Archaeology Rewards and Previews, Blue Posts

[Howard Moon]

Nice to see Bliz come up with a gathering profession that has a little bit of a twist to it. Sure it will become repetitive and boring, but NOTHING can be more repetitive and boring than fishing or making bandages.

[Katana Angel]

Archaeology is not going to be for everyone, much like training fishing isn't for everyone- it's another one of those professions that does take time, but is great when you're waiting for a raid to start, your random queue to pop, or if you just want to do something mindless after a long day of whatever.
I enjoy it a lot. It's far from boring- it's not just "Go to place, search, get item 3x, and then go to next place". It's a bit of puzzle solving- the red-yellow-green system is pretty intuitive and works out very well. The "lore items" (things that aren't the pets, vanity items, or mounts), are also fun to read if you're big into the background, which I am.
Good intention, pretty good execution, I'm a big fan of it. Plus I can't wait to make my warlock a dwarf, with an Explorers' League background, and go searching everywhere for goodies, hee hee. (Yes I play on an RP server, shh.)
Also, AQ20 = AQ10? Is... is it staying level 60, then, or are they revamping it and also going to make it an 80 raid? That doesn't seem very clear, but I am VERY interested. I love AQ20.

[protiddhoni]

I am actually dead excited about archeology. Its going to be awesome... Aside from the obvious lure of the mounts I just think the profession sounds a lot more interactive and would feel like a minigame! Can't wait! Not going to try the PTR though gonna hold on to my hats in anticipation for the live release (and all the initial lag )...

I can sincerely say I wasn't looking forward to LK as much as I am for this one... and to think I was considering stopping altogether.

[Noomz]

Can't wait!

[Rainei]

What a complete and utter disgrace. Removing ZG and making the classic sword lvl 85. And BoA...GG blizz, you continue your downward spiral of ruining the game, much like this site was ruined when it got sold out.

[Uselessrouge]

need that aq40 drone for outside <3

[Deleted]

So when is the raid information coming?

[Geckomayhem]

Archaeology is so cool. It will be neat to try and get some of those weapons for my alts to use, the hand pet looks so unique and awesome, and that ahn'qiraj mount is definitely big on my list of priorities.

I'm still not convinced I'm going to stick with Arcane as my main spec. It sounds like a lot more mana management (not bad, per se, as managing more things means more of a challenge). But fire seems to eclipse it right now with it's power and fun factors.

[Katana Angel]

What a complete and utter disgrace. Removing ZG and making the classic sword lvl 85. And BoA...GG blizz, you continue your downward spiral of ruining the game, much like this site was ruined when it got sold out.

It's... called updating the game. Do you honestly know anyone, save maybe the one group of "old world raiders" on your server, that go into ZG on the 3-day timer basis to raid? (And actually RAID the place at level 60, not just a few 80s going for mount runs). Were you angry when they made so many of the old classic items (Arcanite Reaper? Headmaster's Charge?) that were either incredibly rare drops or required a lot of mat farming were made into BoA legacy gear? Zin'Rokh was a fantastic item... back in Vanilla. There's been two expansions since, and the new item is coming out in the third. I bet you there's a large chunk of folks who never even saw that original sword now on servers.

I really have no idea how updating a single weapon is "ENTIRELY RUINING THE GAME FOREVER AND EVER AMEN".

[Shamburger]

The real question is why does blizz keep making rewards land mounts when they know that No one is going to be running anywhere in cata...

[Deleted]

Boubouille, you posted Ghostcrawler's blue post already. :P

But Archaeology is looking amazing thus far, as are the mounts that come with it. Can't wait. <3

[Spoonman]

Archeology will be so remade when the final products comes out(I HOPE). It doesnt work good at all imo.

I specially doesnt like that putting out telescope all the time, idea.

[Lockheed]

AQ bug mount would be cool, but I am definitely not a fan of giving content to the masses that was exclusive to a select few. Scarab Lords should (IMO) be the only ones with bug mounts, it will completely take away the cool factor of the mount if everyone has a bug mount that didn't actually earn one.
It's the same sort thing that happened with the Polymorph Turtle tome when it became BOE. I was proud that I was one of the few on my server that actually got it pre-bc.

Exclusive content should remain exclusive.

[Darkguyver2020]

Loving the stats on those BOA epic weapons. Great incentive to work on Archeology (as well as the flavor items). Though I am curious about one thing.
Since my main is a Death Knight, will it be possible to Runeforge these weapons (the two hand sword in particular) or will I have to rely on regular enchants? I'm sure Blizzard won't want my Warrior or Paladin alt to gain access to Rune of the Fallen Crusader.

[Hirako]

The real question is why does blizz keep making rewards land mounts when they know that No one is going to be running anywhere in cata...

I believe they want to keep flying mounts as end game rewards for PvErs and PvPers. Thats why they are giving away ground mounts for things such as Archeology. Also ground mounts are cool for BGs.

[Girlyman]

I was reading the description of the AQ mount and remembered, in WotLK wasn't there suppose to be(planned):

-a Azjol-Nerub City/Quest Hub where you helped them fight the UD Nerubian? Instead we got 2-3 NPCs handling quest outside the dungeon. What happened with the living Nerubian?
-the Naga trying to melt the Ice to flood the world.

And... "-DA SOULFLAYER COMES!!"

[Darkguyver2020]

What a complete and utter disgrace. Removing ZG and making the classic sword lvl 85. And BoA...GG blizz, you continue your downward spiral of ruining the game, much like this site was ruined when it got sold out.

I solo Zul'Gurub every reset and kill everything, including Hakkar. Zin'Rokh has dropped for me three times and each time I have sold it since I needed the gold more than extra clutter in my bank.
I think it's great that the sword is being retuned to a level 85 BOA weapon instead of being some glorified vendor item. Especially since the original version is being removed once the ZG raid gets axed.
Stop living in the past. If you don't like it, then just leave.

[stupid11]

Would you rather idle in Dalaran?

It's a secondary profession, you don't grind it for epics. You don't grind it if you don't like it. It's for people who enjoy traveling around and are interested in fun/lore items. The epics are just a nice surprise, like someone already said before me.

People keep thinking this game is all about epics and gear. I for one love to just fly/run around the world and ejoy the scenery when I'm not doing endgame.

I would rather just fucking log off, tbh.

Why is the choice Archaeology or Dalaran? Not all of us spend 15 hours a day logged into a glorified chat program.

[Shaina]

Is it only me that thinks about the Shadow Temple from Zelda: Ocarina of Time when seeing that Crawling Hand Pet? o0

[Stevoman]

Not to be the one to complain, but...

If the Archeology rewards are that powerful, I can easily see any remotely serious guild requiring all its members to have Archeology going into the first tier of Cataclysm. That is, similar to how adding the profession bonuses in Wrath turned primary professions from something fun and rewarding, to min/max stat vending machines. ("ZOMG you're losing out on 10 HEP with those professions, why don't you have JC/BS?!")

That's not to say I dislike Archeology or won't do it, I just hate it when "optional" new mechanics are introduced, whose original intention was to add some fun, that are essentially turned into a requirement because of a meaningless stat boost or some other perk. Especially since, knowing Blizz, my guild will make me spend thousands of gold leveling this so I can go with them into T11 content with a crafted 359 staff, and promptly replace it with a 364 staff as soon as we down the first boss.

I guess what I'm saying is, secondary professions should be purely fun/optional/profitable, and the best way to keep it this way is to not make them have any tangible PVE benefits.