New Cataclysm Profession: Archaeology
Cataclysm is the newest expansion to the most popular mmorpg World of Warcraft. There are tons of new features added in this expansion and the new profession archaeology is one of them. This is a secondary profession like cooking and fishing that any character can learn without having to lose one of their other professions. Any players who enjoy achievements and learning about the world of warcraft will find this profession very rewarding, but there are also some very high level epic items that can be rewarded. Many of these epic items are also bind on account, so you can send them to your other characters if they can use them. This is a very rewarding, but time consuming profession and probably one you should pick up with one of your characters.
You may be wondering how to find the dig sites for these fragments, well when you train archaeology at the trainer you will see new icons on your world map. Small shovels will now be on your map which shows which regions the dig sites are in. Once you zoom in on a region a more specific area will be highlighted on your map. Each of these dig sites are only available to one person, so you don’t have to beat other players to the dig site like you would have to for mining or herbalism. The dig sites will also stay until they have been dug up, logging out or just waiting will not shift them around. Once you dig up one, another one will pop up. You can see a maximum of 16 dig sites on the entire map at one time.
Once you train archaeology you will not only see the dig sites pop up on your world map, but you will be given a new skill to use called survey. When you get into the highlighted area on the map that has the dig spot, you will use survey to help you find the exact location of the fragment. After clicking on survey you will be shown a telescope that is pointing in the direction of the fragment and will also see a blinking light that will tell you roughly how far away you are. If the light is red it means you are far, yellow means you are a medium distance away and green means you are close.
After finding your dig spot you need to dig up the fragment. Then use survey again for the next fragment in that dig area. Sometimes the next fragment will be right in the same spot so make sure to use survey again before running around. After you have found 3 fragments in a dig area it will disappear and a new spot will appear somewhere in the world. The common artifacts that you will put together with the fragments will teach you about the races in the World of Warcraft.
After digging up your first fragment you will start a research project. Each research project will require you to get between 25 and 150 fragments to complete the artifact. Once you reach the amount of fragments you need for the research project you click solve to complete it. You may also come across keystones while digging, these can be used on some research projects and count as twelve fragments. So there you have it, the basic outline of the new archaeology profession in Cataclysm. Get out there, dig up some fragments and find some epic items.
Learn more about Cataclysm Leveling. Stop by Arthur Bishop’s site where you can find out all about Archaeology.
