I mean I've made dozens of characters and im pretty sick of the place. I have it memorized (I know the puzzle combos and such). But does anyone ever go back at like level 50 or so?

No! Oh god no.

I know that place off-by-heart. It even annoyed me the very first time I cleared it.

Because Todd Howard solved the only bloody puzzle in the game for us!

I haven't been there in a while...I only go there when instructed to for the main quest, which I also haven't even started in a long time, across several characters.

I LOVE BLEAK FALLS BARROW!!!

I haven't been there multiple times in 1 playthrough though. I'll have to do that some time.

Never had any reason to so no but maybe I will someday

I don't. The fact that the main quest forces me to visit this damned cavern makes any shine or interest in it null and void.

Once on occasion. Just to see if the enemies changed.

I could probably go through that dungeon blindfolded, drunk, and by using my feet.

Don't see the point in going back really.

I hate the place, have it memorized and the fact that you have to go through there for two quests makes it annoying.

I always kill two dragons with one stone... a dragon stone. I don't want to kill my feathered friends... unless they are hagravens... Can we please get some sixy harpies in the next TES game?

Yeah... and if you ever want to start the MQ with more than one character. I have three or four of those, and yes, it did get boring...

Although I have to admit that I always took the dragon stone tablet thingy the first (and only) time I was there with my characters. First time was pure luck. I was there for the golden claw, yet I got two quest items on the same visit.

It's not really luck. 'Skyrim is all about going where you want, and doing what you want.' So say when you get to Riverwood you want to do a side-quest or two before doing the MQ. Ohh, I could help this guy find his golden claw! That's how it was set up, you can't even say no when he asks you retrieve the claw for him.

Apparently those two blondes who you overhear mentioning Arvel and the claw respawned and repeated that conversation hundreds of hours after I first went to Bleak Fall Barrows.

Lol, was the dark elf there again?

Nope

Yeah, I guess many got the dragon stone on their first visit to BFB without knowing what it is yet, and I bet it was intentional. It is so likely for players to go to Riverwood first. The town is also set as a sort of tutorial: you get free goods from the Stormcloak/Imperial family, you get to work on a forge... The dialogue is very tutorial-ish there, and it still continues with Farengar when you ask about how to use the enchanting table. (I don't remember if the tutorial kicks in for the first time you speak to whomever who offers enchanting, though - like the forge and alchemy tutorials do, IIRC).

However, you don't have to do the quests you get. You can also cancel the dialogue with the shopkeeper. There is an option not to do it, but it still would've been better if there was a dialogue option to decline it. Would've been less showing it down your throat, and would've added some roleplayability.

This. Unless I get sent by a radiant quest to a place I've already "cleared" I never go back to any of them. Besides, after all the characters I've made, I've got Bleakfalls memorized anyways. The thought of going there twice on one character is almost unbearable.

It seems like TES is falling into the habit of having a "starting area." I know Morrowind had one too, but Oblivion didn't. I completely agree with you about Riverwood feeling like a tutorial. I call the road from Riverwood to Whiterun "The Rocky Road to Whiterun." Basically meaning that it's so bloody obvious, there's nowhere else to go. I don't like how the MQ drags you into half the guilds in Skyrim either.

Yeah, somehow, the liberty there no doubt is in the game feels somehow restricted. The main quest feels like it's so "on rails" somehow. At first I admired how they managed to add this "dynamic feeling" to a story on an open-world game, but soon it started to bore me, at least after I had played them all through once. You should feel more free, and dialogue options and the STARTED: NEW QUEST screens shouldn't restrict the actual gameplay decisions nearly as much as they do. It's surely hard, balancing between a dynamic, urgent-feeling end-of-the-world story and getting the feeling you can do whatever you wish, at any time. I am a fan of this more peaceful pace and less on-rails style (of Morrowind) myself; I'd cut away from the dynamic, Hollywood movie-like feel of questlines instead.

Off-topic, but Oblivion kinda has a starting area too if you ask me. After the prison dungeon that is obviously your watered-down and eased-up-for-the-new-generation-of-gamers Daggerfall-ish starting dungeon, both best dungeons in the game, Vilverin and Sideways Cave, are within eyesight. I hear players are bound to find these dungeons very early in the game and go dungeon dwelling (although I missed them both and went straight to Imperial City). Don't tell me these two nearest dungeons just happen to be some of the largest and have the most hand-placed details in the game... They're there to make the game feel good at start. Apparently they were created with most care, and/or very early in the development process when they were still far from the deadline. I'd say the vicinity of these three dungeons, and of course The Imperial City, are the "starting area" of Oblivion. Agreed that the Helgen-Riverwood-Whiterun-connection is such for Skyrim. The NPCs alone in Riverwood and Whiterun are most well-crafted and personal in the game (again tells you they were created early, and/or with most care). You can conveniently find three Standing Stones on your way. There are some nice bandit camps, treasure maps, etc. right nearby... All there to make good first impression. Same as with Oblivion. Then, the level of detail slowly degrades when you move towards the edges (and later developed areas?) of the map.

Not yet.

If you don't talk to Alvor first, the first blacksmith you talk to will still have the smithing tutorial?

I think so, yes. I remember seeing the "need help around the forge?" dialogue option with Adrianne in Whiterun. Isn't it the same with alchemy? Enchanting? I'd say only enchanting is exclusive, that it's only with Farengar. That smithing and alchemy are with anyone you first talk to (or at least some that are likely to be the first, like Adrianne).

EDIT: Ah, it seems UESPWiki lists the tutorials. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Blacksmithing_Tutorial, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Alchemy_Tutorial and http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Enchanting_Tutorial. So, three NPCs can host the smithing and alchemy ones, but only Farengar can be your guide to enchanting.