Wow, it only took CA a month to come out with it from the time they first said it was coming. I'm amazed it didn't take longer.
My sarcasm aside, it does look like a fairly decent list of changes & improvements for the next two updates, and 1.2 especially. The AI anti-player bias, auto-resolve issues, and oddly slow unit responsiveness have all been particularly common (and sometimes vitriolic) complaints. I wasn't aware of overly-bright snow being an issue, but I have no trouble believing it, given how garish the Warhammer maps are in general.
I'm sure there will be much wailing and lamentation that Immortal Empires isn't coming until version 2.0 -- and only a beta release, at that -- and strictly speaking, I wouldn't blame anyone for reacting that way. At the same time, it's pretty obvious that realistically, there's simply no way CA could bring IE to the community any sooner than that; and I suspect that by now, most players realize it as well (given all the issues the game has had since launch). I think it's painfully clear to everyone at this point that by all rights, WH3 probably should've been delayed by another 6 months or so (though admittedly that probably wasn't realistic from Sega's perspective).
Also, this bit definitely caught my attention:
Following Update 1.2, we have one last regular update before moving on to our next major game release.
Given CA intends v1.3 to still release during Q3, I can only presume this "next major game release" will be coming out in Q4. Given that, I have to believe they'll be announcing this new game soon, as even for Saga titles (which is what I'm guessing the next game is) CA likes to allow for around six months of lead-up time for building hype. It'll be interesting to see what they announce.