There are three main changes in in this patch; more commissioned images to replace some original art, improved guilds to make them more interesting and a fairly big change on backgrounds to make them more relevant.
First, almost all the equipment images are now hand drawn art (about 20 new images). The plan is to slowly have different art for different tiers to make them easy to distinguish.
With guilds, this was a bit of a bigger overhaul on something fairly niche. Before they were just a place to hire more experienced and specialized mercs. Now you can't sign up unless you have someone vouche for you which is either someone who has a specialty or skill that aligns with that guild (such as a warrior specialty for a warriors guild). There are many other hidden aspects you can unlock over time.
Finally, backgrounds overhaul. Before they mainly dictated your starting stats, equipment and skills. It makes a difference off the start but really they were as distinct as I would like. Now every background (and there are over 100 backgrounds as some are rare to find or they are race specific) has a unique signature trait that adds a unique playstyle bonus. Some might increase effectiveness of certain spells, better damage at higher elevations, increased fatigue regen, etc. They are all quite varied. In addition, backgrounds have skills they learn faster or slower. Most mages, for example, can learn to wield a sword but they tend to do that slower than a swordsman. These changes should make the background choice more important, especially in longer running games.
Tip:
-Buy better armor and weapons early on to survive the initial parts of the game
Balance:
-Backgrounds now get unique traits and they learn some skills faster/slower
-Added 5 more save game slots
New Features:
-Guilds are more interesting, you cant sign up unless you have someone to vouch for you, they care if you get all their members killed or fired, they have rivals, and signature schools
-2 new skills to learn; charging and flanking
UI & Images:
-All new hand drawn art for most of the equipment images
Other:
-Added warning when switching to French and Chinese that the translations are still works in progress