It improved only on superficial stuff.
The GAME is a huge leap backwards. I mean it literally doesn't function.
The economy doesn't work correctly.
One empire generally conquers the map within 2-5 years.
Blocking is a mess. indicator attack direction.
Terrible, horrible, grindy skill system that just freakin SUCKS compared to other M&B titles.
Companions can't be leveled or customized at all outside of the crappy gear options.
Boring pointless story quest to even try and form a kingdom.
Melee from horseback just feels like swinging at ghosts.
No auto couching lances. Just why?
Sieges are just a 5fps go afk til it's over simulator.
Archer troops just straight out refuse to use their bows/xbows on anything further than spitting distance.
Nonsense health system that makes it next to impossible to do realistic damage to unarmored foes. Nothing like looters with 2 arrows sticking in their head running straight at you.
Ect.
Ect.
Ect.
The econmy is indeed a bit broken.
Snowballing & agressive AI is also an issue.
Blocking is the same as in warband.
Skills are actually quite nice and might need just a touch up or two here and there.
Companions do seem to be quite useless for some reason and I'm not sure what they did there.
The story is obviously a little bit meh but can be a good introduction to new players after some extra work.
Melee from horseback is .. normal as warband?
Auto couching could be a cool feature, for now its not a big deal.
Sieges are fine for me as long as they don't go over 1.5k soldiers (i9 9900k & rtx 2080 & 32GB ram) which im guessing might be a bit worse for people with lower end PC's.
Archers do seem broken at night battles for some reason. Other then that they work well.
Health system might be a little off but I found that it's functional and in decent shape, might need a fix or two but its good for EA.
Overall for Early Access is not the worst. Some things definitely need polish but they got the Warband Spirit and feel.
I'm happy overall. Just fix & improve.