Wow, I'm really enjoying my second playthrough. There are so many things I missed the first time around. For example, I just discovered the purpose of the Crushed Eye Orb, which resulted in me going to the Iron Keep to get a certain technique incensed, which then lead to me discovering a new covenant, which
may result in me finally trying Dark Souls 2 PvP.
In general, I'll never understand the issue some people have with the capacity to miss things. All that means is that there's plenty of room for discovery. Honestly, I didn't even get the Dull Ember until this playthrough, because my initial experience with the Iron Keep was falling a million times, the last thing I cared to do was go out of my way to fight gravity, and it never crossed my mind that a random corpse would be really significant.
(On that note, crafting is definitely an area that's been improved overall with the sequel, I feel.) I'm typically all about exploration, but I definitely rushed things on my first character.