>Well, it's a logical way to set up world changes tied to story
>progression. It's not their fault it gets broken when people choose
>to exploit the open world and just dick around for months before
>getting on with the main quests. :)

Sort of think it's the other way around, Bethesda seems to literally encourage players to spend weeks or months completing every single little quest that smacks them in the face between quest markers set on the other side of the map. It's like "You could take that wagon over there and go straight to Markarth or you can walk on foot and arrive there sometime next year decked out in end-game tier gear." Throw in any DLCs and...well..let's just say I've never finished the main storyline for a Bethesda game since New Vegas.