Considering the entire game is optional, people should stop attempting to use this as an argument. Just because a lot of people, including Blizzard, use this as a reason does not make it accurate or true. People play the game to have fun, people have different definitions of what fun is. For some raiding is fun, some enjoy PvP, some get a thrill from collecting mounts, others enjoy minipets, or getting achievement points or transmog items, etc.
Archeology is the sole source for several of these things, if you want these things then you have to deal with the poor design of archeology. Which means that the mechanics of archeology dictate how you play. The mechanics mean you do not have a choice. In the same way a boss fight mechanics force you to be mobile (i.e. not standing in the fire), archeology mechanics force a player to fly all over the world.
Why is this bad? In an interactive online game, a mechanic designed such that people are more likely to spend most of their time AFK, or doing other things, is a very bad decision.
The mob is no more difficult than the mobs you face for dailies, and provide an extra dig worth of fragments. This means that the mob actually provides something useful, unlike the hawks and vermlings that appear when farming. While I cannot say that it adds any excitement, it does actually help you slightly.And your suggestions to improve it?
Every time the mob pops up, I frown. That change alone made the farming worse. You suggest making the mobs even harder, no fuck!ng thanks.
However, I do agree that the archeology should not have more difficult mobs associated with it. Since there is no guarantee of having a sufficient ilvl to defeat hard mobs, having archeology suddenly be a source of player death is a bad idea.
You clearly do not understand the mechanics of archeology, or even the capabilities of programs.If you could toggle races off, the items which are rare, wouldn't be rare anymore, losing their worth. Bad change again.
The desire, and ability, to turn off a race is usually suggested for people with high enough skill or when you have "finished" a race.
In the scenario of turning off a race when you have completed all possible projects for that race, you have to consider that any player who has this capability has almost certainly spent a large amount of time doing archeology already, which means that rarity has already been preserved. Even then, the player still has to overcome the RNG to get the project that they have not completed for the uncompleted race, which means it still not guaranteed. For every instance of some player getting lucky and getting the rare project on the 3rd or 4th solve, there will be be another player who gets the 1 in 10 chance item on try 30 or 40. The point being that a suggesting that the items will suddenly become common is foolish.
If Blizzard had followed through with the ability to focus on a race, the fact that they have successfully put into the game any number of rare items that remain rare even when farmed means that they certainly have the capability to preserve rarity. If the overall chance of a rare is 1 in 1000 with all races available, it would not be a huge problem to tell the game to look at different tables when determining the next project depending on how many races the player has turned off. Rarity would be preserved.
I see, you are in the "I got lucky, therefore there is no problem" category. Your personal luck does not negate the complaints of the person that spent hundreds of hours doing over 1000 troll solves and still not getting the sword.PS: Zin'rokh is not worth getting any more, I got it as a dps upgrade in cata. If I leveled up arch now, I wouldn't bother with it.
People may still want Zin'rohk, or other items, for the purpose of transmog.