Yeah, Lockpicking would be a lot more interestting (or difficult, at least) if you had to have a minimal level of it, and a necessary investment in lockpicking perks, in order to open the harder locks. Of course, having decent loot that's worth a crap in them wouldn't hurt in the motivational department, either. But there currently is absolutely nothing in any of them worth any wasted perk investments.

I'd grown used to the lockpicking system in the Fallout games, which made lockpicking in Skyrim quick and easy to master, to the point of where I can fairly easily pick master locks even at level 5, with no investment in any lockpicking perks. You buy every pick you see, and break some opening the harder chests, but you always get them open, with a bit of try. If i felt at all interested in the lockpicking minigame, I could get a mod that makes it more difficult, or whatever. But frankly, I find the whole lockpicking skit dreadfully boring, whether it be easy or difficult to accomplish. So after hundreds of hours played and thousands of locks picked the regular way, I just went and got this great mod: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=219 from Nexxus. Amusingly, I find opening locks with it to be more entertaining than the 'normal' way. Just a handy tool to get that annoying and repetetive chore out of the way as quickly as possible, so you can get on with doing actually interesting things.

I never found lockpicking stressful, and since i'm on the PC i can abuse quick save and quick load whenever my lockpick breaks lol and to note i havent had a single lockpick break ever and yes i've opened my fair share of master locks

There is a quest around a certain daedra/divine that can give you an item that will cure your stress problems.

You should look into that.

What? I fint the Skyrim/Fo3 method way better.

I liked the Oblivion method better for some reason. I actually had fun doing it (most of the time). The Skyrim/Fallout 3 method just seems kind of boring and tedious.

Calm the [censored] down.

R.I.P auto-attempt

It can sometimes take a few picks for me, but once I get close I can usually see some kind of shadow or markings on the lock that I can realign my pick with,if not on the lock then on the wall behind the pick.

How much easier do you guys want this game to be . Lock picking is pretty darn simple if I say so myself. You wouldn't get much enjoyment or feelings of accomplishment if it wasn't hard, sometimes I think people want this game to play itself.....

Remember how hard the old NES and SEGA games were???? This game is CAKE compared to some of the older challenges we used to face gaming..... grow a pair........

Lockpicking isn't hard by any means, it's just tedious.

Damn Battletoads..hardest game I've ever played

I ended up doing the Thief faction line, get teh Skeleton Key and don't give it in for a while ... it never breaks /wink

DUDE..... INSANE........

That damn speed racer level with those walls that would appear that you had to dodge or you die in one hit..........

Sorry to get OT

Oh, I agree so much on this. After awhile, I'd like to just auto-attempt the easier locks.

That. After you've picked a thousand or so, you just don't want to even mess with them anymore. Hence the mod I use.

I miss the 'auto-attempt' feature from Oblivion, but I like the Skyrim mini-game better. It did take me a while to get used to it though, as I'd never encountered a similar lockpicking mini-game.

Regarding 'Open Lock' spells - if you're on the PC, try "Leazer's Open Lock" mod - it adds the open lock spell back into alteration. Perfect for mage characters.

I actually enjoy this system. After playing fnv for so long it just feels natural. I was excited they used this system

Simply go down the lockpicking tree. It makes it easier to pick locks.

It's not that its too hard, it's just that it can brake immersion and RPing. For instance My Imperial mage knows nothing on lockpicking, and since there is no spells
I can use to open locks, I'm forced to break my character if I wish to advance.

It's not a question of how easy it is so much as one of how tedious it gets. Once you've played for a bit you effectively have limitless picks to try with, which essentially removes difficulty from the equation since you no longer care if some break during the attempt; at that point, it's basically a matter of time until the thing (finally) opens.

And in case you hadn't noticed, we already don't get much sense of accomplishment from cracking hard locks; after all, it's hard to celebrate when you burn 20 picks and several minutes and then get 15 septims and a wooden plate for your efforts...

I actually think they have it right with Skyrim, I used a mod in Oblivion that made it like Morrowind but in Skyrim it actually feels much more immersive, you know, you actually have to concentrate and work at it and there isn't necessarily an easy way to get into the door, chest, or whatever.
it seems entirely reasonable too that this should be the case, why should every door and chest be immediately available to you? It would only break RP for a good character if it was actually stealing, and also if you run out of picks in the middle of a dungeon then that's tough, you'll just have to come back and remember to manage your lockpick usage better next time.
It's not that difficult, really, if you come across a chest or a door you can't open walk away and come back when you are better at picking locks...

I really preferred Oblivion's lockpick, though I had it down to where i could do it just by the sound cues. I even prefer Reckoning, though I admit starting where your last pick broke makes it that much easier.

Where the hell are my "open lock" spells, anyway? Or even a bash option?

I know oblilvions wasn't the most realistic, but i liked the challenge. Reminds me of the old splinter cells.

I have noticed that lockpicks in skyrim's weakness carry over to the next lock. Alot of times i'll be going to pick a lock after narrowly unlocking the last one, and it will break instantly.

FO3 is way better .. Why? It provides much more feedback when you try to pick locks. In Skyrim, your pick breaks almost instantly and you don't know why. Go left? Go right? Skyrim fails in that regard.

Edit: 100 skill lockipick makes no difference btw. Master = instant failure.

I've taken to just using the console to unlock everything rather than deal with the minigame.

A minigame can work, but it needs to be engaging, and this one... isn't. Nor was Morrowind's approach really appealing. Oblivion's was only mildly better.

The one lockpicking/trap disarming minigame that stands out in my mind as actually interesting to do (and successfully blending both player and character skill) was the one from Return to Krondor. For that matter, RtK's approach to alchemy was more interesting too.