Dark and Darker's latest patch is looking to discourage players from running around the game's dungeons in their birthday suits.

　　Developer Ironmace's extraction-based dungeon delver is now officially in early access (albeit not on Steam), and with its third hotfix update, has brought a number of significant balance changes to classes alongside a change to how Dark and Darker's Armor Rating system is calculated.

　　Patch Notes:

　　- Ironshield's functionality has been improved and several glitches have been fixed.

　　- Fixed an issue where redstone could not be used when launched with the Chafgames launcher.

　　- The Armor Rating curve table has been changed. Now takes more damage while naked.

　　- The…

　　— IRONMACE (@IronmaceGames) August 14, 2023

　　As Ironmace states in the patch notes, the game's Armor Rating curve has been adjusted so that players who choose to go armor-less will now take more damage. It seems like Ironmace is already trying to put a dent in the popular meta of players opting to forgo armor in favor of being able to move much more quickly, allowing them to get in and out of combat fast or avoid it all together. While players can still choose to go armor-less if they choose, getting hit while doing so now sounds like it will be far more punishing.

　　When it comes to class changes, Wizards received a major buff, with the cast time of all their spells having been reduced by .25 seconds. Bards, which saw some significant improvements between Dark and Darker's last playtest (which required players download it via torrent) and its early access release, have been brought down a few notches. The effectiveness of their Shriek of Weakness and Chorale of Clarity songs have been reduced. The game's newest class, the Warlock, also received a few buffs, with the cast time of their Curse of Pain and Power of Sacrifice spells being reduced by .25 seconds. Though minor, Cleric players can rejoice at a change to interaction speed that makes it so they can open doors and chests slightly faster.

　　Dark and Darker released into early access on August 7. Since the game can't be released on Steam due to Nexon's ongoing copyright dispute with Ironmace, the developer instead opted to build their own game launcher and began selling Dark and Darker directly via the game's official website. In addition to making balance changes, Ironmace has stated that it is also focused on "fighting cheaters" but is struggling for a variety of reasons.

　　Ironmace and Nexon's legal battle doesn't look to be coming to an end anytime soon. Nexon has sued Ironmace, which consists of many former Nexon employees, and accused it of stealing code and assets from a canceled Nexon project in order to create Dark and Darker. Ironmace has denied those allegations, stating Nexon can't copyright a genre and that while there are similarities between the two projects, they stem from both taking advantage of standard sword-and-sorcery fantasy tropes. The two companies are currently engaged in legal proceedings in both the US and South Korea, where Ironmace and Nexon are both based.

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