Lock picking is best scene as a fun tradeskill like ability that only rogues get to partake in. It’s impossible to level this very high without leveling your character but it is a fun little skill to play with as you level through the game.
How useful is it?
Lock picking has limited use but sure is handy. Obviously enough it allows you to pick any chest or lockbox in the game, however slightly lesser known it allows you to open most doors that require keys. These doors include Searing Gorge, Scarlet Monastery, Blackrock Depths, Scholomance, etc. As you go through the game you’ll have to acquire keys to get through each of these doors, but with a high lock pickings kill you’ll be able to just pick your way through and toss the keys.
Can’t Blacksmiths lockpick?
Blacksmiths can pick locks but only with keys they have to craft. The big problem is that the keys used in lock picking take resources such as Truesilver that are in a very limited quantity. Not to mention a blacksmith’s keys can’t open very high lockboxes, Mithral, Thorium and lockboxes of the like are left exclusively for your Rogue.
Pickpocketing
As you may know by now if you pickpocket humanoids you may receive a lockbox. These lockboxes aren’t the same as ones that drop randomly that contain green items or bags. These lockboxes are specifically for the use of leveling your lock picking skill. You’ll be able to pick pocket your way through humanoids while gaining lockboxes as you progress through the game, however only a few levels of humanoids have the boxes you’ll be needing.
You see lockboxes dropped off humanoids come in tiers. Each lockbox has a designated lock picking skill requirement that is necessary to open it. For example purposes lets say you need to get from 175 lockpicking skill to 185, then you’ll need to find a certain kind of lockbox, and for this range it will be Sturdy Lockbox. The only mobs that drop study boxes are level 40-47 humanoids in various places, mainly being Ogres. You would need to pickpocket these monsters over and over to gain the Study lockboxes you need to get the points you desire.
Money as a Lock Picker
Sadly it is not customary to receive money to open chests as not a lot of Rogue’s charge for their lock picking ability. Most people want to level their lock picking so they go to a major city and offer to open picks for free. In the game’s infancy that throws the supply and demand of lock picking services way out of wack and those Rogues looking to make profit for their services are poorly rewarded. So starting a lock picking service may not make you money if you are picking for other people, but it has other benefits. Remember, there may be 300 skill chests that drop in content not yet added to the game, at that point we may see some actual payout as Rogues no longer need to level their abilities, they will be able to charge for their expertease.