Lockpicking TipsFollow

I spend the day in Davoi opening chest. Just took a stack of thiefs tool with me. This is what I ended getting

Cursed x 4
Electrum Ring x 3
Gil 2450-6290

The rings sell in Sandy on lakshmi for about 20k a piece

Now of course this is all by chance but still not a bad turn out for 1 day.

Question for yall experience lock pickers. How long does it take for a chest (whether it be treasure or coffer) to respawn? Iv read that for coffers its 30 min unless you get a mimic in which it respawns right away. Now in my experience with treasure chest ive picked 2 in a row with out waiting. But at the same time ive searched an entire area and wont ever find a chest. SO whats up?

Level 24 Elvaan Thief ~~~ RSE Hunting ~~~ Gusgen Mines

Using Thief's Tools

1st chest-Magical Pattern
2nd chest-Cursed for 5 minutes, chest disappeared or someone else got it, I ran.
3rd Chest-Magical Pattern
4th Chest- Failed 3 times, obtained magical pattern

Additional items needed at this level and area,
Silent Oil- I used 30ish.
Instant Warp- 1 every trip.

note on Gusgen Mines area- Its easiest to go and circle the top area while sneaked as you walk across 8-9 spawn points and can see if a chest has spawned on the lower area that is inaccessible when you are at the top area. Those who have been to gusgen know what i'm talking about.

mimcs only spawn with coffers. treasure chest get trapped which will weaken you for a period of time.

1. Not sure about, i dont think you get the same solo as in a group but im not 100% sure about that. If you all get say 3500 each in a pt then perhaps you would have only got 11k, that has been my observation anyway from the coffers picked to date.

2. I have received weakness from a coffer pick before i think it was monastic caverns

Okay i am kinda new at using thf and i got a couple questions.

Lockpicking...
To get my rse armor about what level is a good rate for picking locks in gusgen mines, maze of shakami, Ordelle Caves.

Also Steal and Mug,

The success go up if u use it alot of determined by ur level or your stats.

Thanks

EDIT: Removed complaint about what was/wasn't offtopic for the thread, as it was kinda dumb. ^^;

Edited, Tue Aug 10 01:54:38 2004 by BanditQueenArianna

Thf lvl 45 just picked fey'yin chest with Theif's tools race elvaan

@ 40/20 thf/nin I picked chest in CN used skeleton key, I are the mithra!

~great post Rayel!

OK, ***** Castle Oztroja! I've found my new hunting grounds at Fei'Yin... and it is good... Taking the advice of several of you (/praise)I gave it a shot last night, and wow.... This post is about why I think its so much better than Castle O.

I am only lvl 52 thf right now, so I still fail a fair amount when picking locks. This issue is compounded when hunting coffers in Castle O. for several reasons:

1) In my experience coffers can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to respawn.

2) Coffers in Castle O. are so overcamped (usually) by other thieves and AF-hunters that you're lucky to even get to a coffer first when they do spawn.

3) Coffers are more difficult to open than chests, meaning higher failure rate (more keys used.. more money wasted..)

4) I don't know about the rest of you, but at my level I only use skeleton keys when trying to pick coffers. Obviously these are quite pricey, costing twice as much as a stack of living keys and more than three times as much as a stack of thief's tools. Combine this with the high failure rate and... /goodbye gil

5) Ahhhh... and mimics... there's always the chance of getting a mimic when coffer-hunting, which effectively ends your hunting expedition at least until Perfect Dodge recharges. I've used many a warp scroll (ergo many a conquest point) because of this one factor alone.

So lets see here... coffers take longer to spawn and are so overcamped you're lucky to even get to one. They're more difficult to open so you're lucky if you can even get them opened without failing and going through all your keys or (worst case) getting a mimic which sends you home. Then assuming you overcome all those hurdles and open the coffer, you have a higher probability of getting some gil or a crappy stone (neither is usually worth the price in keys used to open it, as it takes me ~3 skeleton keys on average to open a coffer) rather than an astral ring you desire...



In Fei'Yin however, the item you seek is in treasure CHESTS, which are easier to pick and seem to have a shorter respawn time of 20-30 minutes (I was timing it). It also seems that you get the desired item more frequently. In Castle O., typically 1 in 4 coffers yields the astral ring over a long-run average (IF you successfully open it :P). In my experience thus far in Fei'Yin (albeit I just started doing this) roughly every other chest yields the life belt. Also, because they are chests, I use cheaper keys (thief's tools or living keys) rather than the skeleton keys I reserve for coffers. And I must say my failure rate is MUCH lower. Last might I popped 4 chests in a row, each on my first attempt with thief's tools (2/4 life belts). I was weakened once for about 40 minutes (took a break to do laundry lol), but then proceeded to obtain another life belt, for a grand total of 3 belts in about 3 hours of hunting, INCLUDING the 40 minutes I was weakened (you cannot open chests/coffers while weakened in case anyone didn't know). Even at the lowest selling price on my server, that's as much as an astral ring goes for with much less risk involved.

There is also much less competition in Fei'Yin. No AF hunters (obviously), and I only saw one other thief and a few randoms killing shadows for keys, but since I was timing the spawns I managed to get most of the chests. This was during prime time hours too, mind you. The only drawback I can see is that the life belt goes for 50-80k on my server while astrals can go for 150-180k, and also the chest spawn points in Fei'Yin are very spread out and someone my level requires both sneak and invisible in some places rather than just invisible to avoid aggro. Also there are creatures in Fei'Yin that aggro magic, so you have to sometimes find a safe spot to recast. Once you become familiar with the place, learn the mobs and where and when to recast, this becomes a non-issue however. Oh and (and this is sweet) I didn't use my 2-hour or warp scroll at all! Bye bye mimics! Don't have to worry about those evil things in Fei'Yin, so if all goes well you won't have to use your warp scroll until you, yes YOU, are ready to leave!

That being said, I feel that, at least for a thief of my level, this is soooo much more rewarding than coffer hunting in Castle O. I wish I'd been doing this since 50 and I encourage all my thief peers to give it a shot at least once. I work full-time and therefore want to maximize what game time I do have, especially when trying to earn gil. This to me is so much better than running around for hours in Castle O. to possibly not even find a coffer, then if I do take the great risk of getting a mimic and wasting hours of my time and a warp scroll ><. I have found 4 astral rings after many hours in Castle O. Last night I found 3 life belts in 3 hours in Fei'Yin (*cough* ~60k gil/hour). Maybe once I level more and picking coffers becomes easier I'll reconsider, but until then, Fei'Yin is where you'll find me.

P.S.: Do the quest for the Fei'Yin map. You'll be glad you did. It's a pain because it appears the map quest is #3 on a stack of quests for the optistry in Windurst, so even if your fame is jacked you'll have to do the other 2 first in order to get the Fei'Yin map quest. (Early Bird Catches the Bookworm > Chasing Tales > A Smudge on One's Record) You also have to zone in between each or you cannot activate the next.

Edited, Fri Aug 13 09:20:12 2004 by FraggleTrey

Quicksand Caves ~
Elvaan lvl 46
Thief's Tools

Trapped first one got map on my second attempt ^^

As a lvl 34 THF, is there any place where I can go treasure chest hunting where I can one actually expect to succeed at opening a chest and two the reward will be greater than the cost of thief’s tools?
I know I can open chests in Gusgen Mine and Ordelle’s Cave since I solo’d my RSE in those two locations. I also know that the reword for opening a chest, at least in Gusgen, is not worth the time, risk, and cost of tools. I popped one open as a test outside of my RSE week and got a few hundred gil, hardly worth the effort.
Any guidance from the elders?

This just hit me earlier!! (not entirely sure if its true but **** lets give it a shot)
I remember me n a friend were out farming in giddeus training yagudo n crap. i found this lake and had a rod so im like im gonna chill ^^ she just called me lazy n went on.. then i look behind me and im like whoa.. (Treasure Chest) <Found it!> i use a handy dandy thief tools... WEAKENED?!?! ugh...
Whats wierd was i was like lv 43-45 at this time..

Back at like lv 34-36 i was lookin for RSE (in ordelles caves), had some nice skeleton keys with me.. (only 4 cus i was poor lol.. still am really ; ;) then im searchin.. boo ya. 5 minutes and i found the chest where it usually sits... FIRST SKELETON KEY IT POPS OPEN.. :\
--------------
Coffers~
then at lv 49 i try my luck at a coffer, takes a few keys (as stated above) but i popped that sucker open. Thief's tools were used along with 1 skeleton. I was surprised cus usually this skeleton key gets the job done..

I could go on and on n crap but **** it may not make too much sense... But what i've found out from some of these experiences is..
Thief's Tools (so far) seem to have a better advantage on coffers while Skeleton keys (note harumos post, btw whasup man ^^) seem to have a better effect on Chests...

i may not be the first one to find this out.. ill try to c if i am though. try to keep this in mind though fellow treasure hunters :)

**Additional Note: I havent tried with Living keys yet.. (theyre freaky lookin for one) but i will experiment with these soon. some rumors i hear is they have like... an effect like +5 Treasure Rarity... +5 mimic chance... so its risky from wut i hear..

Edited, Wed Aug 18 07:46:48 2004 by EnchantedMemories