No plans for Archeology????

[Rucati]

I mean none of the secondary professions are particularly interesting or engaging. If anything Archeology is probably the most interesting with the most unique rewards and still nobody does it. Revamping them is probably more effort than it's worth though, as nobody will do them regardless lol.

[Hastis]

Cmon dude. Archeology hardly offers compelling gameplay. They stopped supporting it cause most people cba with it. Resources are better used elsewhere

yeah they are used to create great story of shadowlands and other stupid things

[Khaza-R]

I think Arch needs a total gut and rework. The playstyle doesn't match with the fantasy at all and the rewards compete with other similar world activities. How I would fix it.

- Remove surveying - Its boring, tedious and probably why 99% of people don't even bother with the profession

- Make fragments obtainable from exploration - Looting treasure chests, killing rares, completing events, etc

- Shift the focus to a meta profession - Archaeology finds should augment your crafting professions and specializations to offer cosmetic recipes, toys and mounts

- Add a profession hub to major cities - Alliance already has Explorer's League in IF. Add a Reliquary hub to SM or Org. Make them function like museums and bring back the Lorewalker Cho style cutscenes that narrated lore events. This was thousand times more compelling to complete research projects and engage in the profession

[Swnem]

Just because the majority of people are uninterested in it does not mean that it is unimportant. Some people still love it. It’s such a shame because we could discover some ancient relics of Titans or Dragons and get some really epic stuff.

Well, Ion said that the gameplay is not good as well in a recent interview and they will return it when they can come up with something better. For now, the focus is in the core professions.

[Aurabolt]

The Interview notes indicate Arch will no longer be a profession in the strictest sense but unlike First Aid it will not be done away with.

[jellmoo]

I'm of two minds:

1) Nort having solid and well thought Archaeology content in this of all expansions is just ridiculous and lazy.

2) Archaeology as it exits is garbage. It needs a complete overhaul, being rethought from the ground up.

So it's dumb as shit that they didn't plan anything for it, but at the same time I'm kinda glad they didn't expand on the current implementation because it is utter trash.

[Zantera]

I'm not gonna say current Archeology with the 'mini game' is super exciting gameplay but it's one of those small features that I kinda missed in SL. Kinda bummed if it's ignored in DF as well.

[TENTACLELUVR]

So the content gets killed because it couldn't run after they just shot it in the leg. I see people saying Archeology isn't engaging enough, but it's more engaging than Mining, Herbalism, and Skinning, and those take up a profession slot. All three are unchanged since Classic. Skinning is literally just changing an item icon and name. Mining and Herbalism are reskins of each other, but the 3d model team has to make nodes unlike with Skinning. Surveying for fragments plus the rare chance to get a keystone felt more like working towards building an item than the other crafting professions. Take Engineering for example: buy a bunch of rock stones from the AH, scroll through a list, press Craft All, wait for the cast bar. No difference between crafting Rough Blasting Powder or a Wormhole Generator. None of the professions give the sense of working towards an item like Archeology does. None of the professions introduce you to the world and lore like Archeology. Abandoning story-telling elements like this that ground you to the world in a game trying to tell a story just doesn't make sense.

If you say Archeology can't be worked on because it isn't popular enough to spend resources on, why do you want Blizzard to spend resources on reworking Archeology? Adding icons and items to an existing system is a very small amount of work. Inventing an entirely new system for people who didn't like it in the first place while also risking alienating the people who liked the old version of Archeology just doesn't make sense.

[huth]

The problem is archaeology gameplay sucks and most people hate it. So they'd need to build an entirely new system for it.

Which is essentially what Blizzard said about it. They aren't working on Archaeology for now because they're focusing on the primary professions, and Archaeology would need a major rework of the basic foundation, not just the rewards.

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I'm not gonna say current Archeology with the 'mini game' is super exciting gameplay but it's one of those small features that I kinda missed in SL. Kinda bummed if it's ignored in DF as well.

I'd say the problem is that the minigame is to simplistic. Have it as a collection of various puzzle type minigames that are archaeology themed. Picross, classic puzzles, hidden picture, that kind of stuff. Rewards mostly cosmetic and lore stuff, but you can do and pause it anywhere, so it's something you can do while waiting for your raid to get their stuff together and such.

[klaps_05]

Archeology could actually be made into quite the fun free-time profession. Instead they re-invent regular professions, which are practically irrelevant. The whole idea that you will seek specific person to craft whatever doesnt work in practice. People will follow the simplest route, always. In other words - auction house.

[Zantera]

Which is essentially what Blizzard said about it. They aren't working on Archaeology for now because they're focusing on the primary professions, and Archaeology would need a major rework of the basic foundation, not just the rewards.

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I'd say the problem is that the minigame is to simplistic. Have it as a collection of various puzzle type minigames that are archaeology themed. Picross, classic puzzles, hidden picture, that kind of stuff. Rewards mostly cosmetic and lore stuff, but you can do and pause it anywhere, so it's something you can do while waiting for your raid to get their stuff together and such.

Yeah I would like this. They could come up with some compromise where you have to survey a site less times (but maybe get more fragments per turn you do it) and instead have when you make an artifact make some sort of puzzle game to it.

[Darknessvamp]

Honestly it's pretty ridiculous for them to not even look at changing up Archaeology for another 'forgotten land' expansion especially after they didn't even bother for Shadowlands (though they still kept arch junk around as certain drops). The fact they're announcing now they're not even going to bother looking at it even though they lack any concrete release date projections even just suggests poor planning all round with this expansion's development.

[huth]

Yeah I would like this. They could come up with some compromise where you have to survey a site less times (but maybe get more fragments per turn you do it) and instead have when you make an artifact make some sort of puzzle game to it.

Could also have that play into things. The better you do at survey games, the more fragments you get, and you can use fragments to buy hints or erase mistakes when fitting together artifacts.

[MrLachyG]

As an achievement farmer that has went through the hell that was MoP and am currently going through WoD, all I can say is:

Thank fuck.

Archaeology is fun until the game starts asking you to research the same find 20+ times each.

Ugh yeah this. Those MoP achievements were painful to do

[FossilFree]

If they are going to essentially prune archaeology, they need to change the dwarf racial Explorer into something actually useful. They could get "Treasure Finder: Has an increased chance to loot lockboxes" or something like that.

[Eosia]

"Currently no plans for a return of Archaeology in Dragonflight, as the devs wants to focus on more core elements of professions for the expansion, like gathering and crafting. There might be something available for Archaeology eventually, but not on expansion release."

We're literallt being led by the archeologist factions into this expansion! We're explorong lands that havent been touched by mainland Azerothians for thousands of years! Dragon and Titan ruins!

Whattttttttt the fuckkkkkk

All they can definitely say is they do not like how archaeology panned out. Otherwise they have nothing to share right now. When they do, they'll share it.

[sighy]

"Currently no plans for a return of Archaeology in Dragonflight, as the devs wants to focus on more core elements of professions for the expansion, like gathering and crafting. There might be something available for Archaeology eventually, but not on expansion release."

We're literallt being led by the archeologist factions into this expansion! We're explorong lands that havent been touched by mainland Azerothians for thousands of years! Dragon and Titan ruins!

Whattttttttt the fuckkkkkk

I believe the whole quote is that they see Archeology more as an endgame content type than a true profession, at this point. I know people that played Retri back during Cata and they still have ptsd from grinding that sword xD

[qwerty123456]

I can understand not doing it in an expansion like shadowlands or if its a chaotic world ending fast paced threat you don't have time to do archeology for but when your expansion is supposed to be a story/lore expansion and lead by archeologists its absolutely stupid to not have it in the expansion.

[ChairmanKaga]

Anyone upset or surprised it's not coming back is probably absolutely shocked that Hill Street Blues isn't getting a new season, too.

They brought Law & Order out of mothballs so who knows.

[Varteras]

Archaeology was boring from the beginning. It's been in the game since Cataclysm and has hardly changed to be any better. I would rather they take their time and make a meaningful improvement to it instead of wasting time and resources making minute changes and adding in more discoveries to a bland system just for the sake of it. Once they overhaul it they can easily do what they did when they first introduced it. Retroactively create dig sites and discoveries for the zones and continents in the game prior to Cataclysm. For now, I'd like for them to focus on getting the talent and general profession revamp done right.