curious about open world accessibility

So in early (December 2012)  interviews, game director Tanimura-san has said that he wanted to make Dark Souls II more straightforward in terms of gameplay and understanding the purpose of the mission. 


But also, it has been revealed that from the start of the game you can use bonfires to warp anywhere in the game world.


So how does that make the game more straightforward? Isn't this just like walking down to the Catacombs when you first land in Lordran? 


Also, (this just occurred to me, sorry if it's been discussed elsewhere) the very notion of warping implies having the lord vessel or having linked the bonfires. So wouldn't that mean that this story definitively takes place after Dark Souls I?

I think the open-world aspect will pretty much be like your example of going to the Catacombs immediately, but just more of it. For example, there might be less of the Sen's-Fortress-being-a-definitive-roadblock-like scenario. It might also mean no golden fog gates blocking off certain parts of areas.

As for the warping, I don't see how that necessitates the Lordvessel or anything having to do with it.

http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a496115/dark-souls-2-to-offer-more-freedom-can-start-halfway-if-brave-enough.html
 
According to this article, you'll be able to almost skip half of the game if you're good enough. I'm guessing this means that instead of having actual 'road blocks', the game will for the most part block paths with differences in difficulty / level. The other half is probably just the areas beyond where the hard parts begin.