I personally do. I wish that they would have fleshed out the trees in Skyrim more, such as having more perks specific to weapon types instead of general melee combat improvements.

I think it can lead to that, and I hope it does.

I believe so.

I expect skills + perks to be significantly better in TES VI. Bethesda now have a lot of data on what works and what doesn't, how to balance skills, what perks/skills are useful, whether having perk trees in addition to mere skill prerequisites is a good idea, etc.

I'm not sure if we'll see an end to the generic "+20% damage" type perks, but overall I think TES VI will feature more interesting/unique perks, better balanced skills, and more intuitive design.

As much as I would love for that to happen it wont due to Bethesda's new fanbase.

you seem Very sure of this. o.o
I'm sure even their new simple-minded fans would still approve of this, they like the words "Bigger".

OT: yeah I'd like to have something like this, maybe even re-introduce attributes back as well

I really liked the perk-system! I'm interested to see what they do with it in the next Elder Scroll's installment.

It's a common misconception that casual players are afraid of depth. Instead they are afraid of complexity.

I personally do not care for them, simply because they don't make any sense. Those abilities should come naturally as you become more proficient with your craft.

Like being able to move faster with a raised shield. As you use your shield and become experienced with it, it's in your natural progression to be able to move faster with it, to block better with it, or even to start using it as a weapon. You shouldn't have to pick the talent, you should automatically attain it through practice and experience.

So I'm personally not a fan of the concept for a series like TES.

Perks are a step in the right direction. They certainly make your character in the Fallout games distinct, and somewhat so in Skyrim. I hope they refine and expand the idea in TES VI though.

I think it has possibilities. But I think it's missing a few things that could really make it great.

First off, there are very few required skills for quests. For example, the speechcraft skill is not really used beyond getting better prices. There's no need to fast talk when you can brawl (which I've never lost) which means that there's no reason nor opportunity to work on that skill. It's the same with sneak and pickpocket and lockpick -- there's no quest that requires that you sneak unseen as there was in oblivion where several Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild quests could be failed (no bonus, possible boot from the guild) by being seen. More care taken with quest design could make those skills more desireable and fun.

Second, there's very little in the way of lost opportunity. That's not entirely bad, but I think having to decide (perhaps gradually) whether you'd rather be a sneak or a brute or a mage would be more interesting. Too many of the characters end up looking and acting about the same because there's no reason NOT to pick absolutely everything. If choosing the muscle bound route meant that you were less likely to be able to sneak, that's a lot more interesting than being Battleaxe Ninja Deathmage (on a Steek). It makes choosing a perk more of a choice. I wouldn't oppose some type of warning (If you choose Adept Mage, your One Handed, Two Handed, and Block all decrease by two) -- that's not removing a choice, it's telling you what that choice means. But it also means that all builds play differently -- my sneak thief is not going to be able to go toe to toe with a giant like an Orcish warrior is, and he's not going to be able to incinerate the giant.

Third, there's not always a clear use for a skill perk. That would go a long way to making the trees interesting. Some perks simply have no use.

They could try removing the skill trees and actually implementing PERKS. That might work. Skill should be it's own reward, and perks a little something extra. Perks added virtually nothing to skyrim, they just limited what you could do. I don't think TES is about limitations...

TES' main goal is stroak egos and encourage mental mastvrbation. At least the newer ones are, and that is why i don't feel interested in playing them.

CAN lead to something better? Yes. WILL lead to something better? Doubtful. I think it's going to go more in the way of sensationalist "WOW, You're SO much more Uber than you were before!", rather than having a natural progression and growth along the lines of what you are actually doing. The "Do Anything, Go Anywhere" approach is steadily giving way to "Do Anything we let you, Go Anywhere we point you". I miss the lost freedoms of the old games.

I really like the skill tree as opposed to the previous TES games.

I liked being able to specialise the skill specifically for my character.

I hope they carry on with a maximum of three or four attributes (Stealth based characters should have had an attribute like warriors had stamina and mages had magicka) and that we add our level points into and remain allowing us to choose and specialise our skills ourselves.

It seems like they did Fallout and were like "hey this seems cool, let's throw it in and see how it works!" without taking time to polish it. I like the general idea, just wish there were fewer and more specific perks. Example- alchemy- your potion strength should get better based on skill level, and save perks for things like "can gather two ingredients from plants" or "your poisons are more effective"- stuff that's more focus based, if that makes sense. It seems like most were just stuffed in there without taking care to balance things, there should be more like 5 per skill, since you only get one perk per level. If you favor ten skills, that means it'll take to level 50 to max out, and at that point you deserve some uber-powers ;3

Maybe, I wouldn't get my hopes up though. A lot of their perks were incredibly lame.

I must be in minority. Though the trees and perks were OK, I was never a big fan of them.

Why would a single player RPG need to make 1 player unique? Unique compared to whom?

Skill trees and perks are more MMORPG style than single player, in my opinion.

How many useless perks were included in Skyrim? A lot.

How did the actual skills we used to have in other games get treated by trees and perks? Many of them died to make this work.

I am glad many players enjoy and like the skill tree and perks idea. I'm just not one of them. Sorry...

Unique compared to 105 dollars spent on Skyrim.

I really hate the skill perk tree as opposed to the previous TES games.

I liked being able to specialize in certain skills and attributes for my character.

I hope they return with the attributes. Stealth based characters would have their agility and luck, warriors strength and endurance, mages intelligence and willpower. We could specialize in a certain set of major and minor skills.

Basically, Skyrim has been dumbed down a lot. For example, out of the 6 combat arts of Morrowind, you only have 1 and 2-handed. No matter whether it's a mace, sword or dagger, it's considered all the same. Since I have trained with such weapons I know that there's a vast difference on how to fight with a sword or a mace. The only reason to group them together like that is convenience. And this strange perk tree system.
The same goes for attributes. Granted, the levelling system (with attributes&multipliers) from previous games wasn't perfect, but to delete it completely was a bit over the top. Removing all attributes however was a fatal immersion blow, at least for me.

A skill perk tree as of itself is not a bad idea. Simple skill progression which gives certain perks automatically (like in Oblivion) was a neat idea. But overemphasizing on perks while sacrificing skill variety, attributes and logic was a very big mistake. You really do not need 5 perks which do nothing but increase weapon damage, since this can be done with skill. I really hope that the next TES game can encompass and balance all three: skills, attributes and perks without sacrificing any one of them.

The ball was dropped with perk trees

The Skyrim perks are only the same as Fallout's in that they have the same name.

Skyrim is the lowpoint as far as depth goes. So we have nowhere to go but up!

(At least, I f*cking hope so.)

I hope they streamline this it to three attributes. One for each of the three styles of play and they keep it so you can level the attributes as you go. Luck should be replaced with charm and agility should include acrobatics ability.

Prior to Skyrim it was annoying as you were stuck with the choices you made at the start.

This "streamlining" reads a lot like dumbing down. Having 27 skills in Morrowind over 35 from Daggerfall was streamlining. Replacing all attributes with 3 magic, stealth and combat whatevers is draining a game of its RPG elements and turning it into a FPS or hack'n'slash with swords&spells. That's the avenue of other games, but not TES and the majority of TES fans would like to keep it this way. If I want to play Diablo, Titan Quest or Sacred, I play 'em, but I would never wish to turn a TES game into one of these. There aren't 3 styles of play either, since you can mix skills and attributes to create a nightblade or a battlemage.

And what exactly do you mean by being annoyed that you are stuck with the choices you made? Making choices and then dealing with their consequences is completely normal.

Personally I don't think "dumbing down" can be easily measured---it's not as simple as "no attributes = dumbing down". Skyrim added over 200 perks. The set of possible builds you can achieve in Skyrim is much larger than you can in prior games. That's not to say that the game would not have been better with attributes included. It's just to point out that the having extra variables to twiddle doesn't necessarily make the game better.

And as for making choices and dealing with their consequences---sure. But ideally you want those choices to be relatively informed. You don't want to be in a situation where you've focused on some attributes at the start but then it turns out they don't suit your style of play.

Anyway, I think Bethesda's approach here is pretty clear, and won't change. There's very little character customisation at the start, and you define your character as you play. But assuming that the skills + perks system remains for the next game, I think it will be significantly better, just because Bethesda now have a clearer idea of what works and what doesn't.