I created dozens of characters and played for hundreds of hours and I now find that I can create a pretty decent looking character in OB. Sure they still look a little like a reanimated meat sack but I think they look about as good as they can be without mods. In Fallout 3 and NV however, I have, maybe, only created a handfull of 'non monsterous potato' people. For some reason I just can't get on with it.
I blame the lighting in the sewers/prison compared to lighting outside for disparities in appearance in OB.

A large variety of pre-made stuff will ensure that the characters look exactly the same as in the creation, the creation in Oblivion had the bad light effects that gave the wrong perspective of your character along with an odd angle.

I really hope we get proper lighting when making them this time. In Oblivion we got a single light source that made the entire face dark and gritty looking- but once out of the sewers everything changed radically.

I think something that would be cool would be: An edit option for height and ears. I don't like the way Wood Elves look and very much wish I could change them to make them taller and not make their ears as obnoxious so I can play a human. For now I'm settling with a Nord because of two reasons: 1. They are cool, 2. They have pretty decent stat bonuses and racials.

I would like that height & ear edit though.

I have to say, my Oblivion characters looked pretty much the same in third person as they did when I finished formulating them.