Blues explain nature of archaeology cooldowns
by Dawn Moore 
Mar 2nd 2011 at 6:00PM
In the thread, the original poster suggested that the cooldowns of certain novelty items were too long in comparison to others and that Blizzard should consider fixing the discrepancies. The poster used Pendant of the Scarab Storm and Bones of Transformation as an example, noting that both items have a vanity effect that lasts 20 seconds but a cooldown difference of 90 minutes.
Lylirra responded, explaining that the cooldowns, though seemingly random, were chosen with specific issues in mind. She explains that with the Pendant of the Scarab Storm specifically, developers were concerned that the item's effect might strain certain players' computers.
Archaeology Items' Cooldowns
The current cooldown was chosen deliberately, but I can see why you might think otherwise (100 minutes is kind of strange for a cooldown time).
Anyway, summoning a harem of scarabs can be pretty taxing on some systems, so there were some initial concerns about putting the pendant on a short cooldown. Based on the feedback we've received, though, we're looking into reducing it. We agree that the effect is pretty cool and would be nice to use it more frequently.
Anyway, summoning a harem of scarabs can be pretty taxing on some systems, so there were some initial concerns about putting the pendant on a short cooldown. Based on the feedback we've received, though, we're looking into reducing it. We agree that the effect is pretty cool and would be nice to use it more frequently.
Personally, a little lore logic behind the items might be nice as well. How is it that my character can summon a god every 3 minutes, but it takes 10 minutes to round up some sassy dwarven ladies?
Filed under: News items, Archaeology
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
(cutaia) Mar 2nd 2011 6:05PM
Uh, have you ever tried to round up a quartet of Dwarven ladies?
I didn't think so.
Iirdan Mar 2nd 2011 6:07PM
That's an easy one. You can summon Gods anywhere, but Dwarven ladies are typically only found in pubs and Ironforge. The difference is travel time!
Powatodapeople Mar 2nd 2011 6:10PM
what's with the 12 hour cd on the random teleporter thing? I understand it would be overpowered with a very short cooldown, but 12 hours seems a tad much. Id say halve it, I mean most players don't even spend 6 hours straight on the game anyway, so it won't really hurt that much.
Pam Mar 2nd 2011 6:17PM
Speak for yourself! I put in 6+ hrs each night, and more on weekends...
Drakkenfyre Mar 2nd 2011 6:43PM
What I don't like is the ridiculous short lengths of some effects with long cooldowns.
Orb of Deception was nerfed way back to 5 minutes. With a half-hour cooldown. What was the need in that? Was there something wrong with it having a 30 minute duration? No one would be fooled by it, and it certainly didn't stop you from being attacked by NPC's. Did it ruin immersion too much to be able to keep it up a long time? (Yes, I know that sounds bad there. No pun intended.)
Why not 10 minutes? Why 5? You have to find a rare drop in old content, equip it as a trinket, then you only get 5 minutes out of it, with a 30 minute cooldown.
It seems like some of the neatest stuff gets nailed with a short duration, and either a 30 minute, 1 hour, or 4 hour cooldown.
Putting 4 hour cooldowns on items that only last moments doesn't make sense.
Kylenne Mar 2nd 2011 6:53PM
Fun police strikes again.
Jebediah54 Mar 2nd 2011 6:13PM
As far as I know, you're not really summoning a god, just watching a recording of when the draenei first met the Naaru... it just takes 3 minutes to rewind
Grokmar Mar 2nd 2011 6:22PM
Stupid VCR...
omnibishop Mar 2nd 2011 7:58PM
In Soviet Exodar....
Marcosius Mar 3rd 2011 4:36AM
Arrival of the Naaru is the most underwhelming rare find I've seen. I HOPE they will make a proper cutscene for it one day. I mean come on, the effect is rather comical (because the smaller the character, the faster the animation goes) and the whole thing is over in like, what, 3 seconds?
Artificial Mar 2nd 2011 6:22PM
Gods require fewer polygons than well-rendered ladies. :p
Rin Mar 2nd 2011 6:25PM
I think the pinnacle of ridiculous cooldowns has to go to Darkspear/Gnomeregan Pride. I know the buff duration is pretty long at 30 minutes with most transformations usually sitting somewhere around 10 minutes long. But four hours, to me, seems like a ridiculous amount of time to wait for an item. Hell, it would make more sense even if it was just two hours.
Minstrel Mar 2nd 2011 6:28PM
Luke Skywalker or R2D2, depending on how you want to look at it) was able to summon Princess Leia on a zero second cooldown near the start of "A New Hope." Ah, the magic of VCRs.
Ice Mar 2nd 2011 6:31PM
I'm bit annoyed by the state of transform cooldowns so far.
30/10 minute cooldowns for something that lasts for couple seconds and goes away in any action you do?
...why? It seems more of "cant have too much fun now can we" rather than actually reasoning.
I mean 10 minutes for 20 seconds is quite a lot.
I just cant explain it better but it feels rather lame :/
trefpoid Mar 2nd 2011 7:27PM
I wish we could fight in naga form, it should last for 5 minutes and maybe it could have a nice dance and some emotes. It's really lame in it's current state 8(
SINisterWyvern Mar 3rd 2011 7:24AM
Has no one ever read the blue comments on player character profiles and controlling the gear styling? This is the same reason for short durations in transformations.
Jennifer Mar 2nd 2011 6:34PM
It's obvious. Sassy dwarven ladies are in much more demand than gods. The gods only glow and tinkle. The dwarven ladies do much, much more.
Ametrine Mar 2nd 2011 7:16PM
oh yeah... Giggity.
Moorit Mar 2nd 2011 6:38PM
Highborne Soul Mirror vs Mirror Image: every three minutes I can summon three (or four) powerful mages who distract my enemies and lob magic at them. Every ten minutes I can summon one powerless mage who just stands there looking at me.
I macroed them together and then say, "hey, why is one of those mages broken?"
Sedna Mar 3rd 2011 8:31AM
LOL. The answer is in the name of the artifact: "Highborne Soul Mirror". He (or she) is obviously there to check out your hair.