The new benchmark is strictly superior to the old one in many ways, so I'm glad the update happened and we get a chance to give feedback again for a hopefully smooth Dawntrail launch. I personally feel like the ambient occlusion on characters is great, but a bit too strong right now, it could use some toning down.
I'm also a fan of the drawn-on catchlights returning. I'm pretty sure not all zones were going to get updated right away, if the very first ones a new player will see weren't in time for the benchmark, so they were going to be badly needed (not that they're not a benefit in the new zones either, the lighting was rough even there in the first benchmark).
The lips have also regained a texture, when the first benchmark's looked so flat that 2.0's were better, so net positive change there too.

They fixed elezen facial animations being broken too, which is great, but... they didn't change the actual 3D model at all. All my old complaints in the elezen-specific thread for the first benchmark still stand; features are smoother than before, and different enough to not be because of a higher poly count model, the smiles are generally different enough to change the impression a character gives, and the skin still is too glossy.

I'm slowly losing hope of this changing, and I don't think we'll get a word on it either. I'm going to make enemies here, but I think the dev team has been the opposite of transparent about the graphics update; most preview images were before/afters with different angles and lighting, sometimes entirely different character options, down to those shown in the latest live letter. The current benchmark was announced by drowning us in exact dates of the QA process while having very little detail about what was changing.

This updated benchmark still gives me a little bit of hope, along with the latest announcement actually trying to be more accurate with its previews, and giving us the following message;
"As always, we will remain open to feedback even after the updated benchmark update and Dawntrail have been released, and will also continue to address any issues or necessary adjustments in future patches!"
Hopefully they stick to that, as we've had very limited opportunities to provide feedback so far. The second benchmark wasn't going to fix everything in a month and half, and the likely three weeks until patch 7.0 has to be ready to ship are not going to see much change either, but I sincerely hope the dev team won't freeze it there because of the free fantasia being given out either, and get back to us as early as possible with what they do plan on doing.