I'd prefer a quality over quantity approach to companions, myself. I'd rather have a reletively small number of available companions each of whom is a distinct character who I have a reason to like, than lots of companions who are just glorified pack mules or meat shields. And while the two don't always have to be mutually exclusive in this regard, usually, they are, the more companions you have in the game, the more work is involved with giving unique personalities, backstories, and character development to each of them, and generally, this will result in the developers cutting down on the detail that goes into each of them. Thus, as a general rule, more available companions equels less uniqueness for each of them. of course, this is just a general rule, factors like the skill of the writers and how much focus companions are given in game development will also play a part. But reducing the number of companions in the game would allow Bethesda to put more detail into each one.
Regardless, though, I don't expect companions to be that important a part of the game, so in the end, if I don't like how they're done, I'll just not use them. And regardless of the depth of individual companions, I hope Bethesda makes their AI better than follower AI tended to be in past Elder Scrolls games, I don't want them getting stuck on rocks, running in the way of my attacks, or just generally being stupid.
Why do you people consider New Vegas relevant for the direction of TES? It is Fallout and it is not made by Bethesda. I see many posts in Skyrim forums where New Vegas is given example along Oblivion and Fallout 3 of "signs of improvement" but improvement of what? Of past Obsidian games?
It isn't, the direction New Vegas takes by no means must reflect on the Elder Scrolls. At most, you might see that a certain aspect is a step forward or a step back from Fallout 3, since it is still a Fallout game, but beyond that, it's independant from the development direction of the Elder Scrolls, whether you consider it from the standpoint of the series or the developer. Still, that certainly by no means indicates that Bethesda can't take ideas from New Vegas, in areas that it did well. If I ever say "They should do what new Vegas did." I mean it in that way.