I get this feeling that people see this fancy new Havok tech and think it automatically = better animation. That's not necessarily true.
While a new and improved pipeline can make a big difference in efficiency, it won't matter if your animator doesn't know what he's doing. I can have a whole kitchen full of exquisite food and butcher it if I don't know how to cook.

Good animation has existed for a very long time with limited technology in older games - the issue is primarily the skill of the animator.

I'm not dissing the game or trying to be pessimistic, but I'm slightly worried about the emphasis on Havok - I hope some of the new people on the crew are dedicated animators with real talent for the position.

Judging by what I believe is the only in-game footage we have so far (the sphere dwemer construct) the animations look drastically improved. Hopefully the same fidelity we saw in that clip will carry over to the human rigs.

Keep up the great work BETH!