So what's changed? Haven't played either of them, and with some new mods out as well, I figured I'd give Skyrim a fresh playthrough.

I remember vanilla destruction being weak damage, has that changed with any new spells? And the other schools? I prefer to skip melee entirely since I don't like the game's melee combat system so unless that's dramatically changed mainly interested in magic and archery changes(and more general stuff applicable to any character).

And are skill trees significantly different? Is enchanting / smithing still insane? Potion drinking still instant and spam-able?


Haven't played the game since maybe 3 or so months past release date so I'm in the dark.

Well, nothing really has been changed.
Dawnguard added Werewolf and Vampire Skill Trees, and Dragonborn added the ability to Re-spec after you finished it's main Quest.

Pretty much. A few new cool things have been added with the DLCs outside of the DLCs themselves. Both Dawnguard and Dragonborn should be played between 30 and 40.

For the best experience.

Yes.