Lockpicking Discussion Questions

[Mens Rea]

Lockpicking will now be difficulty based. The more difficult a lock the better your chance to raise in the skill.

http://update.uo.com/design_190.html - Mar 31 2000 9:56AM CDT (GMT -06:00)

This patchnote show that lockpicking was only change to be difficulty based after the cut-off date.

Is lockpicking currently difficulty based on UOSA?

[Berock Shagando]

From what I've read in the various lockpicking guides in these forums, Lockpicking is difficulty based...

[Pied Piper]

Lockpicking will now be difficulty based. The more difficult a lock the better your chance to raise in the skill.

http://update.uo.com/design_190.html - Mar 31 2000 9:56AM CDT (GMT -06:00)

This patchnote show that lockpicking was only change to be difficulty based after the cut-off date.

Is lockpicking currently difficulty based on UOSA?

Good find Mens. Yes. I know for a fact it is difficulty based because my RL friend has a lockpicker he is training and he told me how it was difficulty based here.

Someone should inform the staff.

[Mens Rea]

My understanding of a 'difficulty based' skill means you have to use higher level resources/targets to raise your skill past a certain level.

Snooping, for instance, is not difficulty based and you can snoop anyone's pack to gain skill.

Currently, lockpicking requires a "level 5 dungeon chest" to progress gains. My understanding is that this is difficulty based, when this patch note suggests it shouldn't be.

[Pied Piper]

My understanding of a 'difficulty based' skill means you have to use higher level resources/targets to raise your skill past a certain level.

Snooping, for instance, is not difficulty based and you can snoop anyone's pack to gain skill.

Currently, lockpicking requires a "level 5 dungeon chest" to progress gains. My understanding is that this is difficulty based, when this patch note suggests it shouldn't be.

yes my friend told me not to make a lockpicker cuz it sux. when you get to 95 it takes forever to gain

[Ragancy]

My understanding of a 'difficulty based' skill means you have to use higher level resources/targets to raise your skill past a certain level.

Snooping, for instance, is not difficulty based and you can snoop anyone's pack to gain skill.

Currently, lockpicking requires a "level 5 dungeon chest" to progress gains. My understanding is that this is difficulty based, when this patch note suggests it shouldn't be.

yes my friend told me not to make a lockpicker cuz it sux. when you get to 95 it takes forever to gain

LP doesn't suck. A good run with a LPer beats any other means of farming (for short period of time).

Also, you can macro to 95 in a day for <5k and be able to do lvl5 t maps and all dungeon chests. Sure, you will need detect hidden, but that skill can be GMed in just a few minutes (literally).

95->100 takes awhile but effectively doesn't change much for you as a LPer.


To the OP, I believe LP is difficulty based as you cannot gain past 95 on a GM locked box

[Ronk]

Difficulty based implies that harder locks provide better gains. I would say its not difficulty based here since you can go from 0 to 95 on a GM box. Difficulty based would imply you need to first use a lesser tinkered box. Then increase it, then work your way up to GM.

[Rammar]

Difficulty based implies that harder locks provide better gains. I would say its not difficulty based here since you can go from 0 to 95 on a GM box. Difficulty based would imply you need to first use a lesser tinkered box. Then increase it, then work your way up to GM.

Except you can't go from 0 to 95 on a GM tinkered box -- last I skilled an LP you needed somewhere around 75 just to have a chance of succeeding on a GM box. I usually use between 3 and 4 different levels of boxes just to get to 95.

[Mens Rea]

Indeed 'tis true Rammar

[kwhiz73]

I'd say it's difficulty based. For those of you that haven't tried getting from 95-100, fighting over the limited lvl 4 dungeon chests for gains defines the word difficult.

[Mikel123]

Oh hi. Welcome.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21977

[Mikel123]

Also: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21212&p=187102

[Ronk]

I am researching the old google threads to see if I can find anything. Here are some various things I found:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.game ... e4fc671a92

Aug 3, 1998:

Now you can strive for that 100 for the hell of it, yes its gonna take a
damn long time, but if you really want it, what the hell?

I really hate saying that because of all the time you spent at it, or
maybe you macroed.

Believe me if he is at 98 lockpicking, he macroed it. I macroed about
10 hours a day for 2 weeks before I got that high. Even though I wasn't
actually sitting at the keyboard, it still seemed like work. I did earn it.

Jade the Pick
Sonoma

So clearly, difficulty based or not, it seems lockpicking was an insanely slow skill. I saw some other discussion about this as well.


http://groups.google.com/group/rec.game ... 6ed6a6ed31
May 12, 1998

Lockpicking is useless. OSI in their infinitely infinite wisdome
removed the locked chests that spawned in dungeons. The only other
items that can be picked are player created lockable chests.

Interesting...dungeon chests removed?


June 6, 1998
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.game ... cb7c1adec9

Have you tried various qualities of tinkered locks on chests? It is my
understanding that the quality of the lock, and thus the difficulty in which
to pick the lock, is dependant on the skill of the tinker/carpenter who made
the chest.

Might be worth a try to find a gm or master tinker to make a chest for you.

If your on Catskill let me know, and I will make you a chest to practice on.

This thread talks about being stuck at 97ish. This seems to imply that it is actually difficulty based until the last response suggests a GM tinkered.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.game ... ad61275e40
Sept 20, 1999

Even a newbie tinker made chest will take you to 100 lockpicking. Dull as
hell unless you aren't adverse to macroing.

Brandy (WE, LS)

Seems to confirm that even a GM will do it. But again aludes to it being dull, boring, and taking a shitton of lockpicks.

Nov 9, 1999

hi all.

I recently got into lockpicking, thought I t would be a nice way of making
some $$$$.
The only problem is that I have spent a fortune an picks and got the skill
to 60.5. But I cant pick them.
Does anyone know how high the skill has to be before I can open one.

Thanks

Matt

Spent a fortune on picks...

[Mikel123]

There is a thread somewhere in these forums in which Derrick said, in the early days of the shard, that GM boxes only took you to 95.0, and Cartography macroing only took you to somewhere near there as well, to avoid rampant inflation and rich people on the shard. I swear I'm not making this up.

Anyways, starting with the patch note, and finishing with the anecdotal evidence, there seems to be strong evidence that lockpicking was NOT difficulty-based. I had presented similar evidence for Cartography and got it changed.

I'll add one more thing, re: macroing for two weeks. Macroing here is so insanely efficient compared to in 1999 that it can hardly be compared. Here, we macro in 10.5-second increments, the perfect amount of time, with a single program that does everything. In 1999, you needed a couple programs - something like UO Assist, plus a Loop program, to loop a macro that involved multiple hotkeys or steps (for single-hotkey macros, you could just put a hammer on top of your hotkey). Add in packet loss, lag, and frequent disconnections, and it's easy to see how two weeks of macroing in 1999 is probably equivalent to 4 days of macroing here.

[kwhiz73]

I don't remember if I gmed lockpicking or not back in the day, but I do remember one thing clearly. If you wanted to gm the skill, it was necessary to have several dozen gm chests (maybe even a 100), and set a macro to open and relock all of them. This would indicate to me that there's a chance it was not difficulty based, but based on using variable targets for skill gain. What that means in programming dynamics lingo I have no idea.

There's no doubt on this shard that the only gains you will receive after 95 is on the highest level dungeon chests, or perhaps high level treasure map chests. Macroing to 95 is simple; however, the problem getting from 95-100 isn't so much the lack of gains---it's the amount of chances you have finding a locked chest consistently.

something like UO Assist, plus a Loop program, to loop a macro that involved multiple hotkeys or steps (for single-hotkey macros, you could just put a hammer on top of your hotkey

I remember Uoassist including a loop program back when I had it--and I do remember putting a book on my spacebar to keep the loop going.