Well, that didn’t take long. Elden Ring players had been gleefully scooping up the new $5 Tarnished Pack items in multiplayer without paying a cent—but FromSoftware just rolled out a patch to shut the whole thing down.
The official Elden Ring account announced Patch 1.17.1 on Twitter, explaining that it fixes an issue in multiplayer where DLC-specific items could be obtained when not normally eligible. It also clarified that no additional content is included. So yeah, this patch exists for one reason only: to stop the freebies.
So how did the glitch work? After Patch 1.17 added the paid Tarnished Pack—which includes the Idus Knight and Heavy Knight starting classes, extra weapons, and some fancy horse armor—players who owned the DLC would automatically drop copies of those items as pick-ups when they hopped into a multiplayer session with someone who didn’t own it. Basically, dollar bills falling from the digital sky.
And sure, the patch might be small, but the frustration isn't. Players can still trade DLC items with each other, including with people who skipped the Tarnished Pack. What they can’t do anymore is just stand around and watch duplicate gear pile up. Some folks are seriously annoyed about that.
One reply to the official patch announcement put it pretty bluntly: “In other words someone found out how to get the $5 Tarnished DLC stuff for free. It should have been free anyway, guys. Charging $5 for a few pieces of gear is the biggest L From Soft has taken in a long time.”
Over on Reddit, another player took a slightly different angle. “I’ll get downvoted for this, but it’s crazy they released a whole patch for something as harmless as this,” they wrote, “but they can’t bother to give us more balance or QoL changes. You know stuff that would actually improve the game's experience?”
And naturally, someone else had to bring up the bigger picture. “People love to claim that FromSoft is somehow beyond criticism,” reads another comment, “but this was clearly a financial decision. They want more money from people. Simple as that.”
Honestly? It’s a pretty predictable outcome. FromSoftware isn't exactly known for leaving money on the table, and dropping an emergency patch to plug a $5 hole isn't shocking. But seeing the community react like this? That’s classic Elden Ring.