Season 2 does look like it might be a massive visual improvement over the first episodes, and whatever the show's budget it does have a couple of things going for it that TCW didn't: huge Star Wars voice actors like James Earl Jones and Frank Oz and being set close to the Original Trilogy timeframe. It may not be as visually-textured or elaborate-looking but it does have some major strengths working in its favor.
I hope they keep up the current pace of improving storytelling and do some truly ambitious things with the show and its characters in Season 2.
The prospect of an Ahsoka/Vader showdown could potentially be the best thing to happen to the entire SW universe. What an awesome way to build on the story of "The Clone Wars" by making that confrontation happen.
I still haven't seen Season 1, but there's a lot of really cool stories that "Rebels" could tell.
Sidenote: Does Ahsoka know who Vader really is?