NullPointer
Member
* Hunting is now about more than stalking prey and selling skins. Now you can tan those skins to create or upgrade armor.Just off the top of my head.
Duel wielding is fun.
Can cast spells from both hands and combine different spells.
Can use L or R hand for weapons and shields.
Archery is now worth a damn.
* Mining and blacksmithing are great additions. Mine for ore, refine the ore into ingots, and use ingots to create or upgrade multiple armor types. You can even craft jewelry.
* No more item durability so no need to repair items.
* Ditched attributes except for Health/Magic/Stamina. Perks absolutely change the nature of progression. Instead of getting a +1 to this or a +4 to that, perks tend to invite new gameplay opportunities or at least increase your abilities in a tangible way.
* You don't have to spend your perk points when you level up. You can keep a few on hand to help out when needed.
* Enchanting doesn't use spells you know to work, but instead relies upon disenchanting other magical items to learn their effects. This means you don't have to be a caster to develop your enchanting.
* Sprint.
* Shout powers.
* Jumping no longer drains stamina.
* Dragons are more fun than Oblivion gates.
* Animations have been completely overhauled and look great. Third person view is also much, much better this time around.
* Dungeons feel hand crafted.
* In comparison to Oblivion draw distance and load times seem to be much better across the board.
* In comparison to Oblivion the world scaling actually works.
* Beautiful world map for a beautiful world.
* Better UI for managing items/equipment/map/quests.
* Better rewards for clearing dungeons and killing boss enemies.
My only actual gripes:
* The favorite item system is too clunky and limited. We need more presets and we need to be able to set what is equipped to both hands consistently.
* I preferred the Oblivion lock picking system. If you had the patience you could tackle master locks very early on. It felt more like its own mini-game than Skyrim's random lockpick breaking simulator.