Filed under: Archaeology

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.

The newest beta build just went live and included some amazing new archaeology information. Loads of new items are available for your perusal over at MMO-Champion's excellent database of archaeology items. Some of the more interesting items, which hint at the rewards available through the archaeology profession, include the cosmetic pet Mummified Monkey Paw and wearable Queen Azshara's Dressing Gown. But most interesting of all, to me, is the Scepter of Az'Aqir.

Why does the Scepter of Az'Aqir give me good feelings? First, it is an archaelogy mount reward that is not the skeletal raptors that we have already seen. I am glad that there isn't just one mount reward for the profession. Secondly, the mount's icon is that of the Ahn'Qiraj-bound rideable Qiraji Battle Tanks and the ultra-rare Black Qiraji Battle Tank. Could this be the return of some of the most awesome mounts in the game, allowing players to have another shot at using these mounts outside the gates of Ahn'Qiraj? Only time will tell!

It's not on the beta servers yet -- which means the facts are still sketchy -- but there's information from a new beta (build 12857) up on MMO-Champion that includes a number of new items for archaeology and inscription. Archaeology item descriptions offer intriguing hints of things that may be, without any solid details on the items. Some examples:

• Bone Gaming Dice Dwarves love gold and dwarves love drinking, so gaming seemed like a natural fit for both. These dice appear to have been carved from sheep bones. What might be dried blood is still visible on the 5 pip.
• Cloak Clasp with Antlers This clasp is fashioned of lacquered wood carved to resemble stag antlers. On the reverse is engraved the name "Pyramond" in Darnassian.
• Fossilized Hatchling When you finished assembling this tiny skeleton through some eldritch magic, the little critter sprang back to life. He's a pretty good pet. Since he's a skeleton he doesn't eat much.
• Wooden Whistle A small whistle carved from oak. It might have been used to summon a pet or mount or possibly used as a child's toy. It appears to have been chewed on by an animal or young dwarf.

While there are just as many nondescript inscription items listed, some have more detail:

• Cataclysm Reclamation: Blacksmithing Allows you to rewrite blacksmithing plans from once-lost recipe fragments.
• Cataclysm Reclamation: Enchanting Allows you to rewrite blacksmithing plans from once-lost recipe fragments.
• Cataclysm Reclamation: Jewelcrafting Allows you to rewrite jewelcrafting plans from once-lost recipe fragments.
• Cataclysm Reclamation: Leatherworking Allows you to rewrite leatherworking plans from once-lost recipe fragments.
• Cataclysm Reclamation: Tailoring Allows you to rewrite tailoring plans from once-lost recipe fragments.
• Felfire Inscription Permanently adds 130 Intellect and 25 haste rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound.
• Inscription of the Earth Prince Permanently adds 195 Stamina and 25 dodge rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound.
• Lionsmane Inscription Permanently adds 130 Strength and 25 critical strike rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound.
• Swiftsteel Inscription Permanently adds 130 Agility and 25 mastery rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound.

Check out the full list of updated profession items at MMO-Champion.

• I Had It in My Hand, which grants the player the illustrious title of Assistant Professor, is rewarded for finding a rare artifact.
• Seven Scepters is granted for recovering, well, seven scepters. As you can see above, two are named, the rest are not -- so your guess is as good as mine.
• The Lost Thanes is one you earn by discovering the names of the Five Lost Dwarven Thanes, apparently by discovering items they once possessed.

There are most likely more achievements coming for the profession, which is as yet not fully implemented on the beta servers (there are trainers available, but they don't actually train you yet) including, I can only hope, This Belongs in a Museum. Perhaps if I write on my eyelids.

In case you didn't hear, there was a rather large press event over the weekend. All at once, a seeming floodgate of information spewed forth with Cataclysm goodness onto our waiting ears. Of particularly exciting note for us, the hammer-and-apron crafting crowd, we finally got some hints about what we're going to see -- and, painfully, some definites about what we're not going to see.

First, Path of the Titans is out. And while that does mean that Blizzard is going to focus on making other content as high quality as possible, that means that Archaeology is being ditched as a true profession. It will be focused on providing lore benefit instead, which I'll acknowledge is a pretty cool idea. I was hoping to have a Bones-like character ready to to engage in forensic archaeology and absolutely make a killing on the auction house with my squinty goods.

For a while I wasn't sure if I'd continue playing World of Warcraft into the next expansion. I was by no means planning on giving up my gaming habit, but I really felt like I was ready for something new: either another MMO or one of the latest generation consoles. Many pros and cons were weighed, and I have decided to stick with WoW for at least one more expansion. It was a difficult decision for me but in the end it was the rocks that won me over.

Yes, the rocks.

Our good friend Ghostcrawler (I can say that now, because we all got to meet him at BlizzCon the other week) has done his best to explain the new Path of the Titans feature coming in the Cataclysm expansion over in this forum thread. We had this same question come up on last week's podcast as well, and we said pretty much the same thing GC does: Path of the Titans is a brand new way for max-level characters to keep improving themselves. Of course, the feature is still being developed, but the goal is a "gated, not grindy" way (as in, you'll earn rewards by doing things, not by doing them over and over again) to experience character progression outside of just reputation grinding, PvP, or raiding.

He clarifies the idea more later in the thread as well. The different paths of the Titans are meant to be class-independent, but GC says that they do want players to debate which path is best for which class, even if they do end up with a "best" solution in the end. Archaeology is meant to be a part of it, so GC agrees that it could be more of a mandatory secondary profession than Cooking or Fishing has been in the past, but they're aware of that danger. And just because the paths may be tied to dailies or instances doesn't mean they'll work the same: the time in which you can progress might be longer than the daily quest limit or shorter than the weekly raid limit. The idea, as above, is to give players who don't necessarily raid or PvP something else to do with character progression at endgame.

Should be interesting to see what they come up with. Personally, this sounds a little bit to me like D&D's prestige classes -- not nearly as powerful or varied, but a way of separating your character out from the rest of those that chose the same class you did. That's just me being hopeful, though -- Blizzard seems to have a lot of development before we see this as a finished product.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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Welcome to the latest edition of Arcane Brilliance, the weekly Mage column and internet meeting place for IHATEWARLOCKS. If you can't remember what that acronym stands for, you can check last week's column, about two paragraphs from the end. If you can't be bothered, it doesn't matter. The name says it all, really.

When I was growing up, way back at the dawn of time, in the late eighties, I didn't have access to a lot of games. It wasn't like it is now, where I have an unplayed backlog of quality electronic entertainment so deep my house reeks of shrinkwrap and unfulfilled potential. No, back then, I remember saving my pennies for an entire summer with an eye on getting a new game, then going to the game store and having a choice between Lufia and 7th Saga. I chose 7th Saga (mostly because you could be a robot in that one), and even though time hasn't been particularly kind to that game, it still holds a special place in my heart. You know why? Because I played it. I played the crap out of it, and when I finished it, I started over and played it again. And the next time I saved up enough money for another game, or tricked a relative into buying one for me, I snagged Lufia, and repeated the process.

With the really great games--the Chrono Triggers, the Secrets of Mana, the Shining Forces--I played them so many times I came to the point where my fondest wish was that I could discover a way to excise them from my brain...to selectively forget I'd ever played them so I could plug them back in and experience their unique joys afresh. Yes, back in the late eighties and early nineties, we were pretty starved for games. But the ones we had, we loved.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing really, just thought I'd share. Ok fine. Read on, I promise I'll find a flimsy way to tie it in to the actual subject of this week's column.

A week has passed since BlizzCon 2009 and we're still digging up more news, getting clarification from the blues, and analyzing all of the panels. Last week, Insider Trader discussed some of the major professions-related features coming up in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the next expansion pack.

Pass through the break to learn all about:

• Profession racial abilities and how they will be changing.
• The new direction for Alchemy.
• A totally revamped Fishing system!
• Archaeology details and speculation about the leveling process.
• The evolution of Inscription.
  

Then, continue on to part three of this discussion to learn more about:

• Reforging and (not) repairing our own gear.
• Woodworking.
• Profession specializations and the new direction for differentiation.

Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

Over the course of several BlizzCon panels, we've been treated to a preview of how professions will be changing in Cataclysm, the next expansion pack.

Pass through the break to learn all about:

• The new title and level cap.
• Revamped skill gains.
• Archaeology, the new profession!
• Reforging, a new dimension to crafting professions.
• Hints about the future of Engineering, Fishing, and Gathering.
• Information about things we wanted to see, but won't.

The second and final class, item, and profession panel has concluded. Disappointingly, the presentation part of the panel was mainly a re-run of yesterday's, but the Q&A, of course, was all-new. There were even a few new tidbits in the presentation. Here are some parts of the presentation that are not repeats from yesterday:

• They didn't give any new classes to Draenei because there are too many of the space goats already.
• There's a chance that Hunter Aspects will go away entirely.
• New tidbit on Archaeology: putting pieces of artifacts together sends you to "face some sort of challenge" out in the world.
• They like the way fishing works in Animal Crossing, and might look to that for inspiration on how to rework the process.

And here are the good parts from the Q&A:

For my money, one of the most interesting Cataclysm features they've alluded to is Path of the Titans, another character advancement system at max level. Before the Systems panel today, we didn't have a lot of solid information on it. There are still questions to be answered, but here's how it appears to work so far:

• At maximum level, you choose to align yourself with a given Titan cult - i.e., you choose a specific path.
• The paths are not class- or role-specific. Players will have to figure out for themselves what path they want to take.
• Turning in artifacts found with Archeology (the new secondary profession) will cause you to progress along your chosen path.
• The main rewards are Ancient Glyphs (not part of the Inscription profession). At each rank in your Path you have two to three choices of Glyphs.
• Some examples of Ancient Glyphs are:
  • Bleed reduction
  • Bandage improvement
  • Increased damage following a crit
• More Glyphs will probably come after launch.
• Everyone is going to eventually be able to get all the glyphs for their path, and it will not be grindy (i.e. not like Sons of Hodir).

I'm looking forward to learning more about this as Cataclysm comes towards beta and release. I'm especially excited that they're focusing on making it not feel grindy, because that's a definite risk for a system like this.

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BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com's Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!

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The upcoming expansion, Cataclysm, will be incorporating greater levels of character customization than ever before. From guild talent trees, a different talent tree system, new races and race/class combinations, to a new profession that will be all about customization. Enter the Path of the Titans, and the new secondary profession, Archaeology.

Pass through the break for all the details, but be warned, spoilers lay ahead!