Half of what the OP said is right. Lockpicking is extremely easy. I've never purchased picks and I have never had a problem with any lock. SOmetimes a master lock might break a few picks but you find so many of them that it doesn't really matter.

As for the sneak comment; you're kidding, right?. Sneaking is one of the most useful and fun perk trees to exploit.

Sneak shouldn't of been in the game?

WTF??? You would totally cripple every thief/assassin build out there...

I can agree that the lock picking skill tree is next to useless, but sneak???

Its pickpocket, lockpicking, and maybe speech thats redundant. Seems like they're just there as filler skills, to create the same number of thief skills as the warrior and mage.