Does Queelag’s Sister’s name ever appear in DkS1

You are correct in saying that stat scaling doesn't really improve at all, beyond a minor improvement from ascensions (a sword might go from E --> D for example). In general, the stat classes that each weapon has in the game won't change much, even after being ascended fully.

Compared to Demon's Souls, upgrading a weapon to its max in Dark Souls provides less benefit because of this.

The bonus damage from stat scaling does increase for +n weapons, albeit it's a minor, linear increase (for example, a Battle Axe from +0 to +2 made its bonus damage from stats go +20->+22->+24). Thanks Tacroy

If you need to know when to replace your Drake's Sword, I would say get rid of it when you have high enough stats in one of the "damage" stats (Strength/Dexterity/Faith) and you have an adequate amount of resources to reinforce a scaling weapon to its max.

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