Personally, the things I'd like to see changed the most are more gravestones and totems, and all villagers able to become Elders when they earn the right, even if they can't get a totem.

I was so disappointed when I had one special villager become an Elder at 31... (with no special tricks or cheats, he was just naturally awesome). But he made Elder after the cemetery was full, so it was too late to have a special notation on a gravestone when it was time for him to be buried.

A larger cemetery area would allow for us to become more attached to our little villagers and their accomplishments, as we read the stones and recall what we helped them achieve. This pleasure could be increased by our having the choice to change certain headstones to "special" stones that marked the resting place of remarkable villagers, even if only by using a different stone color (like sparkling white).

Additionally, I'd very much like to see much smaller totems that would be easier to place. Perhaps designed as sections of real totems, where they are stackable... maybe 5 to 7 high. If the totems were stackable, you could assemble "Legendary Totems" built up of the totems of your greatest villagers.

And, on the subject of totems, there might be a special Totem Area, where all the totems could be stacked as they are earned... perhaps a "sacred" area dedicated to ancestors. Each villager's totem could be inscribable, noting his/her special accomplishiment(s), which you could read when you moused-over them.

On another subject, it would be great to be able to increase the effects of the different stews, so that each stew truly did something unique. It's silly (and a frustrating disappointment) that so many of the stews in VV2 do exactly the same thing. A "speedy" stew would be a nice addition, a "faster learning" stew would be another, and a "work, work, work" stew could really come in handy too. The effects would be temporary, so as not to unbalance the game, but very much appreciated in the case of dealing with some villagers.

Clothing. MORE CHOICES! Perhaps something unique designed especially for Elders... (I dress all my Elders in white right now).

Buildings. Communal hoguns would be much more realistic than the tiny huts we have now, and they should take much longer to construct.

Perhaps the builders could construct the totems as they are earned. That way all the totems would show up in a certain "totem construction area", and you could watch as each totem slowly formed while the builders worked.

Maybe they could build little boats that only lasted a short time, so they constantly needed to be replaced with new boats. They could also construct farming tools that wore out and constantly needed replacing.

What I mean is that if three skills are to be required to make Elder, then all the skills should be viable and truly useful all the way through the game.