World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Guide: Archaeology

Archaeology is a new profession introduced in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. It allows the player to survey dig sites for fragments, these fragments can then be crafted into various items. 

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm a new profession was introduced to the game, archaeology. Archaeology is a primary profession which is learned along with cooking, fishing and first aid. Any player can learn archaeology. 

Archaeology Training

The Alliance archaeologist is Harrison Jones who is located in Stormwind City, for Horde players, they can train their archaeology skill with Belloc Brightblade in Orgrimmar. As soon as a player learns archaeology, they will have two new abilities to add to their toolbar; Surveying and archaeology. In addition on the map, dig sites will be shown that the player can visit.

Digsites and Archaeology

A player will see dig sites located all over Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, as their skill increases, a player will be able to use archaeology in Outland and Northrend. Once at a dig site, the player clicks on the Surveying tool, this will create a telescope with a light on the ground. The light indicates how close the player is to a fragment using a traffic light system: red for far away, yellow for near and green for very close, the direction of the telescope indicates which direction the player should go. Most dig sites will only allow a player to collect a few artifacts before it disappears. 

Archaeology and Fragments

Players will loot various types of fragments from different sites, the fragments available are: Draenei, Fossil, Night Elf, Troll, Dwarf, Nerubian, Orc, Tol'vir and Vrykul. Combining a certain number of these fragments will create an item. Most of these items will be grey and useless, but as player's skill increases, the artefacts become more complex. There are all sorts of achievements for archaeology, most of which are fairly easy to obtain.

Rewards for Archaeology

There are a number of rare and epic drops a player can get from archaeology, from companion pets to rare epic mounts. They can also create level item 359 trinkets and weapons which are very nice indeed. Almost all the epic items a player can craft from archaeology apart form the pets and mounts are bind to account.

The downside of archaeology is that it is slow to level and involves a lot of flying around. However, it is a fun new profession to do and the rewards make it definitely worthwhile.