Making Gold With Archeology

Posted by The Lost Meeple at 8:00 AM

Guest Post By Miss Mediocre, from her blog, Miss Mediocre

Greetings JMTC readers, I am Miss Mediocre. I wanted to write a guest post about making gold with Archaeology, because I believe the majority of players who are interested in making gold have yet to give Archaeology a shot. At first glance it really doesn't appear to be a good gold maker, and I don't believe Archaeology could take the place of any of your main professions, but it can be a nice way to make some gold while you're out doing other things!

In case anyone is unfamiliar with Archaeology, I'll briefly explain the basics. It is the new secondary profession, meaning like cooking, fishing and first aid, anyone can train it at any level in addition to your two main professions. You do gain experience when digging up fragments from dig sites, which are shown as little shovels on your map, so it can be a viable way to level without questing, even past level 80. You also have a chance at finding 6 Bind to Account level 85 epics with an item level of 359 which now that epic gear is a bit more difficult to obtain, makes Archaeology slightly more appealing.

The best thing about Archaeology is that you can just do it as you're doing other things. The dig sites on your map are only available to you, so there's no rush to get to one before another player cleans it out. This means you can just stop at the dig sites whenever you happen to be in the area. I like to work on Archaeology as I'm mining or picking herbs or waiting in que for a battleground or dungeon. It can get pretty tedious going out and doing it for hours and hours on end, so unless you're set on finding one of the BoA epics, I'd avoid that approach, and just work away at it whenever you can.

Just a note in case any of you expect to read about the Vial of the Sands in my post, I'll clarify quickly as to why farming the recipe isn't a good way to make gold with Archaeology. The Recipe : Vial of the Sands is Bind on Pickup and can only be seen in a canopic jar (which is a Tol'vir relic) by Alchemists. The thing that was changed to Bind on Use was the Vial itself. Even finding a canopic jar is a feat, as Tol'vir dig sites only have a chance to appear once you've reached 450 Archaeology, and then there's only a chance the canopic jar will be the relic you have to solve. Plus, the recipe has a fairly low drop rate from the jar as well.

Now onto how to actually make some gold! While you're out finding fragments at dig sites, you also have a chance of finding uncommon keystones. There is one type of keystone for each race, and if added to certain relics with keystone slots, one keystone can take the place of 12 fragments (roughly one dig site's worth).

Keystones :

• Tol'vir Hieroglyphic - Tol'vir, Uldum
• Vrykul Rune Stick - Vrykul, Northrend
• Nerubian Obelisk - Nerubian, Northrend
• Draenei Tome - Draenei, Outland
• Orc Blood Text - Orc, Outland
• Dwarf Rune Stone - Dwarven, Mostly Eastern Kingdoms
• Highborne Scroll - Night Elf, Mostly Kalimdor
• Troll Tablet - Troll, Mostly Eastern Kingdoms

These keystones greatly cut down on the time it takes to complete a relic, as some relics can hold up to three keystones. They are fairly rare, but you will come across them if you're visiting dig sites, and if you can bear to part with them, they are not BoP and can actually sell very well! I've finished collecting all of the rare Night Elf relics, so I sell any Highborne Scrolls I come across for around 200g each. The Tol'vir Hieroglyphics are the rarest and can sell for more than 800g each.

Also, a few of the keystones are requirements of daily dungeon quests that if completed, give the whole party a dungeon specific buff. Only an Archaeologist can complete the quest, but since everyone can train in
Archaeology and since the majority of players find the new dungeons and heroic dungeons are a little difficult, a +10% damage bonus can be pretty appealing! The following dungeons have an Archaeology daily :

• Halls of Origin - Tol'vir Hieroglyphic - Increased movement speed.
• Lost City of Tol'vir - Tol'vir Hieroglyphic - 10% bonus damage against the Neferset.
• The Vortex Pinnacle - Tol'vir Hieroglyphic - Replenishes your mana slowly over time.
• Blackrock Caverns - Dwarf Rune Stone - Reduces elemental damage done to you by 5%.
• The Stonecore - Dwarf Rune Stone - Physical damage taken is reduced by 5%.
• Grim Batol - Dwarf Rune Stone - Critical chance increased by 5%.
• Throne of the Tides - Highborne Scroll - 10% bonus damage against the naga.

There usually aren't any keystones available in the Auction House, so you can basically charge whatever you think someone would be willing to pay. Of course selling the keystones won't make you a WoW millionaire, unless you spend a lot of time visiting dig sites I guess, but if you're out there working on Archaeology anyway, why not make some gold from it? Hopefully some of you find this information useful, and start posting keystones in the Auction House for me to buy because I want those BoA epics!