Yep, stealth has been problematic from the start and if anything enemies got worse at spotting us and starting combat in patch 9 which came out in December. (The imps in the prologue seem particularly bad, but that’s not to say it’s good elsewhere as you’ve seen.)
It’s probably top of my personal wish list for improvement come full release in August, as currently I simply avoid using ambush tactics given how broken they are, despite generally loving stealthy sniper play in games. There’s been plenty of feedback about it here and elsewhere over the course of early access, and the suggestions in your post are ones other folk have made too, so Larian certainly know what we think.
What, if anything, they have decided to do about it we’ll have to wait and see.
