It sounds like your vision of the ultimate RPG is more or less the same as mine. To me, it just doesn't make sense that a thief can pick a thousand pockets, locks and whatnot but he/she doesn't get any better at the tricks of the trade until he goes out and kills a dozen ogres. Daggerfall came close to achieving this kind of gaming style (close and yet oh so far) but that's about it. I cannot comment on Morrowind as i haven't actually played it yet.
What i want is a game where stat/attribute values are raised by practicing skills and levels/experience raised by performing tasks for your guilds.
It would be different to other RPGs in that experience would count towards rank in your guild and would not be an indication of when you get to improve your stats. Guilds would award xp for completing tasks by using the skills associated with that class. That is if you want to be in a guild. If not, you do things the way you want too and only raise your stats.
I want a game that lets any character use any item so long as they have the minimum stats.
I want a game where a Fighter doesn't ever have to pick a lock.
Hell, i want a game where a thief can complete the entire game without ever killing anything.
I think it's a long way off though
