BTH hates doing Archaeology. He thinks it’s one of the most stultifying ways one could possibly choose to spend one’s gametime.
Nevertheless, he’s spent most of his otherwise-unoccupied gametime over the past week or so doing exactly that.
Why?
Because one of the rare items from Archaeology would help him realize one of his character concepts.
Lemme ‘splain.
After the Shattering, BTH sat down to faction change his long-neglected male Dwarf Paladin — his first level 70 during BC, abandoned shortly thereafter — into a female Tauren. He decided that he wanted her to be not just Tauren, but Taunka. How and why a Taunka would have become a Paladin, I don’t know. Anyhow, he looked at all the female Taunka NPCs and made her match one of them as closely in appearance and name as he could manage.
Fast-forward several months. I’d been working on finishing my collection of Northrend Archaeology artifacts and had just completed the Vrykul Drinking Horn. As with all new rare Archaeology finds, I’d used it as soon as I put it together to see what it did. BTH saw me while I was still under the effect and asked me how I’d gotten larger. When I explained, he decided that, as much as he dislikes Archaeology, he needed to do it with his Paladin until she got a Vrykul Drinking Horn, too. Now that he’s found it, he’s macroed it into all of his Paladin’s abilities, so that she can truly be a Taunka instead of a Tauren.
Haloma visits her mother. There is a bit of slope to the ground here that exaggerates the effect.
The Vrykul Drinking Horn actually makes a Tauren bigger than a Taunka. I wonder if it makes a Human the same size as a normal Vrykul?
BTH isn’t the only one to have done Archaeology purely for RP reasons. My Tauren Hunter, Ketura, has a thing for raptor mounts and gained nearly twelve levels from digging, digging, digging before she finally found the Fossilized Raptor.
The armor, weapons, mounts, and pets that can be obtained from Archaeology have obvious applications for RP. Just like the Vrykul Drinking Horn, however, any Archaeology rare item with a visual on-use effect could potentially be used in RP. Items such as the Chalice of the Mountain Kings or the Arrival of the Naaru could be used to great effect in a Guild Storytelling Night. The Bones of Transformation (which would be even more awesome if they transformed a female toon into a female Naga) and Wisp Amulet could be used for a formal storytelling RP event or to help stage scenes for an RP storyline — for example, interrogation of a Naga captive or sending a Wisp messenger to the Cenarion Circle. The green spotlight of the Druid and Priest Statue Set could be used to highlight a key moment of a ceremony or spellcasting ritual. The Haunted War Drum could be a prop for storytelling, a musical concert, dancing, or a council of war.
You wouldn’t necessarily want to go out of your way to include the effect of a particular Archaeology rare in your RP just because you happen to have it, but it could enrich your RP to be mindful of them.
I don’t roleplay, but I am fascinated by just how much roleplayers think about, and put so much effort into their characters and their roles. Really interesting post – thank you. If I ever come across any of these items I will certainly think much more about how they might be used, instead of thinking ‘that’s an interesting item’ then putting it away in the bank.
@Rhii, Dora — Thanks!
The funny thing, though, is that although I like to write stories about my characters, and BTH has played a lot of D&D, so thinking about his characters’ background and motiviation comes naturally to him, neither I nor my husband actually RP in the game.
I really, really like this post.
I don’t love the digging of Archaeology, but I like the neat little items you get. Rhii has a bank full of them.
[...] could only afford it at all because she’d decided that, being a Taunka, she needed a Vrykul Drinking Horn when she returned to Northrend. Thus, she’d taken up [...]