I want to preface this post with this: Skyrim, even though many have had a lot of frustrations/disappointments with the game, has been one of the most enjoyable games I have played. My brother and I were in line to buy it at midnight for its release (PS3) and I've always had fun with it since, even with the few ah... hiccups that have been experienced bug-wise. Having said that.. my biggest problem with the game is one born from some aspects that have made it enjoyable. I feel that with the huge, absolutely huge, amount of gameplay available my character has "fully developed" long before a dent has been made in the total gameplay available. An example: I start a Heavy Armor with One Handed and augment both with Smithing.. not long into the game I'm able to be completely donned in full Daedric armor and weapons. And that won't change through the very end. Sure I could go through enchanting and boost my stats or pick up magic and change up my offensive options but it still feels... limited. Perhaps I'm spoiled and being picky but I feel like my character quickly gets not only boring, but also like he doesn't stand out against the population (Hypothetically there could be an npc that looks exactly like me. Possible sure, albeit not very likely).

My solution could range from simple and merely cosmetic to fairly complex and stat altering. In addition it utilizes aspects of the game that are already in place (mostly. Hah.)

At face value I want to take both smithing and enchanting and add equipment altering options. Smithing was my original intent however I felt that working in an enchanting side would allow players pursuing purely magical characters a benefit as well. Both of these ideas could use alchemy as an additional aspect
Smithing: Most simply I'd like to be able to customize colors and add personalized designs. Simple colors could be bought or more complex colors/shades could be produced through alchemy. Personalized designs could range from symbols earned through questlines (dark brotherhood hand, stormcloak bear claw, etc) to custom made designs (think COD: Black Ops tags..) Getting more complex, I think it would add some depth to customization to be able to 'design' armor. This could be done by adding "master" status to the smithing perks, such as once you take the Glass Smithing perk you attain Master Glass Smithing thus allowing you to design glass armor... When you create the armor you choose from various pauldron/briastplate/etc designs and essentially create a custom, individualized piece. Stat augment could be applied by choosing a secondary material in addition to your base material. Stats change according to the material: heavier makes it stronger, lighter/leather makes it... well lighter. Couple these all together and boom, truly custom duds.
Enchanting: Don't want to leave the mages out of this one. As before Alchemic colors could be applied to robes to change base and trim colors; allow an option to add your personalized design/crest as well. I would also like to see (and I think this should have been in the game at the beginning, yet I don't know where they would have included it...) a way to incorporate a method to produce robes that are made by the player, possibly providing another use for the numerous types of pelts available in skyrim. When playing as my mage I don't see why the warriors/assassins/theives/etc get to make their own armor yet my cool mage only chooses from the available robes (with or without enchantments). Getting back to a more traditional sense of enchanting... many items in the game have magical properties, why not use these to bestow cosmetic and possibly statistical properties to equipable items? An example would be to use void salts. Apply them to robes and lightning appears to crack across the fabric. Apply them to weapons (going back to Oblivion) and they display their properties is some (obviously cool) fashion.

Obviously these are just some thoughts I've had and discussed with some and I apologize if I am ignorant of some previous posts or facts about the game. I just wanted to see what other people's thoughts were on this, and hopefully get their ideas/criticisms. I realize that these ideas could be in danger of over-complicating gameplay.. but I think that they could definitely enhance the depth of character customization and really pull a player into the game. And that's what it's all about really, right?

Or maybe I'm just being picky.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1374669-dawnguard-and-future-dlc-discussion-thread-29/