We turned on Too Human this morning (no, really) and found an auto update. Hoping it might have shortened the Valkyrie death sequence, we immediately unequipped all weapons and armor and ran naked (figuratively) into battle, only to be faced with the same 15.5-second consequence. We also thought the menu screen loaded faster, but that is all apparently just in our heads.
In a forum post this morning, Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack revealed that the update "fixed some connectivity issues and was done prior to release. It does not contain any balance or gameplay changes." Better luck next time.