Warning: Wall of Text. Further, please understand that the following statements are my opinions only.

I'll be perfectly honest here. All of this is just what I feel is making the game less enjoyable. I know this isn't the final product, I know that this is just a Beta, I know it isn't fun. I'm looking past all of that, everything that the Beta has now, and looking at the final product as I see it. The issues I comment on are ones that, if left alone, will make me keep Elemental off of my harddrive. The main reason I say all of this - Brad has put in a lot. The team has put in a lot. We testers have put in a lot. Seeing Elemental be plain does all of them (and us) a great disservice. Feel free to flame, but I feel that this has to be said.

• Magic - I really don't see a point in using magic when legions of soldiers are more efficient. Spells aren't fun, they're the same stuff we've seen before. Age of Wonders had spells, done the exact same manner - learn them, point, and click. Out of mana, out of spells. Elemental: War of Magic can do much better than the tried-and-boring methods of other games. I honestly feel that the current system gimps the game's potential. FrogBoy has expressed his own lack of joy regarding magic, other players have...don't get me wrong, though. If we have to have a magic system, this one will suffice. I just think we can do better.
• Magic Tech Tree - We get more spellbooks. Why would I bother with this when I can easily dispatch vast legions of heavily armed and armored soldiers? I'm a mage guy, I love magic, and I love magic in games. But it's at the point when I have to play so that I can win. The magic tree doesn't give me the technological bang for my buck compared to the other trees.
• Sovereign Experience Gain - My Sovereign's death means the end of the game, to some extent. The only way for my Sovereign to get stronger is by risking him going out and dying. When I started the game, I went with a plethora of spellbooks, maxed Int and Wis. Given magic's less-than-useful nature, I kept my Sovereign at home. There wasn't any point in risking him. Something needs to be done so that we have the option of playing Stay-At-Home-Sovereigns.
• Influence - Influence determines so much, and there is little to nothing we can do to actually influence influence. This ties in to...
• Cities Alone - Cities are alone in being the only things we can actually construct. Would really love to be able to construct other stuff on the map. Some things that come to mind - castles, forts, towers.
• Resource Structures - A good idea. But something struck me - why is it that studying ancient temples doesn't give me any benefit to my civilization? Why aren't my alchemists studying gold to help my magic? Why isn't the metal in that mine being studied to help improve my military? Everything is so black and white. Build X to get Y, build A to get B. Not to mention, if I am attacking an enemy city, I want to be able to shut down these structures before going all in to wipe them out.
• Adventurers/Champions - More interaction has to be made here. At the moment, Champions are just named soldiers or mobile production facilities. Again, I seriously think that this gimps Elemental, not to mention it makes getting these guys less fun and meaningful.
• Cities - I really like the way cities work now. This is a massive improvement from Beta 2. Or 3. I can't remember which one I started in. I think 2. Anyway, thumbs up.
• Tactical Battles - Started a battle for my city with my Sovereign getting killed on the first turn. As to why? The enemy started right next to him. Makes him less useful that way. Also, when I was sieging a city of about 300, my 4 soldiers (armed though they were) had no problems winning the battle against the lone soldier. Four troops should never be able to overcome a city of 300 on their own. Someone mentioned having X% of population pick up weapons and fight as a peasant army. I like that idea.

SUGGESTIONS

Do note that I too doubt that many of these can be done easily, if at all, in this last half month/month of production. But I am going to say them nonetheless. At the very least, modders can get an idea or two, maybe a bit of inspiration. At the best, changes can and will be made. Either way, the ideas will be out there.

Magic - Run run run or you'll be well done! Ideas.

• Study Runes - Magic spells are the same for each person with identical Int and Wis. This method allows for spells to at least have a measure of creativity to them. Runes would be part of the Magic Tree, learned for the sake of improving already known spells. The application of Runes lets the caster take a previously normal spell and upgrade it in some way, much like improving the soldiers in their own screen. Runes would function like a magical Design a Unit screen. The spell itself is in the center slot, with up to three slots for Runes to be placed. Each Rune scribed increases a spell in some way - damage, range, duration, etc. The first time a spell is scribed, Runes require Crystals.
• Magical Energies - Casting spells leaves behind traces of magic: Magical Energies. These energies are aligned with their particular spellbook (Elemental, Restoration, etc.) and counter to another spellbook (Fire vs. Water, Air vs. Earth, Necro vs. Summoning, Combat vs. Restoration, etc.). Casting a spell causes energies to spread through your territory, and casting the opposite spell reduces those energies. Magical energies cause passive benefits to all units, allied and otherwise, in your territory, as well as increasing the caster's stats for each spell they cast. Thus, magic becomes a battle between variety (lots of spells, all average) and focus (fewer spells, more effective, enhanced domain). Further, a mage could directly sabotage a focused enemy by casting counter-book spells in their territory (fire spells in a water territory, etc.). Each option would have unique spells that require that path. For example, studying all magic would yield powerful enchantments and energy-related magic. Focusing on particular magics would enable use of powerful focused spells. Focused casting relies on X or less spellbooks to be effective.
• Effects - Spells leave lingering effects. Casting Water magic increases the water in an area, and when combined with a Fire spell causes a lot of steam. Or casting a lightning bolt over the water causes a normally focused spell to be multi-target. Or casting an Earth spell causes the spell to be less effective, but makes lots of slowing, sticking mud. Fireballs can cause things to burst into flames, wind storms can hurl objects around...etc.
• Somewhat unaligned - it's hard to tell sometimes when a spell can be cast, and when it can't be cast. More spell info would be useful on that, or just having the cursor change colors (red when forbidden, blue or white when allowed) would be equally nice.

Sovereign Experience Gain - Do we HAVE to fight? Systems of ideas.

• Sovereigns get X experience at the end of every turn.
• Sovereigns get experience whenever a project is finished (something built, someone trained)
• Sovereigns get Y% of experience from all experience gained by allied units. IE, a battle earns 50 XP total. The soldiers gain 50XP, the Sovereign gains 10.
• Sovereign can channel mana each turn to gain a % of experience.

A matter of Influence - Get off my lawn!

• Let us build other stuffs. A watchtower could passively increase Influence, a castle or fortress do the same. They don't even have to be terribly complex things! Maybe let a castle be centered at one square, or a watchtower take a fraction of a square.
• let us train Priests, or Diplomats. Having these units in our territory increases influence passively. Having these units in unaligned territory drains influence passively. A combination can be used for a steady gain of Influence.
• Let our units passively give small amounts of influence.

Resource Structures - No, put that over THERE!

• It'd be nice if structures that generated resources were multi-purpose. Maybe having an ancient temple gives a % chance each turn to get a random Civilization breakthrough. Or an ancient library tells us a secret of magic, giving a % chance to get a random Magic breakthrough. Etc. These breakthroughs could be totally random, in that they can come from the normal, researchable techs, or be part of techs that in and of themselves can't be researched normally.
• I think someone mentioned this, but having the power to choose which city gets which benefits would be nice. Simply reduce the value of the resource the further away it is. I'm pretty sure, again, that someone mentioned this.

Champions/Adventurers - So hard to find good help these days.

• Any interaction would be helpful. It can be as limited as giving bounties on targets/factions, or hiring adventurers to handle problems. At the very least, giving rewards for good things done in my territory. Being able to do anything more than just hire or kill would make them far more than just pixels. It'd be nice if adventurers had some measure of goals, just basic though they need to be - gain territory, serve a Sovereign, vanquish monsters, etc. AI packages, even, based around that goal.