Well well well.... Seems like this game is finally out of early access. So.... Is it a buggy mess? As good or better than the first warband? Because I could go for another game as fun as M&B Warband 1.
The game has largely been crash free for me for months. (I bought at the start of Early Access.)
Most of the bugs were harder to notice, like things just not working properly as opposed to outright being completely fucked. I kept up with patch notes over Early Access and many of them I never experienced.
I'd say performance has also gotten markedly better for me. The game no longer leaks memory like crazy. It loads faster. Battles tend to perform better, and I've done a few 1000+ v 1000+ battles. Frames may still drop a little when literally in a large battle is within your field of view but overall performance is much better now.
As for how fun is it....It's M&B++. More in-depth character building and fun choices to make as you level, dynasty mechanics, aging mechanics, faction and kingdom mechanics. Weapon crafting, city-based gameplay (apparently fighting thieves and taking over their turf went live as well, haven't tried it.) Better and grander sieges with siege weapons and better ways to control things. Deployment screens for battles so you can set up your army before it fights. UI for controlling your army during a battle as opposed to purely keyboard commands. And of course better graphics, animations, music, sound effects. They even add some voice acting right before release. Everything is just better for the most part versus Warband.
What hasn't changed is that the game still has, and will probably always have, that feeling of being a generic simulator. That never really disappears no matter how many features they add. To me that's just M&B's defining vibe so I'm ok with it. If someone was expecting the game to break into AAA and for that vibe to disappear or be hidden behind all the polish....they will be disappointed.
All in all it's a total upgrade to M&B and Warband in my mind. Not everyone is going to agree with me, and some stuff like the economy will probably never be perfect. But I've got 300 hours in it since EA with more to come. So it's a recommend from me.
Maybe this means I can finally stop deleting my save game. I've no joke restarted this Battanian campaign at least 8 times as new stuff dropped throughout EA. (Or Battania just shit the bed and lost half its territory before my first kid was born.)