Sure, the system wasn't perfect in Oblivion. I especially hated the way endurance worked with the HP, so that it gave you 1/10th of your endurance per level. It forced you to level endurance as quickly as you could to maximize your HP. And don't get me started on the stat multipliers. oh god those were horrible.
Thankfully there was a mod that fixed the stat multipliers, so that leveling your [insert skill] enough times would give you points in [insert attribute]. There was a mod for this in morrowind too. I really enjoyed this mod and it made sense that your attributes should level alongside your skills.
Unfortunately I couldn't find a mod (probably because I didn't look hard enough) that fixed the endurance and intelligence annoyance. But it could have been fixed.
why do I miss attributes? Because they governed your characters stats. It's really helped you develop and customize your character to greater depths.
Strength helped you do more melee damage and carry more objects. This makes sense (although, I wish it had contributed a little to ranged damage as well). And your total fatigue (stamina).
Agility increased your fatigue and bow damage. Not all that realistic on the bow damage, but it was essential to balance gameplay mechanics, so I understand why it did so.
Speed was my favorite. Unfortunately in Skyrim, there is no difference in speed of your character and there is no way to change it. WHAT THE HELL?!
Intelligence governed your MP and effected the magic spells governed by intelligence (correct me if I'm wrong on the second part). Essential for mages, who logically would require vast amounts of intelligence to cast freakin magic. godamn.
Willpower effected the governing skills(I think), as well as magicka regeneration. And your total fatigue. Not bad. I could have sworn it affected your resistance to spells, but maybe I'm wrong.
Endurance of course governed HP and your total fatigue.
Personality was pretty useless. I never put any point into it. But hey, that doesn't mean you should scrap it. I'm sure there's a way to make it useful. In fallout I know they changed it to "charisma" and it governed how many companions you could carry around. I'm sure this would have much benefits in skyrim.
Luck wasn't all that useful either, I wish they had implemented a critical hit system governed by luck (unless I'm mistaken and they did). They did in fallout, I know that much.
Now we have some lazy, boring crap where you choose HP, MP, or Stamina each time you level up. No way to change your speed. One of the things I miss most in this dumbed down beta test.
Why were these removed? This was one of the best features in developing your character. I hate it so much that they have been scrapped, instead of improved on.
Do you know what I think they did? I think they got incredibly lazy and "streamlined" the game..