The Dark Souls 1.05 update is now available in North America and Europe, after getting an earlier Japanese release. The patch general makes a bunch of gameplay tweaks, and, unsurprisingly, most of the gameplay balancing is aimed at making the game harder.
This, from a game that brags about being cruelly unfair to players and seems to delight in giving them quick, bloody deaths.
The long list of tweaks and fixes in the patch notes is as follows:
Magic Changes:
* Pyro Glove nerfed from 270 to 230.
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You can see resonance signs now.
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Vow of Silence range increased.
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Sorcery spell damage as a whole was slightly buffed, but Homing Soul Mass and other pursuit style spells were nerfed.
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Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds.
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Strong Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds. Invincibility removed. Effect on Stamina drastically reduced.
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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.
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Iron Flesh effectiveness nerfed.
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Invisible Body duration remains unchanged.
Status Changes:
* Base Equipment Burden increased (~6-10 points)
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Humanity Item drop rate increased from 10 to 210
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Medium roll recovery faster? (unclear and unconfirmed)
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Defensive bonuses gained via Humanity reduced. Other defensive bonuses remain unchanged.
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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).
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Crystal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +4).
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Lightning +4 nerfed by 2% (+5 remains unchanged).
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Raw scaling buffed by 10% (all levels).
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Magic stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
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Enchanted stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
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Divine stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
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Occult stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
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Fire +9 nerfed by 2%. (+5 remains unchanged)
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Dragon stat scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +5).
Specific Gear Changes:
* Grant scaling changed to Strength:B and Faith:A
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Gold-hemmed nerfed, still can’t be upgraded.
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Dust skirt nerfed hard (streamlined to match the other pieces).
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Silver Knights, Sun, Hollow Soldier’s Shield and other medium shield stability nerfed to ~70 at max upgrades to improve Great Shield viability.
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Crystal Ring Shield scaling drastically nerfed. Does around ~200 +-50
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Dragon Greatsword buffed from 360 to 390.
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Silver Knight’s Sword lightning effect removed. Now enchantable.
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Elite Knight gear nerfed, then buffed slightly in 1.05
Combat Changes:
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Lock-on acquisition range increased.
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Lock-on changing/switching got easier (more responsive).
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Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.
