Filed under: Archaeology

When I hit the new skill cap in archaeology on beta and achieved Zen Master, someone in my beta guild remarked that 600 skill points in archaeology sounded painful. But it's not -- it's actually better! Archaeology got some buffs in Mists of Pandaria.

There are only two new races to worry about, the pandaren and the mogu, and you get nothing but these two on the continent of Pandaria. As usual, players get four random digsites across the entire continent, though it's currently bugging out to three or even two sites only. But Pandaria is so huge, you say. We're restricted to no flying until 90. How can it not be painful?

Players with the archaeology profession will get to experience some joy come Mists of Pandaria, according to a new post at MMO-Champion. All of the datamined items are directly related to Pandaria itself and allow us to start piecing together the history of the continent. Pandaria currently is such a new land to all of us that Matt Rossi and Anne Stickney have managed to condense all of the lore we currently know about it into a single post, which is truly an epic feat. The new items introduced through archaeology will help us paint more of a picture of what Pandaria's history was and who the major players were.

Items such as the Manacles of Rebellion, Cracked Mogu Runestone, and Petrified Bone Whip are relics of the depraved Mogu Empire, focusing on their love of torture and slavery. The Spear of Xuen and the Standard of Nuzao show us that the pandaren aren't the naive, comic race that some people are assuming; they've fought in and won their own wars. And in classic pandaren fashion, the Empty Keg of Bewmaster Xin Wo Yin and the Twin Steins of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo highlight the race's love of beer.

As it's still beta; things are still subject to change. For one, I'm hoping Blizzard adds in more pandaren lore items. Beyond that, I'd like to see some new on-use vanity items like the Last Relic of Argus, as these datamined items all lack any on-use effects. Finally, I think Blizzard may want to revisit the rarity of some items; the Edicts of the Thunder King make very little sense as a common item when you realize they're essentially the same as finding the stone that holds Hammurabi's Code or the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we are really, really pissed off that we can't get the Crawling Claw.

There are two kinds of people in WoW: people who hate archaeology, and people who really hate archaeology. While it seemed like it was one of the more promising additions to Cataclysm, archaeology just hasn't worked out as well as everyone had hoped. Even the most dedicated lore nerds are guaranteed to wilt in the face of the game's most relentless RNG.

Whatever, right? Some experiments work, some don't, and it's ultimately more important that Blizzard's willing to take these risks in the first place. But ever since Mists of Pandaria was announced, I've been worrying more about archaeology's future. As Ghostcrawler once observed, archaeology was designed to be easy to add to, and it's reasonable to expect new races and new items to appear in the future. However, unless something fundamental about its design changes between now and Mists, it's the only profession guaranteed to become an absolute hell as it expands.

Why? Because archaeology suffers from two problems: It's too random, and it's not random enough.

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

Right now, I'm taking a break from archaeology. I spent the days between the U.S. holidays of Memorial Day and Labor Day digging from two to six hours, flying up and down Kalimdor, in an attempt to get the Vial of the Sands. I felt someone within my guild should have it. While I had other guild members doing archaeology, they weren't dedicated -- no, the proper term is "crazy" -- enough to spend hours doing this. By the end of August, I didn't care about the items that got me 100 or 200 gold when vendored (Cat Statue with Emerald Eyes and Silver Scroll Case). I just wanted the recipe. Finally, after my fifth canopic jar, there it was. I had all the mats ready, and the day I got it, I could become a dragon.

I almost never use the mount. If someone wants a ride, I transform and we go once or twice around town. But as my permanent ride? No. It's too big and awkward for my tastes.

The last build rolled out on the patch 4.1 PTR introduced some cool new items, but Blizzard wasn't done there. The build rolled out today included even more! These items include:

• Pterrordax Hatchling
• Voodoo Figurine
• Extinct Turtle Shell

Technically, the turtle shell was in the last build, but we misinterpreted the item when we saw it on Wowhead. Our initial guess was that it would be a drop in Firelands due to a display bug giving it the heroic label, and we assumed its itemization was unfinished. However, we eventually came to the conclusion that it's extremely likely that the shield is actually an archaeology award -- it's bind on account. It will lose its current heroic label between now and when the patch launches.

These items are continuing Blizzard's effort to populate neglected research types. Trolls needed a little more love beyond the endless journey to find Zin'rokh, and fossils needed even more love. An epic shield, another pet, and the other additions from previous builds will go a long way toward making fossil dig sites less ... painful.

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WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.

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Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's edition of The Queue discusses the nature of the death knight, the recent lack of creepy whispers, the nature of the vrykul, and ... something special. Enjoy!

Oscar asked:

Is it me or does it feel as if the whole "caster" part of DKs was just wholly abandoned and just being confined to Death Coil and a few other abilities?

Several players and Community Manager Lylirra shared some discussion today on the official World of Warcraft forums about the cooldowns of novelty items crafted through the archaeology profession.

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.

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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?

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Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week, tol'vir rares never drop for Mathew, even though Mathew is a good boy who doesn't kill level 23 worgen while doing archaeology. Okay, I lied.

Now that archaeology has been buffed to a certain degree with new tol'vir digsites and a lower cooldown on Survey, it's time to get a little addon-serious about the secondary profession. A few weeks back, I talked about one archaeology addon that took some of the interface away for me, because it was a three-click pain in the butt to get to the artifact counter. Now, with the recent changes, that isn't the case. In that time, however, loads of new tools have come to the forefront of the archaeology community. Read on for archaeology made easy.

After the hoopla that went on over a 1,000g sell price on the Word of Empress Zoe, Blizzard has changed the sell values on all of the common archaeology artifacts again on the PTR. Word of Empress Zoe's sell price to vendors has gone down significantly, but to compensate, many other commons have had their prices increased to even out the spread of money-makers in the profession. Thanks to Wowhead for the comprehensive list. You can check out the full table of common sell prices after the jump.

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we start digging.

You guys remember the Dalaran fountain, right? I loved that thing. It was a wonderful, idiosyncratic little peek into the thoughts of an array of Azeroth's lore figures, both the important and the obscure. It added a number of little touches to the game's story that we never would have seen otherwise, and Blizzard even gave you an achievement for getting all the coins. I thought that whatever mad genius came up with the Dalaran fountain should have been chained to a desk at Blizzard and left there until he came up with more ideas like it.

Well, they can finally let that guy off the lead. Archaeology is kind of like the Dalaran fountain, except instead of being crammed into a tiny corner of Dalaran, it's everywhere in the world, and instead of concerning 53 people who made wishes, it affords you a peek into seven civilizations and the world's fossil record.

Pretty sweet, eh? Well, you're going to have to work for it. If you're completely new to archaeology, I've included a short set of instructions here, but otherwise, we're going to head straight for the civilizations and achievements related to WoW's newest profession.

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house, and Insider Trader, which is all about professions. For Gold Capped's inside line on making money in game, check in here every Thursday, and email Basil with your comments, questions or hate mail! This week's gold-blogosphere post is Warcraft Econ's Pyrite prospecting results.

Normally, when Blizzard makes a change to the economy, it's not enough news to justify its own blue post. When I sat down and tried to decide what to write about this week, I realized that the most important information I could get out to you guys is news of all the economic tweaks that have come down the pipeline that are shaping these first few weeks of Cataclysm.

First up: Pyrite Ore is now prospectable at 500 skill, down from 525. This is a very expensive mineral on most realms, so it hasn't been prospected as much as, say, Elementium Ore. That said, based on the limited number of prospects we've seen numbers for, it looks like it may be dropping as many green-quality gems as Obsidium Ore, as many rare gems as Elementium Ore, and an additional one to three Volatile Earths. My napkin math indicated that if the additional expense for five pyrite is more than two earths, it may not be worth prospecting.

Archaeologists have the ability to give a group-wide dungeon buff to all their party members upon entering Cataclysm's 5-man dungeons. Each buff is gained through a repeatable quest during which the appropriately leveled archaeologist turns in a specific keystone to activate the zone-wide buffs. The specific turn-in locations are near the beginning of each dungeon. Here are a list of the buffs available:

• Blackrock Caverns Dark Iron Contingency Plan: Reduces elemental damage done to you by 5 percent; requires a Dwarf Rune Stone.
• Throne of the Tides Waters of Elune: 10 percent bonus damage against Naga; requires a Highborne Scroll.
• Stonecore Might of the Earthen: Reduces physical damage taken by 5 percent; requires Dwarf Rune Stone.
• Grim Batol Vengeance of the Wildhammer: 5 percent damage increase; requires Dwarf Rune Stone.
• Vortex Pinnacle Whispers of the Djinn: Heals your wounds and replenishes mana slowly; requires Tol'vir Hieroglyphic.
• Lost City of the Tol'vir Tol'vir Secrets: 10 percent bonus damage against the Neferset; requires Tol'vir Hieroglypic.
• Halls of Origination Map of the Architects: Increases movement speed; requires Tol'vir Hieroglyphic.

Thanks, Uriah!

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Hello, class, and welcome to Archaeology 101. Today, we'll show you how to get started in this profession, as well as where to go, what to do and how to do it. I know I'm not as dreamy as Indiana Jones, so I won't be expecting apples on my desk or eyelid tattoos. But I'll also not be interrupting class to run after Nazis, so I've got that going for me ... which is nice. I will be taking questions and comments from the chat room, however, which is after the break.

Update: The stream is now over. You can watch the video replay by clicking the image above.

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

What does one do after hitting level 85? Spend three straight days digging up rocks, of course. Zin'rokh, you will be mine. Even if your model is upside down now.

MoarHeroisms asked:

What's a good time to use the green archaeology fragments to solve artifacts? Is it a good idea to use a handful at once?

You can get your Flight Master's License in Outland or Northrend, but the much better options are Stormwind for the Alliance and Orgrimmar for the Horde. Horde players want to talk to Maztha and Alliance players want to talk to Bralla Cloudwing. Wowhead has excellent maps for finding both of them.