How to: Archaeology

[dakoeda]

Introduction:
Archaeology is the 4th secondary profession in WoW, and is by far the most time consuming yet. In this guide, I will try and share my tips and tricks on how to getting started, and how to level up efficiently.

Let's get started!

For Horde: The Archaelogy trainer, Belloc Brightblade is located in Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar (The place where the bank used to be pre-shattering)



For Alliance: The infamous Harrison Jones, is the Archaeology trainer. He is located in the Royal Library in Stormwind Keep.



Leveling up:
Now that we have the profession, we need to level it up. On your map, you will see markings which indicates where the nodes are, you will need to use your Survey ability within these areas to find fragments.



The digsites will grant you levels until you reach level 100, so it is strongly advisable to save your fragments before you hit skill 100. After you hit skill level 100, you need to solve the researches to gain any levels.

Survey
After you have used the survey ability, a survey tool (or tripod) spawns, indicating a few things:



The light atop indicates the distance to the fragment, and the direction is showed where the tool is pointing.

To effective survey a digsite, I have a little tip I would like to share. It might seem obvious to some people, but it actually took some time for me to get it right. When you have the fragment narrowed down to yellow or green distance:



Instead of inching your way forward, tiny step by step. Make a sharp turn, and go to either side of this line and do another survey:



Where the two lines cross each other, is where our fragment is. This technique can save you many unnecessary surveys, if you (like I did to begin with) inch your way forward.

Traveling
The most time consuming part about Archaeology is the time you spend going from digsite to digsite. Here are the methods I use to make the traveling less painful.

Horde

For Horde, I recommend staying in Kalimdor for the most efficient leveling. (Unless if you are looking for specific fragments)
I have split up Kalimdor into two; north and south.



Have your hearthstone set to Ogrimmar, when you have digsites in the north of Kalimdor, simply hearthstone and grab them. If you get digsites in the southern part of Kalimdor, use the portal in Orgrimmar to Uldum and work your way up. Another thing you can do if you have the Ring of Kirin Tor, teleport yourself to Dalaran and grab the portal to caverns of time from there. Taking portals, using your hearthstone as frequently as possible, is pretty much needed if you want to be time efficient.

Alliance

For Alliance, I recommend staying in Eastern Kingdoms (unless you are looking for specific fragments)

Just like Kalimdor, I have spilt Eastern Kingdoms into two parts; a north and a south:



Set your hearthstone at Ironforge. When you get nodes in the north part, simply hearthstone to Ironforge and grab them. When you get digsites in the southern parts, grab the portal in a major city to Blasted lands (the dark portal) and fly from there.

This is all the information you need to getting started with Archaeology, happy hunting!


Rewards, more information etc.

Information about the rewards from Archaeology, videos and much much more can be found here:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...logy-Cataclysm


Summary

1. Be efficient when surveying and traveling around, it can save you a lot of time
2. Archaeology is designed to kill down time, use it while waiting for a BG or maybe a raid
3. If you enjoy lore, this is definitely something for you
4. Archaeology involves a lot of RNG