Well, the game is pretty sweet, but I think that it could use some more flavor to give it some more depth and make lot of people more happy (more options = more people will like it = more people will be happy = more money for Bethesda = better TES VI).

HC mode should be check-boxes and should allow you to pick ones you want and ones you don't, and here are some things I would like to see in HC mode:

-Equipment degradation:
Simple, in order to repair your equipment, you will need ether to use grindstone/work bench (depending what you wish to repair) and use 1 material (ie. 1 steel ingot for repairing steel sword) for repairing an item (which will also improve your Smith a bit), or you can simply pay the blacksmith to do it (it should cost you a bit more, like 1.25-1.5 price of materials used for repairing your item).
Still, equipment degradation should be slow so you don't find your sword in need of repairing after few swings.

-Weight to the weightless:
Simple, make all the currently weightless things have weight (including gold).

-Advanced FT:
Well, FT for non-casual players still svcks.
Not all major cities have a carriage like they should (even Winterhold should have it), and even with that it would still be tricky a bit since map is pretty damn large.
So, I personally think that Bethesda should add a carriage to every major city and spice up FT in general for non-casual players, and this is how spicing up should look like.

When you wish to FT from A to B via map, you'll be able to do it normally, but there should be a window with an option.
That option should allow you to pick are you going to take roads or take a shortcut across mountains/forests/etc. (taking a road will be safer and with less chances of being ambushed by enemies, but will take a longer time to travel, and taking a shortcut will take a less time to travel, but will have larger chances of being ambushed and having your FT interrupted).
One should also have to supply himself/herself with food and drink since you won't be able to FT in case you don't have enough supplies with you, so you will be able to choose:
- Are you going to use carriages which offer somewhat limited and need to pay a decent amount of gold (I would personally increase carriage services to 50-100 gold), but safe FT without needing supplies.
- Are you going to FT via roads, be safer (but still not completely safe), but spend more time on traveling meaning that you need more supplies for your travel.
- Are you going to take a shortcut and use less supplies, but with greater risk of getting ambushed by enemies.
- Or are you simply not going to use FT at all and travel on foot or riding a horse.

Also, I would like to add that in case you own a horse, FT time should be reduced (that means that supplies needed and chances of getting ambushed are automatically smaller).
And last, but not least, there should be camping.
If travel is too long, player will need to camp also in order to get some sleep.
During sleep, chances of getting ambushed are increased, meaning that player will want to rest at the inn or his house before he goes on a journey in case he wishes to avoid camping on the road.
Player will also need to have a sleeping bag which will have 15-20 weight and is needed if player wishes to camp during FT or just take a nap in case he is sleepy and has no place to rest nearby.
Sleeping in a sleeping bag will only remove penalties from being tired, but will NOT add any bonus like sleeping in a bed will.

Also, penalties for not eating/drinking/sleeping will affect your max HP/SP/MP and their regeneration.
If player avoids eating/drinking/sleeping for a whole week, he/she will die.

-Compass options:
I always thought that GPS on compass in Oblivion was a bit too much, but now also having a radar on it simply crosses the line.
There should be options which will allow us to turn on/off quest markers, GPS and enemy radar on the compass.

Before you people start yelling that you can turn off quest markers by unchecking the quest, let me tell your right away that it's not a valid option!
Reason for that is that (un)checking the quest should be used to mark a quest you are doing so it keeps things more tidy and easier for you to find a quest you are doing.
Also, I personally think that there should be a quest bin of which I will talk more in this thread.

-Real time inventory:
Looting, checking your inventory, lockpicking and everything like that is real time.
Only way to pause is to enter the main menu (esc).

-Eating/drinking/sleeping:
Pretty simple, if player doesn't eat/drink/sleep enough each day, he will start to get weaker.
If a day passes with player not doing one of the 3, player will suffer -25% regeneration to HP/SP/MP.
Each day of ignoring your characters needs will increase that negative regeneration by another 25%.

Well, maybe I left out something, but you are free to criticize it and tell me way in order to improve this idea.
Also, please be open-minded. ^_^

Also remember that comments like 'Wait for mods.' are not allowed here unless you put some good reasons behind that will be considered spam and flame-bait and will be reported.

Add Hypothermia.

I would add a reduced inventory size.

Srsly, running around with hundreds of flasks of potions and poisons in your pocket isn't realistic. Same with books and other misc items.

I think that best solution to that is to add volume to items so you need to have enough space to place all the stuff and be strong enough to carry all the weight.
I had thought of this before, but still have to think of a way to make it fit Skyrim.

I'm hoping a modder will eventually find a way to bring back attributes, and then base carryweight on strength.

Personally, the 'full' hardcoe experience would be a little tedious for me in some respects, but I fully support weapon degradation. What I would suggest about degradation though for blades is that their damage reduces and can be fixed with a grindstone before their condition hits zero, but if they actually break by hitting zero they should need to be reforged, just with a lower resource cost than making the item from scratch.

I don't have modding experience, but removal of attributes is what motivated me to give it a shoot.
I already have pretty damn good concept in my head how should they get implemented (or at least I hope it is).


That's why I said that there should be check boxes so people can pick aspects of HC mode they like.


Interesting...
I'll give it a thought.

I would get this mod instantly!