Thanks for the tips on lowering your DEX. That helped a lot. I got my DEX down to 10 and was able to macro my modified lockpicking skill up to 95 (real skill 94.9).

I'm thinking about keeping my dex at 10 untill I GM... for the same reasons?

Could be a good idea, just be sure to carry red pots in case you bump into something.

I think you're safe to bring it back up, you can't macro it from here anyway!

Does the same principle still apply though? What I mean is... people said lowering your DEX lowers your skill which increases failures which is what you need a high skill level in order to get a skill gain... Does that still apply now at 95+ modified skill?

Do you need 100 modified or base skill to do lvl 5 chests?

At 100 skill displayed = real, so no diff there.

As for keeping 10 DEX, I think it would not hurt, it's not as if you're a dexxer and need a quicker swing, however I also think the difference between LPing with one and the other will not be much, so really anything you do is good here.

Until you reach the point where your shown skill is equal to your real skill then dex plays a factor which might be the case to the point where you are near GM...and there are ways to bring it down even further if you read up a bit, so I mean it's okay to bring it up when you are ready to go out for gains being you can bring it down temporarily anyway.

Keeping 10 dex wouldn't "really hurt" but it would hurt a little and it wouldn't really help either. Regardless of your SHOWN skill, if you have 53 base gains (ie, 94.7 base skill), then you have 53 base gains left regardless of your dex. At best, it might save you a few lockpicks in the long run by increasing the difficulty by 0.1 skill, but I'd rate having 25 dex (the ability to run and shove through things) over this extremely minor advantage in skill gain.

Here's a macro I used to get 95 lockpicking at a bank be cause I didn't have any housing at the time. Fairly safe against thieves (box is > 10 stones and key is inside box which is re-locked quickly) and your pile of lockpicks are in the bank (you only ever have one on you). Just have to worry about the pot bomb douches.

You'll have to re-target all of the "Target Absolute" actions. Keep the key in the box. Make sure the box has enough weight to be over 10 stones. Keep the lockpicks in your bank. Restock Agent 2 should be configured to restock 1 lockpick. The "Target Absolute" right after "Exec: Restock Agent 2" should target yourself so it restocks from your bank box. Also you have to setup a new 'counter' in razor for lockpicks otherwise the restock agent doesn't know what to restock. It's pretty easy; just look at how the other counters are setup and make one for lockpicks.

The code below can just be copied and pasted! Go to C:\Program Files\Razor\Macros and create a new TXT file called "Lockpicking01.macros". Open that file in Notepad. Copy and paste the code below and save the file. Then fire up UO + Razor and you'll see under Macros 'Lockpicking01'. Edit all of the things I mentioned above right in Razor, get your box setup as I described, and hit Play!

Hope it all makes sense. I was able to use this to get up to 95 lockpicking at a bank. I know it's a little complicated but it works really well and minimizes bank griefers.

How many lockpicks does it take to reach 95 from 30?

I didn't really keep track of it but I bought them 100 at a time as I needed them. Also I started at 50 not 30 so that made a big difference. Anyway; the WIKI says about 800 lockpicks are needed. If money is no object; just get 800 and be done with it. If you're on a budget then just buy them 100 or 200 at a time as that will get you through a night of macroing.

Oh nice, I already had 2.2k so it should cover it

Thanks for your answer !

Is it still accurate to use a gm tinker box from 72 skill? I'm at 72.8 shown and getting the message that I don't know how to manipulate the lock.

Edit: Nevermind, it works after 75.

[quote]
!Loop
Assistant.Macros.DoubleClickAction|1081263953|5372 <--- retarget to lockpicks
Assistant.Macros.WaitForTargetAction|30
Assistant.Macros.AbsoluteTargetAction|0|0|1081255593|141|123|0|2474 <-- retarget to box
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:04
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|yields
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|not
Assistant.Macros.DoubleClickAction|1081255594|4110 <-- retarget to boxkey
Assistant.Macros.WaitForTargetAction|30
Assistant.Macros.AbsoluteTargetAction|0|0|1081255593|141|123|0|2474 <-- retarget to box
Assistant.Macros.EndIfAction
Assistant.Macros.EndIfAction



thats the macro i use since i had it happen that thanks due to a server save i ended up in a loop where razor tried to pick a already opened box and didnt close it.

what this macro does is it basically double checks to be sure that the box is locked.


/edit
if you dont know how to make razor macros just leave a msg here or pm me and i will try to explain how to create razor macros out of razor.


and from around 25.5 lockpicking (could find any npc that trained me higher -.-') i used up rougly 650-700 lockpicks.


/edit

improved the macro to be much shorter and more failsave

Do you need 95 real skill coupled with 60 detect to do lvl 5 chests? or will 95 fake suffice?

Its not really a myth. It does work. Works the same with weapon hitting and spell fizzling.

I played back on OSI when this "myth" came out and it was pretty on the money. However, I dont think that its the fish steaks themselves that give you the chance to succeed, I think its the ACTION of doing something other than casting, swinging, picking etc that resets your skill gain. I was even told to kill myself in game, log out as a ghost and res up for more skill gain after my resists would get stuck at like 99.5. Sure as shit, after ressing and relogging I got .5 resist in under a half hour. lol.

I guess people can call it a myth but really, food is useful for not only that but to gain bits of stamina back during fights when you dont want to pop a red pot. So either way I think they are a vital part of pro UO gaming.