I basically agree with the issues raised in this thread.
If (almost) every locked chest/door has a key available, it kinda defeats the purpose of having a lockpicking skill, especially if lockpicks are a rare ressource on top of it.
Within a few days all key locations will be known and can be looked up in guides, anyway.
Damaging items inside locked chests might be one way to balance the skill, imho, but I'd also put more locked chests without keys into the game, or provide alternative routes around obstacles or to quest objectives by using lockpicking. However, optimally those should be meaningful, e.g. provide more than just simplistic "either pick the lock to the door or find the key".
Having quests that rely on certain skills might help, too (e.g. a Thieves Guild in case of lockpicking).
