Forcing locks - does anyone bother?

Beardimus · April 2016

Just curious if anyone regularly forces locks. Seems a waste of 4 skills points to me to open the full passive. I can see the value for the boss in WGT, but otherwise lock picking doesnt take too long really!?

KhajiitiLizard · April 2016

It's great for IC chests.

Whatzituyah · April 2016

I see it as a last resort to open a chest.

UltimaJoe777 · April 2016

I've seen people force locks before. I don't though.

Beardimus · April 2016

Ah good point @KhajiitiLizard that makes sense, otherwise the lack of XP and only marginal time save didnt seem worth it to me - but IC is a great point.

Septimus_Magna · April 2016

Its really reliable if you have the Force Lock passives from Legerdemain, I hardly ever need to pick a lock. Most just open in 1-2 tries.

Frawr · April 2016

I use it out of laziness. With 4/4 it rarely fails. Can force master locks without much issue too

Whatzituyah · April 2016

I usually just pick the locks as quick as I can.

daemonios · April 2016

Beardimus wrote: »

Just curious if anyone regularly forces locks. Seems a waste of 4 skills points to me to open the full passive. I can see the value for the boss in WGT, but otherwise lock picking doesnt take too long really!?

You don't do vWGT much, do you?

Ra'Shtar · April 2016

With my main char i never actually lock-pick i just force it.

Edit: I have over 30 skill points available and have points invested in harvesting

Ayalaya · April 2016

No. Lockpicking a chest isn't difficult, so no use for force lock.

SantieClaws · April 2016

This one admits she uses it.

RL limited use of the paws means that the lockpicking thing is very difficult to do.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

Logicbomb00 · April 2016

I force locks all the time during the heists. people complain that they're too hard but as long as you're not a noob thief you can force the locks and complete them easily within the time limit. my record so far is 5:50 minutes remaining on the clock. so 2:10 minutes to complete.

daemonios · April 2016

Ayalaya wrote: »

No. Lockpicking a chest isn't difficult, so no use for force lock.

Nice categorical reply. Except that:

- In vWGT you can get locked in a cage during a boss fight. I would rather be out in 1/2 second than in 3-4 seconds, and would like my team mates to do the same;
- In IC I'd rather open a chest in 1/2 second and be on my way rather than spending 3-4 seconds unstealthed asking to be ganked;
- When opening strong boxes, I'd rather get it done in 1/2 second and loot the box unseen than spending 3-4 seconds picking a lock and risk an NPC turn around and catch me, giving me a bounty.
- During heists, I'd rather get a chest open in 1/2 second than lose 3-4 second on the timer and risk getting caught by a guard, losing an additional minute or so.

Eiagra · April 2016

I've only ever picked the locks manually, but I'm really glad to see people chiming in with their situations where Force Lock comes in handy. If I ever find myself regularly in those situations, and I have the skill points to spare, I may just consider maxing it out.

Beardimus · April 2016

Some great insightful answers thanks guys. Clearly @SantieClaws reply wins

LOL as ever.

Seriously tho, with skill points to spare it certainly makes sense on all @daemonios points. I think I need to go sky shard farming on my alt ha.

Thanks all

Kathrein · April 2016

I have the legerdemain skill line maxed out on more than one char, so i just force lock every time, it's faster

SamaelHQ · April 2016

daemonios wrote: »

Beardimus wrote: »

Just curious if anyone regularly forces locks. Seems a waste of 4 skills points to me to open the full passive. I can see the value for the boss in WGT, but otherwise lock picking doesnt take too long really!?

You don't do vWGT much, do you?

Isn't it too obvious?

hrothbern · April 2016

daemonios wrote: »

Ayalaya wrote: »

No. Lockpicking a chest isn't difficult, so no use for force lock.

Nice categorical reply. Except that:

- In vWGT you can get locked in a cage during a boss fight. I would rather be out in 1/2 second than in 3-4 seconds, and would like my team mates to do the same;
- In IC I'd rather open a chest in 1/2 second and be on my way rather than spending 3-4 seconds unstealthed asking to be ganked;
- When opening strong boxes, I'd rather get it done in 1/2 second and loot the box unseen than spending 3-4 seconds picking a lock and risk an NPC turn around and catch me, giving me a bounty.
- During heists, I'd rather get a chest open in 1/2 second than lose 3-4 second on the timer and risk getting caught by a guard, losing an additional minute or so.

+1
I levelled Legerdemain fully for PVP (the Stealth cost reduction) and above mentioned reasons.

The only two reasons for me to pick the lock is when:
I have the time and can pick up the XP at my leisure (Forcing does NOT give XP)
or when another (friendly) player is close, wanting that Chest as well. Because picking the lock is 100.0 % sure.

magnusthorek · April 2016

After reaching level 20 in Legerdemain I don't open them manually anymore as there's no more XP involved and with 4/4 in the proper skill, it's rare to fail

hamburgerler76 · April 2016

its only worth it if you have ledgerman to mac or however its spelled you then have a 50% chance to auto pick so normally in 1-3 picks i can open a chest

RedFireDisco · April 2016

4 skill point in it and I still have about 40 unspent points.

The amount of time I have saved not picking locks would add up to hours.

I'll take it!

Beardimus · April 2016

Re the comments, yep I have played WGT hence mentioning it in the opening post as a gain, I wanted to know aside from that.

And @magnusthorek you do still get XP per chest even at L20 legerdemain, each safe box gives you legerdemain points and normal XP the former stopping when you max out.

Thanks to everyone else for the other examples.

Ritzey01 · April 2016

I dont do it, never had an issue picking a lock since about a week after release.

AzraelKrieg · April 2016

I do nothing but force locks now. Higher chance of doing so and sometimes I get FPS issues on harder locks for some reason.

Xellos77 · April 2016

daemonios wrote: »

Ayalaya wrote: »

No. Lockpicking a chest isn't difficult, so no use for force lock.

Nice categorical reply. Except that:

- In vWGT you can get locked in a cage during a boss fight. I would rather be out in 1/2 second than in 3-4 seconds, and would like my team mates to do the same;
- In IC I'd rather open a chest in 1/2 second and be on my way rather than spending 3-4 seconds unstealthed asking to be ganked;
- When opening strong boxes, I'd rather get it done in 1/2 second and loot the box unseen than spending 3-4 seconds picking a lock and risk an NPC turn around and catch me, giving me a bounty.
- During heists, I'd rather get a chest open in 1/2 second than lose 3-4 second on the timer and risk getting caught by a guard, losing an additional minute or so.

Eh, I don't force locks because as @Ayalaya stated, they aren't hard to do. I don't do vWGT much but I suppose forcing locks there would be useful. As far as strongboxes are concerned I play a Bosmer with medium armor and rank 10 in Thieves Guild. No one ain't seeing poopie. Even in almost direct line of sight I'm a ghost. Heists I can understand I suppose.

emily3989 · April 2016

I pretty much force all of them at this point, just lazy.

Great for heists, if you are opening several boxes, it saves you some precious seconds, and gets you out of that specific spot quicker.

Also, in say a guild hall, with a wandering guard close by, I force to get it open and be gone, nothing like picking a lock and hearing someone yell at you.

I have never gotten xp from force opening a box, but once you are lvl 20 leg. who cares? If you are under, it's pretty insignificant amount anyway.

NewBlacksmurf · April 2016

On quest yes but otherwise no as I didn't put points in it.
I see some comments of those who have. Is it worth the points cause if it works like Skyrim or Oblivion (skeleton key) then WoW. OK but I wasn't aware that it's an efficient use of skill points for success which to me should be 95% or greater with all skill pts

emily3989 · April 2016

I don't remember the % for simple/int/adv chests, but overall I say my force success is hovering around 70% at least overall.

For the 7 out of 10 times it works, GREAT, in and out in less than a second.

For the 3 times out of 10 it doesn't, box resents in 2 seconds anyway, still faster than monkeying with picking it.

Lost a lockpick or two? I delete extra stacks of them on a weekly basis, I got hundreds, so no big deal.

Picking locks can be an admittedly fun side action, but after a few hundred, it just doesn't excite me anymore tbh.

Glaiceana · April 2016

Never forced a lock once! But after reading people's reasons here, perhaps I'll start doing it

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · April 2016

Unless Im in a situation like the above examples (IC or something) I will always pick it. I enjoy the little picking mini-game.