They haven't mentioned much of lock picking yet so I am wonder how it will shape up. Whether or not they keep the mini-game, and whether or not that actually makes the game more fun, is up for debate. What they should have thought about implementing is lock/chest bashing and more types of chests.

Nothing was more aggravating as a melee character than having no lock picks, a thirty pound sledge hammer, and no conceivable way to open a dinky wooden chest.

If you are able to break chests/locks in the game, then lock picking itself my become less useful of a skill. All they would have to do is include more chests that actually look like it would take a bulldozer to crack them open and justify them not being able to be forced.

It is a relatively small portion of the game. Don't expect to hear about it until after E3.

Include lock bashing, but allow a % chance that the items inside would get damaged. If a chest contains some special loot, you'll probably want to avoid bashing it.

Would be nice if it was based on strength and/or weapon damage.

Maybe only certain chest, like wood. I wouldn't expect metal or stone to be nearly as easy...
And if they were to do that it would make sense that the items inside my get damaged... Armor at 60% instead of 70%, Emerald Dust instead of Emerald, broken daggar, if you force a lock open with a warhammer...

I say only for certain locks, with the higher degree the harder it is to bash open

Perhaps as a perk only available to the Hammer skill tree? Get the perk midway down the tree for hammers and allow people with hammers to open locks.

The thing with lock bashing is. It takes a lot of force and will break fragile items and even damage some hardier stuff.

They could just make it that you lose potions (all, or a %), some jewels and half the durability on items when you bash them. It would encourage people to lockpick / magic spell if all they are after is the loot (reinforcing the whole lockpicks == scavengers idea in my head). A warrior would just get broken items which he could then repair, whereas a mage or a thief would get all the goodies that they are after (potions for mages, golden goodies for the thieves).

This is how it was in Neverwinter Nights (sort of) and whenever I saw "broken item) withing a chest I'd just bashed open, It would make me memorize a couple of knock spells.

EDIT : After seeing lose potions in my post, I had a hilarious idea. Imagine if all the potion juice mixed together and turned it into some creature like a Mimic. (http://vnmedia.ign.com/screenshots/dnd/90095439.jpg for those of you who don't know.) I'm not saying that SHOULD happen, I'm just saying it would be funny. =P

I like the above ideas. There has to be consequences with lock bashing (especially attracting unwanted attention).....and we certainly don't want lock picking to become less useful as a skill.

I forgot about the noise it makes. In the middle of the night bashing down a door with a hammer is bound to attract some attention...

Another reason to go with lock picking.

Hmm... didn't think of doors. Though that is bound to attract attention, all the bandits in the dungeon would here the sound of wood shattering and the lock hitting the floor. "Stop Right There Criminal Scum! You Have Violated The Law By Smashing This Civilian's Door, Pay Up or Face The Consequences.

Breaking items should be based of course on what item is actually in the chest. Heavy armor or weapons may take a little damage, but I can't justify them losing noticeable durability, mainly because they were designed with the sole purpose of taking and giving heavy hits.

Fragile things of course should be broken, but I like the proposed idea of repairing them or still being able to sell them. If you break a ruby by accident, sure it's broken but it is still a bunch of ruby fragments.

The noise idea is also purely a good idea. Stealth needs to be stealthy.

One thing I rarely hear of in lock bashing discussions is destruction magic. I'm not entirely sure about lighting, but fire and ice surely could benefit opening a chest. There would be different consequences to just breaking items, but that would just make it more interesting.

There have been some fantastic mods for MW, OB, FO3 & FNV for exactly this. These mods have, in my mind, far surpassed what Bethesda has offered us. For example some mods have added the ability to use explosives (with a chance to damage goods), works really well and improves affected skill, really adds another option for Characters that wouldn't use lockpicking. These mods have had a place ever since Morrowind and after all these years I hope they have taken notice and improved the Vanilla system.

I hated the minigame in Oblivion, but it was actually kinda fun in Fallout IMO. :tops:

I didn't much mind its absence in Morrowind where there were Unhinging scrolls in abundance, but in Oblivion I definitely hated having to resort to magic when attempting to play melee-oriented characters.

Bring it back. Let me smash doors with my fists again.

I'd be fine with a minigame for lock picking, as long as its nothing like Oblivion's. I hated that stupid minigame, I always waited until level 10, got the skeleton key, and then started adventuring in earnest. If it's something more like Fallout 3's that'd be fine. I just hope that there's not some threshold for locks that you can't open, or that they are at least not that prohibitive. It would svck trying to raise your lock picking skill if every lock in the game is above your skill ability.

That is something that I hope they don't implement either. Thresholds that are impassable seem both lame and unrealistic given a character's resources.

It either has to be threshold or it has to be so that you can't quit or retry without loosing the pick, or locking would have no purpose anymore. Going for the "can't quit or retry without loosing the pick", I'm thinking:
* Pretty much the same as fallout, but instead of retries and everlasting picks you get:
* Quality of pick determines how many attempts you get.
* Skill and lock difficulty highlights a probability zone.
So with a lot of skill, even on a complex lock and a rotten pick, you can pretty much nail the lock on first attempt.
Without skill, a complex lock may show a broad probability zone, so prepare to spend picks to get it.

As for bashing locks, I don't know. Sounds a bit too easy. Maybe as a leveled perk, where you may need 5 levels to break the highest locks? It's quite the sacrifice, but would feel more natural: You may be able to break the small jewelery chest, have problems with a grandfathers treasure chest, and impossible to bash a vault. The same could go for bashing down doors. Another sacrifice would be that by bashing you would destroy it, so you couldn't lock it again, which might be a nice tactic (in was in Daggerfall as a spell) to avoid problems.

It would also be nice to have a stealth magic break lock spell, maybe melt the lock with a high fire spell perk.

I would also like high level or unique chests to be puzzle chests, ones actually somewhat hard to figure out, with maybe a hidden scroll nearby giving a hint if you search for it.

so, something other than the Open spell under Alteration magic?

I did a search for bashes, Breaking, bash, locks but never bashing and lock, Sorry for making a post so soon about your topic.

i think itd be cool to pick up the chest and have someone good at picking locks do it for you

Bashing a lock should have a % chance of breaking your 'bashing weapon' not the items in the container. I do think that the warrior builds should have a way to open chests, without having to partake in a skill that isn't theirs. I also want the "Lock Door" spell back.

Yes.. however bashing a lock or any form of B&E is easy in reality.
The way games are set up however is to scale challenges, lock picking is the best way.
As any idiot can jimmy a window, or take a hammer to a padlock.
The same idiot would have little chance of lockpicking.

Which means they'd have to scale it that a warrior that can cave a skull in, can't knock a lock off.

Or just set traps to go off on a broken attempt automatically.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Balances the thief/mage/warrior as then all three have their own way of getting into locked places on their own.

In addition to breaking the contents and your weapon, the process is also loud. So it's not good for actually thieving, because it will attract attention (and enemies, if you're in a dungeon)
Doors should be the easiest to bash, of course based on strength of lock.