My thoughts on the trilogy:
Rey should just be Luke’s daughter. This should not be a big deal like Vader’s revelation in Empire. People don’t allow their parents to define them like they used to, Rey is her own person first and foremost.
Include some spiritual messages/words of wisdom. TFA was lacking on this front, whereas even the Lucas prequels had some sort of message. The closest TFA got to a message was that good and evil will always exist. It’s not particularly deep or interesting, so the sequels need to hit this out of the park. Why is this time period worth three movies? Will the Jedi way finally die? Will it be reborn? Will it finally become meaningful to the galaxy at large, or remain in the hands of a small group of religious warrior monks? I don’t hold out much hope of any sort of interesting answer on this front, but one can always dream.
On this note, move the story from the perspective of Jedi vs Darksiders to one of honest investigation of the Force itself. What abilities will be born from such an investigation? Cool ones, I hope.
Reveal the politics of the galaxy. Again, something that TFA should have included to a greater extent. Where is the political power in the galaxy, now that the Hosnian system is no more? If there is no centralized power, does the galaxy fracture into warring states? Do the Resistance and the First Order form two superpowers? I would find such exposition acceptable, but it would be even better if the sequel trilogy concerned itself with governance more than previous trilogies, since Luke and Leia are now de facto the most powerful people in the galaxy, save the First Order baddies.
Recruit a voice of the people. I want to know what normal people think about recent events in the galaxy. We had the viewpoint from the upper class in the prequels, and our best indication of the state of the galaxy in the OT was Luke’s deleted scene with Biggs on Tatooine, far from the economic hub of the galaxy. The ST needs to provide the perspective of the everyman (or woman).
Incorporate an Asian Force user. A swordfight between an aggressive Force user and a calm master is on my top ten list of things I want to see in Star Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ESfN3lUNRM
A fighter chase near the surface of a star. Just do this already.
‘Snoke is the key to all of this, if we can get him working.’ In all seriousness, a character this powerful had better have a very compelling reason to play his hand at this point, and a convincing argument for why he should rule the galaxy rather than democratically elected officials. I wouldn’t mind if he and Kylo attempted to convince Rey like Vader and the Emperor in ROTJ, but it has to be more than familial bonds, the promise of power, or seduction via anger. It would be cool if Snoke was the last of the race of Celestials, beings which predated galactic history. If Luke was searching for the first Jedi temple because he suspects that it contains information relating to the Celestials, so much the better. The Celestials could even have been the ones to ‘invent’ the Dark Side, as an unnatural offshoot of the spiritual power of the Force. If the Sith were merely the most recent users of this Dark energy, the entire ST would be justified as it reveals that the greatest game in the history of the galaxy is approaching its climactic end.