Have you ever seen Survivorman? It s a documentary series about a guy called Les Stroud who spends a week in the world s most inhospitable places deserts, rainforests, tundras and survives with only the clothes on his back. Fakers like Bear Grylls have doctors on hand, camera crews, and cosy hotels to return to after filming, but Stroud does it all for real and films everything himself. It s really good TV, and I promise that after you watch the first episode you ll be hooked.

Anyway, what Survivorman shows us is that nature is terrifying, and doesn t care whether you live or die. These great, lonely expanses, whether it s the dense jungles of the Amazon or the icy plains of Alaska, are cruel, merciless places. Stroud is a seasoned survival expert, and even he struggles to find food or keep warm sometimes. Imagine if you were out there. You wouldn t last a day.

So why do survival games always have enemies in them? Zombies, cannibals, wild animals it s completely unnecessary. Nature has already done the hard work and designed the most formidable, intimidating, ruthless villain imaginable: itself. Survival sim developers seem to think they need to include some kind of threat to keep players interested, but that really isn t the case. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no food, no fire, and night closing in is scarier than any monster.

A survival game doesn t need conflict. There are other ways to keep a player engaged. There could be exploration elements; discovering abandoned camps or ruined buildings, and using them as makeshift shelters. There might be stories to discover, or clues to escaping the wilderness like an old map left behind by a hiker with a route scribbled on it. Or imagine finding something like Christopher McCandless bus, and reading his diary by a flickering campfire.



But for this hypothetical game to really work, a lot of love would have to be put into the atmosphere and design of the world. You d need realistic weather and lighting, and stunning natural beauty. That s another thing I love about Survivorman: Stroud is always in awe of the majesty of his surroundings, but also respectful, and occasionally fearful, of them. With a large, diverse, and beautiful environment to explore I d love somewhere like a rainy forest in the Pacific Northwest I d play the game just to wander the landscape and see what I could find before nightfall.

But let s say you re an indie developer making your dream realistic survival game, but the guy holding the cheque that ll decide whether the project lives or dies insists on some kind of danger. Well, in that case, you do it subtle. You make animal attacks rare, but possible. As you walk through the forest at night, you might hear a growl, or something stalking you. But it s unlikely it ll ever show itself; until that one, unexpected time when it does, and you have to run for your life. That would be infinitely more compelling than a million shambling zombies.

One survival game that almost gets it right is Miasmata. I love the realistic character movement, cartography system, and being able to forage for plants to craft medicines. But then that stupid monster turns up and I lose all interest. The Forest recently added a hidden enemy-free mode (type veganmode on the main menu), but it s clear the game was designed with the cannibal natives in mind, and it feels a bit empty and aimless without them. No developer I know of has been brave enough to design a survival game without any threat. Who ll be the first?

Warning: there are unmarked spoilers for all of Season 2 of The Walking Dead below. Going forward, PC Gamer will review episodic games like TV episodes: critiquing and discussing the story of each episode as the season progresses, before assigning a score at the end of the season. Read more about how we review games in the PC Gamer reviews policy.

"I've seen you take care of yourself more than any three adults put together," a bitter Kenny says to Clementine in The Walking Dead Season 2's fourth episode Amid the Ruins. I've tried to convince Kenny that I need him--that the group needs him to survive after escaping, battered and exhausted, from Carver's compound. He's not buying it. And he shouldn't.

In my review of The Walking Dead's last episode, I wrote that Clementine seems more capable than most of the adults she travels with, far more capable than an 11-year-old should be. Episode three delivered some of the series' most dramatic moments by sacrificing some of Clementine's believability and what little freedom of exploration The Walking Dead has had. Episode four continues down that path, charting a straight course toward the end of the season by minimizing player control even further. Telltale clearly has a specific story to tell, and episode four tells it well it's just not very interesting to play.

Episode four of The Walking Dead finds Clementine's group scattered and barely surviving after the attack on Carver's hardware store. Most of the characters introduced in episodes one and two are dead, and the survivors soon have a new crisis to deal with: Rebecca's impending childbirth. Most of the episode revolves around pulling the group back together and finding supplies to help Rebecca give birth. Even moreso than in episode three, it's up to Clementine to do most of the work.



Episode four drops any pretense of having Clementine act coy or slyly maneuver her way through adult conversations. She's the driving force of the episode, heavily influencing decisions and physically saving other survivors when they're in trouble. In one of the episode's only scenes that lets you walk around and explore, she has to find supplies in an area that other survivors have already been searching for at least an hour. They're apparently very bad at scavenging.

Other than about five minutes of walking around and exploring, episode four is all dialogue and cutscenes and QTEs. While playing the previous episode, I was sometimes frustrated that Clementine seemed so capable while Telltale gave me so little control as a player. The episode made up for that with dramatic, unexpected story moments. Episode four, by contrast, mostly seems like it's on autopilot. Other than the brutality of its opening scene, none of the story beats are surprising or lead to particularly difficult decisions.

The most interesting dynamic of Amid the Ruins is the relationship between Clementine and Jane, a tough lone wolf who recognizes Clementine's own survival skills. I was hoping that the game would give Clementine the option to abandon the rest of her group and strike out with Jane. Unfortunately, after a few exchanges of dialogue and Jane teaching Clementine a few tricks to survive on her own--Jane starts spilling her backstory, which turns out to overtly parallel the events that take place in Amid the Ruins. It's a technique that gives weight to some of her actions throughout the episode, but you can also see it coming from a mile away. It's too convenient to be particularly effective.

I found it hard to be too invested in Amid the Ruins when its most dramatic moral choices centered around Sarah, who's been nothing but dead weight both as a character, and to the group the whole season. Telltale delivered two exhaustingly intense episodes in a row, and episode four seemed more like filler, moving the plot forward into what will be a bloody, painful finale.



Despite few opportunities to shape Clementine's character in episode four, I think this season of The Walking Dead will end strong. I may not find Clem's survival skills believable, but I still care about her and want to see where her story goes. I have a feeling that if she lives to see a season three, she'll be the Mad Max of the Walking Dead universe, more road-weary and scrappy than Lee ever was.

What's next for Wildstar? After the bio-terror of the Strain update, Ultradrop 2: Sabotage is based more on the act of hitting fellow players with sharp weapons, or shooting fellow players with laser pistols... Or, as shown by the new DevSpeak video, exploding fellow players with sabotage-enabling bombs.



So listen up, 'cause you can't say nothing: Sabotage is the new Battleground a 15-a-side PvP map. The objective here is to destroy the enemy's core, done by capturing uplinks to call in airstrikes, or by planting bombs. Those bombs are transported by players, and so can just as easily be used on grouped up opponents anything detonated adds points to your team's total.

Don't worry if you're not into PvP, Carbine say the next content drop is designed for PvE players.

For more details, head to the Sabotage micro-site.

This was a long time coming. Guild Wars 2 is like all fantasy games are about dragons. One of the major complaints about the game's first season of story updates was the lack of anything to do with dragons. This might seem petty, but if you've got giant dragons tearing up the place, you might think they're more important than a local election. In the end, it was all a ruse: the story ended with the awakening of a new dragon. Now the effects of that awakening are being felt. Dragon stuff is happening, and will continue to happen in the upcoming update, The Dragon's Reach: Part 1.



If you've not been following this second season, you might be confused at the lack of dragon in that trailer. To which someone following the game's lore would point out that the tentacles are the dragon. A bit of it at least... the tentacle bit.

There's little information about what the update will introduce, although the game's Living World structure has been very different this year. Most of the non-story events have been centred around the new zone of Dry Top, but in addition, each release has included a multiple-part episode purely focused on new story. It's been a nice switch for the game: where many of the first season's releases were pretty farming heavy, this time, there's a clear path through the majority of an update's content.

Essentially, then, we can expect another few hours of extra story, and potentially some new areas and events. The trailer certainly hints at escalation: from Rytlock's return, to Ascalon shenanigans, it suggests the story is all leading to something. There's even what looks like an Ice/Plant monster hybrid thing, which hints at... something.

The Dragon's Reach: Part 1 will be the penultimate fortnightly Season 2 release before the Living World goes on a mid-season break.

Written by Tom Marks

Last week Nvidia was rumored to be prepping the reveal of a new device running Android and capable of streaming games from your PC. Today, it revealed the Shield Tablet, an 8-inch tablet that uses Nvidia's Tegra K1 chip to do just that.

Starting at $299 for a 16GB-capacity version, the Shield Tablet has a full HD display and large (for a tablet) front-facing speakers on either side. It has built in Wi-Fi enabling you to stream games from your PC, but the $399 model has an optional LTE plan available for online games outside of wifi range. Even though the more expensive version has 32GB of storage, the space seems limited for a gaming device, but both models have a MicroSD card slot that can support another 128GB of memory. The Shield Tablet also sports a Mini-HDMI port and can be hooked up to a TV or external Monitor, capable of running in 1080p.

Nvidia has paired the release of the tablet with the Shield Wireless Controller, a gamepad connected by Wi-Fi Direct and designed to go with the device, but the two will be sold separately. At $59, the rechargeable controller has all the buttons and sticks you have come to expect, with the addition of a headphone/mic jack for audio streaming, volume controls, a button for voice control, and a small touchpad. The Shield tablet is being shown with a hard cover that folds back into a stand and will also be sold separately for $39.



One of the more impressive features is the tablet s integration with Nvidia s Shadowplay service. Shadowplay allows you to livestream whatever you are playing on the Shield Tablet to your Twitch channel, and its even equipped with a 5MP camera on the front for a face-cam in the corner. When paired with the LTE coverage, streamers would no longer be limited to the traditional desk and keyboard set ups we see. However, there is no word on how you will control your twitch stream settings or chat, done through the Twitch dashboard on a PC, and if it isn t made easy then I could see a lot of current streamers not being interested.

Our own Cory Banks has spent some time with the Shield Tablet and Controller that's his grubby paw in the controller photo and says the hardware feels good. The 8-inch screen looks gorgeous and the tablet feels good in your hands, while the controller's chunkiness is reminiscent of the design behind Nvidia's original Shield (now called Shield Portable). Feeling good isn't enough, however, and we're looking forward to more time with the setup so we can test how usable the Android-powered tablet will be for PC gamers and Twitch streamers.

The Shield Tablet, Cover, and Wireless Controller are all set to release on July 29th in the US & Canada, and August 14th in Europe.

An alert in my email inbox: new Farming Simulator 15 screenshots! Almost without thinking, I move the mouse towards the delete button. But then I pause... No. You know what? We are going to do this. In a world now full of wacky non-sims, we are going to instead give time to the game that earnestly and wholeheartedly wants to simulate the experience of driving and operating farm equipment.

We are going to look at nay, celebrate some Farming Simulator 15 screenshots, and by Jove we're going to do it unironically.



Tractors! They're heavy, slow, and useful for the day-to-day business of farming. They aren't silly, they're not powered by jetpacks, and they certainly don't subvert physics in humorous ways. Not intentionally, at least. Sim games can be pretty janky.



A combine harvester! I live in Somerset now, which means I've drunk cider while a Wurzels tribute band played I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester. It was awful. Farming Simulator 15 has a Nordic setting and is a serious game. As such, it probably won't make any reference to the Wurzels.



Logging! That's one of the things new to this version, as revealed via this video teaser.



I'm just going to quote a chunk of the press release, because it is brilliant in the way it enthuses over the detail of FS15's recreation:

"You can now manage forested areas in the game environment using a range of new vehicles and machines designed specifically for this activity: harvesters, chain saws, chippers and even trailers.

"This additional equipment joins the long list of agricultural machinery that has been faithfully reproduced from the originals made by famous manufacturers such as Case IH, Deutz-Fahr and Lamborghini that are ready to be put to work. More prestigious brands in the sector are also available; New Holland and Ponsse among others!"

Prestigious brands! I'm venturing close to ironic enjoyment territory again, but then, I haven't played a Farming Simulator before. But, thanks to my experiences with Euro Truck Simulator 2, I'm well aware of how genuinely entertaining the best real simulators can be in part because of their insane detail and passion for the subject.

Farming Simulator 15 is out on PC this October.

So much of the Watch Dogs discussion has been centred around its graphics. Maybe that can now be resolved with this: the final release of TheWorse Mod. Originally designed to enable the visual effects present in Ubisoft's E3 2012 demo of the game, it's since been expanded to offer a full compliment of graphical and performance related improvements. Maybe now we can't talking about what's really wrong with Watch Dogs: its total lack of dogs.

This 1.0 version is a pretty minor update over the previous release. It further tweaks the depth-of-field and bloom setting, and fixes a few of the mod's lingering problems. If you're yet to try the upgrades it offers, now's the perfect time to take a look the mod's as feature complete as it's going to get.

In addition to the main changes, there's also an optional "MaLDo texture" version, which incorporates an Ultra textures fix created by Crysis 2 modder MaLDo. With it, selecting "High" textures will instead provide their Ultra counterparts, but do so without the stuttering experienced by some GPUs with the base game.

I tried out the previous 0.99 version, and it offered a noticeable improvement. That said, the depth-of-field effects were also far stronger than anything I'd want if actually attempting to play the game, (rather than looking wistfully at ports). Still, it's worth checking out if you find yourself disappointed by the look and feel of Watch Dogs' world.

The biggest criticism leveled at Dark Souls 2 was that it was too easy. Players who had spent hundreds of hours in the first game found that many of the same tactics worked in the sequel. Maybe you had to dodge left instead of right to get past the Pursuer s sweeping arc, but generally speaking, the old tricks still worked.

I thought about this as I died again while playing Crown of the Sunken King, the first part of From Software s three-piece downloadable content set. My old tricks failed time and time again, forcing me to relearn enemy patterns and try new tactics. For Dark Souls diehards, that s a good thing, though you ll have to slog through some drab environments.

Sunken King adds a new item to your inventory: a dragon claw with a cryptic clue in its description. That item should lead you to the new content area, grafted onto the Black Gulch, behind where players fight The Rotten. That means you can t get into Sunken King until Dark Souls 2 s halfway point, and even then, you might want to hold off until you have better gear. Use the dragon claw at the new altar beyond the Rotten s arena and you ll be brought to the new area. If you drop a summon sign here but don t own the DLC, you can still be summoned in as a phantom. Think of it as a demo.

That sinking feeling



The new content is split into three areas, starting with Shulva, the Sanctum City. I cross narrow ledges, activating platforms to reach areas, and spend more time jumping than in the base game. It never approaches platformer status, but I like the new emphasis on verticality. Enemies attack from above or below more frequently than before, and some of the best secrets in the early areas are discovered by trying to access rooms far above the ground. There are new environmental dangers here, too, and a better focus on puzzles and switches.

Sunken King s enemies are all brand new, too. The basic Sanctum Soldiers are so heavily-armored and tightly grouped that I quickly had to abandon my magic-based build for a sword-and-board approach so I could parry attacks and do more damage. There are insects that spit corrosive gas and are far easier to kill, and undead witches that are strong against dark damage. Massive, blind bipedal dragons guard a later bonfire, and take a tremendous amount of effort to kill. If I aggroed two at a time, one was guaranteed to chew on my bones.

Fighting these new enemies was genuinely difficult. Sanctum Knights start off incorporeal, immune to physical damage quick to hack through you with their dual blades. It wasn t until I discovered how to make them substantial that I could take one more than one at a time, and any time I heard a new phantom baddie, I was genuinely fearful for my stash of souls.

A few of the new knights have movesets remarkably close to your own. Dodging, parrying, and blocking these warriors felt more like PvP duels than cutting down mindless zombies.



Totally boss

Sunken King includes two new boss battles (three if you count an optional group of NPCs). Both are more creative than many of the basic game s guardians, who were often melee-based and easy to dodge in the early game. I won t spoil either fight, but I will point out that there are two NPC summons for each fight, which helps even the odds, and one battle takes place in front of one of the most beautiful areas From has ever designed.

Unfortunately, that s one of only a few standout landmarks in Sunken King. Most of the content is played against grey, monochrome environments that wear down on you after repeated deaths. Aside from a few key moments, the drabness of these areas makes pushing through a slog. Early on, I was concerned that I wouldn t even want to continue to the end. Dark Souls 2 has few moments that drag, but there were points in Sunken King where the momentum slows to a crawl.



But I pushed through, and when the final boss was down and the crown of the Sunken King sat upon my head I had played through ten solid, satisfying hours of new Dark Souls. For the devoted, that s a hell of a deal, and there are still two more chunks of content incoming, with even better-looking environments and a few new lore details. Sunken King won t do anything to convince you to play Dark Souls 2 if you don t already love it, but stays consistently challenging for even veteran players.

Details

Price: $10/ 8, $25/ 20 for Season Pass
Release date: Out now
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Developer: From Software
Multiplayer: Online co-op and PvP
Link: www.darksoulsii.com

The League of Legends community has an unfortunate reputation, but Riot Games is eager to change it. Lead Designer of Social Systems Jeffrey Lin has tweeted that the studio will test new disciplinary measures today (July 21), with a view to introducing them permanently should they prove effective. Punishable offences include "intentional feeding, racism, death threats (and) homophobia."

"Today, players that show extreme toxicity (intentional feeding or racism, etc) will be instantly (banned for) 14 day or permabanned in #LeagueOfLegends," Linn wrote. If the one day test run works, the company will roll out the policy permanently. Linn later clarified the new rules - and the way they'll be enforced - in a Reddit thread.

"We'll be testing one server at a time in small doses to monitor the effectiveness of the system carefully and minimize false positives," Linn wrote. "All Riot regions will get the same test at some point in the future. Depending on the results of the tests, we'll be rolling this system out more permanently on all servers."

"In the past, we've avoided publicly naming and shaming players; however, we've learned in recent months that being transparent is extremely critical to the playerbase's trust in our systems, so we've decided to do a compromise. If players complain about unfair bans for this particular system (so, have a ban year code of 2500), we're going to be fully transparent and posting the chat logs that resulted in the ban."

Lin also said Riot is looking at introducing measures to punish leavers and AFKs (away from keyboard). It follows a rather awkward situation last month when two League of Legend Championship Series players were suspended for "extremely toxic behavior".

A massive Dark Souls 2 patch has just gone live, and along with a long list of changes and refinements comes the news that Health Recovery Items can no longer be used during any PvP . What this means is that you can t chug Estus mid duel, which is a change the Dark Souls 2 community has been requesting for a long time. After all, a duel should be an honorable fight to the death, right? Right.
The update notes are as long as my arm. A huge selection of weapons have been buffed, a small selection have been handicapped, while a selection of armor sets now have increased durability but lower defense. Judging by the list it looks like no build will go unaffected, albeit in potentially unnoticeable ways.

Check out the full patch notes below. Maybe prepare a cup of tea first, because there's a lot to digest. It comes just in time for the release of the first Dark Souls 2 DLC pack, which you can read about how to access here.

Bug fixes, changes and refinements:

Fixed abnormal amounts of damage being caused by certain weapons
An upper limit has been set to the number of Souls a player can earn when fighting off invading players
Fixed the phenomenon where the player is not able to talk to Licia of Lindeldt
Fixed the progression-stopping phenomenon at Heide's Tower when the host falls off right before the Dragonrider Boss Fight
Fixed the phenomenon in Majula where the door does not open even after moved by Licia of Lindeldt
Fixed the progression-stopping phenomenon when the player talks to Laddersmith Gilligan in Earthen Peak
Fixed the phenomenon when the poison pond does not disappear when the windmill is burned down and immobilized
Fixed the phenomenon when that the poison pond returns after the windmill is burned down and immobilized, and the player is summoned into another world as a Blue Savior then returned to their own world
Fixed the loading screen issue when you lose a deathmatch in the Undead Purgatory
Fixed the issue where saved data cannot be reloaded if the game is shut down right after the player is caught by the Darksucker, in an oil puddle in Black Gulch
Fixed the phenomenon where items do not disappear from inventory if they are thrown away while they are also being used
Fixed the ability to use parry while back-stepping
Fixed the ability to use parry while invincible
Fixed the phenomenon where the player floats in the air if attacked while hanging onto a rope
Fixed the phenomenon in Brightstone Cove Tseldora when the Duke's Dear Freja stops moving after defeating a summoned player in a NG+ playthrough
Fixed the phenomenon where the Tseldora Den Key cannot be acquired after the confrontational event between Mild-mannered Pate and Creighton the Wanderer in Brightstone Cove Tseldora
Fixed the phenomenon where sound effects volume does not comply with the optional settings during the fight with the Looking Glass Knight
Fixed the jumping shortcut at the Shrine of Winter
Fixed the phenomenon where a summoning signature can be written near a bonfire in Belfry Sol Approach
Fixed the phenomenon where the floor trap in the Iron Keep is displayed differently on host and client worlds during multi-play
Fixed the phenomenon where the resume point is different from where the game was forced-quit after the player died
Fixed the issue where the selected message for deletion is not deleted, but a different message is deleted
Fixed the Halberd weapons sound effects that sometimes do not play when the weapon is swung
Adjusted the sound made when the Silver Eagle Kite Shield is hit
Fixed the issue where the player holding thrusting swords in both hands can cause continuous damage until the opponent's stamina runs out
Fixed the phenomenon where the player dual-wields whips and only the Right-hand weapon hits the enemy
Adjustments were made so players can get out of the continuous attacks from Syan's Halberd
Adjustments were made so players can get out of the continuous attacks from a player who is dual-wielding with a Straight Sword and with the Red Rust Sword in their left hand
Defender Greatsword can be enchanted
Fixed the phenomenon where a heavy attack while holding Pate's Spear with both hands produces only one hit
Adjusted the Strong Attack of the Spider's Silk when Dual-Wielding
Lucerne Strong Attack will penetrate shields
Adjusted the attack element type for the King's Ultra Greatsword
Adjusted the attack element type for the Drakekeeper's Warpick
Corrected the description of the attack type for the Archdrake Mace
Corrected the description of the attack type for Drakekeeper's Warpick
Fixed the Symbol Markings of "Galib, God of Disease" and "Caitha, Goddess of Tears" on the Name-Engraved Ring
Fixed the issue where the Information text sometimes does not display properly
Correction to the amount of damage inflicted against other players and enemies
Shortened the amount of time stunned when taking damage from multiple attacks

Adjustments that will be made with Regulation 1.08 (all following changes):

Health Recovery Items can no longer be used during any PvP
Increased the matching range for users in online play
Over-all balance adjustments made to weapons, armors, accessories and spells

Description of the modifications made to the main components and spells:

Increased the durability and lowered the defense levels of the following armor sets (Helm, Armor, Gauntlets, Leggings)

Steel Armor Set
Havel's Armor Set
Gyrm Warrior Armor Set
Ironclad Armor Set
Old Ironclad Armor Set
Smelter Demon Armor Set
Alonne Knight Armor Set
Vengarl's Armor Set
Mastodon Armor Set
Rusted Mastodon Armor Set
Old Knight Armor Set
Drakekeeper Armor Set
Velstadt's Armor Set
Looking Glass Armor Set
Imperious Armor Set
Dragonrider Armor Set
Infantry Axe




Decreased the amount of attack power of the following weapons

Drangleic Sword
Defender Greatsword
Large Club (Strong Attack only)
Pickaxe (Strong Attack only)
Great Club (Strong Attack only)
Gyrm Great Hammer (Strong Attack only)


Increased the status values of the following weapons

Shotel
Monastery Scimitar
Curved Dragon Greatsword
Chaos Blade
Flamberge
Key to the Embedded
Drangleic Sword
Defender Greatsword
Greatsword
Hand Axe
Infantry Axe
Butcher's Knife
Giant Stone Axe
Gyrm Greataxe
Morning Star
Reinforced Club
Craftsman's Hammer
Blacksmith's Hammer
Gyrm Great Hammer
Spear
Winged Spear
Pike
Partizan
Stone Soldier Spear
Spitfire Spear
Channeler's Trident
Gargoyle Bident
Full Moon Sickle
Helix Halberd
Blue Knight's Halberd
Old Knight Halberd
Work Hook


Decreased the durability of the Defender Greatsword and Watcher Greatsword
Increased the enchantment statistics Defender Greatsword and Watcher Greatsword
Increased the weight of the Defender Greatsword
Decrease the weight of the Butcher's Knife and Old Knight Halberd
Status value added to the Handmaid's Ladle
Decrease the amount of damage for the following weapons

Malformed Skull (Strong Attack only)
Giant Warrior Club (Strong Attack only)
Old Knight Hammer (Strong Attack only)
Drakekeeper's Great Hammer (Strong Attack only) oDragon Tooth (Strong Attack only)
Malformed Shell (Strong Attack only)
Archdrake Mace (Strong Attack only)
Channeler's Trident (Strong Attack and Dual-wielding)
Helix Halberd (Strong Attack and Dual-wielding)
Drakekeeper's Warpick (Strong Attack and Dual-wielding)


Increased the amount of self-inflicted damage when using the Chaos Blade
Adjusted the hit detection for the Scythe of Want (Strong Attack only)
Increased the physical cut rate of the Shield Crossbow
Changes were made to the point of explosion and Blast area of the Old Sun Ring Changes made to the effect of the Gower's Ring of Protection - does not negate damage anymore, will reduce damage received
Improvements made to the penetrability of Soul Speak and Crystal Soul Spear
Improvements made to the tracking of the following Spells, Hexes, Pyromancy and Miracles

Soul Bolt
Soul Shower
Shockwave
Soul Spear Barrage
Blinding Bolt
Perseverance
Caressing Prayer
Heavenly Thunder
Fireball
Fire Orb
Great Fireball
Great Chaos Fireball
Lingering Flame
Dark Orb
Dark Hail
Resonant Soul


Decreased the amount of stamina consumed for the following Spells, Hexes, Pyromancy and Miracles

Soul Bolt
Soul Shower
Fire Orb
Great Fireball
Great Chaos Fireball
Lingering Flame
Iron Flesh


Increased spell usage for the following Spell and Miracle

Cast Light
Unveil


Improvements to the durability damage for the following Spells


Shockwave
Soul Spear Barrage




Decrease the number of multi-hits to the following Spells, Hexes and Pyromancy

Soul Vortex
Firestorm
Fire Tempest
Chaos Storm
Scraps of Life
Lifedrain Patch
Darkstorm


Decrease the attack power of the following Miracle

Blinding Bolt


Decreased the number of attunement slots required for the following Miracle and Pyromancy

Unveil
Immolation


Decrease the number of uses for the following Miracles and Hexes

Lightning Spear
Great Lightning Spear
Sunlight Spear
Emit Force
Soul Appease
Great Resonant Soul
Profound Still


Increase the damage for the following Miracle through correction to status values

Lightning Spear
Great Lightning Spear
Sunlight Spear
Emit Force


Increase the hit radius for the Miracle Force
Increase the effectiveness of the following Pyromancy and Hex

Iron Flesh
Whisper of Despair (duration and effect)


Decrease the self-inflicted damage of Immolation
Increase the speed of chanting the following Hexes

Repel
Twisted Barricade


Decrease to the amount of durability damage done from Dark Hail
Increase the attacking power of Great Resonant Soul
Decrease character mobility while using the following items

Amber Herb
Twilight Herb
Wilted Dusk Herb