After having spent some time (40+ h) in poe2 and having played it on veteran and potd, I feel comfortable posting my opinion as well.
If you are sensible on who you approach the games difficulty feels downgraded by 1, the encounters on potd in 2 feel like veteran encounters in 1.
This might be partially because of the new AI, partially because of new systems (grazes, crits, Armorating replacing DR) and partially because of easier encounters.
Overall I am a bit sad to say, I enjoyed 1 more then 2 thus far, but there are still patches and dlc to come maybe they spice things up.