Dead Island Riptide: Importing Character = easier?

In the end it depends on if you want to continue with the character you have invested in.

You will transfer over your skills and level,but none of your weapons,it might make the game a bit harder to start out with due to giving you basic weapons at your level,but should not be that much harder.

If you would like to try different skills or new character it might be a good idea to start a new game,other then skills and level nothing else is different it is not like Mass Effect where the choices you made carry over.Quick note your cash does not carry over either not that will be a big deal.

Here is some things to keep in mind

Some things not carried over are the new skills in each character's skill tree (Faster Get-Up, Sprinting Attack, etc.). John, the new Riptide character, naturally cannot be imported from the first game, nor can the character of Ryder White be used.
CONSEQUENCES OF IMPORTING DATA

Remember that Riptide (launch version 1.3.0) takes many of the changes from Dead Island's last patch (scaling XP and money earned from quests and monster drops, scaling weapons and rewards, etc.) so importing a high level character into Riptide will put you against high level zombies .... but without your high-level equipment (Zed's Katana, etc.).