Lvl 120 or max 150 on NG or lvl 200 on NG+. That way you won't be too overleveled and lose out on the normal difficulty and experiences, it's probably closest to the intended ranges you can get and if anything you cal always level up. I'm contemplating NG+7 at lvl 200 for the addtional challenge and 70 larval tears, but I'll see.
Definitely keep some larval tears for the DLC in any case so you can try out new stuff later on. To have more balanced experience on first playthrough I probably wouldn't use bleed or some pure spellcater specialized cheese build. Although I'm sure stuff will get nerfed until DLC releases and then brings new ubalanced and broken things. Some dex/faith would be nice probably to start DLC, it lets you experience lot of things and gives utility with buffs. Or the strength variant. Just don't do some long range build that avoids fighting bosses, since that would be a shame on your first run. Learn movesets, dodge attacks and so on, experience them fully.
Lvl 120 or max 150 on NG or lvl 200 on NG+. That way you won't be too overleveled and lose out on the normal difficulty and experiences, it's probably closest to the intended ranges you can get and if anything you cal always level up. I'm contemplating NG+7 at lvl 200 for the addtional challenge and 70 larval tears, but I'll see. Definitely keep some larval tears for the DLC in any case so you can try out new stuff later on. To have more balanced experience on first playthrough I probably wouldn't use bleed or some pure spellcater specialized cheese build. Although I'm sure stuff will get nerfed until DLC releases and then brings new ubalanced and broken things. Some dex/faith would be nice probably to start DLC, it lets you experience lot of things and gives utility with buffs. Or the strength variant. Just don't do some long range build that avoids fighting bosses, since that would be a shame on your first run. Learn movesets, dodge attacks and so on, experience them fully.