Arelith

I love how far we can see now, that bit is great. One thing I'm noticing though, is that it allows one to really game mob spawns, because, even though you can see these two groups spaced far enough apart that you can attack one while the other essentially doesn't care, and just waits for their turn, despite the fact that... if you can see them, they should be able to see you? So this further render distance definitely allows a bit more wiggle room when it comes to choosing how you engage with a group of mobs, ultimately meaning, it's made the game just a smidgen easier, I'd say.

To which I wonder, as the side of the AI's, is it possible to also increase the distance at which they pursue hostiles?

We will review perception ranges if necessary.

Problem is you may transition and get shot by 4 packs of archers immediately

Yeah, but that happens anyways in certain zones. Go check out the Masked Archers in the Shadow Plane. That's just how it goes, and is kinda the advantage of ranged weapons. Gotta prepare accordingly.

I'm definitely finding that NPCs are pathing towards me from further away, it seems like their perception ranges got boosted too. Could be mistaken though.

Was starting to think I was being punked by a DM or something. After going through the Urdlenites once and not experiencing it at all, second time around I'm definitely noticing it. And it seems random sometimes. Sometimes a mob does spot me immediately upon render, other times they don't.

This has me curious, actually, about dialogue distance. Since the render distance is farther, will that have any effect on how far we can hear talk and shouts? (presumably not whispers)

Finally, we can crossmap the Erinyes of Baator on equal footing. They used to shoot you from well beyond sight range before, now, the playing field is level.

It took time for me to adjust, but I'm loving this update now. Mobs are definitely noticing me from further away, making things feel much more lively and immersive. Now cautious is actually needed, less I aggro too many at once! Love it. 10/10

You can set perception ranges on MoBs, so there will be differences. As has already been said here, Arelith had some truly evil archer MoBs long before this update. This is just another tool in the developers box. Setting the perception ranges of MoBs arbitrarily long, as has been suggested above, is a bad idea and no more canonically sensical than randomly choosing some other attribute and making it universally great. A low-level zombie with the eyes rotting out of its head might not sense you until you're practically on top of it, while an epic elven archer vigilantly guarding the limits of his or her domain might perceive you as soon as your topknot crests the horizon. This is all as it should be.