Will we be able to take the horns off the Dovahkiin helmet and smith them onto a glass helmet? Does smithing include taking parts from other armor or decorations like a dragon tooth and smithing it onto a pauldron? Can we add to armor like adding mudcrab shell to a steel plate?

No

i doubt it, but nobody knows alot about smithing as of now.

Due to Bethesda's odd crusade to add as many "shiny" things to the game as possible I'm sure a system like what you described will be in...of course it will probably just be a list of aesthetic options like turning on/off shoulder armor and on/off glass helmet horns. Just my speculation, of course...

In one of the articles from quakecon hands-on, editor wrote that he was able to put some special stitching to strengthen his leather armour, im just hoping that comes with new skin / texture for that armour

I'm not sure about making horned, glass helmets, but it could be like enchanting where you can break down items. Perhaps if you need some steel for crafting yourself a nice steel helmet, you can break down that extra pair of steel boots you have and recycle its steel for other uses. Just throwing out ideas that aren't as far-fetched based on other things that are confirmed.

Well...armor customisation is in. I doubt you'll be able to take pieces from a certain armor and add it to another armor though but rather collect raw items and then create a new piece which you can add to a compatible armor :shrug:

I wouldn't count on being able to alter the physical appearance of armor through smithing. I recall Todd stating somewhere that you could "improve" your armor and weapons (or was that only weapons?), but that might only refer to improving the stats.

"Workbenches allow you to upgrade items through six different stages. I spent some time and materials upgrading my armor (I imagine my Nord sitting there in the dim firelight, adding a double-stitch to his jerkin) so that I'd take less damage, and then it was back into Skyrim."

By Kevin Kelly (g4tv.com) about his hands-on at quakecon

http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/64714/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/articles/75197/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim-hands-on-preview-time-flies-when-youre-dual-wielding-fire-spells/

Compare http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/character2k_kotaku.jpg to http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/art/full/3279351.jpg. Same armor yet the 2nd one has pauldrons and the orange belts.

Thats a nice catch, i havent noticed that before.

Good observation, I hadn't noticed that before. This means that they've either created different variations of the same armor or that the armors can be customized.

This may be possible, but you shouldn't get your hopes up.

True. I hope it's the latter

Closed for clean up and the two of you posting off topic to argue, take it to PM where rules still apply or drop it.

Reopened. Please don't use this to continue the argument between two members flaming one another.

The kind of customization he suggests would require INSANE amounts of work. It's one thing to add 6 levels of customization to each piece of armor (and we don't know if each of these levels adds a new appearance). Now, there are more types of armor in this game than Oblivion. Now, he is suggesting that you would be able to combine all of these in all types of assorted way, plus add random drops from creatures to the armor. The number of combinations that would represent is mind boggling even if you estimated it very conservatively. There is a limit to development and clearly the amount of work required for this would not be done (especially on such an already mind boggling large game). It doesn't make sense. If there was something this incredible in the game, they would be talking about it. It would be a prime selling point for the game.

In summation, my point being that the type of customization that is being suggested is quite fantastic. It would require tons of work and it has never been done before. Based on that, if it were in the game, they would be talking about it quite a bit.

(I hope this post is acceptable. I have no intention of causing problems)

As far i we know we cant use stitching to upgrade and such if we can't now just mod it in.

Agreed. I don't know about it being a main selling point though, I mean it would definitely get mentioned in interviews but dragons take that title

sounds cool..so the higher the smithing level the better stuff you can make?

Probably, and you can make higher level items, maybe you progress from iron to steel and so on

If this isn't possible, modders get to work planning this one out.