Apparently I am not an early adopter. Got a pack of my folks to 85, various pvp gear and stuff, and was sitting around with my dwarf shaman waiting for Tol Barad to start and decided, Hey, maybe I should try archaeology as a way to throw away some time!

Anyway, most comments about this "hobby/profession/grind" have disappeared off the boards. My girlfriend's advice to "Get to 100 by digging" no longer works, since you can only get to 50. And other advice to "Save all your X items until level XXX" seems contrary, since you can only save a certain number of each fragment before it says, "ou cannot carry any more of those."

So, the question is, at what point can one expect to see anything of utility out of the profession? To this point it seems to me to produce nothing useful while leveling, other than items that sell for piddly amounts of gold.

I am reminded of the "Collect the cannon balls" quest daily in Tol Barad Penninsula. Because I am amazed at how often I find myself and others staring at a spot waiting for pixels to spawn.

 

-----signature-----

Never, it's a garbage profession.

 

-----signature-----

depends on what you mean by "utility". it was fairly early on that myself and most people i knew to get the raptor fossil mount and one of the pets.

if you're talking utility as in the epic items you need to max out the profession to get those as far as i know before you can start to get them.

 

-----signature-----

I don't think the profession needs to be maxed, but pretty close like 500 or 515+. The main thing is just cool vanity items if you are into that sort of thing. Or the translation seems to be more things for us to grind out if you care about achievements. When you first hit 85 the boa epics were pretty nice (I never personally had any) but for they still can be useful if you level alts and can make use of them.

 

-----signature-----

Ah yes, I had forgotten about the BoA epics. Do they work like heirlooms in that they scale to levels of different characters on an account, or are they a fix level 85 sort of thing?

 

-----signature-----

They are a fixed level as far as I know.

 

-----signature-----

I tried archeology. Honestly, you have to invest so much time just gaining skill points that you level beyond the zones long, long before your skill is high enough to find fun toys or awesome purples. Blizzard intended it to be something players pursue "in their down time".

I suggest that if you're that bored, bored to the point of resorting to leveling archeology in WoW, turn off the game and go jogging or something instead. Or read a book. Or get straight buddah'd and wander around the mall. Anything that is actually stimulating on some level.

 

-----signature-----

They do not scale, some will say requires level 51, others requires level 85, just depends on which one you get.

 

-----signature-----

You’ll have to be your own judge of when things become worthwhile but here’s something for your consideration. The top reasons for doing Archeology are as follows:


10) Achievements - Another way to increase your nerd rating.


9) Excuse to go to Outland - Seriously, everyone needs one.


8) PvP opportunities - You might gain as much pleasure from harassing that lvl 51 horde who just wants to dig as you will digging things up.


7) Items to AH - AH the fragments, good gold. Take advantage of the other Archy nuts who don’t have the time or who are lazy.


6) Items for dungeon buffs - Several of the Cata dungeons have Arch turn ins; turn in a fragment, get a buff and quest credit!


5) Pet - It’s a fossil, you don’t have to scoop the yard when you let it outside.


4) Junk to vendor gold -Dude, my fossilized feather crown sold for 300g, No lie.


3) BoA Epics of specific levels - Not much chance of discovering any until post 450


2) Mounts - Uh dude…BUG mount ftw?! Duh.


1) Because you’re a dwarf and digging in the dirt is what dwarves do.

 

-----signature-----

Haven't done arch, won't do it. The items you can get will be good only until the next tier of loot comes out, then you'll want that quarter year of your life back.

 

-----signature-----