With 280 or so perks, it leaves us around 15 perks per skill (which there are 18), but also with attributes now gone and presumably much of their effects falling to perks, it maybe anywhere from 10-15 perks per skill, plus the ones for attributes and other random perks. They also said that most of the damage and usefulness for most skills revolve around perks instead of skill level. Does this mean we will only be able to fully master 5 or less skills? It seem very limiting, I know we don't really know how it all fits together and if different perks for a single skill may contradict each other (like one raising damage and lowering condition rate, and another raising condition rate and lowering damage), which I would prefer because it gives more options and makes it so your have more free perks for other skills/perks, negating my worries. I trust Bethesda to make a good system, but I just wish I knew more about how it worked. How do you guys think it will all be handled?

tl:dr - Will perks be spread too thin to max enough skills/attribute affects/random perks with only 50 perks to have a decently powerful character in more than a few things?

That worries me to.

I'm pretty sure you'll also be given certain perks as rewards for finishing quests etc. So don't worry, you'll have more than enough to develop a very unique and effective character.

I think that those perks only covered the ones for skills, im listening to the podcast right now and i think he said, " theres over 280 PLUS perks (including rank ups of previous perks) as of right now for the skills."

so basically there should be more. that was my understanding of it

I share your concern. However, I still can't make the decision of whether this is enough perks or not until we get more information through perk examples or the game releases.

Personally, I believe less is more in this regard. More reason to try different character builds, and no more "Supergod" syndrome of Morrowind and Oblivion, where an individual could have, and do, everything regarding character development.

You're not limited to 50 perks, you can level past 50 and gain more perks it just will take a greater amount of time then it did to get to 50.

Things change all the time, but I'm fairly certain it's confirmed that you stop gaining perks at Lv.50.

No biggie, this will be modded the first week or so.

Well, apparently it's enough if they made it like that. Beth knows the freedom it has given us before, and I don't think they'll turn from full-freedom to almost-completely-limiting
And when I think about it, 50 perks may well be enough (Maybe Belanos is right about this matter, maybe we'll get more while completing quests and such?).

It's not only confirmed, but "confirmed repeateadly."

they said you can level past 50, but very slowly and after 50 you don't recieve perks.

They said there will be 12-20 perks per skill. And I think 50 perks could still be too much.
Which 5 skills do you plan to master? There probably isn't even a point in getting all skills for a perk, for example in 1-handed weapons you will have perks for swords, axes and maces. Unless you want to pick more than one, you'll probably spent only 5-6 perks here.
Once you made up your mind about your character's role, there's really not that much to decide. For example, I want my first character to be a shaman-like mage, with staves, illusion and enchanting magic. Even if I assume that Destruction would enhance my staff damage, and I want to get perks for my armor, that's only 4 skills. And I won't want to get all perks in all skills. Unless I change my mind and think that restoration or alteration are pretty neat and I want to use them too, I won't have to make a lot of choices.
I really think 50 perks will be more than enough.

A bit off topic: A thought just crossed my mind, which we probably can't answer right now because we know too little about the leveling system, but could there be a point where I got all the skills I want maxed, but didn't get to spend all 50 perks I want yet (meaning, I am below level 50)? That would mean I have to level other skills I don't want to use just to level up and get my perk points in other skills ...

Just guessing at how I think it'll work with what we actually know, that sounds just about right to me. One of the things that I didn't like so much about OB was how easy it was to be a master of everything with almost all of your skills and attributes capped.

Hopefully the new system will require you to make real choices about what you want to progress and master and lead to more varied characters.

Then what would be the point of leveling? Other then the health, mana, or stamina boosts, also Todd has said in several interviews that the best part of leveling is gaining a new perk. Why would they allow you to level past 50 but then take out the best part of doing so. But I could be wrong just remember him saying we can level past 50 and still gain perks.

Perks don't stop at level 50, it's nothing but a level they're aiming for where most high level characters end up (like 30 was in Oblivion). It's not even a soft cap, it's not a cap at all actually. At least, not from all the information I've gathered which is pretty much everything there is.

That being said, the amount of perks might be a bit limiting, but we'll have to see how it turns out. It's a hard balance to hit, they need to keep the amount of perks a single character can get low enough to make characters really diverse but high enough to be able to specialize in several things. Nobody said so before but you also get to increase your 'attributes' (health/magicka/stamina) each level which also will help you diversify.

So in short, it's a legitimate concern but hard to speculate on since we really need the game before we can judge it. It can go either way.

Todds statement is quite cryptic to me:

Quotation:
'Howard then went on to say that "You level faster in the beginning and then it slows down."
While the level cap is 50, Howard continued on by saying that the game's "mathematical" level cap --or hard cap-- is "probably somewhere in the 70s."'
http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/85685/bethesda-explains-skyrims-level-cap/

EDIT:
thx @ GorbadPS3 for clarifying

I believe we will see much more unique characters with this system and I really like the max of 50 because more than that would remove the uniqueness, bit by bit.

Perk level cap = 50
Max level cap = 70

The ability to "do everything" in TES games is one of the main attractors for me. Your character boils down to what you practice, instead of some arbitrary wall preventing you from holding a shield because you happen to have some arcane knowledge. Besides which, TES is not a multiplayer game, so the idea of the "fairness" of a character is pretty much out the window.

I'm hoping 50 odd perks will be enough to make you powerful in your chosen role but not good at everything
Really being able to fully master 5 skills should be enough to make a powerful mage or warrior if thats what you want
If you choose a more jack of all trades character you gain flexibility but aren't quite as powerful a warrior or mage as someone whos taken a more focused approach
Seems fair enough to me

If you choose a hybrid like a battlemage you can still be a master of destruction but you probably won't spend many perks on illusion

Well you have to remember that within each perk there ar upgrades for the perk. So i think that will balance that out. if you really want to specialize a character, you can. but i think a majority of people wont just have 4 main skills, but use a wide variety of skills. Because we dont have a limiting system anymore, any work towars a skilll, works towards your level as well.

The Simple fact that Players want more perks before the game is out, is indicative of how successful the system is going to be at encouraging multiple playthroughs.

Totally agree here. I think it IS better that we get less. The individuality and uniqueness of builds is interesting. Not enough perks and you feel generic and basic. Too many and you become god (and there's a big chance that your character is probably not unique). Somewhere in the middle is best, and I think that's what we'll be getting.

You shouldn't get too powerful, though. Like in Morrowind, for instance.

I main a battlemage: one handed, block, armorer/crafting, destruction, alchemy, enchanting (which I may leave to the professionals, ie: enchanter NPC's, good place to use excess gold late game), those alone might max out my perks, not to mention the attribute effect perks I'd want like increased speed or jumping ability, or any random perks that might fit my character.