No more counterintuitive nonsense, where you end up being punished for using your major skills most by getting fewer (if any) +5 modifiers to attributes at level ups.  It's the greatest reason so many players (including myself) resorted to power leveling - the game (Oblivion specifically, but Morrowind had the same problem to a slightly lesser extent) literally rewarded you for gaming the system in the most nonsensical and contrived way, and penalized you for playing your character naturally.   
 
It was a lose-lose situation.  If you didn't power level, your character would rarely get good attribute bonuses at level ups; if you did, you had to deal with the painstaking, illogical process of specing your character with a bunch of major skills that weren't pertinent to you, using mostly only (for example) strength skills when you wanted to go for a +5 to strength that level while avoiding using skills of other attributes too much, and having to keep track of how many skill level ups you'd had at every character level.  I kept a record of my skill levels at every level up on sheets of paper for this shit OH GODDAMN IT.
  
*sigh* 

This new system just makes more sense.  Though it's a simplification of a system from already highly simplified role-playing games, the effect is that actually role-playing your character will be entirely natural and rewarding (theoretically, anyway).  The whole point of Bethesda's "level up your character by leveling up your skills" system is supposed to be to give a more natural progression where you're not concerning yourself with all kinds of numerics, and now they're finally making a game in which the mechanics of the skill system don't fly in the face of this purpose.
 
Now I'll be able to just use the skills I want to use.  No more skill sheets.  THANK YOU, JESUS.
 
(On a side note, I'm fully aware there are mods out there for Oblivion that give you +5 modifiers to all attributes at every level up regardless, and if I ever do try to play Oblivion again, I'll definitely be seeking one of these out.)

Yes...yes...and oh wait for it...yes. 
100% agreement.
No more fucking notepads,or using the advlevel to see how much i have raised my attributes.
I swear,that i would not play Skyrim,if it had the leveling problem...
 

I just ignored all that and played.

Yeah I definitely feel you there. I thought that that was one of the weakest parts of the stats in Morrowind and Oblivion. Halfway through the game I wanted to level a skill up that I didn't select as a major/minor and it was brutal to level up with absolutely no rewards. It was very limiting.

"Yes...yes...and oh wait for it...yes.  100% agreement. No more fucking notepads,or using the advlevel to see how much i have raised my attributes. I swear,that i would not play Skyrim,if it had the leveling problem...  "

"I just ignored all that and played. "

I'm not reading up on Skyrim because it will all be a big disappointment if I do.

I hope they'll find a way that will make the leveling system actually work. 
I didn't resort to power leveling in both Morrowind and Oblivion though.

"I'm not reading up on Skyrim because it will all be a big disappointment if I do. "

" @JP_Russell: you could just turn down the difficulty and then play however you want. "

I read the info in Game Informer, but I'm still unsure of their new leveling system. Is it essentially like the Fallout games (big plus) or is it something more convoluted than the Elder Scrolls is known for?

For Oblivion I just used the OblivionXP mod. Done and done. I understand that's not a valid point as it was created by people who didn't like the leveling system, and that doesn't make up for the system being wack. Hopefully I won't have to resort to anything like that for Skyrim.

As a PC gamer I'm praying they're making a special UI for PC gamers because holy jumping jesus they might as well come out and say that consoles are the lead platforms when it looks ilke that. It's like seeing more than one set of numbers at the same time when checking out yourself is considered too much for a console gamer.

100% agree. Reading about how to play oblivion I saw something about not running or jumping at all so you can use those aj major skills to level up when you wanted to or whatever. I just said F that and played like I wanted choosing the skills I used as major and jumped and whatever as much as I wanted. I of course was penalized for this by never getting the full points when I leveled up. Whoever thought of the system used in Oblivion must have not ever played the game. I can't remember exactly how it worked in Morrowind, but I don't remember it being as retarded as oblivion when it comes to that.

"I read the info in Game Informer, but I'm still unsure of their new leveling system. Is it essentially like the Fallout games (big plus) or is it something more convoluted than the Elder Scrolls is known for? "

"As a PC gamer I'm praying they're making a special UI for PC gamers because holy jumping jesus they might as well come out and say that consoles are the lead platforms when it looks ilke that. It's like seeing more than one set of numbers at the same time when checking out yourself is considered too much for a console gamer."

"I can't remember exactly how it worked in Morrowind, but I don't remember it being as retarded as oblivion when it comes to that. "

After awhile, I just gave up on skill sheets, played the way I wanted to, and console cheated my abilities to a totally legal +5 on level-up. I play the game to have fun, and having to power level was the complete opposite. I wouldn't just cheat any old thing into the game, because that would also ruin the experience. I just got sick of wasting my time gaming the system when there was a much simpler method to play the game the way it's kind of intended (if you don't get those 5 points per level, your character winds up feeling way underpowered).
 
Really hope they've fixed that. It's my least favorite aspect of the series.

Grmblgr I hate the UI in Oblivion so much! It was almost as terrible as the leveling system.
I just want to be able to tweak and move the stats/inventory/map windows again... 
 

I'm with ya.
 
As far as I'm concerned, if you made an RPG that has players out there asking themselves "Should I level?' you've probably done something wrong.

" Their RPG's always lack substance and craft - it's just how they make games and I know that. "

" @JP_Russell said:

" Their RPG's always lack substance and craft - it's just how they make games and I know that. "

wat "

"Bad writing, shallow characters, stupid plots, not great combat, largely generic loot, dumb role-playing, a general static quality to the game world that becomes more apparent and makes the world feel more and more empty as the novelty wears off (over the course of dozens of hours in my case, mind you)...
  
Bethesda's games are very much about the journey, and even then, there are a lot of major pieces in that journey that, when scrutinized individually, are just bad.  You kind of have to be able to find charm and appeal in the grand way they all come together and to find excitement in the control over the pacing and the freedom of exploration that the player has in order to like Bethesda's unique brand of open world RPG's.  It's usually the people who don't that find Bethesda's games to be mediocre at best, because then all they have to evaluate are the individual parts. "

And Shivering Isles is also up there on rich setting, characters and lore, I'd say.

"Morrowind has some of the best lore, interesting plot and richest settings I've ever experienced in a video game. I wouldn't call either Vivec, Crassius Curio, Divayth Fyr or Dagoth shallow characters. Not great combat? I'll give you that. As you said Bethesda's games are (or used to be) more about exploration rather than combat. Generic loot? As opposed to unique loot? What kind of role-playing game has only unique items? "

Just listened to a Game Informer podcast the other day on Skyrim, and maybe it's just my love of the original Dungeon Siege, but the leveling in Skyrim sounded similar to that; leveling up skills contributed to an overall character progression. It wasn't so much "You are at level 5" and more of "your one hand weapon skill is 5, your magic skill is 2, and your two hand combat skill is 4. ok, go !"

Oh thank god. This and the kind of bad quest pathing (don't know what to call it) where they basically just throw you out there...going blind I had no idea where sidequests were and the main quest wasn't terribly engaging. This game looks better and better, but I didn't have much fun with Oblivion so who knows. Had a ton of fun with fallout though, and since they're pretty similar I have no idea why that happened.

" Morrowind has some of the best lore, interesting plot and richest settings I've ever experienced in a video game. I wouldn't call either Vivec, Crassius Curio, Divayth Fyr or Dagoth shallow characters. ... "