I won't miss essential NPC's if we get rid of them.
Thats still in--
And what, you want the main plotline characters to be able to die?? The "essential" status is not only a game balancer, but it was very useful for companions if you didn't want them to drop dead.

Otherwise..
I will not miss the static world of Morrowind, where NPC's just stood around outside
I will not miss the less static, but still somewhat static world of Oblivion either. Also, I won't miss just about every dungeon looking like a duplicate of the last 5 dungeons I had already been in.