The issues with third-person in Skyrim, etc, aren't implementation issues, though, they're because it's third-person. Any time the camera has to adjust for collision, etc, there will be oddities, especially given how different the player's collisions can be between the two perspectives (eg, you can't use a simple polygon for third-person without issues). Regardless, those of us that prefer third-person will generally always opt for buggy third-person over first-person. As far as NPC speed goes, not sure what you're on about there. Camera position has no direct effect on that.
Being able to swap between first- and third-person by scrolling in/out based on the confines of your environment was pretty nice. Even the worst of any third-person implementation is better than being locked in first-person. But then you've already demonstrated your bias, so you're comment is irrelevant.
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In any case, they've already stated it's not going to happen so that's that.