Beyond Canon is def worth it. Personally I really loved the Epilogues and think they're the best part of Homestuck full stop. They are also mandatory reading for the rest of Beyond Canon. I liked HS2 as it was updating, but upon rereading it's got very obvious flaws and is, yeah kind of a meandering slog. There's still some really great moments in it, though. Beyond Canon, the current team's work, is exceptional. the only reason I don't put it higher than Epilogues is bc there's just not enough of it to make a fair comparison yet.