if it's even possible, i think it would be cool for different levels of tempering(is that even close for being grammatically correct?)/upgrades for weapons and armor to have different textures. maybe slight difference in shine or maybe on weapons a fine temper would have the start of a rune and legendary would have a full/complete inscription. it would also be interesting to see these tempered weapons/armors out in the world via the leveled list.

id love to hear over thought regarding this idea.

I think this is a cool idea, but I think just having more weapon and armor variety would be enough. I like what a current mod is doing with weapons; they are making it so you can find/create every weapon in the game in a different material, such as having a "glass sword" in iron, steel, dwarven, silver, ebony, etc.

Do you have any idea how little sense that actually makes?

I think Automatic Variants might do something like that later down the road.... but i'm not really sure.

its true there is incredable variety in armor and weapons thanks to modders but my real point is more about imersion. if i make something better it would be nice if it looked better, even if that's something as simple as a more polished look or shine to a weapon. the second point here is that, in my oppinion, it is more realalistic for a bandit to have a tempered iron sword than the equivalant sword from a higher quality matierial.

It's a great idea, but would require some serious coding magic. The tempering system is pretty unapproachable.

No, but maybe I'm missing something? It'd be unfortunate if it turned out all the time we've spent on Armoury of Tamriel was wasted.

I think you might have mistaken what Knight Owl was saying. It's not a glass sword made out of steel, it's a steel sword made in the same style as the glass ones. For example, here's 'iron swords' made from every materiel:
http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/2933-1-1326479119.jpg

Ok it might not have made sense to a person who has not played the game, but since I am in a Skyrim forum, everyone should understand that by me typing "glass sword," which I put in quotations, it gets at the fact that it was not the "glass" I was referring to that could be changed into a different metal, but the design that Bethesda used for their glass sword.

Automatic Variants looks sweet in and if it's self. but it looks alittle more random than what im seeking.

this isnt what my post is regarding but it looks cool. have a look. http://afterimagemetal.com/AutoVar/Automatic%20Variants%20Readme.html

Did you read the bottom at Future Plans?

That would mean you could have multiple versions of a single weapon. All versions would determine the weapons health, damage, and bonus damage from improvements. So you could have something like:

Ancient Iron Sword - Ancient version of the Iron sword it has been a long time since it has been used and the rust shows. (weapon degrading will not bring the weapon down to Ancient status)
Worn Iron Sword - This sword has been used a lot and it shows!
Iron Sword - Basic Iron Sword, nothing special really
Tempered Iron Sword - An iron sword that has be sharpened, Tempered and Polished. This is a work of art!

Of course weapon degrading has to be figured out for a system like I outlined to work. but it would be possible and work a lot better with AV.

ahhh... i missed that part completely. saw the youtube vid (awsome!!!) and skimmed over the main page. but your right and your deffenition of tempered iron sword is percisely what this post was about!!! thank you

So kind of like M&B weapon system but with next gen graphics and textures which match the weapon/armor quality...awesome!