I hate to fill this post with so many updates, but now that I've had a normal work day, I realize that the battery is definitely up to par. It's just as great now as it was in 4.3.x, if not better.
What was draining my battery quickly before was either constantly streaming Spotify music or iMessage. So, it may be heavy-usage or it may be an iMessage bug - I'll find out soon enough.
One last thing (bug): Apps that with articles (like Engadget or Cracked) that have linked sources crash. In other words, clicking on links that would lead to sources crashes the app.