There some confirmation and a bit of new info regarding the skills available in Skyrim from the articles out this week all referencing the demo in Park City, Utah.

I've heard it mentioned here before, but it has been unequivocally confirmed that Acrobatics and Athletics are OUT. Also, in the http://www.gamerevolution.com/manifesto/bfg-2011--the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-first-look-5185, Heavy Armor was mentioned as a skill. This necessarily implies the presence of Light Armor also.

For those unfamiliar, in the same way that Oblivion had 21 skills in 3 categories, there are 18 skills altogether in Skyrim. There are 6 skills in each of 3 categories: Combat, Magic, Stealth.

We already know all of the Magic skills. They can be seen in the http://cdnstatic.gamesas.com/akqacms/files/tes/screenshots/SkillsMenu_wLegal.jpg. Alchemy remains a skill, but has been moved to the Stealth category. Mysticism is OUT. Enchanting is IN. The leaves us with:

• Alteration
  
• Conjuration
  
• Destruction
  
• Enchanting
  
• Illusion
  
• Restoration

For the Stealth skills, we've learned that Alchemy is IN and Acrobatics is OUT. We also know from the http://cdnstatic.gamesas.com/akqacms/files/tes/screenshots/SkillsMenu_wLegal.jpg that Speechcraft is IN (see the far left).
Todd has specifically mentioned Archery as one of 3 weapon skills. Sneaking and Lockpicking have been described as activities, but I'm not aware that they have been specifically mentioned as skills. But it seems highly unlikely that either Sneak or Lockpicking (Security) would not be a skill. Light Armor can be inferred from the existence of Heavy Armor as mentioned.
Therefore, it appears Mercantile gets pitched!

• Alchemy
  
• Light Armor
  
• Marksman
  
• Security
  
• Sneak
  
• Speechcraft

For the Combat skills, a few things are certain. Blade and Blunt are OUT. One-Handed and Two-Handed are IN. Athletics is OUT. Smithing is IN, which makes it virtually impossible for Armorer not to be OUT. Also, as mentioned previously, it appears Heavy Armor is IN. This gives us 4 out of 6. The new ability to 'bash' with shields has been described. Also, Todd has said that blocking will rely more on player timing than previously. I'm not aware of any certain statement about a Block skill, but it seems very likely to be in. Finally, for a 6th Combat skill, I can only guess it will be Hand-to-Hand. I hope so, but I have seen no mention of it whatsoever. In fact, when Todd was discussing combat, Hand-to-Hand was markedly absent from the conversation. Still, I don't know what else could be the 6th Combat skill. Therefore...

• Block
  
• Hand-to-Hand
  
• Heavy Armor
  
• On-Handed
  
• Smithing
  
• Two-Handed

Have I erred?
Please correct where necessary.

I'm disappointed about the heavy/light armor thing. I thought the whole point of reducing the number of skills was to combine similar ones and let perks handle specialization.

His list has a lot of speculation in it. There is a topic on this already. Use the search feature or post sources for each skill so that we all believe you :hubbahubba:

I think the 18 skills in Skyrim will be QUITE different from this...

I was surprised for the same reason. I wonder how important it became for them to maintain the 3-way balance between Combat, Magic, and Stealth. Such a desire might have been a big driver for the inclusion or exclusion of some skills.

:blink:

If you think these are wrong, I'm very interested to know what you think is wrong and why you think so. I'm especially interested because you think the skill set will be QUITE different.

Is the block skill confirmed? I really imagine block might be better suited as perks within the weapon/combat skills.
I see a difference between blocking with a shield and blocking with a 2 handed sword.

a block perk was confirmed way back as elemental resistance while blocking...

Ah thanks. Don't recall it, my bad.
So my initial hypothesis was that block was a perk within other skills, rather than its own skill is wrong.

In that case, I wonder if within the block skill we will find a perk for 1handed and a separate perk for 2handers that provide bonuses.