Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin Patch

I may be the only one here who likes Dark Souls 2, but, dagnabbit, I'll continue to post PC relevant Dark Souls 2 as long as it keeps coming.  Today, the chums at From Software released the patch notes for the upcoming Scholar of the First Sin update to Dark Souls 2, which is available here.  To be clear, these are the patch notes for the free update coming to previous owners of Dark Souls 2.  This does not cover the separate DX 11 next-gen rerelease, which will include the DLC and require some sort of new purchase.

So what's coming?  A new NPC.  Some multiplayer enhancements.  A new ring that absorbs souls so as to let veteran characters maintain their current soul memory.  And a few minor changes/fixes/improvements for various parts of the game.  Again, check out the full list here.