Archeaology and it's dullness

[Z3ROR]

I've played with Archeaology last night and i must say that it is a cool and fun profession to do. I like the way you have to search for artifacts. But on the other side there is a dullness factor in it as well.
It's takes some time before you got successful dig. And then you have only +1 archeaology skillpoint. It will take a very long time before you reach the max profession level. I can really imagine that it gets bored a lot after you've done digsite number 50 and so.

I was thinking that maybe Blizzard have to add another fun thing to it. That's why i created this thread. Discuss about possible features that Archealogy have to have.

My addition:
- Add creatures to digsites. When you have a unsuccesful dig then sometimes a creature comes out attacking you. It can be crabs, stone elementals, skeletons or snakes for example.
- Add small objects (sometimes +1 skill) to unsuccessful digs and bigger objects to succesful digs (+3 skill).

[Kauppaneuvos]

What i've seen from totabiscuit's videos, there are wildlife in digsites. Sure, as a 85 they wont even aggro you but when you level up and try to dig up, they will attack.

You could say same thing about mining and herbalism. Its dull, repeatitive, no mobs attack you and you get one skill point.

[Snes]

Yep, like most professions it's designed under the assumption that alot of people will pick it up on alts and they'll just max it out as they level up and visit the zones.

[Deleted]

Sorry but.... What do you want a profession to give you in the gathering moment?

This is NOT treasure island on Facebook. It's part of a bigger game which is World of Warcraft that is NOT centered on archaeology. Guess what: it's a secondary profession. Not even primary. It gives flavour items, BoAs.

Everyone is spitting on everything before even playing it in retail version for 3 months +.

Stop whining.

[Willelm]

It's beta. What else do you expect?

[Deleted]

I think it should be time consuming enough for it to be more of an achievement to have levelled it than first aid or cooking, and it should encourage you to explore a vast area of the map. It should also have some pretty cool rewards, like pets, mounts, and some pretty cool BoA gear. I think it should also be accessible and not too confusing for low level/new players to be able to enjoy too.

So, yeah. I like Archaeology. If you think you'll find it too boring to cope with, maybe read a book while you travel?

[Adelrisu]

Yep, like most professions it's designed under the assumption that alot of people will pick it up on alts and they'll just max it out as they level up and visit the zones.

I'd say its a little more exciting then those professions, as it appears that you get some lore tidbits plus various other items like boe epics, pets or mounts (or so I'm led to believe) but I wouldn't be opposed to throwing a little more flavor at the gathering aspect at some point.

As for the OPs question on what could be done to make it even more interesting:
Maybe something like mini-instances; a very small instance with a mob inside that will drop the artifact piece, it doesn't need to be big though it would need to be aesthetically inline with what ever races artifacts you are digging up. This feature would need a low percent chance of occurring maybe .5 to 1% in a dig site. So in other words you have a small chance to locate an entrance to some small area that has racial aesthetics of the area you are at, kill a little mob inside get artifact.

[Deleted]

Archeology doesn't seem as bad as fishing in terms of leveling. Both being secondary professions as mentioned I think I still hate the mind-numbing hours looking at the fishing bobber a lot more than running around the world and actually doing something.
Anyone in with me on this?
I really think archeology is going to be a nice thing to do - and yes, I am totally diggin' it already

back to OP: I would love to see some skeletons popping up sometimes when you take an artifact fragment. Indiana Jones style :P

[Kauppaneuvos]

back to OP: I would love to see some skeletons popping up sometimes when you take an artifact fragment. Indiana Jones style :P

I would just vanish/shadowmeld/invis and hope that mobs would aggro some nearby lowbie.

[underdogba]

Archaeology just seems to be a clunky attempt to appeal to people who like those completely OCD-inspired small Facebook app games, like Treasure Mania and Mafia Wars, the only major difference being that it's not microtransaction-based (for now!). It's just really an extension of the vanity pet/mount phenomenon, which was marginal in Vanilla WoW, but has exploded over the course of BC and WotLK.

It's basically just a small casual game within a game.

[Deleted]

I really think archeology is going to be a nice thing to do - and yes,
Inforks glasses
I am totally diggin' it already
YEEEEEAAHH!!

Fixed,

And i c wut u did thar

[methen]

no other profession gives rewards that are even near those from archaeology.
and those rewards are all free, you don't have to do anything except dig.
okay, its awfull repetitive and maybe boring to get to max skill, but so what.

[Herecius]

To be perfectly honest, I am perfectly happy with how it is in beta. I actually find it very exciting, because it's going to be a discovery-based profession. You can't just go out and decide 'ok, I'm going to go to this location and do nothing but search for this artifact and farm the hell out of it.' Instead, you flit between digsites, travel ALL OVER THE WORLD (an extremely awesome feature of it, getting to explore is great) and make discoveries on all sorts of interesting vanity items and more, and everything gets detailed lore and cool flavor tooltips. I think it's a wonderful addition and hope Blizzard adds hundreds upon hundreds of items to it that exist for no reason beyond having neato flavor text and possibly a cool icon or temporary visual effect.

[thunderdragon]

i am 142 on beta ill agree it is slow but since you get 5 points per artifact you solve its not that bad

[Deleted]

To be perfectly honest, I am perfectly happy with how it is in beta. I actually find it very exciting, because it's going to be a discovery-based profession. You can't just go out and decide 'ok, I'm going to go to this location and do nothing but search for this artifact and farm the hell out of it.' Instead, you flit between digsites, travel ALL OVER THE WORLD (an extremely awesome feature of it, getting to explore is great) and make discoveries on all sorts of interesting vanity items and more, and everything gets detailed lore and cool flavor tooltips. I think it's a wonderful addition and hope Blizzard adds hundreds upon hundreds of items to it that exist for no reason beyond having neato flavor text and possibly a cool icon or temporary visual effect.

My thoughts exactly, I have not tried it as I do not have Beta. But this is one of the aspects of the game I am really looking forward to. I am a casual player that loves to grind random achievements and professions.

A new time consuming, travel heavy, lore heavy profession sounds just perfect to me.

[Deleted]

Boring?
Was Indiana Jones boring?

[Moralio]

I'd add one more idea to OP suggestions:

- add chance to find treasure on first dig, it can be low but a bit of rng wont hurt and you will actually have a chance of finding stuff instantly.

[Leftineus]

I'm afraid I just don't get the disappointment. Let me compare secondary professions for you:

Fishing: You stand in one spot and repeatedly watch and listen for a bobber to splash.
Highlights: Once a week tournaments that once done, really pose no benefit. Special pets, and
a mount added after BC.
Group Benefits: Food buffs if paired with cooking

First Aid: You stand in one spot and rub your hands together making bandages.
Highlights: None
Group Benefits: Theoretical, I can't even remember the last time I saw someone use a bandage.

Cooking: You stand in one spot and listen to crackling noises
Highlights: Chef hat, baby spice. Fun flavor items only recently added. Minimal real use
Group Benefits: Food buffs when paired with fishing.

Archaeology: You actively have to search out your artifact. Artifact is yours, nodes can not
be ninja'd. Items are full of flavor text and lore. Requires travel around all zones/expansions.
Highlights: Mounts, Pets, Epic BoA items, fun flavor items.
Group Benefits: Planned but TBD

Explain how it fails again when compared properly with what it is... a secondary profession.
Maybe its "grindy", but I myself like "grindy".

[asirum]

It's takes some time before you got successful dig. And then you have only +1 archeaology skillpoint.

You only get 1+ skill up to about when you have 100 skillpoints. After that you have to complete an item to get skillpoints (Can't remember how many points you got, but it was between 3 and 5), so yeah, Archeology will take some time to lvl.

[Z3ROR]

I've got another idea for Archeaology:

- Add a mappieces or mapnotes as artifact. First you have to find all the pieces together before you can use it. If you got it complete a new search begins. Follow the mysterious notes and markings on the map to find a higher valued or rare artifact.