There always was an easy mode it was called embracing the grind

Unnecessary. The game was accessible enough.

and Coop. this game seems to encourage coop, so much so that it even gave you spirit summons as an alternative if you don't have online or friends.

I played through once solo (Barbarian class with a big hitty stick) and that was amazing, but now I'm doing a sorcerer build in coop and I think I might be liking it even more. yeah, Invasions suck and I still think they should be opt-in only, but other than that I think coop is the way to play if you want an 'easy' mode. Still hard but you can split agro and do better crowd control that way. Seems to be designed this way.

Plus when exploring the open world, you and your coop partners can occasionally get flask refills any time you kill groups of enemies or a particularly large enemy, incentivizing more exploration with buddies.

Options. the game's primary idea is 'options'.

Yeah magic has always kind of been OP/and or broken in Souls games; okay maybe not DS3 lol. I think its down to the fact that most of the bosses Elden Ring are tuned for melee (okay maybe not Radahn pre patch).

Not to knock it though play how you like. Summons and all. Its all in the game so :P

I'm not even good at any Souls game, i just simply asked for a help then the community marked for me here and here and on and on. I did what they said, the game turned into an easy mode automatically like it felt like a scripted difficulty from hard to easy.

And that's how i finished Elden Ring in 90 hours, my build was mixed something like magic/melee together and level 155. I thought i would probably beat the game in over 300 hours. Yeaaah my playthrough is/was broken, although win is a win.

It's never bad to add more options to a game.

I think that Spirit Ashes are actual easy mode, although I do find that game was perceptively fairly easier than Souls due to how you can always decide to go somewhere else if you hit the block with some boss, in addition to not losing runes (souls) when you fast travel - I do think they should've kept fast travel only from one grace (bonfire) to another to keep it in line with Souls.

I've played Dex build, with Cold Rapier and Holly Mace, until I got Bloodhound's Fang and honestly didn't have (too) much trouble even with Malenia - Mimic Ash is just that good and to be honest, given how big the game is, I didn't feel like being stuck on bosses for prolonged time - I always liked Souls for detailed exploration, and that's what I've focused on in ER as well (155+ hours for 155+ levels).

When I play Elden Ring, it unquestionably has the DNA of a Souls game, and yet it feels different at the same time.  There is a lot more choice in Elden Ring.  Often that is good, but sometimes it is bad.  (I.e. too much choice can actually be a bad thing.) 

I'm about 60 hours in so far, and overall I think it is a good thing though.  I like to explore everything I can, but I also like challenge.  So I'll explore one area thoroughly for a while, and then get tired of how easy everything is (because I'm over leveled) and go to a harder area for a while.  Then when I want to go back to exploration mode, I'll return to the easier area.  This part makes it feel different from a Souls game, but overall I think the freedom is a plus.