Just take Lydia along. Even picking a master-level lock is as easy as eating a sweet roll to her.

skeleton key ftw

I'm glad they went with the same lock-picking mini-game from Fallout 3, and New Vegas. I actually find it much less frustrating than Oblivion's lock-picking mini-game. I hated Oblivion's Security skill.

The thing that pisses me off, however, is that even with ALL the perks in lockpicking, including the last at 100 skill level, no pick is truly unbreakable. They break. They just don't spend a pick. Same with the Skeleton Key.

Damnit, I feel like once I get to the 100 skill perk in lockpicking, I should have a pick that TRULY doesn't break! No starting over and re-positioning. Just keep spinning around, trying locations until it opens it. I deserve it at 100 level skill level!

Yer kiddin, right? The pick still breaks even with those two 'unbreakable pick' capabilities? So you still have to break a bunch of picks to open a master lock, but your pick count just doesn't go down, eh? That's just freakin stupid. Glad I got a lockpicker mod and didn't waste perks for that.

I'm still waiting for the mod that lets me auto-attempt

i'm on the 360, but, absolutely agree.

who cares if the picks are unbreakable if you still have to go through the minigame. lockpicks are infinite and so unbreakability is worthless.

are you guys telling me that the skeleton key and perk don't open all locks automatically and that i still have to do the mini?

Yup. Which is incredibly dumb. I remember in Morrowind the skeleton key could open any lock automatically, but it broke after 50 uses. That would be much, much better.

Things that make you go AAAAAAGH,
You almost got the lock picked but now the tumbblers on on the other side of the drum.
The rotateing nature of the successfull possition is what erks me. That and I must break 9 picks befor I can open that Master lock in the same possition I had the pick in befor.

And why oh why can't we keep Nocturnal's Skelleton Key like we could in the previous games?

It doesn't spend a pick. You don't lose a pick. But it still "breaks" like normal, and resets forcing you to reposition and try again. You just don't lose a pick. This is supposed to simulate "unbreakable". It's counter-intuitive, and stupid. Brings nothing to the game. I want an "unbreakable" pick to not break! after 100 points and all perks.

Yes. Nothing in the game will "auto" unlock a lock. The mechanic doesn't exist in non-modded, not-cheating games. You ALWAYS have to go through the mini-game. This is justified because there is nothing important in the chests anyway. Just a little more gold, a potion, reagent or something not needed to finish a quest or the game. This seems like a cop-out to me, but that's what they say.

I'm on PC, so I just use the Alteration skill levels from Oblivion, and if I would be able to cast a spell for it at that level, I hit the ~, select the locked item and type "unlock". Or I just If I'm playing a warrior, I do the same and assume I bashed the lock, like in Daggerfall.

Hehe, yeah. The poor man's mod.

I'm using an Open Lock spell mod, but I've only got up to Apprentice right now (my Alteration's not that high.)

I actually got really good at Oblivion Lockpicking
Could do Master Locks without breaking one

The Skyrim one i'm decent at, but still kind of annoys me o.o

I play on pc and I prefer Skyrim lockpicking. The minigame is fairly straight forward and I do notice when my character's lockpicking skill increses (in other words I begin breaking less picks per lock). Oblivion's lockpicking game on the other hand drove me nuts for some reason. It was too twitch based for my liking. Not that I couldn't pick master lock with 10 lockpicking skill if i put my mind on it, it just wasn't fun at all. Skyrim's lockpicking is not the most balanced system, but atleast it doesn't drive me crazy everytime. Morrowind had the best system as it was fully character skill based and because lockpicking happened in real time.

So to sum it up: Skyrim's lockpicking system's three biggest flaws are:

1. Time stops while you pick a lock. This is an huge design oversight. It makes stealing stuff too easy. The patrolling guards aren't thus much of an obstacle. My suggestion is to make lockpicking happen always in real time. Perhaps also increase the number of guard patrols too to make it feel more rewarding.

2. Lockpicking perks are useless. You simply don't need to invest in perks. They should implement similar lock level requirements like in fallout 3 and fallout new vegas. One shouldn't even be able to pick master level locks if he had no advanced level training.

3. Lockpicks are too common and too cheap. My character has currently roughly 300 picks in his inventory, so breaking a pick doesn't obviously bother me much. -> Make lockpicks rarer and make them cost more, like 150 gold per each pick.

Yeah, true. When you have 300 lockpicks, you're going to open that master lock...the only question is how long will it take. And because 90% of the time it will take the longest to open, that makes it just annoying. You know it's going to open, that's not in question. Just open the damn thing already!

If there were fewer picks and they were more expensive, you'd have less picks, and you'd have to consider that when spending them on a lock. Make it worth it to actually spend perk points in it.

And I too, would like an auto-pick function. Just tell me how many picks I'll break, take them and open the damn box! Sometimes.

trying to get out of jail. One lockpick.
On the day you couldn't do it. IRL: you do your time.
Fair play.

I have no problem with that.

i think its alot easier then fallout.........

Hi Im a master locked chest. You only have 25 lock picks?........TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Care to share your secret? Im alright at oblivion but my strategy was to find the skeleton key

I found timing to be the key.

Seriously though, I always felt that timing was everything in a successful lockpick attempt in Oblivion.

got it... you want easy mode and everything handed to you with no effort concerning locked chests... clear as mud..... /discussion over...

lol!

you do realize that there is nothing 'hard' about picking locks, right?

you've read this thread so you know what the rationale is behind smokeys and others' posts, right?

if so, then contribute something meaningful or, at least, correct.

People like that don't read, or comprehend what they read very well. They just make snap judgements based on one or two words they can decipher, and then wrap their own ignorant biases around them. You get used to it on the 'net.

Either that, or they do understand but still make their snap judgements, because said biases make it impossible for them to admit (or perhaps even see) that a differing viewpoint might actually have merit.

Which has killed more than one good thread on such issues; people got fed up, and stopped responding rather than deal with the repeated blather.

You have to be subtle and patient. I am those things, thus I find lockpicking enjoyable and doable. If you're not subtle or patient, stay away from lockpicking