Whyyy? -.- Lockpicking is a required skill in the game unless you don't mind missing out on a LOT of loot from dungeons. It doesn't make much sense for a Mage character to have to physically pick locks. I really hope this is something that can be added back in with a mod.

My character doesn't specialize in locks, and he can still pick everything up to adept level locks with little to no issues. i'm GLAD those spells are removed, because it offers more incentive to play a thief in the first place. No character should be able to do everything, at least in my opinion.

I actually think it's a good change, because Security was kind of a worthless skill compared to Alteration in Oblivion. The Open spell was a different animal in Morrowind where magicka was limited.

The only thing I consider to be a huge blunder with the Lockpicking skill in Skyrim is that the extra pockets perk should have been under Lockpick, not Pickpocket, because quite frankly, that's a perk everyone is going to want on their character, and it would have made a lot more sense to place it on a skill that is universally useful and not on a skill that is only worthwhile if you play a thief.

This. It makes more sense and differentiates character builds. I mean, why specialize in lockpicking at all if you can just learn spells to cast on the locks?

Nothing quest critical is going to be behind a locked door you can't get a key to.
1, You can ask some NPCs for keys
2, You can kill NPCs for their keys

Besides, all you usually miss out on are usually some gems and other little treasure. They don't lock massive awesome areas on you.

So removing options for every play style is a good thing?......ok

They want expert locks to actually require considerable perk investment before you can open them. Right now you have three routes to access them:
- Spend lots of perks on lockpicking (pretty straightforward)
- A couple perks in lockpicking, backed up by very high level alchemy.
- Enchanting can be a crutch for this too.

In oblivion lockpicking required no training - you could pick a master lock at level 1, and as soon as you could afford a spellbook you didn't even have to do that anymore. I like the new system. Sadly, right now it means that I pass on by any locks higher than adept, but that's the tradeoff. How much loot have I missed out on by passing up ~8 master locks since character creation? Chances are, nothing I'd actually use. Probably 2k gold worth of loot, and I've gotten that back from my other skills.

Occasionally finding a chest you can't open isn't game breaking as you imply.

I found today a necklace that gives you a plus in lockpicking.

I miss the spells. After so many hours looking for loot, I was happy to just wave my hand at a lock. Now I actually have to play the silly lockpick game.

I modded Oblivion so that you needed Apprentice lockpicking to open medium chests, Journeyman to open hard, Expert to open very hard.

That way you were one step ahead of the mage's spell at all times. So there's multiple ways to approach a locked chest but not all are equal (thieves are better).

That's how they should have done it here.. in fact that's how you should implement most gameplay challenges.

My mage found a potion (bottle) that increases your lockpicking skills by a certain amount (forgot how much) for 20-30 seconds.