I think some people are just frustrated that the majority of the new cool weapons/ashes are locked behind difficult content. If you are too rusty to clear the initial difficulty wall, you’d be restricted to very little stuff after buying the $50 dlc.
That being said, a castle skip already exists so you can go collect the Smithscript series and Anvil Hammer - without killing a thing - as long as you explore hard enough!
They aren’t, 90% of the content is accessible without a single boss harder than Mogh.
Mogh is like, one of the hardest bosses. I had more trouble with him than the final few bosses of the story, Godfrey and Radagon and their subsequent phases.
What is a difficult boss for your build can be a super easy boss for someone else’s build.
First time I beat malenia I didn’t understand what people were talking about. She was so easy. Because my build poise broke her non stop and I could essentially stun lock her to death. (Lv 150)
Wasn’t until I played against her on my second character that I understood what a monumental challenge she can be.
Point being they beat Mohg ages ago and now rusty to play DLC.
Mohg is insanely weak to bloodflame too, I had much more problem with Blackgaol and Rellana early bosses then I did with Mohg while speedrunning a new chara into DLC map.