Honeyed Words and Skyrim Skill Trees

I have spent well over 100 hours playing Skyrim, and most of those hours were nonstop fun. The rest were spent grinding to improve my smithing skills. Making dwarven bows and enchanting them is profitable and great for levels and perks, but I would rather be out adventuring. And there is no way you could convince me to sit around practicing alchemy.

The sad reality is that Skyrim's most delightful skills (for me, anyway) are terrible perk investments. Lockpicking is not worth the perk points. Pickpocketing requires many points you before you can experience the joy of stealing the armor right off of your enemy's back—and that's if you can sneak up on someone in the first place. Additionally, Skyrim's leveling system guarantees that thieving skills are not the ones you want to develop early in the game. If combat skills aren't your primary concern, you can gain too many levels without improving as a fighter, then end up hopelessly disadvantaged during dungeon crawls. While it is fun to roleplay as a thief, overcommitment to stealth skills is Skyrim suicide.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Why not create more complex dungeons with more alternate routes and expanded possibilities for stealth? Picking locks could then be good for something other than the occasional shortcut or access to extra loot. Pickpocketing could be developed further by offering more opportunities to sneak up on enemies who carry important items or access keys.

Most wonderful of all would be improvements to the ultimate power of the Dragonborn: Speech. If the Dovahkiin can force dragons to the ground with her voice, then why can't she also use her speech skills for purposes aside from commerce and the occasional persuasion or intimidation check? I'd love to see scenarios in which I can sweet talk bandits and convince them to turn on each other, or even use speech skills to assist with pickpocketing. Perhaps people who have come to like or trust me could let down their guard and become less sensitive to a little thievery. If busted while breaking into someone's house, I could talk my way out of trouble. Speech could even have come into play during the civil war questline, which includes several raids conducted as part of a group of soldiers. Imagine being able to better rally and command the soldiers around you, or even being able to convince enemy soldiers to turn on each other without your allies having to do much of anything.

It's cruel to include skill trees that are so potentially interesting, but then squander the opportunity by forcing players to focus on other skill sets to ensure success in key parts of the game. I want to see an Elder Scrolls game in which all major skill sets (warrior, thief, mage) offer viable paths to victory.