I think they removed the two armor skills, Athletics, and Mysticism. They brought back Enchant and reworked some existing skills so that we have full blown Smithing instead of Armorer and weapons are organised into One-Handed and Two-handed instead of into Blade and Blunt.

Why use perks to replace skills? Isn't the whole point that perks would be big changes which alter gameplay and provide a more unique character. It's kind of pointless to say "we got rid of useless skills!" and then immediately after "we created useless perks to replace useless skills!".

It remains to be seen whether the perks are "useless" or not as compared to having a skill for each type of weapon and activity. The leading argument has always been "What real differences were there between the Long Blade, Axe and Blunt skills in terms of gameplay?".

Wasn't there something about how axes had bleeding damage and blunt weapons ignored some amount of armor? If this is honestly the direction Skyrim is going, it's good. Focus on the weapons differentiating themselves, and some perks that let you do cool things (along the lines of the fighter high level abilities from Baldur's Gate II) with one type of weapon, would be nice. As long as the perks are useful, and you can only pick a limited amount it adds depth and flavour to the character along with new and interesting gamplay.

The problem is, I also think I read somewhere that you can get all the perks in one game, in which case it's just another "level up*88->become GOD" RPG =/.

No, I believe it was Todd Howard himself who said that you can't get all the possible perks on one playthrough (in any case, it's officially confirmed).

I think they may have done this to solve a common complaint. People did not like after Morrowind that they could be a master of attacks with a dagger and completely useless with a sword, or a master of Medium armor but useless in light when in reallity you should have some skill in all armor if you have mastered one. This old system only led to players spending gold to raise skills instead of actually using them. with this new system you still have some skill in simmilar weapons and armor while rewarding you for specializing in one perticular one through having several perks for each that build on each other (example: 1 handed weapon -perk for axe - Bleed dammage for axe 1 point/second for 3 seconds - 2nd perk bleed dammage 3 points/second for 6 seconds[requires perk 1])

Actually I thought that there was a tweet that said you would not be able to get every perk with every character. My guess is that they will have 8+ perks for each of the 18 skills but you will only be able to choose a max of 5 perks for any one skill

My guess would be more like;

Destruction
Alteration
Illusion
Restoration
Conjuration
Enchant
Smithing (includes armorer)
Sneak (possibly includes security)
Athletics (includes acrobatics)
Speechcraft (includes mercantile)
Alchemy
Enchanting
Hand-to-hand
One-handed
Two-handed
Marksman
Heavy Armor
Light Armor

I'm not dividing it into groups (magic skills, melee skills, stealth skills) because in Skyrim you could easily be a jack of all trades, you're not confined to picking only a few major skills. So there's no real purpose for dividing them like that o.o

I think it makes sense that they have a heavy armor and light armor. If you're used to running around in light armor and you try to wear heavier armor, you won't be used to the weight and won't be as effective. So combining them is kind of dumb.

Well from the french mag we now know athletics and acrobatics are simply gone.

Sad...
How Beth decided less skills is better is beyond me. Sure we get a few perks, but that shouldn't replace whole skill sets...

If anything stops me from getting this game, it will be the skills. Perks add layers of depth, not replace them.

18 skills to me isnt a bad thing, and by some of the guesses they can be implemented into others and to me it just is a better thing, cause the ways a couple can be put into one to me is common sense, instead of putting them as individual skills have them as one. Its not simplifying it is merely clever implementation