Yeah so there's more potent versions of the rings you can find in the DS series, DS2 added new phantom ambushes in NG+. I think one in particular has unique armor and gear. Ds3 had this AMAZING sword that takes 2 almost complete playthroughs to receive. Nobody uses it so it's a little harder to predict its moves

I started my first low level playthrough after the first time I got invaded by a player with NG+ gear and I wanted to get revenge on people who do that. So that was my incentive, though maybe I should have called it a motive.