While still leagues ahead of the competition, DkS 2 not a better game than DkS or DS. And in many aspects it's a downgrade, even if we forget that it's a sequel.
The only improvements I can immediately think of are very mechanical. It's the character sheet and the weapon durability. Almost nothing related to design was improved, and some critical things really stand out as bad compared to the previous games. Bonfires are probably the worst offenders in my opinion.