Isn't there a way to flash the factory image without wipe by leaving out the -w option and not flashing the userdata.img file? I vaguely recall doing that in the past but I'm old so I can't remember what I had for breakfast. ;-)
I really like to see what improvements have been made.I know this is a minor update, but I'm sure there will be something useful. Other than the change to how expandable notifications work.