First of all I will say that I love this game and is and will be the only game I'll play for a good period of time.
I want to see if you people can identify features that Skyrim added over other TES games that you really enjoy and write a small reason for that too.
Allow me to establish a few rules for this thread:
Edit: 0. Don't just enumerate new features, this is not about who spots most, there are a lot nobody says otherwise. Post something if you are really found of it, you may love one someone else other.
1. You can't say for example that "you love there's no more weapon upkeep", while some of you may like that I want this thread to be about things added for us.
2. You can't say that " you love the aurora borealis" or the fact that "salmons swim upstream", yes those are great thing but behind the scope of this thread, it have to be features that you interact with somehow.
3. Don't say you love X questline or Y quest from it unless you can identify something like a new type of quest objective that was not present in previous TES, loving some particular quest is too personal opinion.
Saying "I love the MQ" is not acceptable, saying "I love that you encounter dragons right from begining till the end" is acceptable if you think that.
4. Don't say that "you like how you play as a stealthy character" you have to identify fresh features that make it so
5. Please don't argue about something is to be liked or not, this is wanted to be an index of things some people like, only acceptable counter arguments should be pointing out previous TES had something too or did something similar better (and argument should stop there cause we all saw both points of view)
6. Please don't argue that the game doesn't need such things over previous names to be great, I agree to that as I stated from the first line, I just want to see if people can identify such things too.

The sprint button, going from Skyrim back to Oblivion/Fallout/Morrowind I keep pressing the sprint button then realising it doesn't exist..

River currents are quite neat. It makes the environment a bit more treacherous, I've been pushed over the edge of a waterfall more than a few times, if I'm lucky I land in water and not get splatted on the rocks below.

Some of the new magic effects which you get with Shouts are fun, like the force push and sprint/leap.

Characters are much more interesting and varied as well with beards, scars and tattoos. I like how the races also have more of a Morrowind look to them. The elven faces especially are much more severe, and the nords more rough and rugged.

the little, defenseless wildlife. i just love driving my sword right through its delicate bodies.

Fresh features?
I guess that's another word for dumbing down.

The availabilty of dual wielding, overcharge, shield bash and other combinations of coordinating attacks

Perks that make the skills more versatile, there are less skills, but each skill is also more varied due to the perk tree so you end up with more options

Open character development rather than forced into a certain "class"

actaully there are new features, it is not just things being removed! but i had to think for a few minutes to before i thought up shouts/duel wielding, i dont love them and i cant think of anything else that really stands out though

Love....

Right now it's mining and smithing.

Most of the changes are lame. I never cook or work the mills or chop wood and don't plan on getting married.

To me they are a fail. They would have done better to implement a hardcoe mode to make use of these things. I can certainly make more cash exploring crypts and mines than chopping wood for a few coins.

But for some odd reason chasing ore deposits is fun. The Gods know that waiting for the animation to end is tedious.

What I really want to know is who thought making me console delete nirn glows would be a good idea?

I don`t know if i would call them features but there are things i`m really impressed by...

1. The Dragons. They are very well done. When they fly, they fly in a logical realistic way (most times). I watched one flicking its left wing to enable it to quickly turn left or arching its neck and body up as it catches air to climb. Sounds are also very well done; with that deep, throaty, slightly demented sound to it to chill a man`s soul (were it real life).

Yes, you could believe Dragons are real when you see them in Skyrim.

2. The whole landscape\countryside thing is well done. You can see really far and everything just looks and feels real.

3. The incidental stuff that happens sort of randomly like couriers, dungeon jobs, wandering events I defintely love because they add variety and an unexpected element to something that could get boring if you run around exploring a lot.

For me its not just the dualwielding, but rather the possibility to Equip much more freely in each hand.

Shield bashing and dual wielding... Though I never use the last one anymore, it did look really cool. Shield bashing just gives me a far greater satisfaction when using a shield then I had in previous games.

Well, Shield Bashing isn't 100% new. I do it quite often in Oblivion.

Could be me, but I never really noticed the same effect... Then again, I didn't play a one handed warrior that often in Oblivion.

Expert level auoperk, as I recall. You played most of the game without it, but it kind of made it more satisfying when you blocked, and then bashed the enemy in the face as a reflex. On-demand shield bashes are new, which can rightly be considered an advancement.

Oh yeah, completely forgot about how that worked in Oblivion... Well I don't think it's really a new feature then, but I do love it.

Nevermind got Ninja'd

I shield bashed all the time in Oblivion. It was one of my favourite things to do.

The combat system is amazing. While away at college I was playing Morrowind and one of the things that always frustrates me is how limited in a way combat feels. You can hack, slash, thrust, and that's about it. Skyrim has added a new dimension to the Elder Scrolls with shield bashes, power attacking, and most importantly dual casting/wielding.

The Thu'um was a great concept too. At first I thought it was going to be really stupid but I fell in love with shouts. Playing nothing but melee characters so far shouts are extremely useful and make the game so much more fun. The different levels of Thu'ums made for great tactical use. Using a full powered Unrelenting Force can give you a couple swings or send an enemy off a cliff but a simple Fus used in rotation with power attacks/shield bashes is just as deadly.

The Perk system was great I feel too. In Oblivion/Morrowind you leveled up your main skills relevant to your class and chose attributes. I really can't believe people would rather go back to this then the perk system? Sure there isn't long blade/short blade or even a blade skill anymore but within the One-Handed/Two-Handed trees you have enough room for specialization of certain areas within the skill.

Cooking was a great idea but certainly needs improvement. A lot of people complain that food is useless but by eating two or three vegetable soups you have unlimited power attacks for 12 minutes!

Radiant Quests are a welcome feature.

I finally finished Skyrim today and I have to say I'm not dissapointed. Reading a lot of the threads I was expecting the worse but it turned out to be a great game. There is always room for improvement but I don't like to fret over little things.

I don't know that it's a feature, But I like the way it's not always "loading" the scenery every two seconds. I fell more like I'm walking through the scenery.

I like the more realistic color palate. It feels more like a real world.

The combat mechanic. It feels more fluid to me.

'fresh features' is two words.

Blind alchemy. Yes, I know if your alchemy was less than, what?, 15 in Morrowind you didn't get any effects, but that's a different mechanic with no experimentation.

I had some random guy come up to me."Yay, a duel!" I thought. No, he wanted me to show him how wards worked. Nice.

Thugs hired by specific individuals.

Regardless of the word, I like the perk system. There, I said it.

to be honest, the only thing added in Skyrim that's worked for me is the letters.

Of everything I wished for in Oblivion, it's the only thing they delivered: a way to get information on things you may not know about otherwise. In Oblivion, it would have made sense if beggars could tell you who had the good loot. It would have been nice for locals who would know to point you towards interesting places (interestingly enough, the interesting places are the ones NO ONE points out). It would have been nice for alchemy shops to tell you who is who in the trade, and to specialize a bit.

Skyrim finally delivers that through notes, maps, books, etc. Maybe not quite how I wish it was, but it's one of my few memorable moments in 90 hours: I got a letter telling me to "seek a source of power". I was in Steam chat with someone and hinted that I expected to find a dragon. When I get to the place? It's a Word Wall with a dragon on top. My friend told me to hunt down and kill whoever sent the letter, because they tried to trap me. I declined, saying I was hoping to find a tasty Dragon Soul, which is exactly what I found.

Yes, i`ve really noticed that. It no longer feels like you`re walking from one `box` to another. A serious improvement over previous games.

I just the other day ran up 3 unusual people walking up the path who immediately attacked me. when I checked them out, a certain character had set them onto me with express permission to `teach a lesson` or `kill` for being a `thief`.

I have no idea how I was a thief, but I was impressed by that.

Smithing was a cool, but I still see no reason to omit weapon/armor degradation. They also need to make it so iron daggers don't help you level up at a certain point.

The perk system was nice as well, but also needs tweaking. We get so many perks, that you essentially fill up the entirety of whatever tree you want. I'd have preferred a system where you were limited on the number of perks per skill you could use. If I make another character who uses Conuration or One-Handed, I'm going to get the exact same set of perks. Some forced variety would add replay value IMO.

Little touches to the environment (moving streams, non-hostile wildlife, treasure maps, actually removing ingredients from plants, etc) are probably my most loved new feature.