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Dark Souls Patch Doesn’t Make Things Easier

I don't know if you've heard, but Dark Souls is hard. It's really freakin' hard. A patch has been released to clean some things up but purists and die-hard fans will be happy to know that the game is still hard.

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I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Dark Souls is hard. It’s really freakin’ hard. A patch has been released to clean some things up but purists and die-hard fans will be happy to know that the game is still hard.

Eurogamer has a translated list of the changes the patch addresses. Have a look:

Magic Changes:

  • Pyro Glove nerfed from 270 to 230.
  • You can see resonance signs now.
  • Vow of Silence range increased.
  • Sorcery spell damage as a whole was slightly buffed, but Homing Soul Mass and other pursuit style spells were nerfed.
  • Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds.
  • Strong Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds. Invincibility removed. Effect on Stamina drastically reduced.
  • Tranquil Walk of Peace and other Slow duration reduced to ~10 secs. Effect supposedly changed from 100% encumberance to 50%. Rolling possible if your equip burden is lowered. Slowness is similar to swamp effect.
  • Iron Flesh effectiveness nerfed.
  • Invisible Body duration remains unchanged.

Status Changes:

  • Base Equipment Burden increased (~6-10 points)
  • Humanity Item drop rate increased from 10 to 210
  • Medium roll recovery faster? (unclear and unconfirmed)
  • Defensive bonuses gained via Humanity reduced. Other defensive bonuses remain unchanged.
  • Item discovery gained via Humanity improved. Capped at 20.

Equipment General Changes:

  • Reported some weapon scaling gets improved at higher normal upgrades (+15 uchi dex scaling goes to A)
  • Some scaling reported as changing from A to S with higher upgrades

Upgrade Changes:

  • Normal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +14).
  • Crystal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +4).
  • Lightning +4 nerfed by 2% (+5 remains unchanged).
  • Raw scaling buffed by 10% (all levels).
  • Magic stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
  • Enchanted stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
  • Divine stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
  • Occult stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
  • Fire +9 nerfed by 2%. (+5 remains unchanged)
  • Dragon stat scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +5).

Specific Gear Changes:

  • Grant scaling changed to Strength:B and Faith:A
  • Gold-hemmed nerfed, still can’t be upgraded.
  • Dust skirt nerfed hard (streamlined to match the other pieces).
  • Silver Knights, Sun, Hollow Soldier’s Shield and other medium shield stability nerfed to ~70 at max upgrades to improve Great Shield viability.
  • Crystal Ring Shield scaling drastically nerfed. Does around ~200 +-50
  • Dragon Greatsword buffed from 360 to 390.
  • Silver Knight’s Sword lightning effect removed. Now enchantable.
  • Elite Knight gear nerfed, then buffed slightly in 1.05

Combat Changes:

  • Lock-on acquisition range increased.
  • Lock-on changing/switching got easier (more responsive).
  • Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.

PVE Changes:

  • Overall increase in souls gained (~2-2.5 times more)
  • Damage reduced on some mobs?
  • HP lowered on some mobs?
  • Reduced acquisition range on normal enemies.
  • Supposedly reduced poise on some enemies.
  • Bosses drop Humanity and Homeward Bones
  • Ghosts and Skeletons give souls now.
  • Twinkling Titanite drop rate improved.
  • Pyromancers in Catacombs drop Skull Lanterns.
  • Darkwraiths in New Londo drop Dark Hand.

Online Changes:

  • You can see resonance signs.
  • Some invasion restrictions possibly changed? Darkwraith upperlimit confirmed as unchanged.
  • 1.05: Summon restrictions improved slightly again.
  • Amount of souls the Master of the game gains changed.
  • Cracked Eye Orbs no longer get consumed on failure. Confirmed
  • You can hit Select to rate messages.
  • 1.05: Fixed 1.04 bug where summon signs were invisible.

Covenant Changes:

  • Covenant Material drop rate improved.
  • Lowered requirements for Sunbro covenenant (requirements moved from 50 to 25. 3/4 assists should do the trick)

Other Changes:

  • Official Guide nerfed.
  • Forest Hunter NPC farming remains unchanged.
  • Dark Anor Londo NPC farming remains unchanged.
  • Kiln Skip Glitch still works in 1.05

Merchant stock updates:

  • Male Undead Merchant: Also sells bottomless box
  • Female Undead Merchant: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
  • Andrei: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
  • Domnhal of Xena: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Master Key (5000)
  • Giant Blacksmith (Fapsmith): Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Titanite Shards, Large Tit Shards, Twinkling (8000 per, inf amount), Green Shards, Repair box, upgrade boxes
  • Vamos: Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Tit, Large tit, Repair box / upgrade boxes
  • Inglwood: Sells Transient Curses

Fixes:

  • Fixed some freeze issues
  • Lvl up screen displays souls needed properly now
  • Dragon-head glitch, snuggly, and magic shield glitches fixed.
  • Fixed a bug where your inputs come out 1 second later.
  • Fixed a bug where the second solaire event wont progress.
  • Fixed a bug where feeding frampt a titanite stone then going over 99 resulted in having zero.
  • Fixed some specific map areas where you’d get stuck or be unable to progress.
  • Changed some english subtitles on the overseas port.
So the game is still hard, but is less frustrating in certain aspects. I think that makes sense.
What say you, gamers?