Excuse my not knowing.... but what have they done to combat system ?

I mean I read the patch notes and it don't seem like they are that big of changes... I'm just Probably missing something in my old age....LOL

Beakie

I am actually like you and after all the release bugs stopped playing waiting for 1.1.

I have actually been playing 1.09 in anticipation of 1.1 and wanted a baseline to measure it against and I have to say that Stardock have been making a good effort at making it playable. The combat is far less annoying with the speed changes, balance seems better and things just seem to be working better. The only important thing they need to do with battles is enable players to prevent mana use in auto resolve battles. Although the global pool might fix that. Still getting crashes though; 2 by turn 200 (macbook with nvidia graphiscs card).

I'm also in the category of not playing now until 1.1 is released.

My greatest concern is that 1.1 will be another band-aid solution instead of a real balanced update to what should be a great game. It seems that many of the updates have been put out due to time pressure rather than quality control and I hope that Stardock takes the time needed to get this right. I would much prefer to wait another few months to get a balanced, playable game rather than receive an over-promised/under-delivered update put out because of a deadline.

Stardock, please please take the time you need to ensure 1.1 is worthy of your brand.

1.1 is the next big chance to make an impact and correct much of the negativity from the launch. Need to get this one right so don't rush into it!

The balance and content may still need work after 1.1, but the mechanic changes they have mentioned so far will be more conductive to a fun and balanced game than what is in place now.

I played for a while.  I stopped.

Took me a while to figure out how much I needed caravans running, heh.  Once they started to fix the AI I couldn't compete, so there ya go.

I dunno, I'd like more content but I had fun.

Good question.

I'm hoping for a game that has the following:

1. Tactical battles that make use of the sharp, blunt, ranged magic delineation. So different armour and items has different results and can allow players to kit out armies to fight specific enemies.
2. Tactical battles where one strategy (kiting) isn't the only way to play.
3. Tactical battles where improvements to armour and tech don't race away and topple the balance.
4. Tactical battles where different armour types are appropriate to the user. No more plate armoured bowmen as an example.
5. Better Tactical battle UI (as per this).
6. Tactical battles where the terrain bonuses are recognisable.
7. Tactical battles where different terrain types impact the game in different ways. Eg. Cavalry that take an attack hit if fighting in forests etc.
8. Tactical battle magic system where each spell is different and useful.
9. No more ability to build massive unstoppable summoned armies of giants etc.
10. Meaningful differences between the races and also between the alignments. Different spells, techs, units, buildings, play-style etc.
11. Balance in the game world so that small empires can compete with larger empires.
12. Restriction on magic books at start-up so that each sovereign has different choices rather than choosing all books.
13. Making shards more strategic and powerful for the user.
14. More meaningful information back through the UI within the main map (caravans, terrain etc).
15. Better modding information and API to allow the modders to do the above if Stardock wont.
    
    and...
16. Making all the above work in a balanced way. If these sort of changes are made but not thoroughly tested then we are still in the beta phase which is no longer good enough - sorry.

Elemental should have had the above at launch. If 1.1 is released where it is just a smoke screen to cover the underlying problems then I'll probably put the game away until Elemental 2 is released.

<EDIT>--------------------

Note I didn't mention Dynasties, Campaigns or heaps of different Spells. These are smoke screens that get in the way of the required core changes the game needs first.

Summons will require mana upkeep, therefore if you have too many you will get no additional mana or actually lose mana over time. Shard will be the main source of mana, making them critical if you want to go the magic route.

That is my situation, too. I wait until 1.1 or 1.2 and hope the game will be polished and fun.

I'm exactly the same. I fire her up now and then, lay for 10, 20 turns, then decide I can't be bothered trying to work out the odd interface. Figure I'll wait til there is more feedback in the UI. So I've been messing around with the Dom3 demo (after reading about it here) and FfH2.

Looking forward to 1.1 though

I completed like two games in 1.07 and postponed it until it's 1.1.

Yeah, a lot of enthusiasm died in me.

Even more of it died after I discovered  Age of Wonders.

Separation of attack/damage? Check. Elemental damage/resistance? Check. Dungeons and lairs? Check. Resonable heroes stats and skills? Check.

All those things nicely implemented 10+ years ago! I was very very angry at Stardock for its gameplay mechanic decisions after I saw what a Master of Magic 2 wanna-be could be.

Oh well....can't wait to know more about this!

I don't think the enthusiasm hasn't even started, yet.  So far, modders only have the most superficial access to the game so there's only a few things that can be tried.
A couple new models and tiles, a few new buildings that all have to use the same resource system. No new spells or altered magic systems.  Many connections just cannot be made, yet, such as having a building that permanently increases the quality of the troops that are built there. Such functionality simply doesn't exist in the current system.

So like... wait. =P