Generally I save before an attempt. It's totally cheating though and makes me feel dirty.

It gets really irritating when you finally manage to pick a master lock and all that is inside is 40 septims. xD

ha it's a user problem...i just picked a master lock using 4 picks with my level 5 nord and only my starting lockpick level. I've noticed there's only about 4-5 positions for every lock so thru practice i can open most locks in 10 picks or less...sometimes i get a "picky" lock that takes a few extra picks

Unless a quest requires me to, I don't open chests that have locks on them. It has nothing to do with Loot, it is because the only chest that ever has anything of value is the Boss Chest and those usually don't have locks, unless it is a lock that has a key that is found in the dungeon.

I wish this was like oblivion where you couldn't attempt certain locks unless your skill was high enough.

I totally understand your frustration, but I think it's working just fine. All master difficulty really means is you'd better have a healthy supply of lockpicks. You're going to open it, it's just a matter of when. Now if there was a puzzle or mini game involved with opening chests, and it yielded leather bracers and a minor potion of stamina, then I would be upset.

There are perks (Golden Touch, Treasure Hunter), a racial abilities (Imperial Luck), and a blessing (Prowler's Profit) that all improve your findings.

Personally I just stopped opening locked chests.

My level 51 character has 70 in lockpicking with no perks. it takes just as long and just as many failures as it did when my skill was 30. Kind of odd. I know the perks make it easier and that's what they're there for, but with any other skill (even "un-perked") once you get it to a high level results are better.

I'm pretty sure you could.attempt locks at any level but those damn tumblers were unforgiving to a novice lockpicker...thankfully OB had the open spell

You are complety right about that. the difficulty of a lock in my opionion should be decided by what is inside, so the more value in the chest say for example if all the value is over 3000 then it should be a master lock

Dude, if you are level 53, then what are you worried about loosing a few lock picks for? Lock picks are incredibly cheap and plentiful. So the chest did not have good treasure. Tough break, but it would be boring if Master lock chests ALWAYS had good loot. Maybe someone left that chest there as a decoy to distract would be thieves from the real treasure hidden elsewhere.

Yep. Maybe the owner took out the usually good stuff to, say, go adventuring ...

The owner recently sold most of their stash ...

That iron ingot and steel gauntlets have great sentimental value to them (their first "banditry" was smacking a guy in the back of the head with the ingot to get his steel gauntlets, e.g.) ...

The original owner of the chest *did* store valuable stuff in it, but he took an ingot to the back of the head ...

ad infinitum.

I too have been know to mutter profanities after breaking several picks on a master lock only to find little for the effort. But that's part of life in, in my opinion at least, any good game. If it was all smooth sailing and predictable, where's the thrill of achievement or discovery?

Speaking of which, that's why my character has invested in, and searched for, equipment enchanted to make lockpicking easier. It adds to the RP and reduces MY frustration ... win, win.

How can one be level 53 with only 20 in lockpicking skill? If you want better loot and easier picks, then yeah, perk it up and swallow it. There are perks that makes you find more gold and better special treasures - but it has a cost - you need to spend perk points. That's pretty much game mechanics 101.

All of us are finding "crappy loot", but we find it pretty much everywhere, and it's getting us rich beyond spending possibilities. There is really nothing to complain about. On the contrary, most find locks far too easy without having to make any sacrifices whatsoever.

I happened across a master lock chest in an early dungeon. I was really excited, figuring I had some good stuff awaiting me. I saved before as I only had 15 or so picks, just in case I blew too many. I finally did get it open, after 2 re-loads, and I got a Minor Healing potion and 3 gold. No joke. I don't even bother with expert or master locks anymore. At least not until my skill gets better.

I agree that it's bizarre (in terms of real-world common sense). Master-locked chests often have worthless loot--while there might be an ebony war axe sitting out in the open 2 feet away (and the NPC you just killed didn't bother to pick it up to replace his iron axe). I've seen exactly this scenario a number of times.

I'm pretty sure this is deliberate game design by BGS. I don't like it, but AFAICT the idea is that you exclude people who can't pick locks if you put decent loot in chests, so tough chests must be filled with junk to avoid creating a sense of frustration in the player.

Yes, had exactly this problem with a few locks...and not so sure that the system isn't bugged either. One recent adept lock cost me over a dozen lockpicks, and I'm at level 67 with a skill around the 90's (no perks). I swore that lock was labelled 'adept' with a 'master' setting.

The random items issue is annoying. It's like cracking the master lock to find the chest holds 10 coin, a pair of boots and an iron dagger, then you look in the burial urn next to it and find 2 flawless diamonds and a saphire.

I actually like the way they didn't get carried away with the loot in chests. You end up with more unique enchanted items than you know what to do with from quests anyway, but I still find it a pleasing to find that particular piece of armour or weapon I've been after as the chest drops don't spam you with prize loot. So a master chest has rubbish loot - just because it had a really good lock doesn't mean it had to have the holy grail inside. It's kind of realistic - someone's house might have really tough door and window locks - it doesn't mean a burglar is going to find the crown jewels inside. They might just be security conscious. That crappy iron sword you found in a chest could be someone's priceless heirloom that means more to them than anything. If you're a thief character that's invested in lockpicking, it's not going to be a big deal. If you haven't, it's frustrating. That gives the lockpicking tree a reason to exist. If you don't want to waste your time cracking tough locks for unpredictable spoils, don't. If you want to take the chance and maybe also bolster your odds of good loot with perks, specialise in lockpicking.

"just spent 20 minutes and 40 lock picks on a master lock chest"

*snort*
...
Really?
You never played Fallout 3 or New Vegas did you?
I guess practice makes perfect cause I've never wasted more than 8 picks and I usually get through Master Chests in 4 picks without any perks.

Four picks... that's weak.

I just broke the chest open with my rock hard abs.

I feel your pain. I remember my first master lock fondly. I picked it with only 5 picks with 35 skill. I was quite happy until I opened the chest to find a few coins and a steel helm... I was like WTF???

haha i thought you were gonna say something else as i read rock hard....

The problem is if Master-level locked chests automatically contain high-end gear, you could go to where a Master chest is at level 5 and get Ebony gear. And that's not good gameplay, either.

edit: if you want level 40+ loot coming out of a chest, it'd best require you to be near that level to open it. But the lock minigames in OB & SK don't. (FO3 kind of did, with the "minimum skill to attempt" thing. Of course, the Very Hard chests in that game tended to contain lint and gum wrappers, so it's not like this is a new thing in a Bethesda game. )

Well, if the frustration builds enough steam, maybe Bethesda will make all chests exactly comeasurate with rewards, and we'll loose yet another life like variable.

Ok boys and girls, here's how to unlock a master level lock. When the unlock minigame thing comes up, don't move it all. Instead leave it at where it begins and move it then. If it wiggles, back out and retry. It changes everytime. Eventually it'll turn without you having to move it from it's starting place at all.

Well, I think there's quite an awkward game design dilemma at the heart of this: How do you make lockpicking worthwhile as a skill without completely locking non-specialists out of content and rewards?

In reality, you shouldn't even be able to open a master chest with 20 skill (well, not with lockpicks anyway ) but few players enjoy walking away from locked chests, never knowing what was inside.

Bethesda's answer:
- Lockpicking is a 'soft' character skill, ie player skill and effort can overcome low character skill.
- Rewards are usually modest.
- Specialising in Lockpicking increases the rewards.

It's kind of an ugly solution in my opinion because it seems more natural for the reward to depend on the difficulty of the chest rather than perks selected by the opener.

I think i'd prefer it if Lockpicking was more dependant on character skill but non-lockpickers could bash open locks with the risk that it might destroy the loot inside.

Well, the last thing I want in this game is predictability. Always knowing the rewards based on lockpicking difficulty would be boring.