Author Archives: Donny Rokk
Archaeology – Can You Dig It?
Ever since Archaeology was announced as a new secondary talent at Blizzcon, people weren’t exactly sure what to make of it. There wasn’t much announced, except that you would be able to dig up things that would both enhance the game’s lore and maybe give the character something nice. It wasn’t met with the OMG DANCE STUDIO level of enthusiasm, but it was something people had been curious about. Fast forward to this week, and you really get the vibe that Blizzard wants this profession to be the new hotness. You know how I know that Blizzard wants it to be cooler than the other side of the pillow? Well for starters, your Archaeology Trainer is none other than Harrison Jones.
Recently, Ghostcrawler posted more information regarding the profession but here’s a few things you should probably know.
Prep Work: Since you can’t powerlevel Archaeology, you might think there’s nothing you can do to prepare yourself for training. Not true. For starters, invest the 250gp for Old World Flying. There will only be four dig sites per continent at any one time, and you will see them on your Main Map rather than your mini-map. Naturally there’s a whole lot of area to cover, so Flying will be your best friend. In fact, break open the piggy bank and cough up the extra 5000 gp and get your 310 Flying as well, you cheapskate.
Getting Your Hands Dirty: Unlike gathering nodes, dig sites will be able to be used by multiple characters at once. It’s like pools of fish, but on land. At least, I assume it will be on land. Aquatic dig sites probably aren’t out of the realm of possibility though. You’re going to have to get out there and scout out the location vis Surveying. I can’t imagine someone skilling up Archaeology on a PVP Realm.
I can.
Ancient Goodies: Now that you’ve flown into some dirty hole in the middle of nowhere (or even worse, Ironforge), fought off a host a evil-doers who want nothing more than to snatch whatever it is that you dig up, and made your escape, it’s time to see what you came out with.
– Lore: Oooooo. Moving on.
– Vanity Pets: A crawling hand, a Gnome-Bot, and a bony hatchling.
– Mounts: A large bony hatchling and a Silith… Sithil… a big bug.
– Epics: These will be epic level gear that, while not heirloom items, will be Bind on Account.
(Link HERE)
TotalBiscuit offered up a video which explains exactly how Archaeology works.
Not a bad way to get someone to pick up the profession. Sure beats the Hell out of fishing up a Turtle Mount or a Lobster with attitude.
This is Herculano, the future Raider of the Lost Tomb Raider dude.
Cataclysm Release Date – What Does It Mean?
The harbinger of doom has spoken from on high.
And by that I mean Boubouille from MMO Champion has released his forecast for Cataclysm’s release date.
Now that Patch 4.0.1 is on PTR, I get a lot of mails asking for a release date and I guess I can answer that without too much risk now.
Keep in mind that Blizzard didn’t announce it because the release can still be postponed, but as far as I know the target release date for Cataclysm is the first week of November (that would be November 2, if you like numbers). The first part of the Cataclysm prologue started exactly 8 weeks before that and the next part of the pre-Cataclysm event will probably happen in 2 or 4 weeks depending on their schedule.
You got your answer, and hopefully people won’t yell at me if something goes wrong.
Link HERE.
Now I’m always skeptical when anyone from a non-official website starts passing along knowledge like it was gospel. I got heated last year when MMO Champion started telling folks that the new playable races were going to be Worgen and Goblins. This was based solely on the fact that they happened to datamine some new halloween masks. They released the information just before Blizzcon last year, which had Blizzard a little bent out of shape. MMO Champion had information (including the name of the as-yet-unnamed expansion Cataclysm) that they only could have obtained from inside sources. WoW.com was quick to pick up on this and pass along the information. My rant was based on the fact that nobody offered any solid facts, only theories, yet the masses gobbled it up like it was chocolate-covered awesomeness.
Of course, MMO Champion was right.
Do they have an inside source? Of course they do. They repeatedly drop “rumors” that turn out to be true. Even the wording of the release date doesn’t come off as something that’s speculation.
This time around, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. The proposed release date is November 2, 2010.
The question is this: Now that you have an actual number to deal with, what are your plans for that day? Will you start on the road to level 85? Start a Worgen or Goblin?
Myself, I may not even get the expansion on that day. There’s always issues on release, and the zones are going to be so packed it’s going to be hard to get anything done. With server crashes and zone lag, the first day will be insane.
What about you? Have you booked November 2 off yet? Let me know what your plans are in the comments below.
