Lockpicking TipsFollow

Great post I'll us it often.

So not sure how much this has been said before as I don't have time to read all the posts. I was in Ordelles Caves for my RSE. Found the chest tried to pick Failure, tired again Success. On both times I used Thiefs Tools, no mimic or trap.

And for those of you who pay between 5-16k per stack, I just payed 91k for two stacks on Bahamut from the npc in Bastok. Thank god for Goldsmithing!!

Went to Monastic caverns tonight as 50 thf/25 nin. Of course the standard invis...run and look...invis...run and look...etc. When suddenly....boom I see it, a treasure coffer. Now, this is the first time I ever tried to pick a lock so I'm nervous, not to mention there are two nasty IT orcs standing practically on top of the chest.

I wait for what feels like forever, finally after about 5 minutes they turn around, I hit pick macro and boom, old gauntlets first try! Couldn't believe it. I hit my panic macro as an orc turns and notices me, and I laugh at the big dumb orc as my log reads Petite evades, Petite evades. Warped back to Jeuno and finished the rest of my prerequisites for AF2. Gonna go kill darkspark tomorrow!

What a great feeling. I love thf, why can't the rest of the game love it too when it comes time for party invites?

Petite-Remora THF 50

if you pick a chest or coffer while in a party a few different scenarios will occur:

1. if the reward is a map, the thf will get it automatically.
2. if the reward is money, it will be split amongst everyone equally.
3. if it is an item, it will go into the treasure pool, and anyone can lot.

i do not recommend picking chests and coffers while in an exp party. if you pop a mimic or get weakened, you look like a fool. but for farming or pt'ing with friends, a coffer can add some nice extra monies for the group.

i have noticed a definite increase in lock picking difficulty recently. i have only ever used thf tools as well, but i also feel that it may be time to try skelly keys. i have never failed to pick a coffer/chest containing a map either.

i used to pick chests in davoi all day long and never encounter a weakness. now i probably go 1/4 chests resulting in weakness. personally, i find that to be pretty rediculous. something has obviously been changed.

mimics have been very nice to me so far, as i have only ever gotten a few, and only killed one time. but i prefer not to have to warp out of say, castle zvahl because of a mimic.

i'm beginning to think that perhaps a different kind of tool will be more effective depending on whether the target is a chest or coffer. the general thought thus far has been the idea of risk/reward regarding the different kinds of tools. with living key giving the greatest chance of reward, but also the greatest risk of failure. i can't agree or disagree with this line of thought because i haven't tested it yet. but i think i'll go grab a stack of each kind of tool and see if i can find some sort of correlation.

gl and happy hunting ^^

nosaabs

Edited, Fri Dec 9 09:38:54 2005 by NoSaabs

I have picked ALOT of coffers and chests and have been weakened 6 times out of 200+ chests and have only seen 1 mimic out of over 100 coffers picked.

Out of all my picking experance I can CONFERM that
The higher your INT the less likely you will set off a trap/mimic.
And the higher you DEX the less failures you will have. (and waste a picking tool/key)

I have been a playing thf for over a year and it is my job of choice for makeing gil. (farming or chest/coffer picking) and i have spent alot of time and effort (and gil) figuring out what stats help the most at doing certain tasks.

I hope this helps future THF's and remember , don't be so greedy as to deny another player a coffer or treasure chest they need for there Artifact Equipment or quests.

Good info

very helpful as I've been levelling THF.

Don't know if this has been updated but I've successfully opened an Eldieme Coffer for my RDM hands key item as 52 THF, with a skeleton key.

Hi, I'm a THF/DRG, don't plan on using NIN, and am wondering if it would be better to level RDM(for sneak/invis/etc) as a sub for chest/coffer soloing. Thanks!

thanks for the info, but I have used thief tools from the start and have poped 5-6 chests (including for RSE) and 1 coffer, all opened first time and no mimics.

I can't wait for the AF coffers, couple of stacks of tools, and a bit of help for the NMs, lol, easy


addition
since the above post I have had af coffers, some take 3-6 sets of thf tools, to pop, but still no mimics.

Edited, Wed May 3 09:04:08 2006 by jayganja

Guess I'll share my AF-picking experience, too. All were at level 50 on the same day. I love THF. ^^

Davoi: Thief's Tool (fail). Thief's Tool (mimic). Since PD was down but I wanted to get it taken care of (but didn't fancy dying if I ran into another mimic), I used a coffer key I had in storage. Not one of my proudest moments on THF. ; ;

Oz: Thief's Tool (weakened). Skeleton Key (success). Interestingly enough, the coffer that I failed on (in one of the halls by the leech pond) ended up respawning behind the Brass Door, where I could comfortably sit and wait for weakness to wear. Which luckily took only about 10 minutes or so.

Zvahl: Skeleton Key (success). Went as THF/WHM, and that's definitely nerve-wracking, having only 120MP (with an apple pie) while my Sneak keeps wearing (costing me 27MP since I have to recast both).


So I'm 0/3 on Thief's Tools so far, and 2/2 on Skeleton Keys. I was behind the coffers on the Thief's Tools (due to mob placement and wanting as much of an aggro cushion as possible), in case that does lessen the chances of a successful pick. (Logically it would, but somehow you can still manage to unlock things from behind. Silly chests. ;)

I have confirmed that you can get weakness with a skelton key. I was in Giddus skilling up Throwing at level 29, and I spotted a treasure chest. I tried to pop it and boom I'm weak. I must be unlucky oh..well... It's confirmed.

I do have a couple of questions regarding coffers and lockpicking.

#1) Two of my friends are starting their AFs as well and they all have pieces in Castle Oztroja. If I were to go in a party with them to the castle, would they be able to get their pieces from me picking the coffers?

#2) I have been trying to get COR recently and I used up my one free Lamian Fang Key. I am only level 50 so taking the key-dropping mobs would be a problem. When I get to the iron gate it says you may be able to pick it with Thief's Tools. I burned a stack on it with no success. Has anyone tried it yet, and if so, what did you use and at what level?

I love thief on AF, they are the easiest to get. <3 same with relic armor, is you have Dynamis ls usually aren't many thiefs so if a piece of relic drops for a thief, you're like the first one to get it. yipee!!!

a commment on Davoi coffer, used thf tools 2x failed and weekend, used 1x skellition key opend:) did this at lvl50

Davoi area Coffers, first Attempt 7-Thiefs Tools Ended up with mimic
Second attempt 3-Living Keys Success Got old gauntlets
LVL 50 Thf/Nin had 2 ermites rings on for int boost and +18 to dex
Hope that helps

I find its fun. i do equp gear with INT+ tho like galka rse.
sofar i have found only one mimic out of arounf 30 coffers last night doing the AF gloves. :)
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6499/newpetcp6.gif

Edited, Mar 23rd 2007 11:32pm by RockieXI

now i realise this topic is several years old probley not read much any more but it's on a topic i'm interested in i'm curretly lv 71 pld on ragnorok server and i make skeleton keys but hard to sell in AH i was woundering if any thiefs that wanna hunt coffers with me i can probley kill mimics with /war or /rdm and willing to go any area they feel get the best non quest coffers in game name is Sonduck i provide the keys split profets on a nagotiable basis

It could be just me, but in Sea Serpent Grotto my 70THF had such a hard time successfully picking the Treasure Chest, but no trouble on pick locking coffers. So far I'm like 1/5 on Treasure Chest and 4/4 Coffer. I wonder if anyone else have had that trouble or I just have bad luck with that chest.

Ok, this thread is extremely old but i figured from a dumb argument i had in-game i'd post about lockpicking.

It's been about 4 years since the little mysteries that have gone on and on have been proven/disproven, I.E. 4leaf bud = no treasure hunter, using trump crown doesn't increase chance on getting uber loot. etc. etc. etc. Now the fact that people are still dumbfounded when it comes to lockpicking, here's some info.

I have been a thief75 for almost 2years, and i have a seperate account with a 70thf on it (i really like thf) i have picked probably around 300 coffers and god knows how many chests, the coffers mainly i've picked them for maps, AF, because they're there and give more money that my thf's tools (yes i've always used theifs tools except the 5 that came with my key ring belt) and i have never seen a mimic, although i have gotten weakened a few times. idk if it's just luck i get weakened instead of mimic, but the fact is i use INT. gear macro that i carry with me 24/7 when i'm using thf.

Think about it.. even the THF AF has int on it, for a thf int is useless, the only weapon skills it modifies is Gust slash and Cyclone, which you get well before you can wear this af. gust slash as we know is useless after 30, and cyclone is pretty much useless unless you wanna kill like 10 mobs at once cuz you don't know which one is PH for a NM. But notice how the top 3 stats on a thf (unless you're galka...) are Dex#1, Agi#2, *INT#3*.... (with not SJ) why not CHR? chr modifies dancing edge.. so don't tell me the int boost and the int on AF is for weapon skills, since CHR is the lowest stat you get next to mnd, which are lower by a huge ammount.


Every AF in this game, has a use cooresponding to the job that can wear it. some gear, i know, ppl say "wtf why parrying skill.. i'm a sam who the f. cares.." and stuff like that. obviously stats like these are shown plain as day why you have them, INT on a thf however would be all but useless unless they did effect something.

I know for a fact INT effects lockpicking because i have stuck with it my entire theif's life of lockpicking after hearing about it in-game. SE never released anything saying nothing effects lockpicking, my success rate on coffers, is incredible.

i know many other thf's one of which i just got done hearing how much more they know about thf than me because they've been playing thf75 for almost a month and they read on alla that INT does not effect lockpicking, yet they tell me they got a mimic here, they got killed here from a mimic, oh they tried that 3 times, twice they got a mimic, etc. etc. etc... Listen, 300+ coffers, never got a mimic, never left it alone til i got it open except the rare occasion i only have 1 or 2 keys on me and i fail 1 or 2 times. at 75, i normally pop a coffer 99% of the time, chests about the same, doors i have a little more trouble with rarely, probably 2/5 times i'll need to use a couple tools to open, like the gates in Arrapago reef and such.

But this has always, and will always be done with int+ gear, i have 2 rings, 2 earrings, head AF, belt, back, feet, legs, hands, body, and neck all macro'd in 2 macros i click before i clicky my pop macro. i've never tried without the int but with it i have +26 INT. without +0int, and i don't plan on not using the int gear to prove me right because i don't feel like popping a mimic.

Anyways i have always picked things, normally trash coffer keys unless i know i'm gonna need for AF for another job, i pick coffers in newton while mining because i get about 8xgil that 1 tool costs so, why not? newton i've always had the worst luck with too, most of the time 1 try but about 30-35% of the time it takes me 2-4 tries. i rarely even get the weakened status, but obviously alot more than mimc.. since the only mimic i've ever seen was from that BCNM50, i'm pretty sure that's it tho.

So go INT macro for lockpicking, use the lvl guide (i never really picked any coffers except my AF til i got around 70 and thought castle oztroja still dropped astral rings... took about 20 coffers before i realized they didn't >.<) <use the lvl guide to decide where to go, and don't listen to these ppl who say "SE released this saying that your wrong" because SE doesn't release crap about this game, if they did ppl wouldn't be so damned confused!