The most annoying thing for me is managing a cities queue. Many times I will have several builds queued up and then need to train a unit. It goes to the end of the queue. Normally you can simply drag it to the front of the queue. However, if you have a long queue that goes to the next screen you can't drag it to the beginning. I alwAys have to delete several things first. Very annoying!

I gave this a lot of thought and reflection before replying - as I know you are looking for accurate, quality feedback.  Dislikes?  (1) AI still plies up multiple armies rather than concentrating on creating a smaller number if more effective armies.  Leads to a boring game of attrition.  (2) Sovereigns still don't seem 'vital' to me - but rather mere caricatures.  (3) Game play when you reach the stage where player has one or two strong armies, and its just matter of taking numerous poorly defended settlements.  (4) Interesting choices have increased - but still too few and far between.  However, the game has come a very long way.  I appreciate the work that has gone into it.  Its still way better than most of the other  4x fantasy games out there. 

I honestly still have to go with diplomacy, while I know its very difficult to get right in an 4x game the diplomacy here still feels shallow, making it difficult to make friends or blood enemies. Even making friends with an opposing kingdom has no effect with your diplomatic relations, if a fallen empire managed o make good friends with Altar then maybe other Kingdoms would take a more kindly view towards you, while pissing off the neighbors and and what not. Furthermore trading is rather dry as well, it would be nice to liberate captured cities or even revive a fallen faction like in civ V.  Not to mention I have yet to see the Ai give a legit reason to declare war on you.

A very personal gripe is even though there will be spouses DLC you STILL can't marry another kingdom's leader if they are single.

Another knit pick would be abilities, I think betrayers should be split, one called "betrayers" Just gives the spell to convert city, while the other half of it, would be made into an ability called "Open Minded" (Maybe diplomatically flexible?) which allows the faction to recruit champions from both sides.

Speaking of champions the fact that the dead faction gets living champions needs to be fixed. Furthermore the night of the living dead event always spawns hostile dead units which should not be, this random even should instead be a huge boon to the undead faction, especially since it often does not expand much.

Most notably we never have gotten a story/campaign from the fallen's perspective, I think this could be used to help give the player more info into the world of Elemental, as the fallen are generally considered evil, but are they truly? We know from charts you have made frogboy that Resoln is neutral, yet we have seen nothing that really asserts that, its generally simply a good vs evil, and I think you could really make a great story by changing this, not all fallen empires are really evil, yet not all kingdoms are very nice.

I also think we need many more random events and quests, and some even specific to whether your playing as a kingdom or an empire, in short, faction specific random events.

Combat needs to be improved, though honestly I don't know how t do this, but currently I find it tedius and try to avoid it as much as I can.

And finally from my point random maps need to be fixed, they are way to square and fail to actually look like a continent.

While this may seem like a long list it is important for me to note that this game has improved greatly, and continues to improve, I can't wait to see what comes next. You guys are doing great work.

I have to agree that although I still enjoy the odd game, faction differentiation seems somewhat poor the technology trees need to be more diverse. I know each race has a few specialty tech items but it's not really enough.

This was improved ad a few factions do feel better for it the undead DLC was great and I like playing the wraiths, Magnar, trogs and undead. I find most the human kingdoms and empires feel a bit similar as do the other fallen.

Generally I find the technology trees bland and Samish.

So yes I guess I would want to feel playing each race was a more unique experience.

This is not to say I hate the game as I say I’m still playing on occasions but it doesn’t feel as classic as GC2.

Uh, this Mqpiffle gentleman has been inside my brain. You should listen to him, especially on every point he's made. Every. Point.

I'm going to hold off on some of my observations until after I give 1.6 a good spin, but off of the of my head...

Diplomacy - Needs much love.  A good example of what I would regard as 'interesting' diplomacy is Alpha Centauri.  There, you had some interesting civilization focus options (planned, green, police state, etc.) that you mixed and matched, and changed up every so often, to tweak your civilization bonuses along the lines of your goal.  However, those very choices affected how other factions reacted to you, and would make/break alliances partially based on you pursuing 'crazy civilization paths' from their perspective.  I haven't tried the latest iterations of Civ (gave up after Civ 4, actually gave that game away 'cuz it diddn't do it foe me), but Alpha Centauri really seemed to hit a sweet spot here.  Sure, improvements are always possible, and it wasn't perfect, but it WAS compelling.

I'd love to see, say, Pariden, favoring one Kingdom over another because of similar outlooks, but others not so much.  Also, it'd be cool if we had those 'culture path sub-options' to play with, that could tie into diplomacy in a major way.  So that say Tarth isn't mad at Magnar because they are Empire (that's a good start), but because Magnar has been gutting the forests in Elemental, which they love.

Lack of consequences for your actions:

An Elemental equivalent of Civ's pollution mechanic could be interesting.  Essentially, the world is trying to rebuild itself, but too much 'industrialization', deforestation, or gutting the local mana flows sets you back, and perhaps triggers 'mana quakes', as the magical energies are not yet back in balance.  Currently, you just build cities up, with some minor choices which feel not all that important to me (note the spreadsheet comment someone made above, the bonuses often come down to math). 

To elaborate on this, other choices should have consequences as well as rewards to consider.  GalCiv 2 sort of did this with their 'Good/Neutral/Evil' mechanic, but unfortunately once your choose your 'alignment' this goes away.  It would have been cool if those decisions played out into the late game.  Unfortunately Elemental doesn't (currently) have small villages to incorporate into your empire, but if it did, this would be a great place to bring out such an aspect. 

I.E. 'the village has a powerful magical shrine that protects it from mana storms.  Such a shrine could add greatly to your power.  Do you

A) dismantle the shrine and move it to your throne room (- to production in this village),

B)attempt to tap into it's power while leaving it in place (random chance of mana storms increased in this area) or

C)leave it alone (loyalty/recruiting bonus from villagers). 

Random events could have multiple choices as well, with each choice having some dramatic impact on the rest of the game (good choice makes you more popular amongst the 'kingdom' type citizens, but more evil monsters target you.  Bad choice sacrifices population in favor of some game effect, with 'good monsters' taking more notice/umbrage of your efforts.

Elemental has the ability to have more 'resource counters', so 'alignment/action counters' can be fairly easily implemented.  So, with some love and a LOT of thought on the next design, a lot of this stuff can be worked out. 

The one thing that I've observed lately is that Elemental always feels like it was rushed into production too quickly, and while 2015 seems like a long ways away, I really think it is time to take a 20,000 foot view look at the game, and some significant time spent on each new aspect individually.  E:WOM is a perfect example of great concepts that fell flat in execution, and subsequent retreat from those ideas because of cost/benefit analyses and such to figure out if they were 'worth fixing'.  I won't harp on many of these (feels too much like beating the dead horse), which ties into some of the comments above...

The above image is a perfect example of how Elemental could still look terrain wise.  The current world feels too flat to me, and if the terrain art for E:LH was applied to this (some coding work, I know), I think that the Elemental world could be a little more compelling visually.  Yes, the coloring of the world in the screenshot above does look bland, but at least it isn't flat.  If I could have the 'ruggedness' of E:WOM back with a lot of new interesting terrain, and the 'improved' E:LH artwork, improved on yet further of course,, well then it would be screenshot worthy, just for the breathtaking views.  Even the above vista does look somewhat breathtaking when you take it all in, even with 'older' artwork...

Retreat from multiple tech trees.  at least E:WOM had Kindgom and Empire tech trees, and the code in Elemental can (still) allow each empire to have it's own unique tech tree.  Modders have been too focused on other stuff to attempt this (a handful did back in the E:WOM days), but spending some time on unique tech trees for each faction could help flesh each of them out considerably.

Lack of unit differentiation.  The faction bonuses we have now are a good start, but it'd be cool to see each faction having unique units that only it can build.  Warlords III manages to give each of it's many factions unique unit mixes, and Elemental just cries out for it.  Wargs vs Horses is a minor way to do this, there is potential for so much more.  Sure, summoned creatures mix things up a bit, but that's a Sov thing, not a faction thing.

The various paths to victory seem bland to me.  Really it boils down to Conquer or Spell of Making.  One modder has introduced a City Victory, which is interesting (I like the idea of the 'Ultimate' Civilization as a victory condition), but my games generally fall along the lines of Spell Of Making unless I manage to gut all of the AI factions first.  No real curve balls here...

The 'hero joining your service' mechanic has always bothered me.  I like the 'acquiring fame to attract heroes' idea, but I think you should have more options here.  Mainly, not be limited to just two heroes, but from a pool of heroes, perhaps with associated quests that tie in to each hero to 'earn' their loyalty.  Maybe a mix of how heroes USED to be handled and the current form (i.e. certain locations on the map can be visited to recruit new heroes, if you have enough fame points to 'spend' to attract said heroes).

So to summarize, Diplomacy is weak, lack of important 'moral' game choices with associated consequences, non-differentiated tech trees, lack of unique and interesting faction units, and the current 'Flat/Tabletop' feel of the Elemental World are things that detract from my Elemental experience.

Some other things I dislike are lack of unit formations, no city walls siege mechanic, late game weapons are too OTT, too few 'classes/paths' to choose from, and the map is too small/cities too close together/units move too slow.

There are a lot of things I like about the game as well, which is why I still tinker with it after all these years.  But I REALLY think that (other than DLC), it's time to take a big step back, and look at some of the overarching components of the design.  E:LH has done well, but I still see a LOT of untapped potential...

- This. I wont say it is bad, but it could have been much (!!) better. Hm. In fact i would rather risk the loss of an unit in autocombat, then play combat myself ... so maybe i think it is bad, after all.

- I also thought citydevelopment is strangely boring. It is just linear upgrading.

   Warlock did that better with giving you (sometimes hard) choices how you want to develop you pumpkin patch.

- Hero development is missing the "cool" for me. I don't know why tho, because i think it is all there. It just wont stick with me.

- The factions. Sadly i dont like any of them. For me they are not distinct anough. This has more to do with style and look, then with traits.

- The race / sovereign models. I. Hate. Them. Sorry. (The idea of creating units and equiping them is very cool tho). Most of the monster or animal models are good or even very good for me. Very strange. 

Addendum to my comments earlier.  The tactical combat system is one I dislike.  I would prefer a turn based system where all the orders for each side are imputed, and then the PC enact those orders.  Conditional orders, like archers firing on first unit that closes with it, melee unit stands and defends (exerting a ZOC), or advances towards selected enemy unit to engage in melee, etc. 

Units are bland. You end up with swordsmen with the best sword, pikemen with the best pike, archers with the best bow... axeman with the best axe... and then you find a combo that works, usually heavy infantry with a shield and a sword or hammer, and youll just mass produce these. Magical weapons are just an upgrade from "best" and in the end I usually dont bother with infantry but mount everything on a horse or better yet a warg.Most of the unit traits are rather... meh. Fast, Bloodthirsty and Plate Mail Proficiency vastly outscore such silly things as "+8 to attack when under 25% HP", which might give you one turn of some extra stabbyness, but really wont save the day compared to "I get more turns". +3 defense? A paltry bonus once you get chainmail. +3 HP? Meh. A lot of these could scale with level, or be a lot stronger, so you have a reason to diversify. The effects traits add should vary from what magical items add... it makes choices more meaningfull when its not just an initiative stack.

Also, some of those strong normal weapons could be placed earlier in the research tree... place hefty magical upgrades at the back. Armor is very boring, a few new looks would spice things up immensely. Two or three different plate mail variants would vastly liven up the place.

Magic items for units merely add magical damage. A hammer could add an Earthshake spell. A lightning spear could enable lightning bolts. A frostblade could cast Slow. This would vastly improve combat options.

(kudo's for being so gutsy as to ask for negative feedback. That's a very hard thing to do)

It has been a while since I have played, but my top two biggest issues are: 

 - One caster class vs 4 non-caster classes.  In a game about magic, this has always bugged me.  There should be 2-3 caster classes to choose from.  Magic could be split into Combat (direct damage spells), Summoning and Enchanting (troop/city buffs/debuffs), allowing much more variety in hero choices when it come to magic. (these would be the focus of the caster.  They could still cast spells that were not their focus, they would just be less impressive.  eg: Summons could be capped, while the summoning tree would greatly increase that cap and lower their upkeep, while also introducing more summons.)

 - Factions are not distinctive enough.  They look too similar and lack unique unit/building/tech options.  The faction traits don't really do enough to make them feel that much different.

With the update and DLC due this week (and Tesla Effect getting a two week delay), I'll be jumping in again and I'm sure I'll be able to add to this list.

The game lacks soul. It's an eintopf of poorly integrated generally likeable fantasy elements, and many of its aspects (building placement) is just a chore with little impact on the game. 

I have never been able to get into any of the Elemental games. Each time a new iteration comes out I fire it up, play for about an hour or so and then shut it off for good. It just won't hook me, even though I really want it too. There are several reasons:

• The fantasy universe does not engage me. I just think the races, characters and creatures are all really weird (not in a good Cthulu type of way) and bland. I would almost rather the world building to have been classic high fantasy, despite the fact that so many of those games exist. 
• The art style is very uninteresting to me. I like the look of the trees and mountains, but the artwork for Cave Bears, Humans, etc. all look off or unfinished. 
• Some things still don't make sense after all these years. Ex: a leg of meat costs like double the price of a spear or club at the beginning of the game. WHY? Why is food so damned expensive and nicely made, sturdy weapons are practically given away. 
• The tutorial just stops without notice. The last time I tried Legendary Heroes I thought I would run the tutorial to re-familiarize myself with the world. After several videos it just kept on going. I didn't know if the tutorial was finished or what. 
• Tactical battles are boring and don't make a lot of sense. Like, why is it that when I finish moving a unit I have to choose pass? Either I used all my action points moving or I didn't. I shouldn't have to "pass" when I just took a turn!

It is really frustrating to me because I feel like these games should be right up my alley. I'm a Stardock fanboy; the GalCiv games are my favorite series of all time! I wish the Elemental universe hooked me the same way, but . . . it just doesn't. I guess for me it'll always be the one that got away.

- Art style/visuals

- Very traditional (and dull) tech/research system

Lot's of good points in this thread.  The ones I agree with most are: 

1. tactical battles look too small (even if the code didn't change, adding tons more troops on the field later in the game would be better).  

2. tactical battles could use more detail.  I liked Heavenfall's suggestions of adding LOS, morale, flanking, etc.  I know you didn't want to make them too complicated, but maybe some model animations or other graphical indicators could make it more intuitive?  Also, might I suggest soft-counters for weapon types?  The weapon-abilities a step in the right direction.

3. The factions do feel too similar, especially with tech and weapons.  Maybe there were too many to balance well?  A lot of games these days have three(ish) factions.  Maybe a smaller number with sub-factions (with more minor differences for flavor) would have been better?  Sins Rebellion kinda did this with the Loyalists/Rebels additions.  Also, look at the Sins tech trees; many of the tech's are shared but in different places with different pre-req's.  (I love custom factions and don't want to lose them, but I do get how they can un-balance the game, and I'm totally ok with that so long as there is a check box on the faction to allow custom factions as enemies or not).  

4. The difficulty between difficulty levels can be a little drastic (like with many games and I'm just bad at video games anyway).  A handicap modifier would be nice to help me get to that next level.  

5. Could weaker monsters just damage a city (destroy certain buildings/improvements) and leave instead of always razing?  That might allow you to make the world a little more dangerous, but in a more scalable way.

That said, I'm looking forward to 1.6 (and holy crap, the Leader DLC, I'm so buying that) and am actually going to play 1.5 now (so I might have a few more quibbles).

Here's another item that really annoys me.

I'm trying to start up a GalcivII game at the moment, but this frustration exists in Legendary Heroes as well: The Map generator has MUCH to be desired for.

Imo, the game is not worth playing unless you start in the middle of the map. If there was map-wrap, that would completely fix the problem....but there isn't...so the problem persists. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing you have already won the game because you start the game off bottlenecked in a corner with only one battlefront to contend with. 4x games NEED the player to start in the MIDDLE of the action.