Dark and Darker Patch 2 Update Notes (December 2023): Latest News, Hotfixes and Changes

1. Changes:

   • Fixed an issue where the afterimage of Wizard’s Invisibility did not appear.
   • Fixed an issue where Wizard's Explosion would interact with unintended colliders and cause damage.
   • Fixed an issue where lanterns were recognized as weapons.
   • Fixed an issue where the item information tooltip was not properly displayed when quest items could be cancelled.
   • Fixed an issue where purchases did not register smoothly when purchasing an item multiple times.
   • Fixed a bug with the final ‘Tailor’ quest. The quest now properly requires 10 Ghost King kills. Credit for quest kills are now given to all party members.
   • Barbarian's base Vigor has been reduced from 30 → 25, and base Agility has been increased from 8 → 13.
   • Barbarian's 'Iron Will' perk has been updated with the additional magic resistance increased from 60 → 100.
   • Barbarian’s ‘Robust’ perk health increase increased from 10% to 15%.
   • Barbarian’s 'Rage' skill now temporarily increases Vigor by 15.
   • Barbarian's ‘Blood Exchange’ skill’s health penalty reduced from -30% → -20%.
   • Rogue's ‘Dagger Mastery’ perk’s physical damage bonus has been increased from 10% → 20%.
   • Rogue's ‘Thrust' perk’s armor penetration increased from 15% to 20%.
   • Rogue's ‘Cut Throat’ skill’s silence time has been increased from 3s → 5s.
   • Wizard's ‘Chain Lightning’ spell damage modified from 35/35/35/35 → 35/30/25/20.
   • Wizard's ‘Explosion’ spell damage decreased from 35 → 30.
   • Cleric's ‘Holy Light’ now heals non-friendly targets.
   • Warlocks now start with a Falchion and Crystal Ball as default weapons.
   • Warlock's ‘Power of Sacrifice’ spell also increases Vigor by 15.
   • Warlock's ‘Bloodstained Blade’ spell’s weapon damage increase improved from 5 → 7.
   • Warlock's ‘Bolt of Darkness’ spell damage increased from 15 → 20.
   • Warlock's ‘Curse of Weakness’ spell's reduction of all attributes improved from -20% → -25%.
   • Warlock's ‘Ray of Darkness’ spell damage per second increased from 6 to 12.
   • Warlock's ‘Soul Collector’ perk’s dark magic damage increase per stack increased from 5% → 10%.
   • Warlock's ‘Antimagic' perk’s magic resistance improved from 15% → 25%
   • Bardiche's movement speed penalty reduced from -50 → -45.
   • Battle Axe's movement speed penalty reduced from -45 → -40.
   • Double Axe's movement speed penalty reduced from -45 → -40.
   • Felling Axe's movement speed penalty reduced from -40 → -35.
   • Zweihander's movement speed penalty reduced from -45 → -40.
   • The Goblin Caves : Normal layouts have been added to the Goblin Caves : High-Roller.
   • The Ruins : High-Roller has been added. Elite and Nightmare monsters will be updated gradually. Adventure Tier is tracked separately for The Ruins : High-Roller.
   • Adventure Point entrance fees for each map has been adjusted. We have slightly reduced the AP entrance fees as we were seeing less than 1% of High-Roller players able to reach the middle rank of ‘Pathfinder’.
   • Adventure Points gained from adventuring and killing monsters is now split between the party. Adventure Points gained from treasure upon escaping are still calculated individually.
   • The curve table used to calculate the amount of AP for a PvP kill has been slightly adjusted upwards so killing an enemy player will give slightly more AP.
   • Added Alchemist and Surgeon quests.
   • Credit for Quest kills are now credited to all members of a party.
   • Items that can be purchased and crafted have been adjusted according to merchants’ affinity. In general, rare quality crafts unlock at 50 affinity, epic quality crafts unlock at 100 affinity, and legendary quality crafts unlock at 150 affinity.
   • Traps and throwing weapons are now available from the Woodsman in limited quantities even at the ‘neutral’ affinity.
   • Merchants will now sell ‘Epic’ items at the highest affinity.
   • Removed the limited stock for crafting ingots and powders.
   • Reduced the amount of silver coins required for Silver Ingot from 300 → 120.
   • Reduced the amount of silver coins required for Silver Powder from 120 → 90.
   • Reduced the amount of ore required to create ingots (5->3) and powders (3->2).
   • Significantly increased the amount of gold a Merchant gives when they buy higher grade weapons and armors from the player.
   • The leaderboard now shows your rank and total score.
   • The trade channel has been streamlined with a single general ‘Weapon and Armor’ channel.
   • Added the Friends System. You will need to create an Account Name when you first log into the game after the hotfix. This Account Name will be used to search for your friends.
   • Japanese and Chinese languages are now supported again.
   • Due to changes in the file system, the size of files to be downloaded has temporarily increased.

   Developer Comments:

   Hi Adventurers, Welcome to Hotfix #22.

   This update includes the addition of the new Friends System. You will be asked to create an Account Name upon logging into the game. You can then share this Account Name to be invited in the Dark and Darker Friends System.

   The hotfix also includes several adjustments to the Adventure Tier system. We have now added the HR Ruins map to World map. Please note that this is the first iteration of the HR Ruins and we will continue to upgrade it with the Elite and Nightmare creatures. The AP entrance fees have also been adjusted for each of the maps. We have also updated how AP is calculated for parties with AP earned for adventuring and killing monsters in the dungeons evenly distributed among the party members. The ‘treasure’ portion of the AP score is still calculated individually. AP earned for PvP kills has also been slightly increased. Finally, we have added the missing Goblin Cave layouts to the HR Goblin Cave rotation.

   This hotfix also includes balance update including improvements to the Barbarian and Warlock classes. We have also added a few more quest lines including quests for the Alchemist and Surgeon.

   Finally, we’ve fixed the localization system and have re-instated the Chinese and Japanese language options. Next week we will focus on expanding the map pool to allow solos, duos, and full parties to play across all the map types. We hope to see you in the dungeons!

Changes:

• Fixed an issue where Dexterity was incorrectly displayed as 0.
• Fixed an issue where Fighter's Slayer could trigger while holding a shield.
• Fixed an issue where Warlock’s Torture Mastery was working incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where the weapon in hand could disappear when disarming a hunting trap.
• Fixed an issue where Candy Canes were not dropping.
• Fixed an issue where quests could pay rewards multiple times when server conditions were poor.
• Fixed a calculation error in Adventure Rank Points.
• Fixed an issue where Treasure Extraction could be recorded without having to escape.
• Fixed an issue where Merchants would not purchase new items that drop in dungeons.
• Kris Dagger's animation has been updated.

Patch Notes:

• Start of a new season, all character levels, gold, items, and triumph levels have been wiped. Bluestone Shards and shop cosmetic items are not wiped.
• New Quest System added to the Merchants.
• New merchant affinity system - improve your relationship with the merchants to unlock more items for sale, more craft items, and better prices.
• Adventure Title Ranked system for the High-Roller dungeons.
• Results window for the High-Roller dungeons.
• New Attributes - Vigor and Dexterity along with Health Recovery Bonus and Spell Recovery Bonus sub-attributes.
• All classes have had their base attributes rebalanced to include the new attributes.
• Several new items that confer the new attributes.
• Primary Stats of many items updated.
• Primary Stats of Cobalt and Rubysilver items updated.
• New Iron and Copper ore added.
• Ore Spawns have been updated.
• New Craft resources – Iron, Copper, and Silver ingots and powder.
• New Craft items added including Iron, Copper, and Golden crafted items.
• New Silver crafted weapons that give an ‘Undead Slaying’ bonus.
• Iron can be used to craft Throwing Knives, Francisca Axes, Hunting Traps, Lockpicks, and Trap Disarming Kits.
• Loot State is now displayed for items. Starter items start as ‘Supplied’. Items extracted from the dungeons for the first time appear as “Looted’. Items become ‘Handled’ once they are successfully brought in and extracted from a dungeon or traded. All ‘Handled’ items can now be placed in your stash.
• Bid adieu to Jack and welcome the return of Jolly Nicholas to the Merchants.
• Skill and perk descriptions have now been standardized.
• A ‘Player Statistics’ menu is available from the ‘Main Menu’.
• Elite Warlord added to the High-Roller Inferno.
• New Cyclops boss added to the Goblin Caves.
• The number of portals has been increased for the Goblin Caves.
• Visual improvements to the fixed portals and they now appear on the mini-map.
• Visual improvements to the female Elf head.
• Animations modified for the Lute, Kris Dagger, Magic Staff, and Crystal Sword.
• Two new emotes added – ‘Loser’ and ‘Money, Money, Money’.
• New Wizard spell - Explosion.
• Wizard's Fireball count has been lowered from 5 -> 4.
• Wizard's Magic Missile attribute bonus rate increased from 50% -> 100%
• Bard's Rousing Rhythms all attribute bonus has been changed to 1/2/3 -> 2/2/2.
• The Strength that can be obtained from all grades of Ale has been reduced.

Developer Comments: 

Hi adventurers, thank you for joining us for Early Access Patch #2. This major update includes a full wipe of character levels, gold, items, and Triumph levels. All blue stone shards and shop cosmetic items are not wiped.

This update also introduces two major features, the first iteration of our Quest system and the new Adventure Title system.

Merchants now give quests that can be completed to earn extra rewards and unlock access to better items, crafts, and deals.

The Adventure Title system allows adventurers to test their skills in the High Roller dungeons to progress through ranks and earn rewards for the next season. We will reveal the rewards for each title in the upcoming weeks. We have revealed the first reward as an exclusive Nightmare skeleton skin for reaching the ‘Pathfinder’ rank.

Other major changes include the introduction of two new player attributes. Vigor now determines the maximum health of a character while Dexterity determines a player’s action speed.

The next hotfix we plan to continue our efforts on improving matchmaking. We will continue to tune our MMR system and test the starting gear ‘Normal’ dungeons a bit longer. We also plan to test the ability for solo/duos/squads to play across every locale currently in the game very soon. We are working on introducing the HR Ruin so duos can also earn a title.

The next hotfix should also include features and fixes that we missed for this patch. We are polishing up the Friends System which we plan to release very shortly. We were also unable to properly localize the Chinese and Japanese languages and due to our current localization system, these languages will be temporarily unavailable until the next hotfix. Once we update this system, we should be able to start supporting more languages in the future. We also realize that the current Adventure Points aren’t being counted fairly for teams and will look to address it soon. Thank you for your patience and support. See you in the dungeons!