Archaeology in Mists

[Avrantia]

I would like to see some kind of limitation of the RNG. I am at my 250th solve for Tol'vir mount, and I'm fully aware that I might have to complete 250 solves more and still have absolutely no guarantee of getting the mount whatsoever. I could also do 2000 solves and still be without the mount. Now, this is fine for dungeon runs and rare drops from end bosses, but this is a profession. Sure some luck is involved in for example alchemy with mastery procs, but this isn't at all as dire as hoping for a 1% item to pop up.

[Twisted Spirit]

I really hope for artefacts that let you upgrade existing items. I think I was lucky getting Zin Rokk in 81 solves (well...troll solves...520 total solves) - no way I could have gotten that "in time" for the item to make a difference.

Fair enough that you grind long for a good item. But 115 Fossil solves (550 totals) for a shield that is inferior to a crafted shield?

I was lucky enough to get it in 45 solves but accidentally left it behind on my old server when I realm changed =( Stupid boy!

[Evil Inside]

More sites per continent - yes please. I hate spending most of my time moving to the next site, rather than digging. That or at least make sites static, and they just "recharge" after X minutes. That'd make tol'vir farming a lot easier.

As for what they're gonna do with it? No clue. I'd assume more focus on vanity items (mounts, pets, silly hats), instead of BoEs.

As I understand it you're now able to teleport between sites, in MOP that is.

[Taliira]

So far its been a consistent 3 sites in jade forest for me. Some of the dig sites are in quest areas. It's been 3 or 6 digs per site so if you get a 6 then its almost like doing a quest experience wise. So its definitely worth doing while you level up. Plus getting some xp takes away some of the pain of grinding it out.

I haven't seen a teleport thing yet though so its not exactly common. But I keep getting 3 in jade forest that are really close by so you don't need to run far. Its probably because I am 85 and not in the other zones yet but it has been making it easier to collect as I go along.

I did get attacked one time when I took the fragments. The thing I killed then dropped extra fragments. So it was kinda like a 7 dig site.

On the downside, the common artifacts have all required 50 fragments instead of the 35 I'm used to seeing for Night Elf/Fossil/etc. I've also only been getting 3 skill points when I solve these which is down from 5. So in some sense its nice to have the extra digs but at the same time I preferred the 5 skill points when solving.

[klaps_05]

they should put dig sites in every zone, but make do like 40-50 digs, like a real dig site.

[Daverid]

I rage at the RNG, but never-the-less it's a part of the "Archaeology Experience" so to speak.

I personally think one of the best ways to eliminate SOME of the annoyances with Archy is to make it so once you get every rare of a faction, Boom, that Type has 0 chance (Or extremely low) to spawn once you dig something up. For example for me I've got every Fossil and Night Elf rare yet still am missing 1 Dwarf and 3 Tol'vir, so hence I would either ONLY get Tol'vir/Dwarven Spawns on Kalimdor OR I would get 90%+ Tol'vir/Dwarf Spawns ... At least this would mean more consistent spawns for the Types you want and hence more shots at proccing those Rares.

Apart from that I think Archy is fine as it is. Sure it's not insanely entertaining, but I still found first starting it interesting. Getting the Achieves was cool and I enjoy reading all the 'Blurbs' about things you dug up and hence made it a bit more enjoyable. Also considering the new races coming will probably be at least 2/3 in Pandaria, it will mean getting those Rares should be fairly more streamlined, plus you'll be able to see heaps of Pandaria that you might have missed whilst leveling, at least at the beginning.

[Chin Music]

Here's what I'd like to see for Archaeology.

An archaeology dungeon daily and an archaeology raid weekly. The twist is that it can be any dungeon or raid currently in the game, high or low. If your character is high enough for the instance, you can accept the quest. The quests themselves involve going into the dungeon/raid to retrieve a rare artifact, which is either a pickup hidden somewhere in the instance or dropped from a boss. Handing in the quests awards archaeology skillpoints and a new token currency (with more awarded for raids). These tokens can then be used to purchase the rare archaeology artifact rewards from vendors scattered across the continents. There will be a book you can buy that has the locations and items of these vendors. You can then either use the rare artifact, or hand it in to a museum for a gold reward. Each archaeology race has its own museum and you hand in the respective racial artifacts to them. Phasing could be used to show the items you have handed in as being on display.

You can also continue to level through digging and solving artifacts, but in addition to being able to sell common artifacts for gold, you can also hand them in for a small amount of tokens, and every day or week, a certain race of artifacts could offer more tokens.

Tokens could also be used to buy consumables, such as the tablets for artifact solves/dungeon buffs or the new item that apparently teleports you to the next digsite.

There could also be a non-dungeon daily in addition to the others, which has you go out into the world and do archaeology-y type things for a token reward. Most would probably also involve retrieving an artifact, but it could be done in several ways. You might be asked to go into some deep cave or ruins hidden somewhere in the world, and picking up the artifact might spawn an elite you have to kill. Or you might have to collect key fragments to open a door. Or you might have to intercept a group of hostile NPCs (potentially opposite faction) transporting an artifact you want.

[Aethilus]

IN case you did not know, real life archaelogy is nothing like indiana jones, it is quite boring 99.8% of the time.

Sounds like WoW archaeology, they've got something right.