What I like about elemental? I have read alot of the other posts in this forum, and I will probably restate some of their points. Yet, I want to go through my entire list to add emphasis to their points as well as my own.

1. I love the sprawling cities. It is something that civilization attempted to emulate using worked tiles, but every city comes across as a circular mass. In Elemental, cities look and feel very natural simply because placement of buildings and shapes of cities plays an important strategic role. I think if this could be furthered by having the influence ring reflect this shape, it would only enhance the nature feel of your empire.
2. I really think designing units is neat. It really adds to the flavor of your empire, and allows the player to pursue various strategic approaches based upon the game experience and not simply a well defined unit tree. Something that would enhance this would be a "doll" unit which doesn't specify the look of body parts without equipment. This way when I build a unit of 12 soldiers each one is then randomized so that they all don't look identical. Currently all my peasants are all the same guy, but I think it would be cool if they looked more like a motley crew, while fully armored soldiers looked like a well oiled machine.
3. I love the cloth map. In fact, I play primarily in this mode. While I think the art design is amazing, this mode give me better performance, and in general, I find it to be more strategic. I would not be suprised to find out that a fair amount of players play in this mode primarily. My only quibble with this mode is the grid not displaying some distinction between passable and impassable squares.
4. I really like the multiple tech trees and selecting one tech from a group of techs. This reminds me a lot of playing Masters of Orion 2, though I think it would be cool if we could mod it so that there was a kind of mutual exclusion of techs. That is, if you get tech A, you can't get tech B.
5. I really like caravans. While I, like many players, have issues with some of the mechanics of caravans, I think it is something that really adds depth to the infrastructure of your empire. What I would really like to see moving forward is not one type of caravan but many. Something akin to convoys in SMAC, where you choose what the caravans move and how they effect the cities at each end. For instance, one caravan that improves production at one end and decreases it at another, while another which increases prestige.
6. I really like champions. These guys really make a 4x game more interesting. While I have posted my displeasure for the sort of linear leveling of champions, I will say that they overall add a unique character to the game. Going forward, I really hope that they get even more unique feel, as this is what draws makes rpgs so replayable.
7. I like the dynasty system alot. While I am fully aware of the limitations of the system, this sytem, much like champions, only adds to the overall experience of the game. Who do I marry? What kind of children will I get? How will they affect the future of my empire? This really gives more and more replayability to the overall game. The more this can be improved and add real effect on the gameplay experience the better.
8. I love the fact that cities level up as they get bigger and more impressive. To me, this is just another rpg element that is very cool, and gives a reason to develop cities. I have one odd remark about this, though I think most people may not agree with this. There should be circumstances where cities drop in levels, maybe even to the point of becoming abandoned completely.
9. I think tactical combat is an awesome idea in every 4x game, and I think that everything imaginable should be done to continue to make it more interesting. I have gone over tactical combat at length in other posts, and spent alot of time modding this particular system. It is cool and I want more.
10. I think the in-game building tools are pretty nifty. Tile builders, effects editor, etc, really just add to how players can effect the look and feel of their game experience. Going forward, I would love to see more props ( especially, construction props for build tiles and units props ) and maybe some image tools for the tile builder, as it is very hard for us non-artist people to make new buildings without new art.
11. I really enjoy modding Elemental. This is probably not news to any one at Stardock, as I have bothered quite a few devs with my mod questions. While mods definitely have limitations at current, there are still many things that can be done and most of those things are incredibly simple to mod. Going forward, I am really excited about the end of some of the current limitations, but think that there is still alot that can be done with the current system.
12. And Lastly, the dev team. Ok so this might seem like sucking up, but the staff at Stardock are generally nice people who have really given a lot of time and energy to their community. Most of the mod community can probably attest to the fact that these people have taken the time and energy to answer questions and listen to feedback from us to really help make some amazing mods. 

Looks like these comments about line up with what we're thinking internally...thanks for the feedback, guys!

Next week Derek will be joining us to solidify our direction from this point on, and with our overall confidence shaken pretty heavilly, I want to ensure 1.1 and beyond have the changes players WANT, not what we THINK they want, which may seem obvious but, again, our confidence wanes as of late. Shoddy, vapid, or broken updates will do little to repay the goodwill of the community, so we need to make sure each major update is a 'homerun', so to speak.

Anyways, the last thing we're looking for is a "make us feel better we're really trying" list, which, i assure you, was not the intention here.

1) Like many I like the graphic art, just not looking that nice when really zoom into detail, sugesst to reduce the zoom or polish it on the most detail level.

2) I like the variety of the talents / character attributes , just hope it could be better is less number are shown in the screen and replaced by symbols or bar for faster mind digestion as one of my UI concern.

3) I like the musics / sound. really good for the ears, Much can be improved in this area, for example in the selection screen, when user click a faction, we can play the faction specific short melody. or a Short Intro Animation (10 seconds) while loading based on players selected faction.

4)I like fact that there is only 10 factions / Races and no plan to add any new one to preserve uniqueness. Just feel we still can do much more on the uniqueness - Race specific weapons or equips, race specific monsters bonus talent, race specific building upgrade.

5) I like the cool orange dragon in the loading screen, I like the graphic  animation for campaign, just hope there is enough voice over

6) I like city tile concept,beautiful! but maybe I am not smart enough yet, I selected a tile where there is no farm nearby and I cant build hut due to resource constraint, hope the Stardock will look after "dummies' player like me

7) Initially I was a bit down with 1.5 version but I think It is good in its own way that so much improvement is made because of it, thank you!

8) I also like 1.1 mana concept and spells / quests mass addition.

Elemental is the only game in town when it comes to fantasy TBS. There's nowhere to go but forward.

I am a big fan of the concept of having genealogy and a lineage in the game.  It has the potential to add a longterm strategic elements and it was something I really enjoyed in Crusader Kings.  I just wish it was more then just some extra units and a way to score some diplomatic points.  I was hoping to see more of a Royal Court in some way.  I would like to shape the next generation and it would be great to see my Kingdom passed on if I had a prepared heir ready when I died.

It is not everything I want, but I am still I am glad at least the basic element was included.  And like everyone else -- the changing terrain is great and I also would like to see some more personality in those tiles.  What sort of people do you rule?  What kind of magic do you use?  All of those would be great things to play with.

Not to go too OT, however I don't believe that Elemental broke the Gamers Bill of Rights at all.

The release was rocky, but Stardock have improved the game a lot since release, thus sticking to their Bill and any gamer who disagreed would have got a refund within 30 days.

That is definately a lot more than any other publisher of download games. Try getting a refund off Steam or Direct2Drive...... you download = tough luck buddy.

Well I really like the creatures that are aviable ove rthe diplomacy tree. They are a nice change to the rest of the human Units.

That brings me  to what I maybe would wish in a long run an improvement, like more none human like races or geenrally the option to create more different kind of creatures.

Or maybe some race specific creatures aviable.

I like the tech trees, each one and each level gained is not overpowering and they should not be, but the Kingdom equipment trees needs some lovin, even if to make it progressive.  Please do not leave it regressive as it is now regarding Maces -> warhammers. 

I like the cities how when you build them they grow and you can see each building.

Just to add, I love the dynasty stuff too, I'd like to see it given more importance which I think will happen in 1.1

I also love the cloth map and the pewter minature look of the units on it.

I like the idea of champions but I think they need to be made more interesting and certainly the changes to their special abilities and how they work post 1.1 should do this (oh and more forsaken champions please).

Also I love who tech research is handled though I think the different fields need balancing a bit some seem to have been given a lot more love than others.

This is such an important direction and I really commend you on it.

Elemental is a game that is much bigger and better than the sum of its parts.

I love the graphics.

I like, in theory, the fact that you can advance your units from being just one person, to being a party or a company of soldiers.

I like the idea of how cities grow.

boogiebac, I would accept each patch working toward 'game of the decade' (must get/can not stop playing) quality.

in my view elemental does have the potential to do this for any non twitch(fast rts/fps) players.

harpo

speaking of cloth map... why is it at the "wrong" angle by default? (90 degree off i think, according to the alignment of the text labels).. i think the goodie huts/etc can be a bit more prominent on the cloth map

I, too, like how cities develop and are unique. One suggestion there comes from visiting old cities in Europe. As they grow, they expand beyond their present walls. It would be really cool if when a city levels up, it expands beyond its current walls, so eventually a large city would have multiple layers like growth rings on a tree.

I really like the unit create/customization. It's a bit like Moo/Moo2. It would be very cool if more options were added. Once weapons, armor, and items each have a unique property and rock, paper, scissors-like effects, it would be important to build troops of units to counter enemies' units. On top of this, if you had a whole string of skills that units could be trained in, you could create your own unique types of units. For example, you could build a phalanx with the skill to lock its shields together to form a shield wall (which would have a strategic use on the battlefield). There is so much great potential here!

Of course, the magic was a big draw to this game, and I have faith that it will continue to become more well-defined and unique.

The games unique character in its art, cloth map, terrain changing (love the comments above about unique terrain shifts for each faction) make this game shine. Keep polishing!

I agree with everything that has been mentioned above as far as positives.

There is no doubt in my mind this game will be a classic.