Allow me to recount my experiences...

Firstly, I have done no PVP, so anything involving that means very little to me in terms of mechanics or general whining about getting killed in one hit or not being able to hit someone.

Secondly, I've been mainly playing a melee built Nightblade, so this involves only that class. I'm Vet 7, finishing up Reaper's March, so most of my enemies are Vet 5 with a few vet 6.

Before 1.07

I thought the combat mechanics in PVE, open world, solo dungeon, and group dungeon were pretty well done. Every so often you'd have a fight that was just easy enough to be laughable, but more often than not, any small group, even those not scaled to dungeons, offered enough challenge to be a pain if my tactic was off, and yielded a fair amount of satisfaction in their defeat.

With that being said, I am not the most well geared, fancy weaponed, skill built character. I use the weapons, armor, enchants, traits, skills that I like, and that I get a kick out of using, not those that some kid set up and posted on YouTube or that other forum (GF) as "The Best DPS Build Since Yer Momma" or whatever.

Again, before 1.07...

I'd be sneaking along and come up on a few enemies on the outskirts of a bandit camp. By the looks of them, one is a tank, one is a spell caster, and one is an agile roguish type. The rogue or caster is always crouched, but never the tank. "Maybe the armor is too bulky," I think to myself.

I come up closer, still in stealth, and I toss my Reaper's Mark on the rogue. I turn my attention on the caster though, because even though he'll die quick, he's probably going to hurt me the most with his magic.

I Ambush in, onto the caster and knock him down with a ton of critical stealth damage. With a follow up Heavy Attack, he's done for. I immediately spin about with my Whirling Blades, adrenaline pumping and Stamina regenerating, more so because I hit both the tank and rogue.

Before I am able to move back, I get a spinning attack from the rogue to my right and a quick slash from the warrior at my left. I then Roll Dodge straight back and put my attention on the rogue. She's got my Mark, so her defenses are lower, and when she falls, I'll get some health back. Good, because the warrior is setting to charge me, and a nearby bandit archer has noticed the fight and is coming on in.

I Roll Dodge to the left, because I can see the red anger of the archer and warrior both, as they have targeted me. The warrior rushes by just as a spray of arrows blasts through the air, but I managed to move in time, at least from the warrior. I take an arrow to the knee, but I'm not some whiny guard, so I'm gonna keep fighting.

I look for the rogue, but she's vanished. Even though I've marked her, she's unseen, because I utilize the Reaper's Mark and not the Piercing Mark. I Roll Dodge forward, to where I remember her being and spin with my Whirling Blades.

Ha! I got her with a bit of Area Damage, and her stealth is dropped. Because I want her gone, I smack her with an Incapacitating Strike, and she falls to a knee, her head spinning from just how hard I hit. One good Heavy Attack, and she's done for.

I get hit with an arrow, and there is fire at my back. Even though I was healed by the after effect of my Reaper's Mark, these two attacks we're quick to take away about one quarter my life. It would have been more, but good thing I have Robust health recovery from being khajiit, and I recovered a bit just after the fire started.

The fire is coming from the warrior. Ugh, Dragonknight. I should take him out, but the archer is more of a pain, and I turn on him. As he back peddles away and lines up to spray me with arrows, I toss a Reaper's Mark on him. When he falls, here comes the health. Ha! To close the gap between up, I Ambush him from the front, and my dual downward attack takes him to his knee. Just for kicks, I hit him with a Surprise Attack. Since he's already stunned, I know it's not going to stun him any longer, but it does drop his defenses. A couple quick attacks and BOOM, the fire enchantment on my dagger triggers and the bandit catches ablaze just to die quick.

The Dragonknight is behind me, but I'm not sure where, so I Roll Dodge to the right and spin around. Just as I do, I'm hit with a yellow sparkle Heavy Attack, and I'm stuck for a second. I force myself to Break Free but take another Light Attack while doing so. As soon as I'm able, I throw down a Shadowy Disguise and vanish from sight.

Every time I do that during combat, I love that the enemies seem to get so confused. "Where the F did he just go!?" Ha ha ha.

With a quick circle around to the Dragonknight's flank, I give him a little Surprise Attack, and he takes a good critical amount of damage, leaving his head spinning. I spin with my Whirling Blades and Ambush him, just for fun, because nothing is more satisfying than just SMACKING your foe DOWN for that final hit.

I loot the dead and smile, content. Good fun.

Now, I know there were much quicker ways to take them all down, but there is something I find really fun about moving all around the field of combat during a fight, hitting dude here and there and back. It makes me feel like my character is some kind of skilled assassin.

...
After 1.07

I'm sneaking along through a cave, two enemies ahead of me, one facing away, an archer, crouched, and my quest target, a khajiit smuggler who's name I don't remember.

Again, crouched. Ha!

I throw my Reaper's Mark on the archer, and I keep my focus on her. Time for the ol' Ambush. Poof, hit, wait, what. Instead of the nice chunk of about three quarters of her life going away, I barely knock away half, but she's down, head spinning for a bit. Immediately, I spin about with my Whirling Blades, but I don't hit either enemy. Crap!

The khajiit has already done a whirlwind attack and hit me, and the archer is already getting to her feet.

I Roll Dodge back and switch my active ability bar to what I call my "sapping skills." I quickly cast Swallow Soul on the archer, to get a bit of health back, because that whirlwind hurt a lot more than normal.

When I see the red lines of the archer's targeted spray, I Ambush her again, in hopes of interrupting her action and stunning her a few seconds so I can smack on her.

Nope. That didn't work. Even though my character slams down on her, weapons leading the way, all I manage to do is take away about 5% of her health and then eat a face full of arrows.

My screen is flashing red. My health is low, so I quickly down a potion, an Elixir of Weapon Crit, I made. It restores health and gives me bonus to weapon critical for about 20 seconds. I heal, switch back to my primary ability bar, and throw down Shadowy Disguise to rush up and around the archer to smack her down.

Nope. She knows right where I am and shoots me with something that snares me. I Break Free and Roll Dodge straight back.

With the khajiit and archer both in my view, I realize my Reaper's Mark has worn off, so I mark the archer again but Ambush the khajiit to, at least, allow me to focus entirely on the archer a bit.

Not enough Stamina. WHAT THE F%#$!?

Oh yea... Too much Roll Dodging, awesome patch change.

Quick, radial menu, stamina potion, potions still on cool down. SH&%!

Out of nowhere, the khajiit comes at me, then vanishes. I try to spin out some Whirling Blades, like I had used to find the rogue last time.

Nothing.

Instead, I'm guessing I got hit with a Surprise Attack, Veiled Strike, something, because I'm snared again, and the screen is flashing red.

As I swear and curse every word you shouldn't say, I watch a rain of arrows from the archer kill my character.

Not fun.

...

Before patch, I was able to take on some of the world elites, and even some of the mobs in the open party dungeons by myself.

After the patch, I can't even take on a single quest boss and one of his friends.

Thanks Zenimax...

Thanks a lot.