The Temple of Seeds (4700 culture for 21 spaces) and the Giant Snail Palace are the two total game changers (3200 culture and a whopping 2900 population). Non diamond elves will only get the Pond of Recreation at 3700 culture for 30 spaces. I am so sad now. I guess this game has officially become pay to win. The non diamond players will just drop drop drop in ranking from here on out. It was fun while it lasted. I guess there was no way they were going to let non diamond players have a chance. Sigh. ..................... Then this also means that non diamond players will no longer be useful to the top fellowships as they will just bring them down pointwise. They may be wanted, but they won't be useful. I am very, very sad about this.
edit: Oh gosh, I just realized that the diamond players are going to have to spend a fortune to be at the top of the leader boards! This game is about to get EXPENSIVE if you want to be on top.
Other than that, the new elven residences look great. Crystal producing elves get really harmed by this race. The crystal factories give you 4 fewer ranking points per space. (181 vs 185) That doesn't sound like a lot, but it is huge when you are trying to be one of the top players.
Elves who make silk are out of luck when it comes to upgrading residences. They need crystal and scrolls but no silk to upgrade. This will create a surplus of silk and a shortage of the other two goods and silk producers will likely have a hard time trading. I suggest going into the fairies section with a lot of scrolls and crystal on hand....for the elves. The humans have it different. For them it is the scrolls producers that will have it rough.