Having recently played Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess, I've come to the conclusion that while they are still great games, the Zelda series has fallen into a number of bad habits that it would really benefit from shedding. Sharpen your pitchforks folks, and prepare yourselves for a barrage of blasphemy.

1. Finding the same old items again and again

For the love of God Nintendo, please stop making the bow temple, the bomb temple, the slingshot temple. It's getting really old, and it feels like going through the motions. There's no sense of discovery in getting the same old items to use in the same old ways to solve the same old puzzles. Give us a Zelda where we start with the basic items like the bow and the bombs from the get go, then find new items as we progress.

2. Kicking you back to the Dungeon entrance when you reload a save

Yeah, there have been some half-hearted attempts to solve this one, but really, all they need to do is allow a proper save system that brings you back in exactly where you left off.

3. Restarting from 3 hearts when you die

Yeah, yeah, I know people will say "but the games are sooo easy anyway" but I don't care; it is a pain in the arse to have to start from a measly 3 hearts when I die and respawn. If I have built myself up to 8 hearts, I want to damn well start with 8 hearts. This is an obsolete design choice, a relic of the 20th century that adds nothing but annoyance.

4. Empty Overworlds

Yes, there's initally a sense of majestic adventure to galloping across Hyrule Field in Twilight Princess or Ocarina, or soaring through the clouds in Skyward Sword, but this starts to wear off as the game goes on and it becomes clear that there's just not enough density of content in these areas. Yes, there are points of interest; enemies, collectables, etc, but they are widely spread across what is mostly empty space. I'd love to see a world that is teeming with wildlife, NPCs, roaming mini-bosses, and mini-dungeons.

Now let me reiterate; they are still great games. It's just that moving forwards, I see these areas as obvious room for improvement, and I would be disappointed if any of them persisted in Zelda U.

I very much disagree with 2.

A majority of people don't go halfway through a dungeon, save, and quit. They have at it in one go, which is very much the logical thing to do. Why would you put down the game while in a dungeon, leave, and come back hours/days later without remembering what you were doing where you were in the first place? Making you spend two minutes to get yourself together, run back to where you were, while seeing where you've been and what your goals are, as well as putting things back into context is good.

Agree with the first and definitely the fourth one.

Not with the middle two. Sorry but there as to be some penalty to dying. Call it a "relic" or whatever but I don't mind starting over with three hearts or having to make my way back to where I screwed up.

EDIT-  Lot of people saying they want voice acting...really? I mean I rather Nintendo focus on important stuff like gameplay and not have to stress out about how Link is or anyone is going to talk. 

A lot of hardcore Nintendo will disagree with on that. And I agree its totally dumb not to have voice acting in this day and age.

Completely agree with one and four.
These are the two biggest problems they need to address.

2 and 3 can be annoying, but I don t see them as a real problem

I actually like the way TP and SS handled #2 and I don't think I ever had an issue with #3. I agree with the other 2 points and voice acting should be added, maybe not for Link but everyone else should have a voice.

Lack of challenge. I just finished TPHD on Hero Mode and I only died to the Deku Frog mini boss. Hero Mode felt more like how normal mode should feel, barring the lack of hearts. Enemies should deal more damage and have more aggressive offenses and harder defenses. 

Also, after playing TPHD, there needs to be fewer cutscenes and fetch quests. More linear story design (not dungeon/world design) ala ALTTP, ALBW, most of the handheld games, etc. 

Lastly, make mini dungeons in the overworld that contain nice rewards or have very tough bosses that are a blast to fight. It's one thing I wish Zelda games had. I would love that. And mini bosses all over the place. they don't need to be only in dungeons (though, some of the handheld gamess had mini bosses in the overworld, which I LOVED)

Don't even get me started.

Also, literally everything in the OP would be solved by copying the way dark souls does it.

I agree to an extent (though I disagree on 2).

My main gripe is one you didn't mention, though - I would love to see a Zelda game where Link was not the main playable character, Zelda was. This could easily solve #1 in the process, since her play style and range of moves and items would probably be very different, and would probably lend itself well to some real brain-bending dungeons.

Also, I haven't played Skyward Sword, but I'm reluctant to come down too hard on Nintendo for #4. Twilight Princess is nearly a decade old now - by 2006 standards, its world was pretty rich for an action/adventure game. Zelda U needs a lot more than that, obviously, although I heard a while ago that that's part of why it was delayed.