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.

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.