Oh, wait...I took the master key in DS1 actually. I didn't find the dor to the depts either, but having the key I was accessing areas where I was not supposed to go...anyway.

I don't read the thread for fear of spoilers, so I'll just ask:

Last evening, while being a hollow I was invaded by a dark spirit which did not act much like an AI at all, then a Blue spirit came, but it was to late, I got killed by soul arrows. So, are there players or AI? It was  a bit frustrating because the dark spirit was clearly better then me at PvP ... Either that or the AI is quite good.

Great article about the lore and connections to the first game

http://jcwigriff.com/2014/03/20/dark-souls-2-takes-place-in-lordran-lore/

Lost Sinner's Soul says she's a woman.

Unfortunately you can now be invaded when hollow, it probably was a player. Matchmaking is still pretty bad, I got invaded by people with spells I didn't have access to for another 30 hours. In some cases another player in the blue sentinels covenant can come to your aid if you're in that covenant as well.
The AI invasions are all very straight forward and usually stay where they spawn until you come close. Later in the game I got a routine of always dropping my co-op sign somewhere. That gives a good advance warning. When it says your summon sign has disappeared an invasion is coming about 30 to 60 seconds later. Then I either log out of psn, or run back to the bonfire and jump off a cliff to reset. (Bonfire gets locked out as well before the invasion arrives)

Doing boss fights over is at the bottom of my list for doing ng+. Exploring areas I have missed is at the top, yet I already made sure I didn't miss anything. Next is 'finishing' my character, which I did with bonfire ascetics. I quit the game with 64 int, 55 faith and 60 attunement, north of level 200, 100 hours played. I got all I wanted out of the game without ng+. I did notice some different enemy placements with bonfire ascetics and some differences with boss fights during co-op in ng+ games.
In Dark souls 1 I quit halfway through ng++ when my character was finished.

looks like Software is nerfing DS 2 as they did DS 1, the bosses weren't even that hard...though I must admit Freja's laser breathe did take off quite alot, was able to handle it since my character is biult around HP, but when playing with other some would die in one fell swoop because of it.

So I just did some research about new metagaming, what I have learned so far:

Soul Level 150 is the new standard for 'legit' builds (for now), I still think it's pointless since match making is not done through SL, the increase in SL is for Hex and Quality builds to have more HP and agility, which is also kinda BS imo since these builds have better offensive options so they should have worse defense to compensate, but again, it's all pointless because SL has nothing to do with match making.

Apparently Adaptability does extend the i-frame, but there are conflicting opinions about the soft cap, some says 20-ish is enough, some says the max agility, I'd love to do some test on my own but I don't have any recording devices for detailed comparison.

Jester's armor only works on back stab, riposte and the new shovel attack are unaffected.

Server is only for messages, summon signs and finding games, actually connections between players are still peer to peer, so expect the same latency issues from the first game, I think in time everyone will be wearing Jester's armor to avoid getting lag stabbed.

Pyromancy is still OP and is more than enough to carry a low level character through NG, but hyper mode is pretty much gone.

The poise you see in the character sheet may not be your actual poise, the real poise has something to do with one's endurance and adaptability, the issue is still unclear but many people have reported of high poise characters being stun locked to death by dagger users, maybe there is a hidden modifier for the stone ring ?

The new patch also looks BS to me, the bosses are already too easy as they are, they should just improve the AI of NPC phantoms if they want to make their quests less of a pain, Lucatiel would easily survive all 4 fights if she actually uses her shield for once.

Beat the king and then moved to my second playthrough and I'm having a grand ol' time of it. Love seeing new enemies in places I thought I knew what to expect in. Helps to keep things fresh. My original build was mostly Str, Dex, and whichever stat helps you carry stuff (can't remember right now) so most of my levels in new game + have gone into HP, stamina, and adaptability for increased poise which is a life saver. Really starting to put together a killer tank which has been all kinds of fun, and playing coop with people in new game+ has been enjoyable since at that point pretty much everyone knows what's going on.

Just got past the Lost Sinner and I think the toughest boss by far in new game + at this point was the Flexile Sentry. So many people I tried to help through that boss die before I even make it into the door. I guess that first rush of the boss and his two helpers really overwhelms some people.

I am quite the hoarder, so I try getting all items as well, aside of leveling my character and exploring every single area (I did not have that WOW moment like in Dark Souls 1 though, on which on NG I missed Ashen City or whatever it was called where the Dragon that allowed you to enter the covenant lies, and later discovered it by accident on NG+ and being amazed). For example, I think this does not work with the Bonfire Ascetics, but Heide knights now drop armor instead of weapons.

And Bosses also give you a second different soul, which can be made to craft new unique weapons.

I can understand, however, that after 100 hours one can be satisfied :)

I've read discussion on meta SL as well and I think 150 is a bit too high (and I say that as a hexer). I'm currently staying at 125 for now, as I feel at this SL I have to sacrifice a combination of points in the other stats for hex and melee buff damage, which I think is fair. While SM is seemingly affecting matchmaking (even in NG+), I get the feeling that the people who stick around months from now will settle on a lower meta eventually, despite 150's current popularity. Either way, it's not something I'm worried about.