14 DAY TRIAL // A brand new and quite massive update for Dark Souls 2 has just been rolled out by developer From Software, in the form of patch 1.06 Regulation 1.08, which brings forth massive changes, including the banning of health recovery item use during PvP encounters.
Dark Souls 2 came out earlier this year, first on PS3 and Xbox 360 and then on the PC, and amazed millions of gamers with the same challenging role-playing game mechanics that made its predecessors, Dark Souls 1 and Demon's Souls, so popular.
The game has since received quite a lot of different updates made by developer From Software, and soon it will get its first expansion, in the form of the Crown of the Sunken King DLC, which includes new environments, adventures, enemies, and treasures.
In anticipation of the expansion's debut later today, July 22, a brand new update is now available for download across the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms.
The patch includes a huge amount of bug fixes, tweaks to general gameplay, and balance changes for various weapons and gear, PCGamer notes.
By far the most important modification made by From Software to Dark Souls 2 with the new patch is the removal of health recovery items from any Player-versus-Player encounter. As such, you can no longer use things like an Estus during a duel to gain a health advantage over the other player.
Bugs relating to weapons that dealt "abnormal amounts of damage" have been squashed, as well as situations that prevented players from progressing through the story or through certain parts of the game's open world.
Combat enhancements relating to certain moves like parries have been made, and quite a lot of special weapons, like King's Ultra Greatsword, Archdrake Mace, or Drakekeeper's Warpick have been tweaked with correct descriptions or better elemental attacks.
Quite a few armor sets, like Steel, Ironclad, Gyrm, Alonne Knight, Smelter Demon, Drakekeeper, or Looking Glass have seen their durability increase while their defense levels have been lowered.
Weapons like the Drangleic Sword, Defender Greatsword, as well as the strong attacks for Large Club, Pickaxe, Great Club, and Gyrm Great Hammer have had their attack power decreased.
Improvements to the tracking of certain spells, hexes, pyromancy, or miracles have been made, while some of them, like Soul Bolt, Soul Shower, Fire Orb, Great Fireball, and others, consume less stamina when cast.
The brand new patch for Dark Souls 2 is already available for download. The Crown of the Sunken King DLC goes live later today, July 22.