1)Does the hectic aspect seem more balanced than before? And if not, what aspects aren't?
Yes, I believe that they seemed more balanced. It was still hectic, but in a good way.
2)Are towers (now with variety) more balanced together, or are certain towers over/underpowered?
Great variety of towers, thought that was very fun to find out power each had. When they did seemed to be overpowered a HUGE set of enemies came and seemed to even things out.
3)Does the elemental aspect of towers to enemies feel smooth/intuitive to understand?
After several rounds of getting used to (as it should), it was great and I understood what needed to be built, it was smooth.
4)Does the flow of the game feel moderately smooth(er), and in what ways if not?
Felt very smooth to me.
5)Is the UI intuitive and understandable? Any comments on adding/removing/clarifying anything to it?
UI I thought was very intuitive and understandable.
6)Did you find any interesting strategies during your gameplay? If so, please let us know what you found, and if not, tell us how we can give you more opportunity to strategize
I thought one good strategy was to make sure you put you towers next to your chest. This way you can put the jem's inside right away.
7) What do you think about the multi-tiered currency? Does a currency dedicated to the blackhole give more incentive to complete it than before?
I thought the multi tier was great, made you grab certain ones with purpose not just the closest one every time. Blackhole was great, often found my self trying to upgrade quite often. But It often snapped me back to finishing the level