That's the re-release? Heard leveling was improved but can't judge myself.

For me, it was TES IV: Oblivion. Leveling system is the combination of worst parts of both worlds (Morrowind's and Skyrim's). Map is dotted with places, but they are all the same thing, just a labyrinth of leveled monsters and leveled chests. The game's world was generic, with only the snowy region even remotely interesting. The game looked like a poor imitation of Gothic 2, just with massive and barren world.

I gave it a fair shot, but everything felt weirdly empty. Big map, yeah, but not enough to really do or care about. Just started feeling like a chore after a while.

There is a new RC at https://releases.wildfiregames.com/rc/ Two languages where added and some issues are fixed. Among them an issue in the new Germans' sandbox map. While there are hopefully no new ones introduced.

Yeah, that would be a super useful feature. Heroes being able to perform special attacks or inspiring battle roars would definitely add to the gameplay, make them more important (rather than just a really long lived budding unit), and set 0 A.D. farther apart from AoE. I can even see several different hero-oriented modes, like some sort of fleeing scenario (general flees from his destroyed city, being constantly ambushed by enemy soldiers).