I've certainly felt that NPCs have been worse in patch 9 at spotting you and starting combat if you attack them from outside normal combat range, even without being in stealth. Not sure if that’s true or just dumb luck, but I definitely want them to get better at searching out the sources of threats, or even for turn-based combat to just start even if the enemy doesn’t spot you.
This has been noticeable in this patch for sure. Often, given enough distance, I can get two or three shots off before combat begins. It's very strange.
