Hitting Those High Levels

 So, my Sorcerer in Elden Ring has hit the soft cap on Intelligence of 80 - after this point, more Int increases my staff's sorcery scaling by a smaller amount. So, I've been investing my levels in other stats. At this point, both Mind and Vigor are at 30, putting me at just under a thousand HP. These haven't hit caps just yet, but I'm wondering if I should move on to other things - I've been considering investing in Arcane so that I can use some new sorceries (though my sense is that Faith builds require more Arcane to get things like Dragon incantations).

With the help of Radagon's Soreseal, I have the Dexterity to use the Moonveil, a katana that scales with Intelligence and has a pretty fantastic Ash of War ability. Moonveil, like most katanas, has a bleed effect, which I think (I think) becomes more powerful with more Arcane, so it's another reason to consider getting into it (actually, between Moonveil and the fact that I have enough Endurance to wear mostly heavy armor, I'm actually not terrible as a melee combatant - though I'm obviously still best as a Comet Azur Death Star).

I do think the existence of Moonveil has made me less excited to make a true Samurai build, as I kind of have access to the aesthetic already. My Paladin (Strength/Faith) is still waiting in the wings, though.

Honestly, the open-world nature of Elden Ring has lessened, somewhat, the appeal of alts, though I should recall that with Dark Souls III and Bloodborne, I didn't really get into playing alt characters until I'd seen most of the game on my main character.

Still, the game is massive. I've had it for weeks, playing a substantial amount most days, and there's still more to be discovered. And unlike Dark Souls, I haven't really gotten super-stuck on any bosses so far. I think Rykard and the Draconic Tree Sentinel were probably the only ones I truly had to take a step back and go elsewhere before I could take them down. (In fact, having now done Fya's quest line, I realized that you can skip the Draconic Tree Sentinel to get into Leyndell, though I'm skeptical that that's easier, given the challenges presented in beating the Valiant Gargoyles and Fya's Champions).

One thing that is itching at the back of my mind is DLC. Historically, Dark Souls and Bloodborne each got some DLC that expanded the game, but by the nature of these games, beating the final boss means starting over and not necessarily having access to said DLC just yet. So, I'm tempted to avoid finishing the game until DLC is released, which might not be fore several months or even a year.

There are, of course, areas of the game I have yet to go to. I haven't gotten to the Haligtree (though I think I'm very close and just have to finish a puzzle in the Consecrated Snowfield that involves assassins who pop out of invisibility and one-shot me before I can dodge) and I still have to fight the big fire giant (though given that I think this transforms Leyndell, I want to try to progress Dung Eater's quests - I fought Mohg the Omen, which is some kind of rematch (or maybe intended to be the first fight) with The Lord of Blood, but I must have missed the Dung Eater in the labyrinthine sewers below Leyndell.

Also, apparently the new patch added more NPCs and ways to progress NPC quest chains, so it's not like there's nothing for me to do.