If you think grinding iron daggers all the way to master is perfectly fine..more power to ya...it's a single player game and all. Far as being done poorly, I highly doubt a Beth quality tester is gonna sit around the forge all day and grind iron daggers to max, they have far higher priorities when playtesting for bugs.
That's exactly the problem. Bethesda either didn't playtest how the new crafting system worked or they simply didn't care. Such a pivotal feature IS a high priority. We are seeing the results of that now.
The game is very easy to beat because developers messed up. Spare me of this 'Skyrim is what you make of it' BS, please. I still like the game but I had to delete 2 characters already as I unintentionally picked combination of perks that took away all the challenge.
Exactly. Bethesda's fault. No way around this. Players will play however they will. Unless they toggle God Mode on, the player deserves NO blame whatsoever. My goodness, what are you people thinking? Bethesda released a broken game, which is not uncommon these days, sadly. Don't forget that these are PROFESSIONALS who are getting paid a LOT of money. Honestly, I see better quality from modders who do it all for free.
I play to find interesting and challenging gameplay, not to explore grapical worlds.
Exactly... again. Skyrim is a game. A role-playing game at that. What should offer more of a challenge than fighting ancient dragons? This isn't "Barbie's Safari" that is supposed to take you into a "dangerous world" and protect you from everything. You are on your own in Skyrim, You're supposed to be in danger as a level 1 character.
People do play for challenges. Ninja Gaiden was brutal even on the default difficulty level. But it was fun and fulfilling as you learned how to survive. You became better or you didn't progress. I'm not saying that Skyrim should be nearly as difficult. But I am saying that there is no reason that there shouldn't be a true "Master" level difficulty. And if you truly want that level of difficulty in game, you CANNOT have something like smithing and/or enchanting making it possible to become so powerful... at least not until you are DEEP into the game. Level-scaling enemies only add to the problems, especially with no super-high-level (or at least intelligent) enemies.
I don't think smithing by itself is all that broken, although it does take the fun out of exploring dungeons.
Dungeon diving is completely unnecessary in Skyrim. I can get better equipment by buying smithing materials from vendors and crafting my own stuff. I can have Glass/Ebony/Daedric equipment without EVER getting into combat (minus the tutorial)... and do so before Elven/Dwemer loot even begins magically appearing in dungeons or shops.