I downloaded the Testlive client prior to Blood & Sand, and though I fired it up a couple times, it was never enough to see the troubles introduced, such as the impractical weapon slowdowns or the overzealous thrall animation noises.
A big reason for that is functional patches have been coupled with DLC patches. The DLC is the most “flashy” part, but the Admin panel blocks the items prior to release even with a paid season pass, and I admit I just gave up and went back to my normal game after that. If the DLC was there, there would be more motivation to stick around and try Testlive long enough to add value for functional changes.