Archaeology

[PBitt]

Really hope its not super annoying to level with 5,000 characters on each realm doing it at the same time...

[whisperingsage]

It's interesting to see that there's multiple ranks of Archaeology. I had thought you only started with it after hitting 85, because of being tied to Path of the Titans. Since you can't start progressing with Path till 85, I wonder what you'll do with it till then?

It's been heavily implied that Archaeology will be required for Path, but it's nothing but a differently named leveling system you start after hitting 85. Instead of leveling through normal quests and xp, you'll "level" through Path quests, and get glyphs rather than extra stats.

[evilgnomey]

It's interesting to see that there's multiple ranks of Archaeology. I had thought you only started with it after hitting 85, because of being tied to Path of the Titans. Since you can't start progressing with Path till 85, I wonder what you'll do with it till then?

It's been heavily implied that Archaeology will be required for Path, but it's nothing but a differently named leveling system you start after hitting 85. Instead of leveling through normal quests and xp, you'll "level" through Path quests, and get glyphs rather than extra stats.

Archaeology is a secondary profession like cooking and fishing, why wouldn't it have multiple ranks? :P be silly if it didn't, you could just go find high level stuff with a fresh low level toon :S

[whisperingsage]

It depends on what the profession actually gets you. I guess I was just thinking that since it was tied to Path (or at least Path was tied to it), you wouldn't need it till 85 (as that's when Path starts), so it wouldn't have any lower ranks. I was thinking it would be unlocked at 85, or something, and progressing through Archaeology is what got you further through Path.

Though, that's not how any other professions work. I dunno. We'll have to see what the heck you even do with this profession. I mean, knowing we find relics is nice and all... but what do we get from that? I'm glad we get it earlier, whatever it does. Another fun thing to do at earlier levels, at least.

[lopus]

maybe archaeology works similar to JC on what it gives you in each lvl as JC gives you trinkets,rings,neck items only untill you get to BC lvls once you get to BC lvls you start cutting gems the MAIN reason to be JC.

So Archaeology must give you some kind of reward until you hit Cata lvls then it will open up the path of the titants as the main reason to have Archeology

[Advocate]

Wow, ya need to rewatch BlizzCon.

Archaelogy:
You visit ruins etc to find 'fragments' these fragments are put into your journal.
When you have enough to deciper something, there is somesort of mini game (not know about yet) that you do.
When complete yoiu get rewards like:
Items that can be sold on the black market (Example shown was an Weapon that can be sold for 30g)
Non-Combat Pets (Example given was a Skelly)
and 'secret passagways' (Example given, instant transport to an instance)

I'm sure there are other, more epic rewards, these were the little nuggests they gave us at BlizzCon.

So while, at Lv85 you need the skill to use the Path of Ttians system, before then it has some nice stuff to do.

I'm really looking forward to it, even it, based on how to currently reads, you can't buy mats of the AH, you have to go discover the 'Fragments' yourself.

Edit:
Hmm, mabye they can be AH'ed.
After reading http://www.wowwiki.com/Archaeology it looks like the Atifacts may have a Use: function to move them into your journal.

[deadman80]

Most likely, the cap will be 525 like all other professions will be.

I have a feeling that the actual experience will be similar to herbalism/mining in that you:
1. find a node
2. click the node
3. get something from the node + skillup
4. use that something to do something else

How exactly that "do something else" functions remains to be seen, but I'm guessing that the items you dig up will be salable on AH and get consumed when you use them to "learn" them (add them to your journal.)

Oh, and though I am too lazy to dig it up, there was a blue post a while back that hinted that dwarves' "Find Treasure" will be converted/replaced with something dealing with Archaeology. (Probably allows tracking of digsite nodes, but could also allow for enhanced rewards from digging like extra items or skillups.)

Lastly, there are currently 3 new types of bandages being added in the game files, so it's possible that the usefulness of First Aid may be brought back up to important levels.

[M1kra]

I don't believe that getting something from the node will skill you up....its not like finding the "nodes" will be hard, its to try and know what the artifact thing is that will be the hard part

[deadman80]

I don't believe that getting something from the node will skill you up....its not like finding the "nodes" will be hard, its to try and know what the artifact thing is that will be the hard part

That would make it nearly impossible to level ~_~;; Since it is likely to have the same skill cap as every other profession, which will be 525, that would increase the painfulness of leveling to a point that Blizz already knows they don't want to deal with... I still say it will be similar to the current gathering profs and give skill on gathering. Blizz knows that system works already and players are already comfortable with doing it.

[AnotherPaladin]

Slightly off-topic here, but I hope they tie Archeology to new legendaries:

1. Super long quest chain, requiring heavy use of Archeology to scavenge the world / dungeons / raids for a super unique item that begins a quest...
2. Spend thousands and thousands of gold to purchase mats to blah blah (like Primordial Saronite)
3. A lot of Archeology again to collect other pieces
4. Finally several hard mode raid bosses for drops + shards
5. Finally kill toughest hard mode boss on that tier for a final unique drop
6. Once the overall legendary is ready, need to search for the "Lost blah blah" to "infuse" the legendary with power etc



I am a big tomb raider fan and thinking of finding a broken legendary weapon that needs to be "reforged" after spending several months collecting items (through Archeology and gold) and doing hard mode bosses just makes me giddy!!!!

That would be awesome! It would be nice to have an interactive secondary profession. I really hope blizzard ties it well with the path of the titans.

[M1kra]

That would make it nearly impossible to level ~_~;; Since it is likely to have the same skill cap as every other profession, which will be 525, that would increase the painfulness of leveling to a point that Blizz already knows they don't want to deal with... I still say it will be similar to the current gathering profs and give skill on gathering. Blizz knows that system works already and players are already comfortable with doing it.

What I meant is that you don't skill by gathering, but by "crafting"

So an example would be if you merged Fishing/Cooking into one proffession...then my example would be that you only skilled by doing the Cooking parts even though you need to Fish to get the mats

[Varuni]

and Frost/Unholy DKs have rather weak death strikes, so them too and Blood DKs have better ways of healing themselves than bandages.

Ok first, to make myself seem smart, I'ma jump in and say that Death Strike heals 5% hp per disease, so Unholy, with 3, has the best, and frost and blood are probobly the same.

Secondly, Blizz said "Gated not grindy" so I imagine that we will get up to 525, and get to a point in it/the paths, and stop. Next patch opens up more, and etcetc.

[overneathe]

What I'm thinking is... Archeology isn't 100% needed for PotT. I assume it's the profession that makes the Ancient Glyphs and unlocks new paths but that's it. What I also assume is that a lot of what your character is involved in unlocks more unique paths to choose from.

Of course I could be wrong but I believe everyone will see my reasoning when they realize Archeology is a secondary profession. Just who would ever NOT pick it up if they can't unlock the Path of the Titans without it? Sounds completely unnecessary for me to add such a thing. If Blizz wanted everyone to use Path of the Titans (and everyone will) then why not just implement it as a new game mechanic incorporated into the characters themselves. Or just add the new Ancient Glyphs to Scribes.
Why a secondary profession if it becomes mandatory?

Don't see the point and I think people aren't understanding "will be able to obtain through Archeology" properly and are thinking of BoP AGlyphs only.

I hope I'm not wrong, cause otherwise Archeology would just mean another thing you'll need to obtain to be able to perform on par with other 85 chars. And again, it's a secondary profession...

[Insomnium]

Ok first, to make myself seem smart, I'ma jump in and say that Death Strike heals 5% hp per disease, so Unholy, with 3, has the best, and frost and blood are probobly the same.

Secondly, Blizz said "Gated not grindy" so I imagine that we will get up to 525, and get to a point in it/the paths, and stop. Next patch opens up more, and etcetc.

While that might be true, the fact that blood has a few + Dmg / heal modifiers in its talents, makes blood having better Death Strikes. And Death Strike is the main FU strike. (Frost / Unholy, the other 2 being Obliterate for Frost and Scourge Strike for Unholy)

[overneathe]

Can we not make this a DK thread? Also, Blizz have said about half or possibly a bit more of the ancient glyph slots will be unlocked from release and will be able to be obtained through pretty much any activity you do with the character (professions, pvp, pve, possibly even grinding) but there's a limited ammount of "glyph grinding" you'll be able to do in a single week. That will happen so that people can't just grind it away the first few days and leave it hanging afterwards.

The last few tiers of glyph slots will, indeed, be unlocked in future Cata patches, e.g. 4.1, 4.2, etc.

[iorcedurmother]

So, would the dwarf racial "Find Treasure" give an increase to archaeology? Seems the most likely path, other than removal.

I think I read somewhere that dwarfs will be getting a buff to archaeology

[deadman80]

From Wowhead summary:
Performing activities like PvP, raiding, doing daily quests, and leveling your Archaeology skill will allow you to unlock more of the unique glyphs your Path provides you with. In addition, unlike all the other character progression methods, players who are able to level quickly and generally "play faster" will not be able to use that as their advantage when going through their Path - there is a limit of how much "progression" you can do over a given period of time (e.g. a week).

From what is available from blueposts, this seems to be a pretty good summary. Archaeology will not be the only means of unlocking Ancient Glyphs, but will likely be required to unlock specific glyphs. I could see specialized glyphs being unlocked by their respective activity as well, and that could give added depth to the system (ie: PVPing a lot unlocks glyphs that have higher usefulness in PVP activities than PVE, dailys give access to say more gold/rep traits, etc.)

I don't think that it'll be painful to level Arch, but there will probably be a limit to the number of glyphs you are allowed to unlock per week, which would explain the "gated not grindy" statement. Sure, you may be able to cap out the skill, but you will still be limited to the same pace as everyone else when it comes to your Path. They basically want to keep players playing, and making it impossible to cap out everything within a week after launch makes good sense on their end.

I think I read somewhere that dwarfs will be getting a buff to archaeology

Blizz hinted that "Find Treasure" would be getting an overhaul, possibly making it related to Archaeology. Whether that means increased based skill, increased rate of skillups, or enhanced results of digging remains to be seen.

[kungfumonkey]

I like the idea of Archeology but Im dreading the CRAZY MAD dash to the nodes. I have visions of hundreds of players all camping the sites trying to skill up.

It will be like day one of that bloody easter egg event all over again

[deadman80]

I like the idea of Archeology but Im dreading the CRAZY MAD dash to the nodes. I have visions of hundreds of players all camping the sites trying to skill up.

It will be like day one of that bloody easter egg event all over again

Except Archaeology will not be available for only a limited time, so you could just wait a week or three and see if things calm down. I'm pretty sure that Blizz said that dig sites will be available all over the world as well, so the population should be spread out a bit. If they are smart, they'll add dig nodes to certain instances as well to decrease potential griefing as well.

[Macgable]

I have a question. I currently have fishing and cooking as secondary profs. Am I gonna have to give up one of those to take on Archaeology?

In other words - does anyone know if they are gonna let us have 3 secondary profs?

Tnx Mac