Elden Ring’s story no longer makes you invade other players’ games

theverge.com:

Elden Ring just got a bit easier for single-player purists. Patch 1.06, released today, adds a new way to advance the quest of White Mask Varré — something that previously involved using the multiplayer system to invade other players’ worlds. Now, Varré will let you defeat a new character in order to join his assassins’ order, something that grants early access to a major area of the game. This comes alongside a variety of other changes, including the option to invade or help players across a much larger distance.

Varré’s multiplayer demand was a rare sore point for people — including me — who either weren’t interested in player-versus-player dueling or played in offline mode. Avoiding his quest didn’t completely lock you out of any areas, but it delayed one of them until fairly late in the game. That area happens to contain one of the best rune-gathering spots in Elden Ring,so it was annoying to say the least. (Speaking of that farming area, so far there’s no indication it’s been patched out of 1.06, despite players’ persistent concerns.) I won’t spoil the name of the new NPC you’re supposed to target, but it appears to be already noted on some Varré quest guides.

Besides this change, 1.06 includes a variety of tweaks geared toward Elden Ring’s multiplayer mode. Among other things, it lets you send cooperative summon signs to “distant areas” or invade them, hopefully making it easier to find a multiplayer friend or foe. As Polygon lays out, it reduces the distance of the teleportation-like Bloodhound Step skill and buffs the somewhat similar Quickstep, but makes both less effective if you spam them continuously. It also decreases the damage and buildup of the blood attack for Corpse Piler, the skill attached to the