I'll toss in my two cents, but only because I have a semi-unique technical issue it seems.
First off the game is fantastic(relatively). I like most of the changes, and for a total war game the release here is definitely one of the better ones. I like the streamlines city management, and I like the massive variety of things in which I may use to murder people. It may not be the best thing ever right now, but I believe it -can- be.
Now, my technical issues have been minimal, but there are a few things worth noting for this game:
1. The system requirements are actually quite low, the game only uses two cores and only one gig of video memory (there is a checkbox for it to use more, but..still.)
2. It is a large and ambitious game, so I don't think it's worth asking for perfection.
However, the two main problems I have, are in coastal battles, all units(just the units, my framerate is fine) on the battle map stutter and become somewhat unresponsive, the path finding becomes horrible as sometimes boats that go to land spin in circles on the coast forever. I think this may be somewhat related to the dumb as shit AI. Though, you could argue the AI in all the total war games is kind of stupid. It seems as if when there is just so much going on, and there will be a lot going on, the AI takes the first hit. All of these things seem to be threaded through the CPU as well, the animations, the AI, etc. My GPU (HD6870) registers as a very manageable 18% utilization, and that is on extreme.
The other problem I seem to run in to is if I wait for better weather conditions the above problem appears in non-coastal battles, or is much worse. Which seems to be a problem other people are having.
As much as I love the game, I don't think I will be able to fully enjoy it until a patch. The game is still fun, and playable, there are just a few bumps in the road.