After a few games, here are my impressions. I've written much more about the negatives, but that does not mean I'm bashing the game - I just want it to become as good as it is possible.

what's good:

- addition of essence

- city management and development, to a point (see below)

- character development

- wildlands concept (needs more love, though)

- resources

- customization

what could be improved:

- combat should be more tactical, but I reckon it won't be changed at all at this stage

- number of items, creatures and the like could be bigger (it's not uncommon to find several identical pieces of equipment right now in a row, like hate stones, tears of cyndrum, etc)

what definitely needs more work:

- factions. Resoln is good, unique. Magnar has a cool theme, but its mechanics are more fluff than real impact on game. Altar is specific, I don't really care because I won't be playing them. Gilden are straightforward and passable. The rest, however, are BOOO-H-RIIING. What the game needs is more uniqueness: 

• faction-only spells, 
• faction-only creatures or units, 
• faction-only equipment (and lots of them), 
• faction-only technologies (Trogs could have bigger units, for example)
• bigger differential in basic 'villager' stats (+/- attack, +/- health, +/- accuracy, +/-initiative), some built-in attacks (see: barbarians or dark elves in Master of Magic), resistances
• bigger differential in economics (+/- food, +/- production, +/- research)
• and the most important: unique mechanics, like Resoln has.

- magic (see here)

- population-based effects (see here)

- balance, balance, balance:

• champions are too strong compared to units (see here)
• early-game creatures (mites, spiderlings, bear cubs, etc.) are too weak and pose no danger to a single champion (not to mention two)
• end-game creatures are too weak compared to end-game heroes
• overally, creatures should be much more aggressive (I've had a pioneer unit dancing around two wolf packs for three turns until they at last attacked)
• champions' wounds from getting knocked out in battle should be nastier (what's a -1 to attack? make it -10% attack at the very least)
• armor progression is too strong compared to weapon progression (see here)
• factions need not be overly balanced, it's not starcraft

I'm also conducting a Let's Play on the dreaded RPGCodex forums: http://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/lets-see-elemental-fallen-enchantress-beta.75663/