The devs said that in combat you can rebound of an enemy's shield. I think they should use this all the time, e.g you run into a wall or somebody you should bounce back of it and stagger away, this is what always annoyed me about morrowind. - how you could run into a tree and keep running-
I think it would be cool to be able to swing your weapon at a wall a see sparks fly and stumble back a bit or something. Or whack a tree and have your battle axe get stuck in the wood and have to yank it out.