Tested a static 183x171 gif in v7.11, scaled down 50% in VP and exported at the source resolution.
Export did appear to be more pixelated than the output of v7.04, which you can download here for comparison.
However, when it and a few animated gifs were exported at 1920x1022 (60) in v7.11 they looked okay.
Word has it that some SCALE issues should be resolved in the next release. Perhaps this will affect your results??