Faster Scepter of Azj’Aqir (and other Archaeology rares)

If you’re trying to get a specific Archaeology rare then here are a couple of useful tips. I have been trying for the Scepter of Azj’Aqir (hence the focus on Tol’vir) but the basic ideas remain the same and can transfer to other Archaeology items. 


(Image from wowhead.com)

Tip #1: The 4.1 patch notes state “Players now have a much smaller chance of getting a dig site for a race for which they have completed all rare finds.”

What this means: Tol’vir sites only pop up in the Uldum zone at the southern tip of Kalimdor. Kalimdor has an overwhelming number of Night Elf sites so you’re going to see a lot of them. The list of Night Elf rares doesn’t have any ultra rare items like Zin’rokh or the Scepter of Azj’Aqir. This makes it easier to get all the Night Elf rares. Once you’ve gotten all the Night Elf rares, you will see a notable increase in the spawn rate of Tol’vir sites. So, don’t despair if you’re not seeing many Tol’vir sites because it gets better eventually.

Tip #1.01: Highborne Scrolls are generally cheaper than the equivalents of other races. 

What this means: Always use the scrolls to solve Night Elf rares. It may still cost you some money but it will really speed up the process of completing Night Elf rares and get you to more Tol’vir sites faster. Also, once you’ve completed your Night Elf rares, you can begin to sell the scrolls on the Auction House and recoup some money.

Tip #2: Dig sites are more likely to show up for races for which you currently have no sites.

What this means: As soon as a Tol’vir site shows up, go survey it - even if it's the farthest site away. It will increase your chances of getting more Tol’vir sites. Following this method I’ve frequently had three or more Tol’vir sites pop up in a row.

Tip #3: Use Archy. It will help you see the races of the sites you have up, track potential artifact locations and tell you how far to run for different color lights when surveying. It also has a bunch of other nice features which will make the grind easier.

Tip #4: Get your 310% flying. It’ll make travelling so much faster.

Tip #5: Go to indie rock cafe and discover new music while you grind out your artifacts. It’s an awesome site.

Extra: I found this macro on wowwiki or wowhead (can’t remember now). It is useful for showing you how many artifacts you’ve solved for each race.

Code:

/run print("Total artifacts") for x=1,9 do local c=GetNumArtifactsByRace(x) local a =0 for y=1,c do local t = select(9, GetArtifactInfoByRace(x,y)) a=a+t end local rn = GetArchaeologyRaceInfo(x) if(c>1) then print(rn..": "..a) end end

For it to work properly you need to open the Archaeology window and click on the solves tab. Then with it open, you click the macro.