The question of whether it is worth the money really depends on how much use you would make of the new features. The big snag I have found has been the lack of info on the net regarding NX2. A quick preview by Jason Odell then you have to buy his e-book. Nothing of real value on Nikons site yet, and then it took over a year from release for them to post a series of NX tips & tricks.
At least if we post experiences here, users of NX1 can decide if they feel the upgrade worth while.
On the mask then I used this a lot in NX1, but the moment you selected a tool to use the mask became invisible and you had to do the +/- brush by eye. I mostly put on the mask, then painted it all out, then used the + brush to selectively apply the effect. Because the mask was invisible I would often find areas that I had missed. CS was always a lot better in that respect as you could at least see a thumbnail of the mask. I never worked out how to see that larger than thumbnail though which has been a bit of a pain. This mask visibility thing has been well solved in NX2 as you can at anytime toggle between views on the full screen image.
Comming from NX1 there are odd things that I miss. In NX2 you
HAVE to click 'New Step' to create that, otherwise you find you are in a previously closed step. In NX1 as long as you had closed the previous step the next tool you picked created a new step. Duplicating control points in NX2 can easily lead to creating a whole duplicate set. These are just two examples. Mostly a change in how you go about things solves these but until you realise the correct route then you can get a suprise. That is why I thought to post graphics as I go along.
More later.
If the weather holds then I am going for a sniff of hot steam oil and burning coal today
. Weeting Steam Rally.
Don