Starting a new class is fun and challenging. Last night the first two boxes I tried to open resulted in one getting opened and then hemorrhaging to death from a scarab bite. As a newbie, most of the picking info in the web comes across as expert pickers talking to experts. Has anyone seen or written a basic lockpicking guide? Any help you can give a butter-fingered Halfling would be greatly appreciated.
~ Aerhinn
AERHINN
PEREGRINEFALCON
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 10:55 AM CDT
Welcome to lock smithing! It's a lot of fun!
I'm not aware of a specific beginner's guide (there may be one out there) but I would recommend waiting until you are in your mid-teens training before doing any serious lock picking just so you have some level of skill to apply. Also, once you hit 15 and get invited to the rogue's guild, some of the rogue's guild tasks actually are quite instructive / educational around disarming traps / picking locks.
There are a few scripts which will give you some ideas of the boxes / traps you can handle. I'll plug my own since it's the one I am using:
;lockmaster will let you determine roughly what level of lock you can attempt (safely without breaking a pick and max lock with the pick) with each type of lock pick. The without lore values seem spot for both of my rogues but the with lore values seem a bit conservative (not a bad thing when you are starting out and something I'll work on improving over time).
To download (assuming you use lich) just type ;repo download lockmaster.lic
To see your basic lock values for each type of pick type ;lockmaster locks (just typing ;lockmaster will list out what else you can do with it).
Note: This script won't DO any picking for you, but it will help educate you on what you can do / which pick to use based on prior attempts.
For scarab traps, training a bit in Arcane Symbols will help a lot (at least early on). I eventually ended up with 12 ranks in this just to assist in disarming scarabs.
If you see Snacky around and have FWI access feel free to send him a though, pay him a visit. He's almost always opening boxes when around and would be happy to provide additional pointers.
If you have any more specific questions throw them up here as well!
-- Robert
You gesture at a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
The scream of tortured metal echoes around you as the lightning bolt strikes a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
I'm not aware of a specific beginner's guide (there may be one out there) but I would recommend waiting until you are in your mid-teens training before doing any serious lock picking just so you have some level of skill to apply. Also, once you hit 15 and get invited to the rogue's guild, some of the rogue's guild tasks actually are quite instructive / educational around disarming traps / picking locks.
There are a few scripts which will give you some ideas of the boxes / traps you can handle. I'll plug my own since it's the one I am using:
;lockmaster will let you determine roughly what level of lock you can attempt (safely without breaking a pick and max lock with the pick) with each type of lock pick. The without lore values seem spot for both of my rogues but the with lore values seem a bit conservative (not a bad thing when you are starting out and something I'll work on improving over time).
To download (assuming you use lich) just type ;repo download lockmaster.lic
To see your basic lock values for each type of pick type ;lockmaster locks (just typing ;lockmaster will list out what else you can do with it).
Note: This script won't DO any picking for you, but it will help educate you on what you can do / which pick to use based on prior attempts.
For scarab traps, training a bit in Arcane Symbols will help a lot (at least early on). I eventually ended up with 12 ranks in this just to assist in disarming scarabs.
If you see Snacky around and have FWI access feel free to send him a though, pay him a visit. He's almost always opening boxes when around and would be happy to provide additional pointers.
If you have any more specific questions throw them up here as well!
-- Robert
You gesture at a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
The scream of tortured metal echoes around you as the lightning bolt strikes a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
AERHINN
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 02:57 PM CDT
Thanks kindly, Robert! I'll wait a bunch of levels then. LOL
THROGG
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 04:46 PM CDT
I presume that you didn't spot the trap at all, or you wouldn't have tried to pick it. Perception also helps in spotting traps, and
it's a pretty cheap skill for a rogue to learn. Arcane Symbols won't help you spot a scarab trap, but it will help you when disarming it.
(Also lets you read the runes in the Misty Chamber, and invoke spells from scrolls).
it's a pretty cheap skill for a rogue to learn. Arcane Symbols won't help you spot a scarab trap, but it will help you when disarming it.
(Also lets you read the runes in the Misty Chamber, and invoke spells from scrolls).
PEREGRINEFALCON
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 05:03 PM CDT
>> Thanks kindly, Robert! I'll wait a bunch of levels then. LOL
Heh. I rolled up Snacky specifically to only open boxes (going from 1-100) but I finally came to the realization that it wasn't very practical out the gate and that he needed to get a few levels under his belt hunting first. He's still only up to level 23 (my other level 76 rogue opens their own boxes with 2x disarm / 2x pick ) but he's made the last 8 or so levels just opening boxes that other people bring him. It's not a super speedy route (unless you plan on being around 24x7 hawking for people to bring you boxes) but I enjoy the locksmithing system enough that it was worth rolling up an additional character to do this with.
Enjoy!
-- Robert
You gesture at a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
The scream of tortured metal echoes around you as the lightning bolt strikes a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
Heh. I rolled up Snacky specifically to only open boxes (going from 1-100) but I finally came to the realization that it wasn't very practical out the gate and that he needed to get a few levels under his belt hunting first. He's still only up to level 23 (my other level 76 rogue opens their own boxes with 2x disarm / 2x pick ) but he's made the last 8 or so levels just opening boxes that other people bring him. It's not a super speedy route (unless you plan on being around 24x7 hawking for people to bring you boxes) but I enjoy the locksmithing system enough that it was worth rolling up an additional character to do this with.
Enjoy!
-- Robert
You gesture at a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
The scream of tortured metal echoes around you as the lightning bolt strikes a colossal glaes-covered meteor.
MOURNE
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 08:03 PM CDT
This reminds me that I've been meaning to put together a Locksmith 101 type of thing. (I'm sure at least half the career locksmiths have had the same thought.)
---
Cendadric says, "Hmm, a most impressive weapon of note. I'll give you 27 silver coins for it."
You think to yourself, "This deal is getting worse all the time."
---
Cendadric says, "Hmm, a most impressive weapon of note. I'll give you 27 silver coins for it."
You think to yourself, "This deal is getting worse all the time."
RATHBONER
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 10:37 PM CDT
1) Stats for early levels
STR:70*
CON:70
DEX:100
AGI:100
AUR:50
DIS:40
LOG:100*
WIS:20
INT:90*
INF:20
* Depending on just how highly you rate levelling fast (LOG), against spotting traps (INT) and being encumbered by a lockpick or melee AS (STR) shift these 3 around.
Take DIS down to 20 and put AUR up to 70 for CoL.
You can shave points off the top 3 for a little extra growth within the early levels, and they will need drastic resetting before they get fixed at level 20.
2)
If you train for it and don't mind taking some damage, you can start messing with boxes almost straight away. You wont miss much with INT that high and full 3x in disarm and perception as early as level 3 (15 ranks in both). It'll pay to detect multiple times, or have someone more trained check your boxes if you are starting that soon, but provided you avoid badly lit areas, you won't come unstuck often if at all. By level 8 (30 ranks in both) you'll have to be really unlucky to miss traps if you are sticking to what you hunt. (Non halflings with DEX set for growth will need to wait rather longer, but a halfling with stats and skills set for early level power will be a decent smith as early as level 3)
3)
If your main objective is to level fast while having some fun with your own boxes, base your long term training around 2x in picking and disarm. If your main objective is boxes from whoever and wherever you can source them, train 3x.
4)
Ranged is a pretty cheap attack type for rogues, and consequently favored by 3x trained smiths because points for other things are really tight.
5)
Get 30-50 ranks in perception as fast as possible, but you can then slack off if you only need it for traps (if using ranged weaponry you'll want to keep training high levels for life)
6)
Get 5-10 ranks AS early for lore items and help with scarab and glyph traps.
7)
Once you get to level 30 think about acquiring lores (401-404). Before then you'll be better off with the training points in extra perception/AS/pick/disarm but its likely to be worthwhile to switch points into spells once you have this sort of level.
...
>Heh. I rolled up Snacky specifically to only open boxes (going from 1-100) but I finally came to the realization that it wasn't very practical out the gate and that he needed to get a few levels under his belt hunting first. He's still only up to level 23 (my other level 76 rogue opens their own boxes with 2x disarm / 2x pick ) but he's made the last 8 or so levels just opening boxes that other people bring him. It's not a super speedy route (unless you plan on being around 24x7 hawking for people to bring you boxes) but I enjoy the locksmithing system enough that it was worth rolling up an additional character to do this with.
You need 30 ranks to get full exp from picking, its capped at trivial amounts per box if you have lower training, so you really need another way to get exp before then.
When playing a main that was working the AG to power level, I levelled at about 3x the rate that I did when playing a smith as my main. Even with a guaranteed supply of boxes, levelling from picking exp is only half as fast as powering bounties.
STR:70*
CON:70
DEX:100
AGI:100
AUR:50
DIS:40
LOG:100*
WIS:20
INT:90*
INF:20
* Depending on just how highly you rate levelling fast (LOG), against spotting traps (INT) and being encumbered by a lockpick or melee AS (STR) shift these 3 around.
Take DIS down to 20 and put AUR up to 70 for CoL.
You can shave points off the top 3 for a little extra growth within the early levels, and they will need drastic resetting before they get fixed at level 20.
2)
If you train for it and don't mind taking some damage, you can start messing with boxes almost straight away. You wont miss much with INT that high and full 3x in disarm and perception as early as level 3 (15 ranks in both). It'll pay to detect multiple times, or have someone more trained check your boxes if you are starting that soon, but provided you avoid badly lit areas, you won't come unstuck often if at all. By level 8 (30 ranks in both) you'll have to be really unlucky to miss traps if you are sticking to what you hunt. (Non halflings with DEX set for growth will need to wait rather longer, but a halfling with stats and skills set for early level power will be a decent smith as early as level 3)
3)
If your main objective is to level fast while having some fun with your own boxes, base your long term training around 2x in picking and disarm. If your main objective is boxes from whoever and wherever you can source them, train 3x.
4)
Ranged is a pretty cheap attack type for rogues, and consequently favored by 3x trained smiths because points for other things are really tight.
5)
Get 30-50 ranks in perception as fast as possible, but you can then slack off if you only need it for traps (if using ranged weaponry you'll want to keep training high levels for life)
6)
Get 5-10 ranks AS early for lore items and help with scarab and glyph traps.
7)
Once you get to level 30 think about acquiring lores (401-404). Before then you'll be better off with the training points in extra perception/AS/pick/disarm but its likely to be worthwhile to switch points into spells once you have this sort of level.
...
>Heh. I rolled up Snacky specifically to only open boxes (going from 1-100) but I finally came to the realization that it wasn't very practical out the gate and that he needed to get a few levels under his belt hunting first. He's still only up to level 23 (my other level 76 rogue opens their own boxes with 2x disarm / 2x pick ) but he's made the last 8 or so levels just opening boxes that other people bring him. It's not a super speedy route (unless you plan on being around 24x7 hawking for people to bring you boxes) but I enjoy the locksmithing system enough that it was worth rolling up an additional character to do this with.
You need 30 ranks to get full exp from picking, its capped at trivial amounts per box if you have lower training, so you really need another way to get exp before then.
When playing a main that was working the AG to power level, I levelled at about 3x the rate that I did when playing a smith as my main. Even with a guaranteed supply of boxes, levelling from picking exp is only half as fast as powering bounties.
AERHINN
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/16/2017 11:01 PM CDT
Wow, lots to take in. Appreciate the advice!
~ Aerhinn
AERHINN
Re: All Thumbs at Picking!
09/17/2017 09:42 AM CDT
Success! For anyone seeking a good intro to lockpicking, check out the GS Wiki:
https://gswiki.play.net/Locksmithing_Guide
Good luck. Hope your thumbs are more nimble than mine!
~ Aerhinn
https://gswiki.play.net/Locksmithing_Guide
Good luck. Hope your thumbs are more nimble than mine!
~ Aerhinn
