Repairing lockpicks

[Lumi]

How much does a lockpick's effectiveness degrade when it's repaired? Is it worth repairing picks?

[DaCapn]

I don't have a number for you, but it's definitely a good idea to take a couple steel picks and break/repair them a good number of times to degrade them so you can get exp from those easier locks.

Qualitatively though, I think it's worth it. You can always LM APPRAISE the lockpick or get someone else to. I hate those scales of "exquisite, exceptional, amazing, superb, etc." Bunch of fucking synonyms.

[Joseph]

.01

[Lumi]

I don't have a number for you, but it's definitely a good idea to take a couple steel picks and break/repair them a good number of times to degrade them so you can get exp from those easier locks.

Qualitatively though, I think it's worth it. You can always LM APPRAISE the lockpick or get someone else to. I hate those scales of "exquisite, exceptional, amazing, superb, etc." Bunch of fucking synonyms.

Normally you'd be right, but I can't actually LM APPRAISE, since my picker is a bard ;)

But! I loresing my locks, which I think is almost as good. It gives me a 30-point range that the lock must fall in (thanks to .qrs locks!), that's enough for me to figure out which pick to use.

My real concern is that I heard once that repairing a lockpick reduces its effectiveness at picking locks (i.e., reduces the skill modifier). However, I've since been told that this is not true, and that it's just the durability that decreases when a pick is repaired.

If it's just durability that decreases, it seems like a no brainer to me to repair a lockpick instead of constantly replacing them. At least with the nice ones, like kelyn, rolaren, etc.


.01

Er...what's that mean? Every time I repair, it loses .01 durability? .01 skill mod?

[Avern]

The pick mod degrade gets applied when the pick is actually repaired. A Master of LM will have a much lower mod degrade when repairing than the locksmith shop. When I was modding down a copper pick, I used the locksmith shop repair because even after ~25 breaks and repairing it myself, I wasn't getting any noticeable reduction in pick quality. Knowing this, I don't ever repair at the locksmith shop and do repair my own picks because the degrade is very, very low if you are a master of LM.

[Celephais]

Lumi, I think what you're missing that the others are trying to say to you is that when the skill modifier of a lockpick is decreased, this can be a good thing. You get more exp from picking when it's not easy, as in your skill, modded by the lockpick isn't too good for the lock.

[Lumi]

Lumi, I think what you're missing that the others are trying to say to you is that when the skill modifier of a lockpick is decreased, this can be a good thing. You get more exp from picking when it's not easy, as in your skill, modded by the lockpick isn't too good for the lock.

Oh, I know that part, and grudgingly accept why it was implemented that way. And I do love learning from boxes, but my primary concern is knowing what my best possible lock can be, so that if I'm picking for someone else, I know if the boxes they're giving me are within my capabilities.

That said, is there any way to look at a repaired lockpick and tell how much it's degraded?

[Joseph]

A Master of LM will have a much lower mod degrade when repairing than the locksmith shop.

I would love to see your testing to prove this, as when I did the testing after the new systems came out all repairs had similar effects.



That said, is there any way to look at a repaired lockpick and tell how much it's degraded?

You can get a rough estimate from LM appraise


.01 skill mod?

yes


.01 durability?

never cared to test.. no idea.