I craft almost all of my own supplies and prefer doing it that way. It's amazing how far into the game you can get with a self-made, improved and self-enchanted Skyforge Steel axe. I'm completing quests and being handed weapons and armor that aren't nearly as good as what I make myself.
I sort of felt that way in Oblivion too, but to a lesser degree obviously since you can't make or improve anything yourself. (The level scaling of items was more of the problem there...)
Morrowind was really the last time I felt like the uber-gear was worthwhile, so count me as agreeing with you.
Agree totally.
To be honest I only do quests for the fun of them, for the experience. 90% of the time, the unique weapon/armour reward goes straight into my chest at home. I've been using legendary steel armour from about level 10 and I'm now level 57 and it's suiting me just fine.
That said, The Ring of Hircine is actually quite useful for players who want to change into beast form more often. I think the Staff of Magnus was very underwhelming for the amount of effort required to get it, however.
It seems to me that Skyrim allows more freedom with giving players the opportunity to put aesthetics before stats. Even though I have a full set of Ebony, I actually prefer wearing steel. The stat differences are almost negligible. But when it come to legendary unique items, they should never be weaker than what we already have.