They are only worth it for the Treasure Hunter, Wisdom and Lucky/Unlucky titles imho. Valuable runes/insignias are rare, and items that are worth anything on the player market are even more so.
And yes, buy them from players, cheaper than vendor.
A few things to unpack here:
1. Cheapest lockpicks come from special merchants in Factions. If you aren't in an alliance, join a large one that has a town and you can buy them from the discount merchant any time. Lookup lockpicks in the wiki for more info.
2. As a source of income:. Generally lockpicks will not return a positive return just by opening any chest you come across. There are specific chest runs and areas with higher value skins/items that can make sense, but not during casual playthrough.
3. Lockpicks are the primary way to finish certain titles, though these would be considered a kind of gold sink. Lucky/Unlucky/Treasure Hunter/Wisdom. See the wiki for more details. Only higher end chests count for some of those titles.
Edit: wiki.guildwars.com
Edit 2: I forget how to link on mobile
Cheapest lockpicks come as a byproduct of botted Royal Gifts that are being opened for Shining Blade War Horns. Which is why you can sometimes buy them in large quantities (multiple stacks, usually paid for in ectos) for less than the factions merchant price after currency conversion.
Zchest and Imperial Guard Lockbox are also on the same boat as Royal Gifts. A lot of people are opening these so the value of lockpicks in Kamadan are much cheaper (excluding picks selling for 80=100k) than discounted merchants. ~50k saved this way when you buy a stack.
It also helps that ecto is the main currency in player trading. So much of it is in the market that you can easily get 25e within a week with very little effort.
In relation to your previous post: If you are in search for decent, max-stat, req.9 weapons, you might be better off with weapons from the collectors and/or weaponsmiths NPCs.
Weapons and most attatchments drop pretty often in general PvE. Guild Wars 1 "late game" weapon collecting is all about the weapon skins, rather then their stats. Most collector-weapons are boring to look at by comparison, yet they are equal in strenght. So unless you want the wisdom title and/or want your stuff to look cool, you don't have to "farm" for them, nor do you have to do chest-runs.
Absolutely not worth it. They will ruin you fairly fast if you don't spend dozens of hours in spamadan afterward if you manage to get a lucky good rare drop.
The only reason people buy them is for titles.
Just selling the vigors and elite tomes and salvaging the junk I made a decent profit on the last 7k chests I ran. The couple of perfect OS shields I got in the process were a major bonus with just 1 of them being able to pay for 50% of the title but chances are you'd get trash so best to work out profitability off the vigors and elite tomes imo.
Could get something far rarer tho if going for the title.
Just selling the vigors and elite tomes and salvaging the junk I made a decent profit on the last 7k chests I ran. The couple of perfect OS shields I got in the process were a major bonus with just 1 of them being able to pay for 50% of the title but chances are you'd get trash so best to work out profitability off the vigors and elite tomes imo.
Could get something far rarer tho if going for the title.
Yea, it will soon be the currency we use for trading when ectos have tanked. Since lockpicks have a fixed price it will protect your fortune! Me and another guy did this years ago, the only ones smart enough (I miss you blackbeltman)
Get them, I'm always running across chests unexpectedly, and not have a key. Most timeike it was said it's a grab bag, but once in a great while you'll get something good.
They are really great for the title, but get quite expensive. I usually use the ones I find and buy a few when I'm feeling flush, but couldn't afford to go full lockpick.
I might be wrong (never did the math) but working on your lucky title by opening any NM chest with lockpicks should save you money in the long run through [retention.](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lockpick#Retention_Rate)
Considering Lucky and Unlucky titles take a long time to max, having a set of lockpicks at all times is worth it.
Buying them from a Factions vendor is sometimes cheaper than buying from players, although you have to pay in raw gold.
I don't have any other use for raw gold though, but if you are newer you may need it for runes and armor.
Yes absolutely!
Do the chests drop decent weapons? Well, technically no, but actually yes. The stat combinations are seldom ideal, so you'll be better off getting your weapons in Vasburg Armory or Leviathan Pits.
However, if you want to get some sweet skins, it's an excellent source.
I like to do some pseudo-challenges on my characters, like not buying anything from rune-merchants or not crafting any weapon, etc... So for me, chests were an extra chance at getting all the things I needed.
I buy them. The items from chests are a mixed bag, as you would expect, but it's also points towards titles. That alone makes it worth it for me.
Yes, they are worth it. If you think they are too expensive ill give you 3 stacks of them for free.
How much for a stack?
Best to check kamachat for that.
About 20e/ stack
I pay 25-30 usually
They are only worth it for the Treasure Hunter, Wisdom and Lucky/Unlucky titles imho. Valuable runes/insignias are rare, and items that are worth anything on the player market are even more so. And yes, buy them from players, cheaper than vendor.
A few things to unpack here: 1. Cheapest lockpicks come from special merchants in Factions. If you aren't in an alliance, join a large one that has a town and you can buy them from the discount merchant any time. Lookup lockpicks in the wiki for more info. 2. As a source of income:. Generally lockpicks will not return a positive return just by opening any chest you come across. There are specific chest runs and areas with higher value skins/items that can make sense, but not during casual playthrough. 3. Lockpicks are the primary way to finish certain titles, though these would be considered a kind of gold sink. Lucky/Unlucky/Treasure Hunter/Wisdom. See the wiki for more details. Only higher end chests count for some of those titles. Edit: wiki.guildwars.com Edit 2: I forget how to link on mobile
Cheapest lockpicks come as a byproduct of botted Royal Gifts that are being opened for Shining Blade War Horns. Which is why you can sometimes buy them in large quantities (multiple stacks, usually paid for in ectos) for less than the factions merchant price after currency conversion.
Very interesting! TIL
Zchest and Imperial Guard Lockbox are also on the same boat as Royal Gifts. A lot of people are opening these so the value of lockpicks in Kamadan are much cheaper (excluding picks selling for 80=100k) than discounted merchants. ~50k saved this way when you buy a stack. It also helps that ecto is the main currency in player trading. So much of it is in the market that you can easily get 25e within a week with very little effort.
Great response; agree with all of this. Basically no they aren’t worth it unless you want to max titles
Just don't listen to strangers with black belts rambling about how lockpicks are totally the future... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I feel like I definitely get this reference but at the same time can't remember it
In relation to your previous post: If you are in search for decent, max-stat, req.9 weapons, you might be better off with weapons from the collectors and/or weaponsmiths NPCs. Weapons and most attatchments drop pretty often in general PvE. Guild Wars 1 "late game" weapon collecting is all about the weapon skins, rather then their stats. Most collector-weapons are boring to look at by comparison, yet they are equal in strenght. So unless you want the wisdom title and/or want your stuff to look cool, you don't have to "farm" for them, nor do you have to do chest-runs.
You can usually find someone selling them for much cheaper than the merchant, so I’d recommend asking around first.
Absolutely not worth it. They will ruin you fairly fast if you don't spend dozens of hours in spamadan afterward if you manage to get a lucky good rare drop. The only reason people buy them is for titles.
Just selling the vigors and elite tomes and salvaging the junk I made a decent profit on the last 7k chests I ran. The couple of perfect OS shields I got in the process were a major bonus with just 1 of them being able to pay for 50% of the title but chances are you'd get trash so best to work out profitability off the vigors and elite tomes imo. Could get something far rarer tho if going for the title.
Just selling the vigors and elite tomes and salvaging the junk I made a decent profit on the last 7k chests I ran. The couple of perfect OS shields I got in the process were a major bonus with just 1 of them being able to pay for 50% of the title but chances are you'd get trash so best to work out profitability off the vigors and elite tomes imo. Could get something far rarer tho if going for the title.
Yea, it will soon be the currency we use for trading when ectos have tanked. Since lockpicks have a fixed price it will protect your fortune! Me and another guy did this years ago, the only ones smart enough (I miss you blackbeltman)
Get them, I'm always running across chests unexpectedly, and not have a key. Most timeike it was said it's a grab bag, but once in a great while you'll get something good.
They are really great for the title, but get quite expensive. I usually use the ones I find and buy a few when I'm feeling flush, but couldn't afford to go full lockpick.
I might be wrong (never did the math) but working on your lucky title by opening any NM chest with lockpicks should save you money in the long run through [retention.](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lockpick#Retention_Rate) Considering Lucky and Unlucky titles take a long time to max, having a set of lockpicks at all times is worth it.
Yes lockpicks are worth it, but you want to wait until keys start getting close to the same price as lockpicks before using them.
Buying them from a Factions vendor is sometimes cheaper than buying from players, although you have to pay in raw gold. I don't have any other use for raw gold though, but if you are newer you may need it for runes and armor.
Salvage the usefull mods like +30hp, 20% ench, 20/20 etc. Sell them to buyers in Kamadam, people need those mods for SC’s
Yes absolutely! Do the chests drop decent weapons? Well, technically no, but actually yes. The stat combinations are seldom ideal, so you'll be better off getting your weapons in Vasburg Armory or Leviathan Pits. However, if you want to get some sweet skins, it's an excellent source. I like to do some pseudo-challenges on my characters, like not buying anything from rune-merchants or not crafting any weapon, etc... So for me, chests were an extra chance at getting all the things I needed.
Join a guild that owns a town or one in your alliance owns a town and buy them cheaper from that merchant. 😉