First you suggest health regen then say you play COD. You'r not winning any sympathy kid.

This is the worst idea i've ever heard.

Leave healing to potions, sleeping and magic. I don't think it should regain by itself.

Not the worst, this is the same guy suggested getting rid of Argonians and Kahjiit the other day. Someone is stirring, methinks.

Firstly, I think the OP makes a valid point that combat has previously been too drawn-out and, well, kinda trivial.

I think the following things contribute to this:

1) Health raising by a LOT when you level up, enemies' health raising in a similar way.
2) Level-scaling all enemies so much that you're never actually worried about going into melee combat with anyone.
3) Very effective blocking - even if you hold down the block button constantly, enemies cannot find a way around your block.
4) Very low ranged weapon damage, so that you're not scared to approach a bunch of archers in the open.
5) Running backwards.

Secondly, I agree that combat should be more deadly, i.e. a couple of hits with a sword in the face should kill you.

I think that armour should play a much bigger role here - base health should be a LOT less, even at high level, but wearing a full suit of armour should soak up a lot of damage. The blocking SKILL should be more imporant too, at low block it should be easy for opponents to get around your block - maybe with a nice alternate thrust animation so that it's obvious that our blocking skill is not good enough.

Bethesda have already nerfed 5). It sounds like they have also increased ranged weapon deadliness, and level scaling will definitely be better than Oblivion (probably in the same way that influenza is definitely better than lung cancer, but still...). I would like it if they solved 1), by making base health and health increase per level much smaller. Maybe have some perks that give you 'natural armour' (Son Of A Troll?), but most characters should be based around dodging and quick kills, defensive magic, ranged attacks, sneak kills, or full armour.

Thirdly, health auto-regen... an interesting suggestion, but I think it's too simplistic for ES games. Alchemy, restoration, being well-prepared for the situation you have got yourself into, sometimes choosing to avoid combat to save on health potions... these things are important for the FEEL of ES games, and should be an important part of the CHALLENGE, by which I mean that it shouldn't just be a game about fighting.

I would prefer it if they went in the opposite direction, with the same end-goal (more dangerous combat) in mind:

Include crippling (like in New Vegas hardcoe mode) that doesn't heal with rest or potions, and requires high-level restoration magic or specialized, expensive 'doctor's bag' style items to heal.

Have some penalty for drinking potions in battle. I suggest a 'drinking' animation that takes a few seconds, where the character can only walk and cannot block / attack.

1) Not enough info to say with certainty.
2) They've mentioned that they're going with a more Fallout3-style scaling which, while not perfect, should be better than Oblivion.
3) Potentially fixed. Blocking is done by pressing both attack buttons, and holding them down causes you to bash. I'd assume when you bash you leave yourself open to attack, so you can't just hold up your shield forever.
4) Bows are much deadlier, though slower.
5) No more running backwards (at least, not as fast as forward).

It could work if there were like a separate health bar.

Say you have Health, Vitality and Stamina. Health doesn't regenerate, but Stamina and Vitality do. Whenever you use Stamina (or not Stamina, whatever) or Vitality, your Health is used. If an enemy gives 5-6 strikes in quick succession - or 3-4 critical strikes - it could send Vitality to zero, causing the player to die/lose consciousness. Strikes could simultaneously deplete health too, so combat doesn't risk going indefinitely. But With a variation of Auto-Regenerating Health, it'll add a more desperate feel to combat.

Playing a character without the ability to cast magic now; yes with silence ability, I gave her a scripted effect restore health 10 once every 60 second effect to heal fall damage and rat bites so she don’t have to drink healing potions for minor random damage.
Effect is worthless in combat as it is to low effect as happens to rare.
Would not bother for any other characters as anybody can use a novice restore health spell who also raise their restoration skill.

Had a restore health 1 each second enchantment in Morrowind on some characters of the same reason, did not want to waste valuable magic on scratches.

I don't normally like the term dumbing down, it's applied to any change or simplification, good or bad, less skills, more brutal combat, the perks system, fast travel, you name it, someone says it's dumbing down. But regenerating health really can be described in this way ( and healing on wait, imho ). We have potions, alchemy, beds to sleep, and a whole school of magic devoted to healing. Why bring a nonsensical mechanic into the equation.
Cuts and scratches may get infected if not treated, why should they heal while you are moving through a potentially hostile area, anything other than full health would more likely deteriorate over time.

Health regeneration ? Give me a break.
That "feature" destroyed the original good old gameplay of FPSs and made them loose their feeling.
And now you say to implement that in a RPG ?
That would mean the destruction of RPGs.
There is already a game that has health regeneration and is at one part RPG and this is Mass Effect.
But Mass Effect is more of a 3rd person shooter than an RPG,and don't forget that Mass Effect had health regeneration from the beggining.
If health regeneration Halo style would be added at TES,it would alienate the fans.
It's just not "TESish."
If you want to auto-regenerate health then choose the right birthsign and that's all.

Having a extremely high metabolism isn't less realistic than going from dying to full health in one second by drinking some wonder potion, this is not about realism it's about what would be best suited and adds the most to gameplay. Personally I hate having to stuff my character with potions and crap or sleep everytime there's been a bigger fight, it draws me away from my objectives, however I wouldn't want to have some COD regen either, that takes away the risks and dangers of fighting, idk what I want but maybe a really really slow regeneration would be good, it'd allow you to keep playing without having to stock up and risk running out on potions or be dependent on finding a bed, potions would still work and be useful as a boost, but it'd be possible to catch some breath after a fight for as long as needed in order to continue, or just advance slower if the resistance is too tough. I'm pretty sure Fable had this, some augmentations allowed slow regen and I really liked that, it didn't make you immortal in anyway, but you wouldn't have to abort quests because of getting hurt to seek medical attention. I hope atleast that slow regen will be a perk in Skyrim.

Actually you basically were immortal in Fable and it's not my favorite rpg to say the least, but the slow regen was good, that's all I meant.

assassins creed combat was pitiful. i only died when i fell off a building. no challenge. lol

Well, basically they could do it like in Divinity 2. basically, it restores like 1HP over 10 seconds, which could take quite a while to make it back to full health.
So it would make fights challenging, but wouldn't force you to do anything if you're just shopping in the city with low health or something(which also makes sense since wounds heal naturally over time... just not in 2 seconds like in COD)
It would also give you a good excuse to take a break when you get to a camp, which would be awesome for RPing

But still, I think the onld system was ok anyways