It ain't no balance. It's stupid and pointless alterations, that this genre of games and a single player game at that, have totally no reason to be.

Single player game does not need this pointless nerf patch that fixes nothing. If the changes are barely noticeable, then it is even more pointless. If you find the skill is not fun but used it anyway, the problem is you, not the game. If that's the case they should stop digging a hole for themselves and stop all the nerf patch nonsense.

Are they fixing technical issues while they are fucking around with balance?

There are bug fixes alongside the nerfed equipment/shards, probably what makes it more painful for people not wanting those nerfs.

The argument is valid, anything not working properly should certainly be fixed, while something working the way originally intended should not. I can respect developers listening to fan feedback, but personally take issue with forcing difficulty based on the "too easy" argument.

Plenty of games would be too easy if you farm experience, or gold and chug health potions, these are gameplay choices. If you choose to make your game harder because you want a challenge, that choice is still available. Play with no armor or without upgrading shards. Play on higher difficulty and never save. Don't force people who do not want a higher challenge to experience "your perfect game".

It is not easy because you can farm gold or experience. It is easy because you have option to play a way it is impossible to lose. As much as the katanas fun to use theoretically because of the technical approach the weapon itself at this point is nothing more than spamming attacks with invincibility. Honestly I felt the same way in SOTN with the Alucard sword. Epic backstory for an item but gamebreaking gameplay. While you can't stand still like in the case of katana but some shards have the same no skill gameplay.