There are plenty of things the developers could have done to prevent abuses/exploits/bugs with minimal to no impact to the "freedom of choice". The fact that the developers never done so isn't an excuse to keep messing about indefinitely.

It doesn't make Skyrim a bad game or anything, the RPG mechanics have been improved a lot (non of the stupid +constitution leveling via certain skills etc..) but the fact of the matter is there is a large group of people, whether you like it/them or not, that likes to min/max. Those people will keep complaining as long as the game has these stupendous possible abuses in it, especially when they can be prevented so easily.

Flawed game design shouldn't be encouraged by accepting it.

The people whining about it have no clue what they're talking about. It take lots of time, effort and money to abuse if one can even call it that.

Here is a nice question. Starting from a fresh character. How many real-time hours would it take to have a 300+ damage sword before temp buffs?

OP same here i like the way most of the low level armor and weapons look compared to the high level stuff

on my char i dont buff high end gear, i buff low end gear to be as good as high level things. currently i plan on buffing the hunting bow to be as good as my ebony bow because IMO the hunting bow is the best looking to me

You have no idea what your talking about because flawed game design shouldn't be justified just because you're a massive fan-boy. It's one of the game abuses that could easily be fixed/prevented. Just because the rest of the game is awesome isn't an excuse to justify nonsense because it IS game breaking for a lot of players.

Kinda funny you posted this because I actually don't use a bow at all since my character is Spartan inspired and they hate archery! However, my buddy plays this game and actually hunts wildlife a lot and he says he prefers the wooden bow and going out in normal civilian clothes to hunt and leaves armor at his house just to avoid the temptation of switching back. When he runs into trouble (bandits, mages, etc.), he'll just hop on his horse and run as fast as he can! He says he feels so much more immersed in the world when he does this. In this way, Skyrim feels far more perilous to him.

That's the best aspect of this game to me... you can really make your own experiences and they can be vastly different from everyone else playing!

Yes, I do agree the mechanics are far from perfect, but like I stated, the worst case scenario for me would be to severely cripple enchanting/smithing and being stuck with some ridiculous looking armor for possibly 90% of my play time.

But as of the current state, Skyrim "rewards" the players with loot containing higher level weapons and armor instead of better "crafted" weapons and armor. The latter would have been a perfect solution for me and from what it looks like, a good number of other players. With the current state taken into consideration, I'm glad the smithing/enchanting mechanics are present in the game.

Eh? It's not breaking my game and I don't take it to the absolute max or even remotely close. For myself I didn't go down that road not because it would break my game, but because it is too much fracking work without a good reason to justify it in the first place. Bethesda would need to bring back the crazy level scaled enemies Oblivion had for me to start thinking about it.

this plus once i have crafted something it is indestructible.
and that the black smiths dont sell fine - legendary quality stuff.
and that Eourland sells regular steel weapons. I dont want to join the companions.
and enchantings fine except that if you wnat to make anything you actually want to use you have to get perks

I said "a lot of players", whether that includes you or not doesn't really matter to the statement. The very fact that so many people are complaining about it is a testament.
And I'm not even only talking about the min-max OCDers that have to have the best gear (though I sympathize). A lot of people now *avoid* the crafting skills solely because they are overpowered, thus preventing them from picking a skill they might otherwise enjoy using if it were balanced in a way it should be.

I do enjoy not having to wait to find good stuff or buy it, my new follower needed a shield. I could have bought some PoS from the merchant, but I made her one of her very own instead. With love.

this plus once i have crafted something it is indestructible
I really don't miss the degrading weapons over time. I know it's realistic, but I just found it too tedious in Fallout 3. I mean, think about it... you can do it for anything. They can create a mechanic where your character has to eat every few hours, otherwise his health and stamina will go down over time. The game will start feeling too much like THE SIMS, instead of a fantasy RPG and I'll be worried about the mundane things instead of walking around exploring.

and that the black smiths dont sell fine - legendary quality stuff
I do agree that would be nice. That way you can have more armor choices to wear... especially if you didn't spend perks on either side of the armor tree for smithing.

and that Eourland sells regular steel weapons. I dont want to join the companions
He sells Skyforge Steel Weapons which are considerably stronger than ordinary steel. I can craft a Skyforge Steel Sword pretty close to the specs of the Deadric Sword when they're both crafted equally as well on the grindstone. I believe my Skyforge was like 91 and my Daedric was 101. Close enough for me...

and enchantings fine except that if you wnat to make anything you actually want to use you have to get perks
Not really sure what you mean here. You can buy unenchanted items and enchant them. You don't have to spend perks on the enchanting tree to enchant something. The perk tree just makes your enchants stronger.