I also didn't like the staff enchanter, I thought it would be something where we could combine diifferent effects into one staff, like staff of fireballs of paralysis, which shoots flaming fireballs that paralyze targets.
The main questline was also lacking, but the exploration on the island makes up for that. Miraaks stuff also was awful, like I thought his sword would have a whipping effect that did a good range on enemies, but it doesnt do that.
Spears and werebears also felt insulting a bit as the community has asked for these things for a while. We even saw them in action at the DICE panel last year, why we didn't get them is beyond me.