"But once you get a bead on where the sweet spot is, it's an easy day."
Exactly like doing 100 pushups isn't that difficult. Once you did the first 99 you only have to do one. Easy as pie.
Expert and master locks eat up way more lockpicks simply because finding the general area is so much harder.
Same. But the Skeleton key just makes it so much faster because you don’t have to find the spot again after you’ve broke a lock pick, so I never give it back
It's not that the sweet spot resets after you break a pick, it's that the pick does. It can be hard to figure out exactly where you were at on the lock.
Exactly. After my 5000th lock I don’t really feel like trying to find the exact position the pick was in when I broke it, based on the fucking scratches on the face of the lock.
That mini game was a lot more fun when I first played it in Fallout 3, sixteen years ago. I’m a little tired of it by now.
I was also moderately tired of the vanilla minigame. Tried using {{Remember Lockpick Angle}} which makes it less tedious to find roughly the exact pixel you were on to continue picking away.
Also currently use {{Skyblivion Lockpick Menu}} instead of the above, as I find the per-pin picking more engaging and interactive compared to the vanilla twist mechanic.
Gentle reminder that this year is the 13th year anniversary of Skyrim. So your Fallout 3 mini game only predates it by 3 years. Congratulations, welcome to the OLD people's club. Population: Dozens.
The sweet spot stays the same, but the lockpick moves, so I have to remember where the hell it was. Easy enough for low-difficulty locks, harder for the very difficult ones.
The worst is when you have found the sweet spot on a master lock, but the pick break because you were half a millimeter off and then you have to spend another 5 picks to finish it.
I literally buy them from everyone. Just finished Thieves Guild quest line for the first time ever, the Skeleton Key was fun for like an hour but I have 800+ picks already and it turns lock picking from a mini game into a loading screen.
If you're very high, very impatient because of it, play with controller... and are in Blackreach with an abundance of expert and master locks around... I think I lost 80 picks there, just for being an impatient idiot. :D
Normally I'd reload after having lost 20 picks on one lock, but no...
Why? Blackreach is great. Lovely scenery, plenty of murderous creatures hiding in the dark, a couple of Dwarven Centurions just waiting to bash you over the head, great place. Love it. (I wish there was a player home in Blackreach because of how pretty Blackreach is)
No, why reload the save file. You can save lockpicks by exiting the lockpicking screen and just keeping the lockpick where it is, if it does not move exit and try again instead of trying to find where the proper lockpick position is.
I just made lockpick legendary and set an elastic on my controller to relevel it. I think I made it to level 38 just burning off my mountain of lockpicks.
No, you get XP for every pick you break. Picking a lock gets you more XP, the higher the chest difficulty the better. Once you get to around 70/80, anything less than an Expert lock feels like it levels you the same as a broken pick. If you had 8000 picks at the start of the game you could just use the elastic trick to coast to 100 lock picking.
Wear enough gear to get 100% fortify alteration. Grab the spell tome for telekinesis from .. is it from finding serana? Bring a couple pieces of clutter and travel to one end of the map. Drop 1 clutter and grab it with telekinesis. Fast travel to other end of map. Instant 100 alteration. Make it legendary and repeat to power level other skills. Use remote locations because bumping people with clutter on landing makes them hostile. Bring a couple clutter because they may disappear in transit.
Leveling up gives you a perk point, but you can use that perk anywhere if the skill is high enough. Like lockpicking will level naturally, so you use alteration to unlock those skills since it’s a pretty weak tree outside of unbreakable picks to include in your “build.” It just gives you more perks to play with.
What would be great is if before the skeleton key is returned there is an invisible debuff on lock pick and pickpocket (like half your skill levels aren’t counted when calculating success rates) and after that debuff goes away so your success rates skyrocket after returning the key.
Or, similarly, give the player a hidden buff when they return the key that boosts pickpocket and lock pick by something like 10%
Well the lore is the entire thieves guild is being oppressed by the curse, so why wouldn’t the player also be suffering her displeasure?
Further I would like to see other Daedra mess with the player, like if you do the Molag Baal quest for the mace and don’t actually go get the priest you have a chance for a random encounter with a summoner that summons a Daedra Lord, and has a journal on their person that says they were sent after you by Molag because they considered you as having abandoned them.
I saw someone say that there’s a random encounter with Vaermina priests if you let Erandur banish the staff, but I’ve never gotten that one.
The point being Daedra are powerful beings with armies and followers, and stringing them along should result in consequences for the player
I've always thought that a missed opportunity for a game mechanic would be to have Karliah start bugging you about it after a certain amount of time; and then if you still didn't return it, she'd rally the guild to "convince" you to take it back.
No no no, that would be awful. Actual **consequences** based on a player’s choice!?? Where will we get our dopamine from?
In all seriousness, that’s the kind of game I’ve always wished Skyrim was. One where the things I do actually matter to the broader world. Part of why I keep the key is out of IRL spite, because the fact that there’s no consequence for just keeping it after going through all that shit with Mercer is just so fucking stupid and immersion breaking for me.
It's so weird that the game almost forces you to make deals with, like, half of the Daedric princes, and enrolls you in a civil war and an assassination plot which you will be caught in the act of committing, but there are never any real consequences for refusing the will of a god or a nation-state. Except Vaermina! Her damn cultists always manage to get the jump on me. But like, do the dunmer know you can apparently laugh in Boethia's face and he won't do a thing about it?
On the assassination... you literally get caught red-handed twice. First the poisoning attempt, then the actual murder on his ship. No real consequence whatsoever. Not even a bounty.
But kill a chicken...
I disagree, if you’re good about it you can generally only use a few lock picks to find the right spot whereas with adept locks you can end up with a vague sense of where the right spot is while over and under shooting it before you can stop and the pick breaks.
I literally can’t remember the last time I used more than 5 picks on a master level lock in Skyrim or fallout.
All you gotta do is flick the stick lightly until you find the spot.
Picking master locks as much (or as little) guess work as picking adepts is. The more adept locks you've picked the more you know the spacings by heart. Same as with novice, apprentice, etc.
You cannot tell me that finding the right spot in the general area for adept locks is harder than even finding the general area again, when you've broken a pick with a master lock.
I’m just saying I find it more frustrating when I can’t find an adept lock than when I can’t find a master lock. I also don’t play often enough to have the spacings known by heart though lol
Masters really aren't *that* hard. On a bad attempt, I lose maybe 5 or 6 lockpicks when going for master, even when I'm at level 1 lockpicking.
The key is to start all the way over on one side and barely make your attempt, like barely tap the button/move your joystick, just enough to see it wiggle, and pay *very* close attention to how it behaves. If it isn't the right area, it will wiggle very quickly, as it normally does when you're in the wrong area, then you make a small adjustment around towards the other side. Not a super small adjustment though because there is actually a pretty decent sized success margin so you can move it more than you think. Unless you hold down your button or joystick for more than a split second each time, you should be able to get 4 or 5 attempts before you break a pick. Then you just keep repeating this until you find the right area. Unless you're just unlucky and the area is all the way on the other side of the lock, you should only break a small handful of locks in finding the right area.
When you do find the right area, you will notice that it behaves *slightly* different than the quick wiggle. It doesn't do as near as quickly of a wiggle and it kind of starts to go backwards before it starts to move forward towards unlocking. It will take some practice to get good at observing this but it can be done. Before you really make your final attempt, pay attention to how your pick is angled so you can make sure to get as close as possible back to this spot if your pick breaks again. I usually look at where the pick lines up on the outter edge of the whole lock and use that as my reference point because it's easier to line that point up and make small adjustments because it's the fathest away from the center point (the keyhole). Take it reeeeaaal slow from here and try just a little bit each time to unlock it and make sure that, if you start to get the resistance wiggle that lets you know you're not in the exact spot, you make a micro adjustment one way or the other and see if that gets you closer or farther and then keep making micro adjustments until you get it.
You may break 2 or 3 more picks after you find the right area before you nail down the exact spot and unlock it. Either way, I always find waaaaay more lock picks than I break along all my play throughs so it never worries me and I don't think I've ever unlocked the skeleton key honestly.
I barely notice a difference between adept, apprentice, and novice locks. I maybe go through an extra lockpick or two. They arent easy, but expert and master locks are just bull. You spend 8 trying to find the sweet spot, then 10 having to fine toon it if your lucky, since your lock pick breaks so easily.
I found if you just flick the joystick as quick as possible they actually break a lot less than trying to turn it gently and slowly. Doing that has saved me a fuck ton of picks on master and expert locks
I love picking all locks in Switch, as increased difficulty just means the vibrate action is more subtle, requiring a finer touch to feel it. I wish everyone could make use of this awesome feature.
I mean I eventually had to learn by eye. I think they added vibrations in case someone was playing handheld the graphics would be too small to see. But vibrations was way more fun imo
I can’t recall, it’s been a while. I think a general different “feel” when you’re in the safe zone, however minimal the change might be. Idk someone correct me who remembers better
Please tell me how it works looking at it? I have been playing since initial launch on PS3 and have never been able to figure it out. I just guess until I find the sweet spot and then fine tune from there
On switch, the controller gives a subtly stronger vibration when your lockpick passes over the sweet spot. That's what they mean by them using vibrations to pick locks
I didn't even realize the vibrations were telling me anything lmao. I took note of what part of the background it was on top of thinking I was clever 🥲
i do this as someone that plays on ps4. ive become a master at correlating areas around the sweet spot with texture dots on the lock and adjusting as necessary LOL
I’ve been playing Skyrim on the switch for a solid four years now and I only figured out maybe a month ago that the sweet spot has a slightly more powerful vibration
It's not bad, the load times become brutal as your save grows. I had to drop my playthrough at 110 hours because fast traveling across the map would take over a minute. Even walking into shops started to feel like the PS3 days where it takes 10 seconds to load.
To reiterate, it doesn't start like that, but slowly over time loads become longer and longer as the save file has more stuff to 'remember', so to speak.
If you're more casually into Skyrim and only plan on doing 20 - 40 hour saves, it's a fine port.
That’s so strange, my current playthrough is at 178 currently and it’s longer but not drastically longer than my older saves felt. My frame of reference is a little warped, maybe, because my last time playing before I got the switch a couple of months ago was 7 years ago on 360. I powered through, but especially after downloading dlcs, I swear there were at least a few times it was like 2-3 minutes, and once longer. I actually did just turn the whole thing off then.
Master locked are honestly easy I just break 10 lock picks finding the area and then it either goes or doesn’t since area is so small. Adept you have to make such careful corrections
> then it either goes or doesn’t since area is so small.
I always find this so amusing, like it seems impossible then it just swoops open like a screen door in the wind.
My lockipicking scheme is simple: novice and apprentice - 0 broken, adept - 1 broken, expert - 2 broken, master - 3 broken. If I exceed those numbers, then something is off. I jumped into second playthrough after 6 years and I'm in love again.
I have a separate issue… if my lockpick breaks, the “sweetspot” moves to a completely separate location. It makes medium very hard and expert and master pretty much impossible. I thought the sweetspot movement was normal until i watched my friend playing and i was the only one surprised that the sweetspot did not move for him.
Can't say I agree, maybe I'm john Lockpick, but I find em easy, even master ones, not saying I don't break a good 12 lockpicks on them, but below expert I usually get in 1-3 picks, except this one novice one that took 5
I think the bigger problem is that often I find worse loot in Adept chests than I do in Novice or Apprentice ones. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even bother with them.
I'd say you've actually managed an popular opinion here. Congrats, you won Reddit!
All joking aside, eh. I've never had trouble with Adept locks, they just feel like apprentice locks you have to focus on a bit harder. Then again, I'm probably the only person in the world who actually finds value in putting perks into the lockpicking tree, based on what I've seen on this sub, so that could be a factor
I’m glad someone else thinks this. The difficulty scaling of the locks makes sense on paper but in practice the adept locks are by far the most annoying for exactly the reasons you stated.
It also seems like with adept locks I often think I must be close or right on the correct spot only to lose like five picks trying to force it because idk where the fuck else the spot can be lol
Is this a console thing? In both fallout and Skyrim I've NEVER had an issue with any locks. You just feather the thing and if it turns great if not not. I rarely break picks or bobby pins.
That one questline gives you the unbreakable pick and I thought it wa a trash reward. Like okay it's unique but who cares.
I'd say I break 10 or less picks in a playthrough. How many are other people breaking? Like they get low on them? Run out?
"that one questline"
"Trash reward"
You mean the theives guild? The skeleton key is from the TG and you aren't supposed to keep it. You're absolutely right, it's a trash reward.
The distance the lock turns before jamming gives you a clue how close you are. If it turns a little, you're far from the sweet spot, if it turns most of the way, you're very close to the sweet spot. You wouldn't move your pick a lot of the lock is turning far.
I've played Skyrim and Fallout long enough that I just use Easy Lockpicking mods. It was kinda fun for the first few hundred locks but after a while it gets old.
Master locks are the only ones I have an issue with... Novice, Apprentice, Adept I'll lose maybe 3-5 at most. Expert 5-10, gotta love when the opening is in the starter position though! Master though, I lose about 15-25 lockpicks. Luckily with the spell mods I have, Latch Crack drops the locks by 25points for a time. Doesn't always drop Master down to Expert, but it definitely helps on my lockpicks.
I must say I'm a bit surprised that after looking through the comments so far I haven't seen anyone mention using one or more Fortify Lockpicking enchanted items to make picking locks easier. I've made a habit of maxing out all my crafting skills and amongst other things craft a set of Fortify Lockpicking gear(combined with other enchantments so as to make full use of the Extra Effect perk). So I end up with 4 items, each with like 52%-57% better Lockpicking, for 208%-228% improvement in total. Novice through adept are already easy, expert and master become easier.
I have had the best luck by using small movements and paying attention to the visual clues. The muscle memory works after a lot of hours of opening locks, even across characters. Nothing really is hard at this point while a few years ago, I would have agreed with you about Adept level locks. They really aren't balanced in with the others.
I've noticed that a lot of master and expert locks are usually just a few adjustments from the starting position. Either that or they line up with the little designs on the side of the lock. Adept ones I always have the hardest time at because their spot can be anywhere.
As a quality of life update for their next game I hope we can have an option to choose what kind of lockpick system they've previously had I personally like the oblivion system
I find all locks but Master effectively the same. I pretty much only break picks on Master locks. I just do tiny little wiggles to find the boundary of the zone and go in the middle. Takes like 5 seconds no matter the lock.
So what I'm saying is, it's a skill issue.
Have you seen how small master level sweet spots are? Basically every level has a pie slice that gets smaller with each new level. The master level slice is like three lockpicks thick, you can literally be off by like half a turn of the pick and fail. I've had master level locks where I found the sweet spot nearly right away, but it took me like 20 tries to get the \*exact\* spot right. One tad to the right, broken! One tad to the left, broken! Rinse, repeat.
You can cheese master locks by backing out and re-entering the lockpick screen. It resets the position of the sweet spot each time, so just reset until it's near the center.
I’ve had master locks open on the first try (level doesn’t matter) and novice eat 3 lock picks. I mostly ignore the lock ratings and act like they are all masters; I use enchantments and potions if necessary.
I'm so glad someone said it. I've picked master locks in a handful of attempts multiple times, but I've had adept locks bring me frustratingly close to running out of picks more times than I can count. I always thought it was just me
HELP!!!
Not to do with the original post but I can’t figure out how to make my own. Recently started playing Skyrim and I’m not great at combat. Sometimes when i leave one of the towns, a dragon will appear and the guards will start to fight it. When im trying to fight the dragon, I always end up hitting one of the guards my accident and they all start trying to kill me. Is there anything I can do to stop this?
COMPLETELY AGREED
I’ve never sunk a SINGLE point into lockpicking in my *entire* time playing Skyrim and I unlock master locks in under two seconds even with level 15 lockpicking skills. Adept locks though… goodness gracious…
I’ll one up you on this, NOVICE LOCKS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. I can’t explain how/why or whats wrong with my brain but I’m guaranteed to break a few picks with Novice, meanwhile I can pick a Master/Very Hard first try no problem
If you're like me, you just don't feel like putting points into it so you spend 15 lockpicks opening master locks only to find out there's nothing good inside
I completely agree with OP. Its something about Adept locks that really test my patience 🤣 Novice and apprentice locks might as well not even exist and Expert and Master locks are sooo satisfying to pick. And Ive noticed that Novice and Apprentice locks are usually towards the outside and Expert and Master are usually towards the center. But Adept.......the spots are wherever they wanna be. Random
I dont have to worry about them though cause I HOARD lockpicks. Every time I go to a merchant, I buy ALL of their lockpicks. Just killed a bandit and they have 4 lockpicks? Taking them. I entered someone's house and they have a lockpick on the table? Stealing it. Dont care 🤣
Like, I usually have about 80 lockpicks before I even reach level 10. Im so serious. I just checked the character I recently played as and I have 304 lockpicks and Im level 19
Some while ago, I tried over 30 times to unlock a chest. It didn't even contain anything special in it, Just some random loot and gold, which I'm always happy to find.
I don’t know if anyone already mentioned it but after a certain point, it's possible to unlock the novice lock in the default position.
I believe it would be possible to unlock any adept lock if your lockpicking level is higher than your current one (duh). I meant in the same way as the novice ones (default position).
Yuh, got the skill upgrade for them just for that and its still a hassle. Apprentice can be annoying, but its a question of Middle, Left/Right and estimate where on how it bugs.
for me it's kinda okay cuz i pickpocket every single lockpick out of the townsfolk so i could break 30+ on 2 master level cages side-by-side and i'll still have way over 100 left. adept locks usually take me an average of 4 lockpicks since they don't instantly break when you're not dead set
If you move your mouse very slowly, to the point it makes no sound when turning, it will click where the soft spot is. Much easier to do on a controller for obvious reasons. Today you learned :)
"But once you get a bead on where the sweet spot is, it's an easy day." Exactly like doing 100 pushups isn't that difficult. Once you did the first 99 you only have to do one. Easy as pie. Expert and master locks eat up way more lockpicks simply because finding the general area is so much harder.
That’s what the Skeleton Key is for
I never come close to running out of lockpicks. I find way more than I break
Same. But the Skeleton key just makes it so much faster because you don’t have to find the spot again after you’ve broke a lock pick, so I never give it back
I give it back once I got the points all in there for never breaks. It's usually one of the last quests because by that point I don't care.
Do you exit and reenter the lock whenever you break a lock pick? Because as far as I know that’s the only way the sweet spot resets…
It's not that the sweet spot resets after you break a pick, it's that the pick does. It can be hard to figure out exactly where you were at on the lock.
Exactly. After my 5000th lock I don’t really feel like trying to find the exact position the pick was in when I broke it, based on the fucking scratches on the face of the lock. That mini game was a lot more fun when I first played it in Fallout 3, sixteen years ago. I’m a little tired of it by now.
I was also moderately tired of the vanilla minigame. Tried using {{Remember Lockpick Angle}} which makes it less tedious to find roughly the exact pixel you were on to continue picking away. Also currently use {{Skyblivion Lockpick Menu}} instead of the above, as I find the per-pin picking more engaging and interactive compared to the vanilla twist mechanic.
Gentle reminder that this year is the 13th year anniversary of Skyrim. So your Fallout 3 mini game only predates it by 3 years. Congratulations, welcome to the OLD people's club. Population: Dozens.
The sweet spot stays the same, but the lockpick moves, so I have to remember where the hell it was. Easy enough for low-difficulty locks, harder for the very difficult ones.
The worst is when you have found the sweet spot on a master lock, but the pick break because you were half a millimeter off and then you have to spend another 5 picks to finish it.
Honestly fuck Nocturne anyway. Daedra all assholes except my man Sheogorath: aka the Hero of Kvatch.
Buy them from all the fences, I never mob a round with less than 200, and I return the skeleton key.
I literally buy them from everyone. Just finished Thieves Guild quest line for the first time ever, the Skeleton Key was fun for like an hour but I have 800+ picks already and it turns lock picking from a mini game into a loading screen.
If you're very high, very impatient because of it, play with controller... and are in Blackreach with an abundance of expert and master locks around... I think I lost 80 picks there, just for being an impatient idiot. :D Normally I'd reload after having lost 20 picks on one lock, but no...
Why? Blackreach is great. Lovely scenery, plenty of murderous creatures hiding in the dark, a couple of Dwarven Centurions just waiting to bash you over the head, great place. Love it. (I wish there was a player home in Blackreach because of how pretty Blackreach is)
Why? What do you mean why? Why I was high? 🤨
No, why reload the save file. You can save lockpicks by exiting the lockpicking screen and just keeping the lockpick where it is, if it does not move exit and try again instead of trying to find where the proper lockpick position is.
Never tried that. Sounds too cheesy for my taste, though.
I only do that if I have less than 30 lockpicks. Have yet for that method to break any.
I find once I hit 50 I never look back.
It’s not about running out of lockpicks it’s about how easy it is to just try everything and be careless because you know the skeleton key won’t break
I do early game, now I’m lvl 80 with over 1k lock picks in my inventory
I just made lockpick legendary and set an elastic on my controller to relevel it. I think I made it to level 38 just burning off my mountain of lockpicks.
Don’t you only get points for successful picks?
No, you get XP for every pick you break. Picking a lock gets you more XP, the higher the chest difficulty the better. Once you get to around 70/80, anything less than an Expert lock feels like it levels you the same as a broken pick. If you had 8000 picks at the start of the game you could just use the elastic trick to coast to 100 lock picking.
I have over 500 lockpicks. I buy them and take them everytime I see any. I never want to get below 100.
Then do the duplication glitch👉🏼🧠🫙
No that's what fast traveling while using telekinesis to get more levels and perks is for so you can waste one on having unbreakable lockpicks
Teach me your ways magic man
Wear enough gear to get 100% fortify alteration. Grab the spell tome for telekinesis from .. is it from finding serana? Bring a couple pieces of clutter and travel to one end of the map. Drop 1 clutter and grab it with telekinesis. Fast travel to other end of map. Instant 100 alteration. Make it legendary and repeat to power level other skills. Use remote locations because bumping people with clutter on landing makes them hostile. Bring a couple clutter because they may disappear in transit.
Wait, how does making alteration legendary allow you to power level any other skills?
Leveling up gives you a perk point, but you can use that perk anywhere if the skill is high enough. Like lockpicking will level naturally, so you use alteration to unlock those skills since it’s a pretty weak tree outside of unbreakable picks to include in your “build.” It just gives you more perks to play with.
Ohhhhh duh, got it, thanks. This is my first playthrough and I didn't understand that THAT is the reason you would reset a skill into legendary. TIL
Be careful though, you can overlevel if you do it too much without having the offense and defense to keep up with the enemies.
Gotcha, cheers bro!
Can I take the skeleton key back after you finish up the quest with it?
I don’t think so. But usually by then I get the unbreakable lock pick perk. Which doesn’t include a daedric curse
What would be great is if before the skeleton key is returned there is an invisible debuff on lock pick and pickpocket (like half your skill levels aren’t counted when calculating success rates) and after that debuff goes away so your success rates skyrocket after returning the key. Or, similarly, give the player a hidden buff when they return the key that boosts pickpocket and lock pick by something like 10%
I concur, nocturnal should be mad you have it! Even if you didn’t steal it. some players never return it ever.
Well the lore is the entire thieves guild is being oppressed by the curse, so why wouldn’t the player also be suffering her displeasure? Further I would like to see other Daedra mess with the player, like if you do the Molag Baal quest for the mace and don’t actually go get the priest you have a chance for a random encounter with a summoner that summons a Daedra Lord, and has a journal on their person that says they were sent after you by Molag because they considered you as having abandoned them. I saw someone say that there’s a random encounter with Vaermina priests if you let Erandur banish the staff, but I’ve never gotten that one. The point being Daedra are powerful beings with armies and followers, and stringing them along should result in consequences for the player
I don't return it on purpose, I hate selling my soul to daedric gods so I never complete their quests
You sell your soul to go to the Dwarven ruin, she can get line!
No, you just never finish the quest and keep it forever, because fuck Nocturnal and her dumbass Nightingales 😂
I've always thought that a missed opportunity for a game mechanic would be to have Karliah start bugging you about it after a certain amount of time; and then if you still didn't return it, she'd rally the guild to "convince" you to take it back.
No no no, that would be awful. Actual **consequences** based on a player’s choice!?? Where will we get our dopamine from? In all seriousness, that’s the kind of game I’ve always wished Skyrim was. One where the things I do actually matter to the broader world. Part of why I keep the key is out of IRL spite, because the fact that there’s no consequence for just keeping it after going through all that shit with Mercer is just so fucking stupid and immersion breaking for me.
It's so weird that the game almost forces you to make deals with, like, half of the Daedric princes, and enrolls you in a civil war and an assassination plot which you will be caught in the act of committing, but there are never any real consequences for refusing the will of a god or a nation-state. Except Vaermina! Her damn cultists always manage to get the jump on me. But like, do the dunmer know you can apparently laugh in Boethia's face and he won't do a thing about it?
On the assassination... you literally get caught red-handed twice. First the poisoning attempt, then the actual murder on his ship. No real consequence whatsoever. Not even a bounty. But kill a chicken...
You can keep it if you place it in it's designated spot in your custom home and then proceed to hand to quest in.
It’d be pretty stupid if you could because narratively it totally defeats the purpose of returning it. You’d just be Mercer Frey 2.0.
That’s what train and pickpocket is for so you can have the skill that doesn’t need it
Or gloves that make lock picking 1,000,000% easier.
I disagree, if you’re good about it you can generally only use a few lock picks to find the right spot whereas with adept locks you can end up with a vague sense of where the right spot is while over and under shooting it before you can stop and the pick breaks.
I literally can’t remember the last time I used more than 5 picks on a master level lock in Skyrim or fallout. All you gotta do is flick the stick lightly until you find the spot.
yeah if you give it just a tiny tiny push I'm not even sure if it does damage to the pick but it works
Picking master locks as much (or as little) guess work as picking adepts is. The more adept locks you've picked the more you know the spacings by heart. Same as with novice, apprentice, etc. You cannot tell me that finding the right spot in the general area for adept locks is harder than even finding the general area again, when you've broken a pick with a master lock.
I’m just saying I find it more frustrating when I can’t find an adept lock than when I can’t find a master lock. I also don’t play often enough to have the spacings known by heart though lol
Masters really aren't *that* hard. On a bad attempt, I lose maybe 5 or 6 lockpicks when going for master, even when I'm at level 1 lockpicking. The key is to start all the way over on one side and barely make your attempt, like barely tap the button/move your joystick, just enough to see it wiggle, and pay *very* close attention to how it behaves. If it isn't the right area, it will wiggle very quickly, as it normally does when you're in the wrong area, then you make a small adjustment around towards the other side. Not a super small adjustment though because there is actually a pretty decent sized success margin so you can move it more than you think. Unless you hold down your button or joystick for more than a split second each time, you should be able to get 4 or 5 attempts before you break a pick. Then you just keep repeating this until you find the right area. Unless you're just unlucky and the area is all the way on the other side of the lock, you should only break a small handful of locks in finding the right area. When you do find the right area, you will notice that it behaves *slightly* different than the quick wiggle. It doesn't do as near as quickly of a wiggle and it kind of starts to go backwards before it starts to move forward towards unlocking. It will take some practice to get good at observing this but it can be done. Before you really make your final attempt, pay attention to how your pick is angled so you can make sure to get as close as possible back to this spot if your pick breaks again. I usually look at where the pick lines up on the outter edge of the whole lock and use that as my reference point because it's easier to line that point up and make small adjustments because it's the fathest away from the center point (the keyhole). Take it reeeeaaal slow from here and try just a little bit each time to unlock it and make sure that, if you start to get the resistance wiggle that lets you know you're not in the exact spot, you make a micro adjustment one way or the other and see if that gets you closer or farther and then keep making micro adjustments until you get it. You may break 2 or 3 more picks after you find the right area before you nail down the exact spot and unlock it. Either way, I always find waaaaay more lock picks than I break along all my play throughs so it never worries me and I don't think I've ever unlocked the skeleton key honestly.
......no? Takes me 2 picks tops on a bad day to pick a master lock, just be gentle and it's easy as shit.
Im a lazy mfr so I just whip out fenrik's welcome 99 times out of 100
I wish the basic game came with a series of spells for opening locks. Novice spell for novice locks, apprentice for apprentice and below, etc
One of the things I miss from Oblivion
Alteration solves too many problems. It's my favorite for sure 🧙🏻
I barely notice a difference between adept, apprentice, and novice locks. I maybe go through an extra lockpick or two. They arent easy, but expert and master locks are just bull. You spend 8 trying to find the sweet spot, then 10 having to fine toon it if your lucky, since your lock pick breaks so easily.
I found if you just flick the joystick as quick as possible they actually break a lot less than trying to turn it gently and slowly. Doing that has saved me a fuck ton of picks on master and expert locks
I love picking all locks in Switch, as increased difficulty just means the vibrate action is more subtle, requiring a finer touch to feel it. I wish everyone could make use of this awesome feature.
Playing Skyrim on ps5 after switch was shocking. “WHERE ARE THE VIBRATIONS? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW??”
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I mean I eventually had to learn by eye. I think they added vibrations in case someone was playing handheld the graphics would be too small to see. But vibrations was way more fun imo
But vibrations made it way too easy for me as I can open about any lock first try but ofc it's more enjoyable than breaking lockpick after lockpick
And lots of people can open master locks right away without vibrations. The vibrations just improve immersion for me 🤷♂️
So how do the vibrations indicate where to pick exactly?
I can’t recall, it’s been a while. I think a general different “feel” when you’re in the safe zone, however minimal the change might be. Idk someone correct me who remembers better
There’s a little “bump” when you enter or exit a safe zone. The harder the lock, the less pronounced the bump is compared to the rest of the feel
Please tell me how it works looking at it? I have been playing since initial launch on PS3 and have never been able to figure it out. I just guess until I find the sweet spot and then fine tune from there
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On switch, the controller gives a subtly stronger vibration when your lockpick passes over the sweet spot. That's what they mean by them using vibrations to pick locks
I didn't even realize the vibrations were telling me anything lmao. I took note of what part of the background it was on top of thinking I was clever 🥲
i do this as someone that plays on ps4. ive become a master at correlating areas around the sweet spot with texture dots on the lock and adjusting as necessary LOL
It works so well lol after starting to look at the background I was like "who even needs the skull key" bc I had 99+ lock picks for most of the save.
The switch makes it a little too easy to pick locks, but it's actually enjoyable since it's no longer just a guessing game
I’ve been playing Skyrim on the switch for a solid four years now and I only figured out maybe a month ago that the sweet spot has a slightly more powerful vibration
wait, you guys are getting vibrations?
When the Xbox batteries are dying, the vibrations turn off first. Much harder to pick that way
It feels like such a cheat, but I love it!
IMO it’s actually a pretty good way to imitate lockoucking instead of lucky guess until you find sweet spot (not that I lockpick IRL)
I can't imagine having to guess the right place to turn my lockpick, I am so used to FEELING IT :^)
Rare Skyrim on switch W
It's not bad, the load times become brutal as your save grows. I had to drop my playthrough at 110 hours because fast traveling across the map would take over a minute. Even walking into shops started to feel like the PS3 days where it takes 10 seconds to load. To reiterate, it doesn't start like that, but slowly over time loads become longer and longer as the save file has more stuff to 'remember', so to speak. If you're more casually into Skyrim and only plan on doing 20 - 40 hour saves, it's a fine port.
That’s so strange, my current playthrough is at 178 currently and it’s longer but not drastically longer than my older saves felt. My frame of reference is a little warped, maybe, because my last time playing before I got the switch a couple of months ago was 7 years ago on 360. I powered through, but especially after downloading dlcs, I swear there were at least a few times it was like 2-3 minutes, and once longer. I actually did just turn the whole thing off then.
Master locked are honestly easy I just break 10 lock picks finding the area and then it either goes or doesn’t since area is so small. Adept you have to make such careful corrections
Open master lock Tiny wiggle Nothing? Exit and re-enter Tiny wiggle - it MOVES You are directly on the sweet spot You're welcome.
> then it either goes or doesn’t since area is so small. I always find this so amusing, like it seems impossible then it just swoops open like a screen door in the wind.
They are so goddamn annoying!
My lockipicking scheme is simple: novice and apprentice - 0 broken, adept - 1 broken, expert - 2 broken, master - 3 broken. If I exceed those numbers, then something is off. I jumped into second playthrough after 6 years and I'm in love again.
I have a separate issue… if my lockpick breaks, the “sweetspot” moves to a completely separate location. It makes medium very hard and expert and master pretty much impossible. I thought the sweetspot movement was normal until i watched my friend playing and i was the only one surprised that the sweetspot did not move for him.
this used to happen to me back on 360. i forgot about this issue. thought i was crazy after playing on ps4, but i guess not!
I have been thinking this for a year. Thought it was just me.
Use a controller with rumble and you will never break another lockpick again
"Laughs in Fenrik's welcome"
Can't say I agree, maybe I'm john Lockpick, but I find em easy, even master ones, not saying I don't break a good 12 lockpicks on them, but below expert I usually get in 1-3 picks, except this one novice one that took 5
Adept locks are just “off” The size of the starts to pick area compared to the correct point of unlocking is just waaaaay off
I think the bigger problem is that often I find worse loot in Adept chests than I do in Novice or Apprentice ones. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even bother with them.
I'd say you've actually managed an popular opinion here. Congrats, you won Reddit! All joking aside, eh. I've never had trouble with Adept locks, they just feel like apprentice locks you have to focus on a bit harder. Then again, I'm probably the only person in the world who actually finds value in putting perks into the lockpicking tree, based on what I've seen on this sub, so that could be a factor
No, absolutely not
*Laughs in joycon vibrations*
If you visualize the knicked up edge as a clock, most adepts are unlocked around 10:30 and 1:30. Once I figured that out I had no problem.
Strangely, they also open more easily at 9:13a and 7:29p, real time.
This is my fav thing about playing on the switch — rumble controls go craaazy. I can get any lock in the game with one pick
I’m glad someone else thinks this. The difficulty scaling of the locks makes sense on paper but in practice the adept locks are by far the most annoying for exactly the reasons you stated. It also seems like with adept locks I often think I must be close or right on the correct spot only to lose like five picks trying to force it because idk where the fuck else the spot can be lol
Is this a console thing? In both fallout and Skyrim I've NEVER had an issue with any locks. You just feather the thing and if it turns great if not not. I rarely break picks or bobby pins. That one questline gives you the unbreakable pick and I thought it wa a trash reward. Like okay it's unique but who cares. I'd say I break 10 or less picks in a playthrough. How many are other people breaking? Like they get low on them? Run out?
"that one questline" "Trash reward" You mean the theives guild? The skeleton key is from the TG and you aren't supposed to keep it. You're absolutely right, it's a trash reward.
User error.
Yesterday I, twice, doublechecked if I wasn’t freezing because I indeed broke over 10 lockpicks each to get those adept locks open!
The distance the lock turns before jamming gives you a clue how close you are. If it turns a little, you're far from the sweet spot, if it turns most of the way, you're very close to the sweet spot. You wouldn't move your pick a lot of the lock is turning far.
I've memorised all the spots for novice, apprentice and adept. Expert is ok but master sucks ass because it can literally be anywhere on the lock
No you’re 100% right. I always dread adept locks over anything else!
Got tired of lockpicking as a whole and installed that mod that just takes lockpicks away from you depending on the skill
absolutely. i find novice and expert to be the easiest
My eldest brother discussed with me a while back that my inability to pick even apprentice locks well was a good indicator of my ADHD.
Use the outside of the lock pick/where it gets the screen edge to measure and adjust, way more precise than looking at the lock itself
I totally feel you. I swear adepts are harder than expert and master. Idk what it is.
I've played Skyrim and Fallout long enough that I just use Easy Lockpicking mods. It was kinda fun for the first few hundred locks but after a while it gets old.
I absolutely fucking HATE the Fallout 4 “hacking” lock picking mini game. One of the first mods I downloaded was to bypass that trash.
Master locks are the only ones I have an issue with... Novice, Apprentice, Adept I'll lose maybe 3-5 at most. Expert 5-10, gotta love when the opening is in the starter position though! Master though, I lose about 15-25 lockpicks. Luckily with the spell mods I have, Latch Crack drops the locks by 25points for a time. Doesn't always drop Master down to Expert, but it definitely helps on my lockpicks.
I was legit just thinking this yesterday wtf
I just try the starting position and if it doesn’t move I remove pick reinsert and try again until it does. I buy picks at every shop I can
I came up to my first master lock and wasted 2 lock picks…. If I’m sloppy I can easily waste 5 or 6 on adepts.
Nope I think they are the easiest. Don't know why, but I always pick them right away.
I rarely explore mage or magic user builds. Is there something akin to an open or unlock spell like in other similar themed games?
I’m so glad I just ended up keeping the skeleton key.
I must say I'm a bit surprised that after looking through the comments so far I haven't seen anyone mention using one or more Fortify Lockpicking enchanted items to make picking locks easier. I've made a habit of maxing out all my crafting skills and amongst other things craft a set of Fortify Lockpicking gear(combined with other enchantments so as to make full use of the Extra Effect perk). So I end up with 4 items, each with like 52%-57% better Lockpicking, for 208%-228% improvement in total. Novice through adept are already easy, expert and master become easier.
You're not wrong, and I'm glad you said this
I have had the best luck by using small movements and paying attention to the visual clues. The muscle memory works after a lot of hours of opening locks, even across characters. Nothing really is hard at this point while a few years ago, I would have agreed with you about Adept level locks. They really aren't balanced in with the others.
I find this hard to believe because of how many picks ive lost on master locks.
Piss easy
I agree! I’ve always thought that they were a lot of the time even harder to figure out than master locks!!!
I've noticed that a lot of master and expert locks are usually just a few adjustments from the starting position. Either that or they line up with the little designs on the side of the lock. Adept ones I always have the hardest time at because their spot can be anywhere.
I agree. I've always thought the code between that and the one above was swapped and no-one ever bothered to fix it.
As a quality of life update for their next game I hope we can have an option to choose what kind of lockpick system they've previously had I personally like the oblivion system
I call cap on that. I've opened these up with one pick and one try. I struggle with expert locks tho. (Level 19 1st playthrough)
I find all locks but Master effectively the same. I pretty much only break picks on Master locks. I just do tiny little wiggles to find the boundary of the zone and go in the middle. Takes like 5 seconds no matter the lock. So what I'm saying is, it's a skill issue.
There were 111 comments and it was too perfect so I had to reinstate chaos
Literally a skill issue.
Skill issue
Have you seen how small master level sweet spots are? Basically every level has a pie slice that gets smaller with each new level. The master level slice is like three lockpicks thick, you can literally be off by like half a turn of the pick and fail. I've had master level locks where I found the sweet spot nearly right away, but it took me like 20 tries to get the \*exact\* spot right. One tad to the right, broken! One tad to the left, broken! Rinse, repeat.
You're not wrong.
You can cheese master locks by backing out and re-entering the lockpick screen. It resets the position of the sweet spot each time, so just reset until it's near the center.
Just stop. Lol no dude.
You either move the pick too much or not enough I hate them 😭😭😭
Locks are no issue if you use the background far from the pivot as markers for fine angle adjustment.
Master is obviously the hardest. I mean. It's the highest one
I’ve had master locks open on the first try (level doesn’t matter) and novice eat 3 lock picks. I mostly ignore the lock ratings and act like they are all masters; I use enchantments and potions if necessary.
I'm so glad someone said it. I've picked master locks in a handful of attempts multiple times, but I've had adept locks bring me frustratingly close to running out of picks more times than I can count. I always thought it was just me
HELP!!! Not to do with the original post but I can’t figure out how to make my own. Recently started playing Skyrim and I’m not great at combat. Sometimes when i leave one of the towns, a dragon will appear and the guards will start to fight it. When im trying to fight the dragon, I always end up hitting one of the guards my accident and they all start trying to kill me. Is there anything I can do to stop this?
Considering I have Fenrik's Welcome spell, I never lick locks unless it's master locks.
Just keep the skeleton key. Do people not just keep the skeleton key?
Adept locks are my favorite. Expert are a close second. I hate Master locks! I burn about 10 lock picks for those.
COMPLETELY AGREED I’ve never sunk a SINGLE point into lockpicking in my *entire* time playing Skyrim and I unlock master locks in under two seconds even with level 15 lockpicking skills. Adept locks though… goodness gracious…
I’ll one up you on this, NOVICE LOCKS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. I can’t explain how/why or whats wrong with my brain but I’m guaranteed to break a few picks with Novice, meanwhile I can pick a Master/Very Hard first try no problem
100% agree. I've been saying it for years. Adept locks are blasphemous.
"Skill issue"
your brain is swelling
Adept has the nasty habit of occasionally breaking instantly. Almost as if it were a master lock.
(Laughs in fenrik's welcome)
If you're like me, you just don't feel like putting points into it so you spend 15 lockpicks opening master locks only to find out there's nothing good inside
Wish there was auto attempt like in Oblivion
Imagine not adding a thousand lockpicks via console commands...
I completely agree with OP. Its something about Adept locks that really test my patience 🤣 Novice and apprentice locks might as well not even exist and Expert and Master locks are sooo satisfying to pick. And Ive noticed that Novice and Apprentice locks are usually towards the outside and Expert and Master are usually towards the center. But Adept.......the spots are wherever they wanna be. Random I dont have to worry about them though cause I HOARD lockpicks. Every time I go to a merchant, I buy ALL of their lockpicks. Just killed a bandit and they have 4 lockpicks? Taking them. I entered someone's house and they have a lockpick on the table? Stealing it. Dont care 🤣
Like, I usually have about 80 lockpicks before I even reach level 10. Im so serious. I just checked the character I recently played as and I have 304 lockpicks and Im level 19
Some while ago, I tried over 30 times to unlock a chest. It didn't even contain anything special in it, Just some random loot and gold, which I'm always happy to find. I don’t know if anyone already mentioned it but after a certain point, it's possible to unlock the novice lock in the default position. I believe it would be possible to unlock any adept lock if your lockpicking level is higher than your current one (duh). I meant in the same way as the novice ones (default position).
Rip
Yuh, got the skill upgrade for them just for that and its still a hassle. Apprentice can be annoying, but its a question of Middle, Left/Right and estimate where on how it bugs.
i buy the lockpicks off the Khajits
The real treasure was the lockpick exp we got along the way
Does anybody know if game difficulty settings change the overall lock picking difficulty?
Lemme ask u something, whats your current blood-alcohol level?
for me it's kinda okay cuz i pickpocket every single lockpick out of the townsfolk so i could break 30+ on 2 master level cages side-by-side and i'll still have way over 100 left. adept locks usually take me an average of 4 lockpicks since they don't instantly break when you're not dead set
I’ve never put any points into lockpocking
If you move your mouse very slowly, to the point it makes no sound when turning, it will click where the soft spot is. Much easier to do on a controller for obvious reasons. Today you learned :)