Thief's Tools & Skeleton Keys?

I heard from someone that up until 75, Skeleton Keys are 'the best' but at 75, it reverses and Thief's Tools are 'the best' Is this true or just his opinion?

It's hard to say. I've heard mixed feelings on both. I didn't pick that many locks aside for the ones on my AF back when I played THF.

I was cheap and used thief tools and had roughly a 50/50 success rate. But supposedly +INT really helps. Not sure if it's valid testimony but I once tried opening one unknowingly having -INT gear on and got a mimic lol.

Well, if it IS INT based, I got a s*it-ton of INT gear from a job I hate (BLM) that I could gear up in, I suppose. But finding the better tools is still on my to-do list.

Personally I always find Thief Tools more efficient from level 50+. I've used up much less Thief Tools on fails than Skeleton, and spawned a lot less mimics.

What are the chances of picking all my coffers at 50?

For AF.. Pretty slim, I was doing all mine near around 55, and make sure you have friends who can slay the nearby mobs. Expect to go through a few stacks that low, but of course, you could just open it first key which I fluked in Bailey's. Your luck on opening is based on your own level against the level of the mobs in the area. Lower you are, less chance you have of opening.

INT is meant to effect Steal rate, not coffer picking. Though still I've not noticed INT help with that, I even beat Maat in the one turn I didn't use an INT + Steal+ set up, only Steal+.

I'd really work with both and see which helps you out better, just remember you can get free skeleton keys from a simple quest once per week, but then Thief Tools are cheaper to buy in bundles, and in my own experience, better.

Good luck.

From what I hear the greatest factor determining success or failure for picking coffers in a zone is the overall level difference between you and the given zone. So you might wanna pick coffers as you need the pieces instead of doing it all at once at 50.

Maybe I should just farm keys.

I career Thf, and quite often coffer hunt. My fiance even gets annoyed when I end up sidetracking in the middle of our quests/missions when I spot/know where a coffer is.

Picking coffers is fun, but you really need to be at a right level for it, the AFs are rather difficult to pick between 50-60, and you'd pretty much need help picking them anyway. So you could try perhaps whilst key hunting.

I'll just solo keys on RDM or something.

As a master and career theif, and Bastok being my home town, I simply wash rinse repeat every conquest. I either sell them in Bulk, or keep them to use to open coffers or treasure chests.

I'm like Slytribal, but my fiance doesn't play, but it's my pals.. I ALWAYS know where the coffers/chest spawn.. you just have to wait that damn hour for them to respawn, you can actualyl make a killing open these damn things. Specialy in areas harder than normal, i.e Newton Movapolous.. I used to open that coffer and make I think between 11-22K, which is not too shabby.. its a lil more tricky to get to is all.

Did you get your af already kojo?

Here is what i can say. There is not any prove over which stats affect coffer pick, but your level surely will affect it. Skeleton key is the best key, period. At 75 coffers are just simplier to pick with thief's tools. So picking with tools is just cheap then.

I picked all my coffers at 50ish, and with skeleton key i needed 1 or 2 tries at most iirc. I did try thief's tools before that and spent a whole stack with no success.

Another tip i can give is to set up a panic macro if a mimic pops ( perfect dodge + some kind of warp). Aggro might be an issue only at CZB (so bring rr and die at safe spot lol). At monastic cavern you can just flee+zone and at castle ostroja you can hide.

For a while I was doing the Seed Quest in FeiYin Daily. I would pop the treasure chest there during my walk through. I found that Living Keys had the highest success rate, and Thief's Tools more often than not would trigger a fail or a trapped chest.

Its almost always Ice weather there too, I wonder if that had anything to do with it.