The first few hours of Morrowind are rough, mainly because you're too weak to kill anything, and if it's your first time playing, you have no idea what's going on
. Deliver this package to some guy in a town who's name I forgot already. Oh look a cave filled with bandits. *Dead*. What the hell, I can't even kill a rat. Why are my sword strikes going right through it and doing no damage! Argh! It gets much better though.
For me, Skyrim is on par with Morrowind, and neither one is better or worse. They are very different though. I consider Skyrim one of the best games I've ever played, so that should tell you also what I think of Morrowind.
Some people hate Morrowind's combat, but I liked it, and still do. It simulates being a complete klutz with a weapon at lower skill, meaning you miss a lot of your strikes, but as you level up the skill you connect more and more and for more damage. It's basically a dice roll mechanic. Lots of people do hate it, but if you sort of curb your expectations coming from Skyrim, which is much more action oriented, to a system much more roll-of-the-dice oriented, it won't be so bad. Just don't expect to be killing everything in sight at level 1.
As for the Dwemer, what do you guys think about Markarth? That city to me, is amazing. The architecture and design of it all is unreal. Easily my favorite city in Skyrim, if I had to choose just one. It's cool to finally see an inhabited Dwemer city above ground (and not inhabited with Dwarven Spheres and Centurions
)