I know that from title to title there are bound to be changes. Things added, things omitted. Such is life. There were a few things missing in Oblivion that I would like to see make a comeback, and they relate to a couple of Alteration spells and Gold.

I know it may seem like a small thing, but I really miss 2 Alteration spells that were removed in Oblivion: Lock and Unlock. So where does gold fit into all of this you say? I also miss being able to drop gold. I remember playing vanilla Morrowind and being able to turn virtually any room into a Treasury. All I had to do was drop stacks of gold around my other loot and it was like Scrooge McDuck's money safe . . . so much fun! For someone like me this is a big RPG element. Why can't I lock my own door, or chests for that matter. Many would argue that it is unnecessary. I argue that it was a huge source of immersion.

So what do you think?

Locking is extremely valuable for avoiding guards

Unlock was in Oblivion. Lock could be easily abused to get rid of guard aggro by locking them out and then stealthing in the room until they gave up.

Locking = exploit, but I do agree with you. I'd like to have lock back, and to be able to drop my money in a pile, like in Morrowind.

Are you suggesting it was removed to keep players from cheating somehow? I feel that every game I have ever played had some way to exploit it. Either by power leveling, bugs, glitches, or just plain poor mechanics, but there are always a solution to balance things out.

OlliX - Your avatar is giving me seizures!!!!! lol
Ok, so even if there were restrictions such as "You can only lock what you own" I think it would be better than nothing. I know those two spells in combination were a ridiculous way to level up your alteration skill, but as I said, there are always ways to balance things out.

Picture This:

The guards have found you, and you have no other option than to run. You run to the closest safe haven you can think of, the inn you bought a room in the previous night. You sprint your way through the crowds, pushing and knocking them away as you run (Think, Assassin's Creed.) then finally burst into the inn.

You sprint your way up the stairs. You can hear the *clank clank* of the armored guards footsteps. "Stop right there criminal scum!" echoes behind you. They aren't far, and they know where you are.

You quickly duck into the vacant room and lock the door behind you. You ready a weapon, and wait.

*Clank clank clank clank* sounds the iron footsteps as they storm up the rickety pine steps.

*WHAM WHAM WHAM* The sound of a gauntleted fist pounds urgently against your door.

"We know you're in there. Open up, and we may show mercy!"

You grip your weapon tighter. You aren't going down without a fight.

"He's not going to surrender. Break down the door!"

*SLAM! SLAM!" The door shutters under the weight of a 250 pound, fully armored Nord slamming himself against it. It's not long before the door swings open forcefully in a shower of splinters. Live steel, armor, and Nord bursts into the room like the doors were floodgates holding back a river of iron and flesh.

"Drop your weapon! We won't hesitate to kill you!"

But you have no intention of dropping your weapon. You're wanted in three cities, with a bounty that would make your mother cry. You take a deep breath, and strike.

When I read the title, I thought you were going to say there should be a spell to turn lead into gold via alteration. Then I was going to say it would be more historical if you did so with alchemy but only after you got to skill level 101 (just high enough to be impossible heheh.).
I think you should be able to bash doors that are locked. It doesn't make sense that you can make a thin wooden door held together with bits of rope as impenetrable as a bank vault. If NPCs are as smart as Radiant AI makes them sound, then being robbed by thieves could be an interesting feature. Morrowind lacked physics. Imagine piles of gold that acted like piles of sand? A 'swimming pool' of gold would be an interesting way to spend all that money you get by the end of the game.

:hubbahubba:


I think lock is a skill that would be hard to make balanced.
In Morrowind it was an excellent way to escape or trap enemies, and was very easy to exploit.

Maybe giving NPCs the ability to pick locks would work to make it balanced. If they was do go by that solution I don't know how they would make it work out.
Edit: Lock bashing might be easier to implement. (?)

Limiting lock to only your own stuff makes it kind of useless, and a bit too limited... but it's better than nothing.

One other option would be to implement it in a "don't use it if you don't like it" manner, and let the exploiters exploit. I wouldn't mind.

Yeah but Morrowind had more exploits than the next 3 games put together. That's why so many things were stripped from it and replaced with other things.

Open was in Oblivion as I used it all the time I didn't really miss lock because I never used it. :shrug: However, I really did miss being able to drop my gold into piles

I don't see why it's an exploit. It's a strategy. Just make it a high level spell and a rare scroll.

Being able to lock your own containers would be nice but, only if somebody would steal items if not locked up.

Anything that can trivialize even the strongest enemy or a mechanic of the game is an exploit. Just like Levitation was a huge exploit and 100% chameleon was too.

If NPCs can pick locks, then I don't see a problem with it.

One thing I'd like to see is being able to lock locks using security skill.

For all we know security was removed seeing as how the new lockpicking system (great system imo) no longer requires you to have a security skill. As for making all the NPCs have the ability to lock pick is just not realistic. "Oh look, a Xivilai is running at me. I lock the door. Oh noez, he will just pick the lock. Oops, he doesn't have a lock pick. Oh well, at least I'm safe." Thus locking a door is broken still. Now if NPCs and creatures can break down doors you could have lock again. Mainly that will make lock useful to buy you a little time to get away or you have to lock the door when you hide in someones house or the NPC will notice that the door is unlocked and call the guards or something. That's the only time that lock would even need to be in the game, otherwise it is an unnecessary spell.

Let's hope not.

I'm assuming they will since it's a passive skill that doesn't benefit the the character but occasionally and only if someone just doesn't want to use the lockpicking system or doesn't know how. Frankly, I never really liked the security skill, it was just a simple and fast way to level your character faster. In Morrowind it was annoying to no end and in Oblivion at least it was more interesting trying to get it right.

RIght, but what kind of doors that are lockable are going to be in the same place as a Xivilai?

Anyway, what is this new lockpicking system you're talking about?

Geez leave lock in, it was fun. And locking guards/enemies out IS a strategy. And a logical one in a world where magic is common. Just give guards above a certain lvl (if not all) UNLOCK spells... sheesh. I mean Nearly all npcs have heal spells/potions or something of the sort. Just add them certain unlock spells (lvl of unlock to be customized - or unlock scrolls/elash locksplitter anyone?)

Imagine your deep in a dungeon and you get cornered by very powerful liches or monsters . You hide in a small crypt and lock the close the door behind you.... wait can liches open doors? If not, the skeletal champions will most likely be able to shred the door to piece with their heavy weapons... better MAGICALY lock it. And hope they give up so you can sneak out later. (Hoping that lich doesnt have an unlock spell that is...)

The one in Oblivion. Since we were talking in the tense of Morrowind I just called it the new system since technically still is until Skyrim.

I don't think it's an exploit if it's part of the game. I think the dev's probably knew that if they gave players the ability to fly they'd most definitely use it to thwart their less buoyant enemies.

Also, I agree. They should most definitely bring a locking spell or key back into the game. I never actually made use of it much in Morrowind, but whatever gives me more things to do is okay by me.

The point is why implement a lock spell when people will just use it to trivialize guards or powerful enemies. Then if they all have unlock spells, then what's the point of lock? It just seems counterproductive. I modded back in the lock spell before and it's a novelty that is broken, as was even more evident in Oblivion.



With that logic, there is no such thing as an exploit... The dev's removed levitate, spears, lock and the extra armor slots for a reason, they were heavily exploitable and made the way they built the game trivial at best. Now if they can put all those things back in the game without them being able to break the game again, then I'm all for it. Otherwise they don't belong in a game.

It sounds like they are trying to find ways of nullifying previous exploits. They have already gotten past the spear problem by making you run backwards more slowly, so I wouldn't be surprised if they found ways of balancing other previous exploits as well.

This would be easily solved by assigning security specialists or mages to the town guards.