sure, this makes it take forever just to complete certain minor quests, but it makes the game so much better. Or like how in Morrowind you are forced to go to so many places on foot. You start off feeling like a peon and end up feeling like a god. However, on the other hand there is definitely something awesome about the very visible progress in Morrowind. I've had this happen, I'm ashamed to admit. When you just spawn a character, you can be killed by a mudcrab. Even the things that sucked were awesome.
but at the end of the day as far as major features go I think everything was awesome about Morrowind. I hear what you are saying about medium armor, and security, and all that.