The next World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm brings many new features, but this new secondary profession really got me. Despite Archaeology awakes my adventure spirit, I really think Blizzard had a very good idea, introducing this profession into WOW.
MMOs always have a huge background behind, or they should. Usually, the worlds we play in through our games are full of history from a long past unveiled, of many stories lost in time… echoes from the past. Ruins, traces of unknown cultures, treasures and so on, can be found in every fantasy MMORPG so, why don’t give players the chance to have a second profession related to all those cool things? I’ve always thought that profession systems were underemployed and I love to see Blizzard bringing Archaeology into its major game.
Basically, as Archaeologist, you’ll be tracking down artifacts hidden all across Azeroth. For that, you’ll be given some tools and the Archaeology Journal to follow your research projects status. In the world map you’ll see surveyable dig sites across Azeroth and Outland. Once in a dig site you can use your tools, a telescope and a distance indicator, to reach the exact point where you have to dig. There you’ll get fragments of artifacts, updating your Archaeology Journal and once you find all fragments for an artifact, your research will be complete.
[imagebrowser id=271]
You can get many cool things with this profession, including unique items, epic-quality weapons, non-combat pets and even mounts, but in addition you’ll be able to get special fragments counting as five normal ones. These special fragments can be sold or traded and exceptional archaeologists can used them to make keystones, usable to grant benefits in high-end raid instances.
Seeing Archaeology coming to World of Warcraft in next expansion Cataclysm, makes me want to go and dig the whole territory. If you feel the same and want more info, check the official WOW website.