I'm just curious, i havent completed the thieves guild questline so i'm not sure if it becomes essential during that but ive been able to pick master locks since day one (may take me ten picks) i really cant see the need in investing points in this skill unless your doing some serious thief role-playing. In fact by not investing points lockpicking is more of a challenge and i find it more fun.
I'm just interested in what others think of lockpicking, so far to me its looking like the skill that i will never invest any perks in, on the other hand ive dabbled in pickpocketing and found it much more rewarding than in previous elder scrolls games and any other RPG ive ever played actually, so im not knocking any thieves out there.
I've only gone part way up the tree to get the undetected, and wax key but other then that i haven't added to it. once you figure out the 'feel' for how the locks operate it becomes easy to get them to open plus with every blacksmith and a few random vendors selling one or 2 picks plus the fence for the thieves guild selling 30 each day you don't really run out of picks to break.
I found the lockpicking so boringly easy that I went ahead and downloaded the mod from Skyrim Nexus that just shows you where the "sweet zone" for opening lock is at when you're on the lockpicking screen. It was fun the first toon until the 2nd or 3rd lock in the dungeon under Helgen Keep, then it got monotonous.. just like it did in Fallout 3 and Fallout NV.
I never bother training lockpicking, either in skill or perks, in any game. I liked the one in Oblivion, it at least felt like a challenge even if I never broke any picks (except on novice locks, ironically). In skyrim, every nord and his dog has a lockpick or two secreted on their person, so even if you break them you never run out. Who needs keys, anyways.