Lockpicking too easy?

rhubbert_ESO · May 2014

I have been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind came out when I was 12 years old. I am currently VR2 in ESO and have come upon over 100 chests to pick. I have yet to fail a single attempt at lockpicking. I have come within a second or two on Master level locks, but always ended up succeeding. Anyone else have a similar experience or have I just gotten lucky? I wish it was as difficult as Morrowind's lockpicking.

SirAndy · May 2014

rhubbert_ESO wrote: »

I have been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind came out when I was 12 years old. I am currently VR2 in ESO and have come upon over 100 chests to pick. I have yet to fail a single attempt at lockpicking. I have come within a second or two on Master level locks, but always ended up succeeding. Anyone else have a similar experience or have I just gotten lucky? I wish it was as difficult as Morrowind's lockpicking.

- Same here, i think i fumbled on a master chest once right at the beginning of the game. Too easy ...

- Only 100 chests at VR2? What the heck have you been doing all this time? I got the 100 chests achievement at level 8 or so.

rhubbert_ESO · May 2014

I said over 100 I am not logged on and don't know exactly how many

Malediktus · May 2014

It is trivial. I found lockpicking in Skyrim much harder

Vunter · May 2014

I think it is difficult enough for a MMO..
Imagine if a master level chest was nearly impossible to unlock.. There would form a group around a chest and people would react like "i saw that chest first it is mine!" lol

Malediktus · May 2014

As it is now they might as well just instant unlock any chest you find after you opened your 10th. A stack of lockpicks will last a lifetime lol

Chirru · May 2014

rhubbert_ESO wrote: »

I have been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind came out when I was 12 years old. I am currently VR2 in ESO and have come upon over 100 chests to pick. I have yet to fail a single attempt at lockpicking. I have come within a second or two on Master level locks, but always ended up succeeding. Anyone else have a similar experience or have I just gotten lucky? I wish it was as difficult as Morrowind's lockpicking.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jkbennettb14a_ESO · May 2014

I agree, lock picking is too easy. I would love for chests to be challenging and take several attempts.

One thing though, if you fail an attempt there is usually some d-bag sitting behind you waiting to jump in and snag the chest. Not saying that's wrong, but it's wrong. I know I'd be peeved.

*edited cause the d word is apparently a bad word.

Moonclaw · May 2014

would need to apply a new skill level and skill level check modifier- linked to the physical dexterity test which folks would not necessarily like (similar to mass effect RPG shooter mechanics) ... I think that current model works

RubyTigress · May 2014

lockpicking took a lot of development to calibrate in Beta. Remember it has to accommodate a lot more wide range of systems and latency than in a single player game.

I do still sometimes fail, but rarely on the simple or intermediate chests. If you feel unchallenged, you can always skip it and leave the goodies for me.

maurotdo · May 2014

In my opinion, you can't put extremely hard-to-open locks in an MMO. Fine with a single player game, but not in a MMO

epoling · May 2014

My hand / eye coordination is not the best. I have yet to open a single "Simple" chest in game. Make it harder, I gave up on them anyway.

jkbennettb14a_ESO · May 2014

epoling wrote: »

My hand / eye coordination is not the best. I have yet to open a single "Simple" chest in game. Make it harder, I gave up on them anyway.

I use my ears more than my eyes for lockpicking, give it a try. Release when you hear it jiggle. <insert that's what she said joke here>

*edit omg can't type today

Gwarok · May 2014

I am at that point to where I can pop an advanced and some master locks in about 4-6 seconds-ish. That being said, deduct 2.5 to 4.5 seconds off all the timer(s) but tie the deduction(s) to the chests achievement(s) somehow, problem solved.

Noswell · May 2014

It would be nice to have a lockpicking tree, not like there aren't enough skills for it to drain some out of.

ttwinklerub17_ESO · May 2014

locking picking tree?

how about different lockpicks(like several types) and having to figure out how many different types it takes and how much visual figiting of the lock

and what about traps on chest,trunks and items - and disarming them
and what amount magical enchantment ones and having spells to disarm/remove trap and open locks (wizard locked)

Ojustaboo · May 2014

I wish they would take the xp gain off. You get at least 1% of your level every time you unlock one.

Carnage2K4 · May 2014

For the amount of XP you get, they should be really hard... Maybe when thieves guild come in chests will get a do-over

reagen_lionel · May 2014

It feels to me they did make the chests a slightly bit easier since beta. I very very rarely fail at lockpicking them.

SirAndy · May 2014

They could make it harder the more chests you pick. That way they wouldn't have to do a whole new skill tree.

Simply make it progressively harder the more locks one picks to the point where "master" is really almost impossible to open.

And on top of that, make loot better the harder a chest is. Right now, a "master" chest has exactly the same loot table as an easy chest.
;-)

Zabus · May 2014

SirAndy wrote: »

rhubbert_ESO wrote: »

I have been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind came out when I was 12 years old. I am currently VR2 in ESO and have come upon over 100 chests to pick. I have yet to fail a single attempt at lockpicking. I have come within a second or two on Master level locks, but always ended up succeeding. Anyone else have a similar experience or have I just gotten lucky? I wish it was as difficult as Morrowind's lockpicking.

- Same here, i think i fumbled on a master chest once right at the beginning of the game. Too easy ...

- Only 100 chests at VR2? What the heck have you been doing all this time? I got the 100 chests achievement at level 8 or so.

I don't think I've picked even 70 chests and I'm about to be VR5.

Abigail · May 2014

OP sounds an awful lot like a stealth gloat to me.

No to making them more difficult. I can usually open most anything, but I have MS and it's always a challenge -- even the 'simple' ones. Some days my hands shake so much I don't even try to open them.

If lockpicking is so easy for you, switch your mouse to your offhand.

As to loot getting progressively better with chest difficulty -- absolutely.

Sakiri · May 2014

Gwarok wrote: »

I am at that point to where I can pop an advanced and some master locks in about 4-6 seconds-ish. That being said, deduct 2.5 to 4.5 seconds off all the timer(s) but tie the deduction(s) to the chests achievement(s) somehow, problem solved.

The timer WAS shorter. They upped it because of latency.

They arent upping it again.

And no Morrowind lockpicking wasnt hard, it was complex. Theres a difference. Master picks high agi and luck, stab til it opens. Real hard.

Sunrock · May 2014

rhubbert_ESO wrote: »

I have been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind came out when I was 12 years old. I am currently VR2 in ESO and have come upon over 100 chests to pick. I have yet to fail a single attempt at lockpicking. I have come within a second or two on Master level locks, but always ended up succeeding. Anyone else have a similar experience or have I just gotten lucky? I wish it was as difficult as Morrowind's lockpicking.

Well I have opened over 1000 locks and have yet to fail one because of the difficulty... failed a few because I got attacked by a NPC that spawned on me though.

But no I do not think chests are too easy. It's just you, me and others that have played Elderscrol games that find the lock picking easy as we have had allot of training.

One thing though is that they might make it easier for the lock picks to brake. So far I think only two or three picks have broken for me.

Korozenn · May 2014

It's not that lockpicking is too easy, it's that the level required to open these chests are way too low for the leveling experience (not so much in end-game).

If you go through all of your first Alliance's content, including the starter island, you tend to be over-leveling content in the leveling experience, causing most chests to be 'simple' to unlock. By contrast, if you don't do the starter island or explore/quest as much, you get a few more 'advanced' and 'master' chests to pick. Maybe even a ton of 'impossible' chests, determining how low-level you are compared to the zone you're in.

I think ZeniMax should adjust the tables for when you can loot certain chests (as in, making them require you to be a higher-level for the most part) in the leveling experience. It's very easy to become over-leveled by looting every chest you come across (I've done so and am usually five levels or more higher than what I should be in certain zones). End-game loot from chests needs to be made better in some way, or else you face the issues with people bypassing chests because they're not getting good enough loot from them.

You can't attach getting better loot to the difficulty of a chest that you attempt to lockpick because the difficulty is tied to your character's level.

What you 'can' do is increase the amount of gold, have better rates for finding rare gear, and more as you continue to progress through end-game. It's really the gold tables that are the most eschewed with these chests in its current form. That is something that I hope gets fixed with chests more so than anything else.

To setup an example:
If I'm in my third faction zone for Veteran content (meaning VR6+), I shouldn't be getting 16 Gold, an item that sells for 40-60 Gold, and a low-level pot in a chest. It takes that same amount of gold for the repair cost when your helm is at about 75% durability, alone. ._.'

Sakiri · May 2014

Picks already break easily. Most of mine break on simple locks.

Belrim · May 2014

If this was a F2P type MMO, you'd have to buy lockpicks off the cash-store.

Anyway, lockpicking is way too easy, could propably do it with monitor turned off? Anyway, the rewards are junk most of the time, so its ok when you look it that way.

Korozenn · May 2014

Sakiri wrote: »

Picks already break easily. Most of mine break on simple locks.

I have almost 300 Lockpicks saved up.

They're 9 Gold to buy at vendors and you can easily farm them in the tutorial zone, The Wailing Prison. Most of mine came from re-rolling toons far too often. :P

jkbennettb14a_ESO · May 2014

Korozenn wrote: »

Sakiri wrote: »

Picks already break easily. Most of mine break on simple locks.

I have almost 300 Lockpicks saved up.

They're 9 Gold to buy at vendors and you can easily farm them in the tutorial zone, The Wailing Prison. Most of mine came from re-rolling toons far too often. :P

Don't think I've bought a lockpick...ever.

Korozenn · May 2014

jkbennettb14a_ESO wrote: »

Korozenn wrote: »

Sakiri wrote: »

Picks already break easily. Most of mine break on simple locks.

I have almost 300 Lockpicks saved up.

They're 9 Gold to buy at vendors and you can easily farm them in the tutorial zone, The Wailing Prison. Most of mine came from re-rolling toons far too often. :P

Don't think I've bought a lockpick...ever.

Because there's really no need to buy them. You find enough from looting to avoid having to ever spend the 9 Gold to buy one, even if you skipped over the huge amount of lockpicks you can save up in The Wailing Prison from trunks and urns.

UrQuan · May 2014

At first I actually had a lot of trouble with lockpicking. Then someone I was running a dungeon with told me to listen for the noise instead of watching for the tumbler to start to shake. Now that I'm doing that (and now that I realized that it's easier to get the timing right if you keep the left mouse button held down and press the right button than it is if you release the left mouse button) I only ever fail to pick a lock if I'm not really paying attention.

Having said that, I think the difficulty is OK. The only real things that should prevent you from being able to get at chests are a lack of lockpicks (in which case you really haven't been looking in enough containers) or being attacked while you're picking the lock.