It used to be soul memory played a part, but soul level was the main influence, with big white summon stone being within a certain level range, and the "shade" stone being for anyone out of that range "hence the restricted time" now with scholar I'm not sure, but I still have had a reasonable soul memory throughout. I've not farmed, nor used any influencing rings, most area's I've got through without hitting a wall. SO unless I'm below average soul count due to a lack of hitting a wall, god knows, mind you I've just hit 3.2 mil after finishing the iron crown dlc, but this is still my first playthrough, if 5 mil is still the average soul memory for late game pvp (I really hope it isn't), I'm going to have to be very careful.

Nope. It's based entirely on soul memory. Hasn't changed from the last gen version.