Dark Souls : any downside to leveling up?

Hi all,

I'm sorry if this has been asked before but I'm quite new to this game and only played a few hours of Demon Souls. There's something I'd like to know : I just don't see the reason why people don't lvl up. Is there any drawback?

I see on many forum that players either only increased their stats to meet the weapon requirements or even don't lvl up at all. What's the point? Why not put more point in STR if you are using a weapon that scales with STR (well at least as long as you get a good tradeoff).

Is there somethign I'm missing? I know you don't have to be a high lvl character to beat the game and PvP made me realise that even low lvl character can be quite powerful but still, I don't understand why you would refrain yourself from getting stronger. :S

It has to do with PVP. There's a few unofficial level caps for PVP action, 120-125 being the most popular. So if you're aiming for a certain level, it makes sense to not go all willy nilly when spending your souls. If you go above those caps, there won't be as much organized PVP action. However, if you're just having fun going through the game, it won't matter how you spend you points. I suggest leveling in bulks, and focus on getting VIT and END and one of the attack stats (STR, DEX etc) up to 40, then focusing on other things, so that you'll have a good base. For your first character, I suggest doing whatever you want. When you find weapons and styles you like, you could make a dedicated PvP character if you want.