I've played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim extensively. I greatly enjoy all three games, but I feel theres one aspect of the game thats in Morrowind that would've really enhanced the game play of both Oblivion and Skyrim.

Its how Fast Travel was handled in Morrowind, and yes, there was fast travel in Morrowind. Silt Striders, boats, and The Mage Guild Teleporters. There were also "Mark & Recall", "Almisive intervention", "Divine Intervention" spells.
In Morrowind, when you were issued a quest, the quest giver would always tell you "North west of Vivic, or East of Balmora, south of Ald'ruhn" The in-game travel system had a way for you to get to nearly every corner of the map, so some towns/cities/outpost naturally became the starting point for most adventures and quest.
Me as a player in Morrowind, I'd move into the Town I was questing in, but used "Mark and Recall" To return to my main base, to unload any thing I felt was valuable.

I personally don't have this feeling in either Oblivion or Skyrim. I wasn't attached to any of the towns in Oblivion, not one. I didn't care for them, the people who populated them, the beggars and guards that patrolled them. I just didn't care. You went to towns and cities and accumulated quest, and left, because there wasn't any other reason to be there.

Skyrim for me is a little different. You got a free house pretty early in the game, (depending on how fast you do the first tiny step of the main quest, maybe 30 minutes after starting the game). So I naturally have an attachment to Whiterun. I can honestly say its my home.

As for every other hold/town in Skyrim? No personal attachments. I Really like the aesthetics of the world, and Markath in my opinion is visually stunning, and diverse. But as for its citizens, its shops, its tavern and shrines? I have no reason to go there, no reason to show up and spend my gold/worship there.

In Morrowind, the way the travel system worked, you ended up getting attached to a lot of the Travel Ports. Balmora, Ald'ruhn, different districts of Vivic, Telvanni, Caldera, Gnisis, Ebonheart, and many others. Towns and outpost were constantly the platforms for the start of adventure. Because of that, we'd constantly use shop keepers, pay to use shrines, and overall just get side tracked in the towns.

I feel this is whats missing from Oblivion and Skyrim. We don't need a point click fast travel system, we just need an actual ingame infastructure for quick travel.

I understand that Skyrim has carriages, and that Fast Travel is entirely player optional. I feel these are moot points, because I do use the carriage system in skyrim, more than I fast travel. I try to use the Holds as the base of all my quest/travel objectives. The sad thing is, I hardly enter the holds unless a quest brings me there, after I've already explored the place. Every town offers the same things in terms of goods. I honestly have more of an attachment to the orc holds than I do nord towns. I constantly revisit mines to get more ore. I don't constantly visit Markath to, well.. what is there to do in Markath that I can't do in Whiterun?

I Just feel that if Oblivion and Skyrim both had an actual ingame method of travel, the game world would seem much more alive and interactive. A player doesn't need to see their impact on the game world to get attached and involved in it. They just need to find themselves there time and again to find an attachment.

I hope in the next Elder Scrolls game, and even Fallout game, Bethesda impliments some form of ingame fast travel. I don't care if they keep Fast travel as it is.. I just hope they actually invest in an ingame travel so theres at least something there

I know Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim are not the same game. And I still enjoy all three games, but I feel this part of Morrowind could have really benefited the other two games.

Sometimes the location of a guild is what attaches a player to a city in Skyrim or Oblivion.

Yar, I can agree with that. For the Fighters guild in Oblivion, I remember being in Anvil for quite a while.
In Skyrim, even though the guilds actually do have a set town/hold they operate out of, as a player you don't really stay there that much. But that could just be because of how fast you can blow through the quest line, if you don't pace yourself

True enough. This problem could have been avoided if the Radiant AI/Quests worked more like we all had hoped.

I like Oblivion's/Skyrim's more, and would only like Morrowind's more if both you actually get to watch the journey instead of the same load screen and also if you still get to travel to any place you have already been to on your map.

how many days was it since i saw this thread again? good post tough OP