Diggin’ the digging?

Are you planning to become an Archaeologist in Cataclysm? Apparently it’s not a “must-have” profession for min-maxers, but rather a little “something to do if you enjoy it”. Will you spend time on it anyway?

Not a Loremaster
I think I might, even if I at a first glance assumed that Archaeology wasn’t meant for me.

After all, the entire purpose of this profession is to dig up the past in order to enjoy pieces of lore and history, getting to know the story better. And that’s something I’ve never ever managed to become enthusiastic about before.

My lack of achievements in this area speaks loud and clear. While I’m a dedicated reader in real life, I haven’t read a single book of the ones that are on the list for “Well read”.

I’m not a Loremaster and I’ll never become one. Not just in the achievement sense - I’m thousands of quests away from title and I just can’t be bothered to care about completing all those versions of kill-ten-rats. But also in the sense that I find it hard to become engaged into the lore. God knows I’ve tried, even reading some really crappy WoW novels. But it just didn’t stuck with me. I suppose that I’m a bit like Ixobelle in this manner, that WoW is more like crack than like a book to me.

But after reading Ghostcrawler’s recently published beginner's guide of this profession, I must admit that I feel a little bit attracted to it.

A reason to explore
One reason to like archaeology is that it provides us with an incentive to get out from the city hubs and instance portals, to see the world and smell the flowers. The fact that there isn’t any competition for the spawned artefacts appeared a little strange when I first heard of it. If there isn’t any risk involved at all, won’t it become a tad boring? But thinking closer about it I imagine that it actually can feel like a blessing if you’re in a mood when all you want to is to relax.. A little bit like when you’re taking your fishing rod and heading for some distant water in Grizzly hills, just listening to the music and small talking with the bears. Sometimes you don’t want to push things, but rather slack a little bit and yet feel that you “do” something. And that’s what I think archaeology is for.

I’m not in the Beta myself, so my views on this are of course pure speculation and built on second-hand testimonies. From what I’ve seen, those who have tried it have mixed opinions about it – as always.

Player views
Here are two examples of player views in the forums. First from Branwynn, who is disappointed and doesn’t like it at all:

“3 items then the dig site despawns is just so annoying that I can't express howannoying it is. It seems like you spend a few minutes in one place, then it's off on a flight path to another place on the map where you spend less time doing the "fun" minigame than you took getting there.

It feels like annoying cross between Fishing and Mining. At least with fishing I can do it anywhere there is water (assuming I am skilled enough), with Archeology I get to wander around a site for a few moments then I have to fly far away.

So, It doesn't fill time while I am waiting for people (fishing) because I can't stay in one spot and do it. Also, I can't do it while questing as the dig sites are only in a few spots and unlikely to be in a spot where I am questing.

I really wish it was more like mining or the other gathering professions where there are items scattered around the map and I can use tracking to find the spawn. Then at least I can do it while questing and not have to do special archaeology grind runs.”

And now the point of view from Synandria, who enjoyed it so much that he or she couldn’t stop digging:

“Is it at all sad that I found Archaeology so interesting that I actually did not want to raid today on live?

I really enjoy this. I really do. I don't even care that everything I've made up to this point has been gray, something about it is just really interesting. I'm working on a Fossilized Hatchling and I'm stupidly excited for it.

It's a secondary profession, but it isn't like cooking or fishing or first aid - no, archaeology is actually fun and a great way to waste time, in my opinion.

[…] It's so simple, and so far has not rewarded me with anything of any value whatsoever, and yet, here I am at 3:30 in the morning, digging in Un'goro Crater so I can put together a vanity pet. I don't know why I find this as entertaining as I do. I just know that I really like it.

I am totally okay with criss-crossing the world and back digging up these artifacts since, hey, flying around, checking out the new world is a lot more productive than sitting in Org. I like that they're not spawned like mining or herbalism nodes, so nobody else can 'steal' your artifacts. I enjoy not having to compete with other people in the same area.. that was always one of the most frustrating parts of mining.

People who don't enjoy exploring probably won't enjoy this profession, but as it's a secondary profession that doesn't really offer any gamebreaking rewards, nobody's forcing them to do it. People who don't mind it, and people who are interested in lore and such, might enjoy it. I know I do. “

Items with a story
Well, optimist as I am (most of the time), I choose to go with the enthusiast. I’m definitely going to take up this profession and try it out for myself. The loot table presented at MMO champion with a few examples of what kind of treasures we can expect, made me drool a little bit. Even if I have trouble to care about the WoW lore as wholeness, I’ve always been suck a sucker for items that come with a story.

Just look at that mummified monkey paw, reminding me of some of the horror short stories I used to read, such as The Flayed Hand by Guy de Maupassant. It’s awesome!
Working on long-term projects to get this kind of items will definitely add a little bit of flavour to the game, and might even have a positive effect on my overall interest for the storyline, who knows?

They certainly seem to have great plans for this profession, designing it to be “easily expandable with much more content in the future patches. This sounds promising. Already as it is, archaeology appears to be way more complex and interesting than the other gathering professions. And it will only get better.

So my answer for now is: Yes! I think I’m going to dig the digging.

And now all that remains is to end this post with a traditional Friday night toast.

Cheers all! May you have a great weekend, either you spend it inside or outside Azeroth!