Along with a lot of changes to classes, quests, dungeons and more, the next patch to hit WoW will have a pretty significant impact on Archaeology. Anyone who has been digging around in the dirt of Azeroth as much as I, have no doubt noticed and been disappointed concerning the vendor price of the worthless gray artifacts you accumulate while looking for rares. To quote the blue post concerning the change to these vendor prices in the next patch, “The sell value of all common artifacts has been doubled, while a small subset of common artifacts have had their sell value increased far beyond that.” MMO-Champion was kind enough to post a list of the updated vendor prices along with their current vendor price for comparison. At first glance this really didn’t seem like a big deal, but as I scanned down the list I got to wondering, how much gold have I missed out on by vendoring the grays I’ve found before this change? I decided to find out!
About an hour later I’d compiled a list of all the gray quality artifacts, their vendor price, their vendor price to be, and the amount of times I’d solved each. I discovered that I’ve made around 300g so far by solving and vendoring gray artifacts. I knew this number would be fairly small in comparison to how much time I’ve actually spent with Archaeology now, as most only vendor for a few silver. I then figured out how much money I would have made by vendoring these grays after the patch, which was about 3800g. That means I’ve missed out on around 3500g that I would have made had I only been starting Archaeology post patch. Lol, oh well, at least my casters have been enjoying their Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan.
The artifacts that have had their vendor price increased the most drastically are the Word of Empress Zoe, which is a Dwarven artifact I’ve found twice that did vendor for 10g and will be changed to 1000g. The Silver Kris of Korl (Dwarven) I’ve found 4 times and vendors for 9g currently, but is changing to 180g. Finally the Scepter of Nezar’Azret (Nerubian) was 5g, will now be 100g and I’ve found it once.
I am really hoping that these changes in combination with auctioning the Keystones will lead to Archaeology making me a decent amount of gold per hour while I finish searching for a few more of the rare BoA artifacts that have been eluding me thus far! It can be a very frustrating profession when you don’t get what you’re looking for, so this could make it much more bearable for the players who just couldn’t get into it before!
What are your thoughts on this change?
Thanks for Reading,
Miss Mediocre <3
Anklet with Golden Bells 1g 20g x1 1g 20g
Atalai Scepter 20s 40s x7 1g40s 2g80s
Baroque Sword Scabbard 1g 2g
Beautiful Preserved Fern 5s 10s x5 25s 50s
Belt Buckle with Anvilmar Crest 5s 50c 10s 50c x1 5s50c 10s50c
Black Trilobite 5s 3g x6 30s 18g
Bodacious Door Knocker 20s 20g x2 40s 40g
Bone Gaming Dice 5s 10s x3 15s 30s
Boot Heel with Scrollwork 20s 40s x3 60s 1g20s
Bracelet of Jade and Coins 22s 44s x6 1g32s 2g64s
Carcanet of the Hundred Magi 90s 1g 80s x3 2g70s 5g40s
Carved Harp of Exotic Wood 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Castle of Sand 90s 1g 80s x1 90s 1g80s
Cat Statue with Emerald Eyes 90s 1g 80s x2 1g80s 3g60s
Ceramic Funeral Urn 10s 20s x1 10s 20s
Chest of Tiny Glass Animals 40s 8g x4 1g60s 32g
Cinnabar Bijou 10s 20s x6 60s 1g20s
Cloak Clasp with Antlers 10s 20sx4 40s 80s
Coin from EldreThalas 10s 20s x1 10s 20s
Cracked Crystal Vial 40s 80sx1 40s 80s
Delicate Music Box 20s 40s x3 60s 1g20s
Dented Shield of Horuz Killcrow 40s 80s x2 80s 1g60s
Devilsaur Tooth 20s 40s x3 60s 1g20s
Dignified Portrait 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Drakkari Sacrificial Knife 40s 80s x13 5g20s 10g40s
Dwarven Baby Socks 5s 10s x1 5s 10s
Eerie Smolderthorn Idol 10s 20s x7 70s 1g40s
Engraved Scimitar Hilt 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Ewer of Jormungar Blood 5g 10g
Fanged Cloak Pin 5g 10g x1 5g 10g
Feathered Gold Earring 10s 20s x5 50s 1g
Feathered Raptor Arm 40s 80s x5 2g 4g
Fetish of Hireek 5s 20c 10s 20c x9 46s80c 93s60c
Fiendish Whip 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Fierce Wolf Figurine 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Fine Bloodscalp Dinnerware 5s 10s x6 30s 60s
Fine Crystal Candelabra 1g 20s 72g
Flint Striker 5g 10g
Gahzrilla Figurine 20s 12g x6 1g20s 72g
Golden Chamber Pot 20s 40s x1 20s 40s
Gray Candle Stub 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Green Dragon Ring 10s 20s x3 30s 60s
Gruesome Heart Box 3g 50s 7g
Hairpin of Silver and Malachite 22s 44s x3 66s 1g32s
Highborne Pyxis 5s 10s x5 25s 50s
Imprint of a Kraken Tentacle 5g 10g x11 55g 110g
Infested Ruby Ring 5g 50g
Inlaid Ivory Comb 5s 10s x4 20s 40s
Insect in Amber 20s 20g x4 80s 80g
Intricate Treasure Chest Key 5g 10g x1 5g 10g
Ironstars Petrified Shield 20s 40s x2 40s 80s
Jade Asp with Ruby Eyes 10s 6g x4 40s 24g
Kaldorei Amphora 20s 40s x7 1g40s 2g80s
Lizard Foot Charm 5s 10s x11 55s 1g10s
Maul of Stone Guard Murog 1g 20g x1 1g 20g
Mithril Chain of Angerforge 41s 81s x3 1g23s 2g46s
Moltenfists Jeweled Goblet 11s 6g 30s x1 11s 6g30s
Mummified Organ 1g 2g x2 2g 4g
Necklace with Elune Pendant 5s 10s x4 20s 40s
Notched Sword of Tunadil the… 20s 40s x3 60s 1g20s
Pewter Drinking Cup 10s 20s x1 10s 20s
Pipe of Franclorn Forgewright 10g 20g x5 50g 100g
Plated Elekk Goad 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Proto-Drake Skeleton 5g 10g x7 35g 70g
Rusted Steak Knife 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Scandalous Silk Nightgown 5s 1g x4 20s 4g
Scepter of Bronzebeard 9g 19g x1 9g 19g
Scepter of Charlga Razorflank 40s 80s x2 80s 1g60s
Scepter of Nekros Skullcrusher 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Scepter of NezarAzret 5g 100g x1 5g 100g
Scepter of Xavius 40s 80s x1 40s 80s
Scepter of the Nathrezim 1g 2g
Scorched Staff of Shadow… 40s 80s x4 1g60s 3g20s
Scramseax 5g 10g x1 5g 10g
Shard of Petrified Wood 5s 10s x3 15s 30s
Shattered Glaive 10s 20s x4 40s 80s
Silver Kris of Korl 9g 180g x4 36g 720g
Silver Neck Torc 11s 21s x3 33s 66s
Silver Scroll Case 90s 1g 80s x1 90s 1g80s
Six-Clawed Cornice 5g 50g
Sketch of a Desert Palace 1g 2g x3 3g 6g
Skull-Shaped Planter 20s 40s x4 80s 1g60s
Skull Drinking Cup 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Skull Staff of Shadowforge 40s 80s x2 80s 1g60s
Soapstone Scarab Necklace 90s 1g 80s x1 90s 1g80s
Spidery Sundial 5g 10g
Spiked Gauntlets of Anvilrage 9g 18g x4 36g 72g
Stone Gryphon 10s 20s x2 20s 40s
Strange Silver Paperweight 1g 10s 2g 10s
Strange Velvet Worm 10s 20s x4 40s 80s
String of Small Pink Pearls 40s 80s x6 2g40s 4g80s
Thorned Necklace 5g 10g
Tile of Glazed Clay 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Tiny Bronze Scorpion 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Tiny Oasis Mosaic 1g 2g x1 1g 2g
Tooth with Gold Filling 40s 80s x11 4g40s 8g80s
Twisted Ammonite Shell 10s 20s x6 60s 1g20s
Umbra Crescent 90s 1g 80s x5 4g50s 9g
Vicious Ancient Fish 40s 80s x5 2g 4g
Viziers Scrawled Streamer 5g 10g
Warmaul of Burningeye 9g 18g x4 36g 72g
Winged Helm of Corehammer 20s 50s x2 40s 1g
Wooden Whistle 5s 10s x2 10s 20s
Word of Empress Zoe 10g 1000g x2 20g 2000g
Worn Hunting Knife 5s 10s x1 5s 10s
Zandalari Voodoo Doll 5s 10s x11 55s 1g10s
January 25th, 2011 - 12:55 pm
I definitely think it will make archaeology not as much as a drudgery knowing that there is at least a chance to make a little gold from the massive time sink that it requires to level it. In the reverse, I kinda felt the same way when they reduced the cost of dual speccing to almost nothing after I had paid thousands of gold to dual spec multiple toons. I don’t htink we should hold our breath on a refund…lol!
January 25th, 2011 - 2:33 pm
I just haven’t found the ROI worth it yet to pursue Archaeology. This may help.
I wonder if Blizz plans on changing the drop rates of some of the more pricey items? Post patch will you have the same chance to get that 1000g Silver Kris?
January 25th, 2011 - 3:01 pm
I’m super psyched about the change. While I understand that archaeology is meant to mainly serve as a time sink and not a gold making activity the amounts a lot of the items were selling for were almost insulting when you are trying to level it on a level 85 toon. These changes will definitely make it quite a bit easier for me to justify spending time on the profession.
February 1st, 2011 - 5:40 pm
Aliciana : Yes I felt the same about the change to the dual spec cost. I just hate being punished for getting things done early, but it seems like that happens a lot in WoW. Ah well, at least archaeology will be better now!
February 1st, 2011 - 5:44 pm
Kammler : I don’t think they are changing the drop rates of the more expensive artifacts, but they did change their minds on the price of the 1000g Word of Empress Zoe to 375g, which kind of sucks. Even if they’d gone with the 1000g vendor price, Archaeology still wouldn’t have been an overpowered gold making profession, it wouldn’t even have been equal to fishing in terms of gold per hour! I hope they will change their minds back before the patch hits, lol!
February 1st, 2011 - 5:51 pm
Bagkok Bill : I agree that it was a bit insulting to spend an hour flying around to make a gray item, only to sell it for 20 silver, lol. I wish they’d made the vendor prices a bit higher even, but hopefully we will still see a big difference and vendoring the grays you didn’t even want will seem less painful!