Master lock with ~20 skill, no problem. Well, i did break about dozen picks, but still got it open And the good old "the better it's locked the worse the items inside" still apllies

I'll be replacing that with a real time, character skill based lockpicking mod ASAP, that would also make the perks more useful. And mod some high cost, not assured succes unlock spells back to the Alteration school.


This. This would make it very difficult to pick difficult locks with low skill level, while still keeping it possible and making perks useful.

I think there should be a limited amount of tries per lockpicking. I literally used 20 picks on a Master lock. Got it open no problem but it should have been jammed with metal splinters from my picks. I think it should be almost impossible to pick high level (+2 levels) locks without a perk.

Then again, why can't we just smash the chests or doors with our hammer?

To a lesser extent they don't. Once you leave the RPG game design of numbers handling things you are bypassing the point of the skill to some degree. The difference is as I alluded to in combat there is a more tangible benefit, you are doing 400 points of damage instead of 10 you are soaking 85% of the damage instead of 15% etc. With a skill like lockpicking is is "easier". What is easier if it is already not hard? You lose 3 picks instead of 6 maybe? In combat you can definitely see the benefit it took 4 power attacks to kill the dragon, not 200. Sure someone who is good enough at the game can still do it, but you can see and feel the benefit. In mini-games you aren't depleting the HP of the lock of anything so is it s vague easier which for some people(those who svck at the mini-game) means something, but for the majority it is just a small help on a relatively easy task.

I can do it too, by breaking around 20 picks, but the 3-2 reports are the one I really don't get...

Running out of picks?

After I successfully opened a master lock while still at level 1 I've not been near the lock pick skill tree, but I kinda like it this way, being prevented from "trying" because your lock pick was too low was annoying.

Now that would add some challenge to it. As is you break a pick or 2 on master locks finding the narrow range of where it starts to slide and maybe 1 or 2 more picks getting it right.

No i'm not!

I'm talking about an ingame mini game that is essentially pointless, regardless of how many picks you use you can not fail at opening any lock at any level, this in turn devaluates and makes the skill tree essentially useless...so why bother?

I break 1 to 3 picks each time but with the xbox controller you can pick any lock at any level it is easy as hell and not because I am good but because it is easy as hell. Same as obivion. Morrowind style was better IMO it was challenging.

Eventually I'll probably take enough perks in it to get the +50% fancy loot chance, other than that, yeah once you figure out the minigame it's not really all that great. Besides, gear and potions to make lockpicking easier are everywhere.

One thing that would have been nice is if locks randomized when they reset, as it is no matter how many times you pick a lock, you only get skill ups for the first time. Hopefully there will be a mod for that. And less obvious chest traps. I preferred Frans version to what ended up in FCOM (the tweaked OOO version) in Oblivion, that would be nice to see.

Just press *very* briefly and repeatedly on A. Stop doing this as soon as you see the pick is jammed. Works fine for me.

Resetting the minigame every time you broke a pick would mean that I wouldn't unlock anything above Novice. On even just an Apprentice or Adept lock, just doing the quarters and giving it a little wiggle to see where it'll move breaks a pick. For me, at least.

(And, since you only gain a tiny amount of skill progress on a broken pick, you'd need to break several hundred picks in order to even advance the skill far enough to put the first couple perks into it.)


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re: just one or two picks for Expert/Master..... I don't believe you; just finding that you're in the vicinity of the (tiny) sweet spot burns a bunch - just a bare keypress or two in the wrong spots breaks a pick nigh instantly. Sometimes before you even see the lock wiggle.

I have never even come close to running out. They are all over the place and only master or expert locks take more than 1 pick and they don't require more than 5 or 6 at most, so i just keep getting picks since they are frequent loot off of bodies, tables, chests etc.

Yes, the lockpick breaking speed would have to be slowed down a bit and skill gain boosted for that to be a working solution.

If you do that pretty often, the pick will still break.

This is where i envy the pc community because i know it will be modded into something vaguely challenging at some point, as it stands (like another poster above said) on the 360 it's just pointless because it's far too easy, and playing as a thief character this just makes me

Pick locking is pretty easy. Im stocked up on picks and can normally pick a master with 5-10 picks. The tree is a waste.

I've been able to open Expert Locks with a little potion help at about 30 skill.

If I had an extra 500 picks, I could probably do a Master Lock, but currently I've yet to open one.

You don't need the lockpicking perks. So what? It just frees up priceless perk slots for more useful things.

Congratulations. You are the God King of Lockpicking.

Guess what, friend? Not everybody can lockpick like a boss.

Just ignore the Lockpick perk tree and then you can go back to sleeping comfortably every night.

They kind of had to make it easy. As the only way to get past a lot of locks it has to be accessible(I hate how this word now has negative connotations in the gaming community) to those who aren't really focusing in the skill.

You may be right about this. The minigame adds an immersion level, but it simply shouldn't be possible to open a lock with no skill in it.

Lockpicking poses a problem because TES game rely on "locked" items too much. In fact, the number of locked chests is simply absurd, frankly I think Goblins would have been useful members of society, if only they weren't always destitute and hungry because they always lost the key for the chests with their gold and food in it.

Locked items should be restricted to major chests and houses, and if you ain't got the key, or the skill, then tough.

I believe your missing the point entirely, everyone, i repeat, everyone is the god king of lockpicking in Skyrim, if your not getting it, then boy do you have gaming issues!

Well, many said this already: it should be impossible to open a master lock at low levels. It does not matter whether it requires 5 or 20 lockpicks, since there are plenty of lockpicks in the game.
So it is definitely to easy and the skilltree is useless.

I would like to see damage dealt to the lock. The lower your skill, the faster the damage-bar fills up. Once the bar is full, the lock is destroyed beyond repair and cant be opened anymore.
If master-locks would really be difficult to open you could at least PUT SOMETHING PRECIOUS inside. I was really disappointed by my first master-chest which gave me just a few gold and some potions.

It's pretty easy.

^^ this