It's not that they don't care or are stupid. Dumbing down games makes it appeal to larger audiences and make more money. It is also cheaper and easier to make, so win/win. End of story. They do this deliberately, so do most companies, I thought this was understood.
Additionally, I believe that Bethesda genuinely thinks that the ongoing simplification of their games is unequivocally a good thing; they most likely believe that Skyrim is superior to Oblivion which is in turn superior to Morrowind etc.
In terms of sales, it is better. And I don't think they even think or care about anything else. It is pretty clear to me from Skyrim that they don't care about gameplay or gaming in general. They want the highest shifted units and they nailed it. It is just so blatantly made for money and mass appeal. Every bit of depth the series once had has been purposely sucked out of it. They achieved what they wanted, a big dumb open world action game that blows the mind of 13 year old xboxers. Dude u can haz things u pick from star signs n shit omg! Orsum.
The point I was trying to make here is that Bethesda actually gives a shit about their games, and has consciously chosen the path they have since they genuinely think that makes the games better. If they wanted to roll in the money, they would be looking at releasing a TES/Fallout game or another game with the same core gameplay template on a yearly basis by setting up multiple rotating teams. Instead, after releasing Skyrim in 2011, they took four years to release Fallout 4, and will probably take another four years to release their next game.
I actually agree with that. I think Todd and company actually do want to make the games they want to play and quality RPGs. They have always struck me as wanting to do that.
Thing is, his ideas for improvements are more general audience improvements, not always necessarily RPG improvements for mutants like myself. So yes, unlimited fast travel, less armor slots and the like are "improvements" for most casual players, and make the game more accessible, but the trade-off is less RPG depth.
And yes, before anyone mentions it, I realize I am an RPG Mutant who prefers archaic RPGs designed by dinosaurs. That's not to say I didn't greatly enjoy Oblivion and Skyrim (don't @ me), those games are still great to me. But I still crave a more Morrowind-esque type of open-world RPG.
Someone just make a gods-damned Morrowind on steroids already. Include 36 skills, 10 stats, crafting, every item can be interacted with (no physics on those, though, plz), 10 factions (some with mutual exclusivity), hand-placed loot everywhere (legendary items, hide shit deep in dungeons in secret places, hand-place chest loot, etc. like in ELEX), add levitation (and secrets galore related to it), vertical exploration, a ton of dungeons and points of interest, large towns, villages, and cities (NPC schedules don't need to be there, don't really care), a million words of dialogue with hidden rumors, hidden "advice", etc., secrets to find everywhere, NO LEVEL SCALING (see: ELEX), hidden NPCs, easter eggs and funny/goofy stuff to find occasionally (not too over the top, a skeleton corpse holding a beer bottle, etc..), environmental storytelling, lots of mystery to the story with a slow pace, "figure it out on your own" approach, challenging difficulty levels w/ "hardcore challenge" options, limited fast-travel network (see Morrowind, just adds more places you can mark and recall to, not just one at a time), dangerous areas like Red Mountain loaded with high level enemies from the start, a ton of armor slots, unique and quirky weapons with many ways to creatively use skills, weapons and spells, 100+ different spells, etc. etc.. Morrowind on steroids, breh. Forget graphics, they could even be Morrowind or Gothic 2/3's level for all I care (that would give them more horsepower to add MORE stuff, too), just add all this crazy deep content.
DO IT, SOMEONE.