No, it's gotten worse. People take several seconds to die often, and it's very annoying. I cast greater heal on a buddy who was being dumped on by a mage, and while my life bar showed that he had half life left, he just fell over and died. Sometimes I nearly lag out when people die nearby, freezing for several seconds. And I've started crashing more often lately, which may be related to people dieing nearby.
Yes, also, if someone dies and there is a dexer next to you, you get hit like three times when the lag clears. The server doesn't freeze, only clients, which means that monsters and pets do not stop chasing you. The server saves are also longer, going on 4.5 seconds now.