I think that the Beta has gotten to a point where we can almost glimpse the final product. There is still a long ways to go before release, however, and I want to give some feedback on the various game systems and encourage more feedback from the community as well.

I will use a color coded system that highlights my opinions on the game subsystems:

• Green indicates that the system just needs some more polish and content, in my opinion
• Orange indicates that the system is still being developed, but it is headed in the right direction
• Red indicates that the current system is inadequate and needs more developer consideration

I will also list some more abstract and subjective concepts, so please bear me out while I list my opinions on these items.

1. City building and management
1. I am starting with this first, because I feel that it is the most underdeveloped of the game systems
2. This is to be expected, as the developers have made mention that Beta 4 will rebalance the city system, so this will be changed
3. The current placeholder system is bland and penalizes players for building cities that will not progress to the highest city levels
1. Most city improvements are unlocked at city levels 2 and 3. This is a huge oversight, IMO, as the cities that will provide the best economic and military output will, undoubtedly, be your highest level cities.
2. Instead of enforcing/encouraging city specialization, your highest level cities become "jack of all trades," yet masters of all!
3. A higher civilian population in a city improves its production AND tax income, making high population cities your eventual goal in a long game
4. Prestige presents no significant mechanism for rewarding a player's focus on a handful of cities rather than expansion; in fact, expansion is critical to win the game.
5. Cities need better defense mechanisms, or more customizable defenses (golem statues were a great start).
6. My suggestions:
1. Prestige needs to "go big or go home." I would prefer that it "go big," myself. Make it give huge bonuses to food/production/gildar/research for players that have fewer cities so that they can compete. Also, limit the number of city improvements that provide growth bonuses.
2. Cities need to have a unique specialization mechanism, similar to the "paths" level up traits for champions. If we select an "economic" path for the city, that city should now be able to build unique economic buildings. They could still build units, albeit at a slower pace and without level-up bonuses that a "military" path would give the city. This gives FUN consequences to building strategies and city management.
3. Cities should have bonuses when their production queues are empty. I do not consider myself to be obsessive compulsive, but this annoys me when one of my cities sits idle. Perhaps a very slight (10%) growth or gildar bonus? 
4. Outpost specialization, please! 
2. Unit design and tactical battles
1. These have gotten significantly better over time. Still, they need a bit more polish and content, IMO.
2. There are more consequences for army unit composition, and the "paths" traits for champions are just downright fun! Specialization is always a good thing, in my book.
3. There are some balance issues still, such as blunt weapons supposedly "dealing more damage" without having unique traits, yet the max tier armor reduces their damage significantly. 
4. Also, high level champions (though with the exp nerf, this occurs slightly less frequently now) can slaughter whole brigades without much thought.
5. My suggestions:
1. Give blunt weapons a unique trait to distinguish them from the other weapon types. I would suggest an attack (or defense) debuff that lasts one turn (it could be called: concussion).
2. Armors need to be more resistant to their resistant damage types for the effects to be noticeable. 
3. Add effects to balance out the champion vs army balance issues. Some have suggested tactical placement or "crowding," where the more units that attack a defender (or the position of those units), the higher the bonuses for the attacker. This gives "swarms" a chance against the uber-champions/sovereigns. 
3. Magic system
1. The spells have gotten much more interesting and flashier.
2. I gave this a green rating because I believe that it just needs more polish and content at this point.
3. Given that the magic tech tree influences spell availability, more care needs to be given to how the magic tree gives the player spells and the capability to use spells. I seem to get the elemental "book" techs at random, and not based on my sovereign's initial spell affinities. Is this by design or a bug? I think that it should be based on the sovereign's affinities.
4. I have judiciously used situational, tactical spells to turn the tide of battle. This is a good omen for the system as a whole.
5. I would only suggest some balance changes here, as well as some more summoning type spells. Also, a reworking of the mana upkeep system to increase the upkeep of certain spells.
4. Tech tree
1. I was tempted to give the tech tree a "red" rating, because I was under the initial impression that a player could focus on one tree almost to the exclusion of the others. That is clearly not the case, nor does it look like the intentions of the developers to do this.
2. Instead, I believe that the tech tree needs further development so that there are more meaningful, and weighty player choices to be made. 
3. Derek mentioned in one of his journal entries that he wanted to make the decision of tech research order more weighty. Currently, there are little consequences for delaying most techs (outside of the civilization tree). 
4. Also, the player can easily research all useful techs from all trees within the course of a game. The current pacing does not limit the player's final research plan.
5. Finally, there is little incentive to purchase the top tier techs at the end of the trees. They seem to be... uninspired flat bonuses for the most part.
6. My suggestions:
1. Add some exclusive techs in each tree. For example, make a tech in the civilization tree that cannot be researched if the player has already researched a tech (in the same tier) in the military or magic trees. This encourages specialization and prevents "catch up" research from being so effective. It also adds more "roleplay" to the game. If I'm one of the Tarth, I can research all warfare techs and only dabble in civilization and magic, gaining bonuses in the former and not being quite so strong in the latter two.
2. Polish many of the existing techs so that they do not just grant flat bonuses. Top tier techs should be more meaningful.
5. Enemy and monster AI
1. The last beta update gave a significant boost to the monster and enemy AIs, but there's still work to be done.
2. Still, it was a step in the right direction, and it had noticeable effects on gameplay. 
3. I'll be brief here:
1. The monsters should interact with the enemy AI at a similar level as they do with the player.
2. The enemy AI should respect enemy nation borders
3. Enemy AI pathfinding still needs some improvements
4. The enemy AI should build more high quality units for defense, even if it is a "passive" type AI
6. Faction differentiation

1. Much better than the initial betas.
2. Still, some factions are more fleshed out than others. I would like to see unique mechanics for all factions close to the magnitude of the Magnar and Gilden factions, if there is time.
3. Starting techs should not be a faction unique advantage, IMHO. Unique techs to research? Yes. Starting out with generic beginner techs? No. 

In all, I give the beta high marks at this stage. Substantial progress has been made, though the game is still a ways from being complete. There is no higher compliment that I can give but to say that I have been bitten by the "one more turn" bug. With some more loving, this game will truly be great.

I would invite everyone else in the beta community to give their thoughts (or tell me that I am completely insane). Thank you for reading.