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I'm not talking about the mechanic or even the fact that it's too easy, it's that it HAS to be used if you want loot.
I remember the Adventure Time episode where Finn takes Flame Princess to a dungeon, and it revived some fond memories of going through Elder Scroll's dungeons. I noticed that they used keys to try and open the chest that was locked at the beggining, and I thought: "Why doesn't it work that way in the game?"
I propose that in the next TES title, they have keys strewn throughout the dungeon that will unlock the locked chests without having the character be forced to use lockpicks, not only will this fix the current problem of every character having to use the skill, it will add another level to dungeon-diving, solve puzzles or defeat creatures to earn your reward of a key that will unlock a previous or upcoming chest. To make sure you will still have room on your key-ring, the key will immediately be destroyed/lost (it's gone) once its used.

A lot of chest are unlocked, and the ones with loot worth mentioning have keys already.

I love it. I love both in oblivion and skyrim but I don't prefer either more than the other. If you don't like it then just get the wax key perk.

I DESPISED lockpicking in Oblivion and I always went for the Skeleton Key as soon as I was able.

In Skyrim I feel like I actually have a chance to succeed when I try lockpicking. I like it.

I was an amazing Oblivion lockpicker. It's like a less epic Blitz Ace. All in the timing, huge rewards.

Personally, I'd be very annoyed at having to remember where all the chests were that I didn't have keys for in order to be able to come back to them later under your proposed system. I much prefer the current lockpicking system. You can always choose to bypass locked chests if you don't like having to use Security/Lockpicking or if it fits the way you're roleplaying your character.

I like the current lockpicking system. I don't mind having to use lockpicking to open chests. If I'm diving through dungeons, I think lockpicking would be a reasonable skill to have in order to open any rusty doors/chests or to find every last bit of valuables. The only time I don't use it is where I'm playing a non-violent character who avoids dungeons. At that point, I avoid every lock I can because it just doesn't matter. They aren't the sort of people to spend time picking locks, and they don't actually carry any lockpicks with them.

Lockpicking doesn't have to be used if you want loot. There's plenty of other things to find. If you can't find anything, then you aren't looking hard enough or are too picky about what you take.

Skyrim's lockpicking is also easier to use with my demonic mouse. Sure, it likes to make the lockpick move in the opposite direction I'm moving the mouse, but at least I don't have to click anything. That's why I always use the auto attempt option with Oblivion. My mouse has a horrible habit of not responding when I click, so that's actually the most efficient way of doing things.

It took a lot of effort and caused a lot of frustration but I became a master at the Oblivion lock picking system. So naturally I prefer it over Skyrim's, mostly because it is not that much of a challenge and I miss Oblivion's lock picking system.

Oblivion's lockpicking was cake. Skyrim's is only a little harder, in my oppinion. As far as how locks are handled, Unlock spells should be brought back, and an option to break chests or doors should be available.

Yes, there has been many a time I wished my character could just take an axe to a chest she just could not open.

Hrolf Alfblod wrote:Oblivion's lockpicking was cake. Skyrim's is only a little harder, in my oppinion. As far as how locks are handled, Unlock spells should be brought back, and an option to break chests or doors should be available.

I don't know if it just me or not but I thought Skyrim's lockpicking was way too easy, that may be due to Skyrim's lock picking system being the same as the one found in the Fallout series which I have hundreds of hours logged into and a ton of experience with. What about Morrowind? Let's compare Morrowind's lock picking system to Skyrim! There really was no skill needed to lockpick in Morrowind, so I would choose Skyrim's over that.

Hrolf Alfblod wrote:Oblivion's lockpicking was cake. Skyrim's is only a little harder, in my oppinion. As far as how locks are handled, Unlock spells should be brought back, and an option to break chests or doors should be available.

Definitely! Picking locks is good for stealthy characters, but mages and warriors need something too. (though, of course, spells should have a chance to fail and smashing the chest should have repercussions as well... perhaps breaking something within? hmm)

I personally love Skyrim's lockpicking system . . for my thief, at least. The others... I hate having to level up a sneaky skill for them. But the same goes for speech. (Illusion spells should have some effect on persuasion like in Oblivion...)

Morrowind was horrible, if you didn't have a high skill in it; breaking picks constantly. Of course, I guess that makes sense early on in a lock picking career, lol. Yes, Skyrim's is alot like Fallout, and I liked both.

I hate minigames. If you suck at it, you will still have problems with 100 Lockpicking. If you're good at it, you open master level locks at 20 Lockpicking. I really prefer the way lockpicking worked in Morrowind. If your character's skill wasn't good enough, you simply couldn't open the lock. That's how it should be. Your character's skill should be relevant in an RPG, not your own. Morrowind also didn't have those magical locks that couldn't be opened by the best lock picker in the world if he didn't have a key. Those locks have never made sense to me.

Having said that, I prefer Skyrim's minigame over Oblivion's.

Taking out open spells was a huge mistake, why the hell should my mage have to learn how to fiddle around with lockpicks??

The minigame it's self is better than oblivion though, in oblivion i just bought 100s of lockpicks from fences and auto attempted any lock that came up.

I like the lockpicking minigame in Skyrim a lot, it's a huuuge improvement over Oblivion's, but I'd still welcome opening spells for mages or the option (already realized in some mods) to bash a lock open for warriors so you don't have to level lockpicking on every character and get snide remarks from the city guards even if you haven't stolen a single septim in your life. (I suppose you could say that nobody forces us to pick locks and it's perfectly possible to roleplay an honest character who walks by locked chests with their hands in their pockets, but human nature being what it is, I'd wager that few of us have that much self-discipline; I certainly don't.)

I want the option of whacking it open with a hammer, (or any other way of using a weapon on it) or casting open spells again.

Lets face it, you're in a hurry, are you really going to spend time unlocking it when you could just smash it open...

"Shhh, don't wake the draugr!"

"So? That's what the sword's for..."

I preferred Morrowind's system. With Oblivion and Skyrim the system is based too heavily on player skill and too little on character skill. At least Oblivion had an auto attempt. In Morrowind I might break a pick or two but it took me under 30 seconds on most locks and generally under 5 when I was higher level. In Skyrim many of the locks I just use the console to open because I'm so sick of the lock system. Lockpick's are cheap so it's not a question if the lock will open it's just how much time you'll waste doing it. The Oblivion and Skyrim system is immersion breaking as my character might be great with locks but as a player my lack of skill renders my character less effective than a character without any skill.

People that back player based systems forget that some of us aren't that good at playing the game. I can fix my characters stats but my stats in rl don't change as easily.

Chessalavakia wrote:I preferred Morrowind's system. With Oblivion and Skyrim the system is based too heavily on player skill and too little on character skill.

Good point, you could pick a master lock in Skyrim at low levels as well as Oblivion (I think..). Now when the next TES game comes out do you think it will reuse the lockpicking system from Skyrim or a new system?

I like both the Oblivion and Skyrim version of lockpicking. They're really the same thing, just implemented differently.

What I don't understand is the Lockpicking Perk tree. I have never felt the need to invest in any of the perks. And I fail to see how gaining skill levels in Lockpicking actually changes anything in the way the unperked mini-game plays out. It's like the numbers don't mean a damn thing.

The game practically throws free weightless lockpicks at you, so I'm never in any danger of finding myself short of them, even at low levels with a new character. I do wish there was some correlation between a locked chest's difficulty rating and the value of the loot behind the lock. Picking a Master Lock to find 30 coins, or a Novice Lock to earn 300 simply makes no sense.

I can understand why PC gamers might find frustration with the lockpicking mini-game. As I understand it, the PC picking mechanics treat lock barrel rotation like a light switch: it's either full ON or full Off. At least on the consoles, the rotation speed is governed by stick deflection, so it's possible to play the mini-game with a light touch, which comes in handy when picking more difficult locks.

I did very much enjoy Oblivion' Security system... It was very coool. Now its, meh, and its a hassle to do... only easy to do with perks. Why would I get a security perk over a sneak perk?

Evil-i wrote: I do wish there was some correlation between a locked chest's difficulty rating and the value of the loot behind the lock. Picking a Master Lock to find 30 coins, or a Novice Lock to earn 300 simply makes no sense.

QFT!!!

Evil-i wrote:I can understand why PC gamers might find frustration with the lockpicking mini-game. As I understand it, the PC picking mechanics treat lock barrel rotation like a light switch: it's either full ON or full Off. At least on the consoles, the rotation speed is governed by stick deflection, so it's possible to play the mini-game with a light touch, which comes in handy when picking more difficult locks.

Actually, no - I play on PC and I find the minigame pretty easy. If you just tap the A or D key ever so lightly you can gauge fairly well whether the barrel will move or not (and if it does, how far) without reaching breaking point; and once you've found the sector where it does move the rest is a piece of cake simple matter of trial and error.

The lockpicking minigame isn't difficult. The frustration comes when you're forced to use and old, unreliable, and worn out keyboard/mouse.
The one thing I liked about Oblivion's lockpicking was the "Auto Attempt" option, and Skyrim seems to lack that.

Other than that, I don't have a problem with it. All my characters use lockpicking (unless they aren't the dungeon diving sort), so not being able to loot things because I don't use lockpicking has never been an issue. I still think that lockpicking would be a reasonable skill for somebody to have if you're digging through old Nordic ruins, though I do agree that having the option to bust locks would also be nice. There are mods for that, but... Meh. It would be better if Bethesda added a feature like that rather than having to rely on mods.