Digging For Epics – Archeology the New Profession
Digging For Epics – Archeology the New Profession
We have known for quite a while that we are getting archeology as a new profession in Cataclysm, the good news is that the last Beta patch has finally brought it online. While there is no in game support for it as of yet to show you how or what you are supposed to do, there has been a fair amount of information finally released to get you started.
Digging in the Ground
After you have visited the profession trainer you will be able to use your main map (not the mini map) to find each of the digsites. You will notice that each continent has four of them at any one time; this will not change unless you happen to dig one of them out. These sites are yours and yours alone, no more worrying about someone else diving in and “Ninjaing” your site like they do with mines and herbs. I don’t about you, but I really hate ninja looters!!
The sites will be zone specific, for instance if you are only a level 30 you will find sites in the level 30 zones or those that are lower than this. You will not be able to find the digsites in any of the higher level sites until you reach the appropriate level. This means that if you are a level 80 you are going to find four sites in all four current zones and a level 82 will also have access to Uldum.
Sites are also very race specific and generally matched to the location, for example as you wander the Eastern Kingdoms you are going to find a lot of dwarf ruins. You will also find that for some races such as Dranei and Orc will only be available on certain continents; these two will only be found on Outland. Just like mines and herbs, you are going to be able to see the digsites even if you do not have a high enough skill level to use them yet. This is expected to change once the Beta has progressed and you won’t be able to see the digsites until you reach the appropriate skill level.
Fragments of Time
Each of your digsites can be searched a total of 3 times before it will despawn. Once it despawns a new site will appear on your map. You will need to use your new Survey ability to search each site which will spawn a survey tool. This tool will point in the general direction of the fragment and works a little like the old game we used play as kids, you know the one that goes “you’re getting warmer, you’re getting cooler.
When the arrow is red you are further away, it will turn yellow as you get closer and finally green when you are within 40 yards of the artifact. Once you uncover your digsite you will get fragments that are race specific. This fragment is all yours, there is no inter player competition for it or for the site where you found it. You can find the site in one of two ways, by following the arrow and digging around the area where it turns green or you can attempt to triangulate the spot by surveying from several spots before digging.
Just the Facts or in this Case the Artifacts
After you have collected a new fragment for one of the races, you will able to start a research project. You can only work on one artifact for each race at a time, once you have the appropriate number of fragments for that race, you can complete your artifact. Any leftover fragments can be saved and used for the next artifact.
You will find that the majority of the artifacts you will “discover” are common that provide you with a little bit of the lore of the game and can be sold for a profit. You can get a reasonable idea of how much you are going to make by the number of fragments it takes to complete the artifact. The bulk of the lower level artifacts in Cataclysm are relatively inexpensive, but as your archeology level progresses so will your ability to find more valuable artifacts.
Rares and Epics
Not all of the artifacts that you are going to find in Cataclysm’s new archeology digsites are common items. As your skill level increases you will start to find rare artifacts. When you complete one of these it will always reward you with either a blue or a purple item. The majority of these items are just for fun such as special toys and have no real in game value.
However, from time to time you will find armor or weapons; these are all bind to account items that can be passed to other toons on your account. These items are not heirlooms and they do not scale, still you can pass that lower level item to a toon on your account that can use it. I have not had a chance to try out this new profession, but once I have time to it sounds like it might be a lot of fun and some of the rewards sound pretty cool. I will let you know more as I get a chance to try it out and see what I can find. Happy Digging!!
The Dark Phoenix Mount has been given animations now and all I can say is that I want one so so badly! You can bet that I will be pulling my weight doing whatever is needed for this mount to be available. Check out the animations video 
Recent Comments