I've always been one to favor lockpicking over pick-pocketing,

I figured that if I wanted something that was on someone's person, I'd just kill them and take it...is there anything that would be on a person that you can only get via pick-pocketing? Or is it just basically like taking from a corpse without actually having to make that person a corpse?

It depends.

Is what I want in a locked container?

Is what I want on someone else's person?

I am abstaining from voting as per my sig.

we dont have all lockpicking perks yet, or any? pickpocketing as stupid as a skill that sounds, have some AMAZING theif related perks, such as that carry more weight one. and the one where you can pull someones pants down.

In reference to Oblivion, definitely pickpocketing over lockpicking. To pick a lock without magic, you have to be skilled, and agile. To pick a pocket, all you have to do sneak up behind them without them seeing, much easier. And you get to keep the key, so no more picking the locked door/chest with that.