Fair call and I agree that it's a mammoth effort to design such a game in the first place, but using that logic as a foundation for rebuttal is still nothing more than hypothetical excuses at the end of the day.All great games take a lot of work but that has no relevance on the critique of their faults at release.

In saying I love Skyrim and will for some time to come yet I totally agree with many of the OP's points and I seriously struggle to see any justification for Bethesda omitting many of the points the OP raised, especially when said issues or "wishlists" are so easily addressed and fixed by the modding community.

To me that reeks of laziness, bad testing, denial and a rushed release(PS3 anyone?).

Anyway I was under the impression this thread was created in order to discuss ways the game could be made better.If your here purely on the defensive it's only going to become cyclic argument and tangents.

I would add:
10. Storytelling
This relates to 5,6 and 7. There is a common conception that Skyrim doesn't have good stories, but looking closer at it reveals that there are good stories. Some of the side quests are deep enough with lore and background that they could have passed as a main quest in a different game. However, despite the substance and background to the stories they don't engage the consumer. Part of this is due to the open-world fundament, you can't approach the stories with the same classic scriptwriting techniques that you can in linnear games. Part of it is due to the concept that the entire adventure is seen and experienced through the main character's eyes, so the possibility of following a story through several characters is removed as well. I am not a writer so I don't know exactly how you develop good stories, I am just a consumer and my experience is that having the stories told through the same persons perspective for 100+ hours gets a bit repetitive and could need a bit of variety to do the stories justice.

bump

I pretty much agree with everything in the OP.

Skyrim really does seem like a cheesy big budget Hollywood action film when compared against the low budget indie that was Morrowind. (for lack of a better anology)
They got all the fancy explosions and big name actors but a cookie cutter story line and two dimensional factions.

A master level enchanting perk that stops item disenchanting from ruining the original. I'd love to take all those cool, unique model weapons and armor, strip them of their enchantments and add my own. Nightingale Armor is a great example, looks great but compared to what I can craft and enchant myself it is underwhelming.

This is probably one of the biggest problems with the game for me.
Why do any quest when I can just make something 100x better anyway?

The Daedric items are all 100% jokes, Immortal beings could only must those pathetic "artifacts"?
Azura's star is the only half way useful artifact.

True, and that is because you can't make anything similar to Azura's star. Unique artefacts that you simply can't duplicate would add a lot to the attachment to them.

I lie, Wabbajack is mildly amusing for a few minutes as well...

I for one would not complain about having to wade through litteral armies of undead of daedra to get an amulet or ring that +50 to vital stats or something along those lines. You know, something that is actually good.
Daedric artifacts should be over powered, they're Deadric bloody artifacts. But they should also be bloody hard to get as well.

LOL One of my favorites.

You'd think that if you were in charge of the place people would be constantly asking for help/advice or for decisions to be made.

"Damn collage, blew up the entire town. Winterhold will never be the same"

Uh, you do realize that your talking to the ArchMage of the collage right?

1. Shopkeepers need to sell some heavy hitting items, and make me want to buy randomized improved gear. I remember diablo 1, going to griswold and looking for that bow that gave extra minimum damage.

2. I want a shovel, and maybe a Falx as a weapon, period. My most loved video game character was a journeyman from Myth 2 Soulblighter and they carry a shovel as a weapon.

3. More quests around hunters and other adventurers that do not involve travelling to Markath or Solitude ( cities and towns). The wandering mercenary is such example of potential.

4. an Overhaul of the skill tree as mentioned, I was so disappointed no Unarmed combat skill tree when I first got this game. I was seriously tempted to put the game on the shelf for a few weeks.

5. Overhaul of the Mining/Crafting. Reduced ingots, increased skill progression bar and above all. Make it so you have to use the smelter to obtain sufficient quantities of minerals.