Yes.

I, personally, will be keeping my character just the way she is (or as close as I can make her in the new engine), but if new races (or new genders for existing races) are being introduced, I would like to see everyone be able to play the character that they would have had if those options where available from the start.

So, for a one time thing at the release of 2.0, when character data is migrated, I believe everyone should get a chance to fully recustomize their character's appearance, race, and gender. With those changes, the character's identity has changed, so they should also have a chance to change things like nameday, guardian, and name.

Essentially, let people choose to keep their existing character, or to create a new character with all the inventory, retainers, quest history, achievements, social lists, linkshells, and levels as the old character. RPers will RP it however they like (I'd imagine, for most, it would be a new character), but that's for us to worry about.

(Edit: I'm undecided on changing Grand Company...)