so worth using if you feel like you're stuck.

I've had the exact opposite experience oddly enough. I just completed a play-through and had no issues summoning and being summoned, even in the DLC areas.

Huh, weird. Makes me wonder how the servers negotiate who appears to who. I do get tons of messages, blood stains and phantoms running around. But almost no co-op summons or invasions.

I was playing the Xbox One version earlier today and saw summon signs near Elana the Squalid Queen's boss door. But that's a super late game DLC boss on the Xbox One.

Smelter Demon is optional, it's probably best to come back and fight him. He's pretty tough no matter what, though.

I'm playing on PC and I constantly leave and see summon signs. I'd assume the ps4 version would have a smaller install base but I can't imagine that it's dead.

I've been playing through SotFS on PS4 and I've been seeing tons of summon signs for both pvp and pve. Not many early on (it was always like that for me) but especially in the DLC areas I have no trouble summoning people.