I was curious to know if anyone knew if Bethesda was half asleep while making the games stats? I just noticed that while Orcish armor is higher up in the smithing tree then Dwarven, Dwarven arrows do more damage then Orcish arrows...... WTF.

In my game at lvl 10 right now orcish do 12 dmg and Dwarven do 14dmg. How does that make sense. Isn't it supposed to be that as you move up the tiers they progressively get better? Skyrim graphics are amazing but it seems to me the bugs, poor gameplay/interface and now I've noticed these stats were they really paying any attention when making this game?

Not a bug.

Orcish Armor > Dwarven Armor
Dwarven Weapons > Orcish Weapons

That's just how they designed them for some reason.

That just makes no sense to me though... Weird.

I hate how the smithing tree is structured in general.

Why should my character need to learn how to craft Dwarven armour before being able to craft Orcish armour anyway? From a roleplaying point of view, it makes little sense. The way it should work, is if my character's overall smithing skill is high enough, he can learn Orcish smithing from an Orc blacksmith... or perhaps even from a book specific to Orcish smithing, without necessarily knowing how to make other types of armour.

As for weapon/armour stats... they're far too simple in my opinion. There should be more pros and cons for each type of weapon/armour, instead of one trumping another in every possible way. For instance with armour, some should be more durable than others; some (like chainmail) should allow the player to move more freely in combat; some should be better against different weapons, like defence against piercing blows, defence against crushing blows, etc. So the player has to consciously think which type of armour is best for their character in a certain situation... instead of simply working their way up an obvious pecking order.

It would make more sense the other way around as dwarven metal seems more moldable, with it's rounded edges and shapes it looks softer and more flexible and as such would make for better armor but not as good weapons...but it's quite normal that some metals make for better weapons and others for better armor...

I guess Orcs are just better armor smiths than they are weapon smiths.

I agree, What makes Elven worse then Scale.... And why the hell if you are a light armor wearer would you want to learn plate armor when you learn scale??? Like you said it should have been once you have enough points in whatever skill you just select the perk you want. Much better idea then current system.

The reason the star signs look a bit stupid is cause in every case the had to be tree like with a start and end points, Would have been able to make them alot more awsome looking if they'd merely made them to the earlier ideas specs. Where you just select the perks you want out of the skill star sign once you have the necessary points.

Light armor aswell should have gone: Fur/Chitin (Mudcrab chitin), Leather, Steel (eg. Chainmail), Scale/Advanced (Falmer Armor using Chaurus Chitin), Elven, Glass and Dragon.