I'm rather disappointed with this Ragnarok Online 2. It's not bad persay, but (obviously) it's doomed to being compared to the original. RO1 was a one of a kind game, with a really nice blend of 2D art and 3D maps, great design and detail overall, extremely memorable towns and songs... Plus like it was mentioned here earlier, you could go straight to exploring the entire world with just your starter knife. Not that that'd get you much benefit, but you were free to explore the massive open world fields however you wanted.
Combat also seemed pretty innovative for a grinding RPG. It had a lot of utility skills rather than just attacks (especially classes like Rogues, but even Swordsmen had good variety besides typical attacks). I especially loved mages. They weren't just long range glass cannons, they had tons of utility like fire/ice walls, AoE attacks, freezing, fire traps, slow down mobs, energy coat, etc...
But then I went on RO2, and the graphics are just... Like any typical anime MMO. The porings just look like your typical MMO slime, the starting area is kinda dull... Mages (and classes in general) don't even get half of what they used to have (and we only have less than half of the classes RO1 had). As a mage, like also mentioned here earlier, I'm just spamming single bolts of magic, and am useless without MP pots. Sure, there's fire wall later on, but even the first job mage had more than twice the skills than in RO2, and had more than just pure offense/buff magic.
It just lacks so much charm... It turned into a basic MMO. Nothing is very memorable, and it's extremely linear, plus there's so much less content to play around with. Really, they should have just expanded on the amazing game they had before, just revamp the gameplay and content. Ragnarok without the well-designed 2D sprites in the detailed 3D worlds, without Prontera, Payon, Alberta... It's just not the same at all.
It's really something bad when an old MMO like RO1 can bring so many people such great nostalgia, then you bring a sequel with a completely different style to the point it's only the sequel by name, and perhaps porings and a few other 'cameos.' Even now, I still occasionally like to listen to songs from RO1's soundtrack, and recall so many nice memories. Nonetheless, I might still play it more if I can get my friend to, just because it's Ragnarok, and I'm hoping gameplay and freedom picks up at least slightly more later on.