Threat Management

A recent blue post about threat, you can see that here, basically talked about things we all know already.  Threat should matter.  Two lines in the blue post however got me thinking.  If anything, the horror stories of the new dungeons have a lot to do with threat sometimes.  Usually because people are just entering as soon as they have an iLvl that meets the requirements and not the skills and/or knowledge of the dungeon to actual be able to do it.

The first line that got me thinking was as follows:

If threat generation is too easy then the entire risk of the encounter drops. Newsflash: we don’t actually want encounters to be easy. We want encounters to be fun, and for most players, that includes both rewards and risks.

For such a short sentence they really added a lot of words that are opinion based and said nothing that is fact based.   Who decides what fun is? Who decides what easy is? Who decides what risk is? 

To me the risk of a PuG is getting a tank that can't hold threat a healer that can't heal the tank through big hits and DPS that make me feel like I am trying to down a 4.5M boss all by myself.  That is the risk I take every time I step into a PuG.  PuGs, by nature, have enough risk to start out with.  Is this the risk they were talking about? 

Nope, they were talking about the risk for dying from something during the encounter.  I think that statement missed the mark by a long margin.  Most players, at least most non-jerk players, do not mind dying to a mechanic that they did not perform appropriately to avoid.  That risk is there and it is acceptable.

The biggest risk in the game is not the mechanics.  Mechanics can be learned.  Some will learn them sooner then others and some will take a year and a day before it clicks.  That is just the person and how quickly they adjust.  Some adjust faster then others.  That is life is it not?

The biggest risk right now is that you have a very large chance that one of the four other people in your party will either be a first timer (no problem, we all need to learn some time) or someone that just does not get it.  No matter how good threat management is for a tank if someone just does not get it there is nothing you can do. 

Threat will always be an issue.  One out of the four other people with you is bound be stupid, new or plain unskilled.  It is a fact.  Anyone that runs dungeons can tell you there is always someone either new or someone that just does not get it.  Mind you once again.  I have no problem what so ever with someone that is new and learning.

If they plan to nerf threat any, which that line makes it seem, they are making a huge mistake.  Tanks already have to deal with idiots always on the wrong targets.  Do not make things harder because of some imagined risk of an encounter.

The other line is this one.

On the other hand, when threat is too hard to maintain, it can be exasperating. Tanks get understandably frustrated when the game is asking them to do something but not giving them the tools to do it. The non-tanks in the group also become frustrated, because they feel throttled. It’s one thing when overcoming the boss is challenging. It feels worse when you know that another player is standing in your way, keeping you from achieving your top performance.

This one I know quite well as a DPS main.  However, as a Hunter I have all the tools I need to assure that threat is rarely if ever an issue.  Add to the fact that Hunters where nerfed so badly that you would actively need to work to get threat off even an average tank now. If a Hunter accidentally gets threat now it is 100% the tanks fault as Hunters have no burst. Old school, with mana, Hunter burst was insane, now it doesn't exist any more.  Kind of hard to burst when you are stuck auto/steady shooting after only three shots.

With all the movement in fights now I have noticed that most tanks, even fantastic ones, are having some threat issues.  Most tanks, even average ones, can hold threat off anyone on single target that is just a stand there and maybe dance a little type of fight.  The only problems I have seen, when everyone is doing what they are supposed it, is that healer aggro seems to be off the chart. 

AoE tanking was nerfed along with all (most actually, feral swipe spam doing 50K DPS at 83 would like to have a word with the designers) other AoE in the game.  The concept was everyone is supposed to single target and the AoE was supposed to outpace healer aggro and that is about it.  Well, I've only healed one dungeon so far and I can tell you that is not what is happening.

The tank I had is a fantastic tank.  Guild mate of course (I am still dreading those random people) and someone I have run with a long time.  I know what to look for from tanks.  I also have been leveling a warrior as a tank only so I know the style.  He was doing everything right.  I was waiting (just like I do with DPS) before I threw any heals into the mix.  Shields before battle do not have any impact on aggro.  The first time I throw a heal.  Anything, even a prayer of mending, I have aggro on everything except the skull.  What he hell is that?

So first they talk about needing to nerf damage, then they talk about not enough threat is holding people back.  They did this long ass post about absolutely nothing and said absolutely nothing.

I think tanks need an AoE buff but that comes with a problem.  If they tweak that a bit to much we go back to LK AoE fests.  I do not want that, for selfish reasons really, I like living in a single target world.  You guessed it, no volley means no AoE any more for hunters (unless you are survival).  If I can't have it then no one else should. 

So how do you fix the problem?  Simple, lower healing threat generation.  Simple as that.  There is no reason that throwing a prayer of mending on a tank should grab aggro from a tank on anything that is not their main target.  Ever.  If even all the tank did was emote a spit on the target.

After reading that whole tap dance I am still confused.  Are they going to nerf threat generation like the first excerpt seemed or buff it like the second one might have implied.

I am glad the blues take the time to post but when they say nothing in their post then it was basically a waste of their time and ours.  We, the community, deserve more then someone spitting out tanking facts that even the most casual of casual players already know.  Why was there even a need to post it when they, in effect, said nothing.

Now for one line from that last part that I laughed when I read.

It feels worse when you know that another player is standing in your way, keeping you from achieving your top performance.

Does this mean that they are finally going to find a way to keep people out of heroics that have no clue what they are doing?  Please say it is.

BTW, I have a partial solution to that as well that I came up with while doing dailies yesterday.  There are a few dailies that you have to do 10 times to get the achievement.

How about make it like this.  You need to complete a dungeon 10 times on normal before you are allowed to query up for it on heroic.  You get an achievement for completing it once, make another for completing it 10 times with a reward of unlocking heroic mode of that dungeon.

This will insure that you have actually done the normal version enough to know the basic mechanics and only have to learn one or two more for heroic.  This will also mean you had more then enough chance to get better gear because lets face it, you can get into a heroic without ever stepping into a normal just from quest and rep rewards.  If they really are serious about making people learn to advance, this is the only way to do it.

Would I mind doing it?  Nope, not at all.  Would I mind doing it on an alt being I already know all the dungeons enough from doing them on my main?  Yes, but you know what?  I would be willing to make the sacrifice of having to do it on all my alts as well just to know that the people in my heroic have at least been in the instance before and know some of the mechanics.  Fair trade as far as I am concerned.

Now that is what I really want to see happen.  10 normals per dungeon achievements to unlock the heroic version.  Make that happen Blizzard and you will have really won over a lot of people.  Not to mention I am sure this would also help with many threat issues. People would have lots and lots of normals to learn what the skull means.

If you can't beat them...

I've come to the realization that it will probably take about a month or two before doing heroics in a random is even an option so I have decided to stop even trying.  That alone has made my enjoyment of the game increase.  Once I no longer feel the need to do heroics all the time and become more willing to wait until guild members are on it is one of those out of sight out of mind problems now.

I figured that by the time I got to level 85 and got geared up for heroics that there would be so many people that are hardcore players, players much better then me, that would be in the system ready to do these dungeons.  I was wrong, completely wrong.  Seems the hard core players did it right and never stepped into LFD and the bad players are the only ones that where in it.  What is that saying?  It is hard to fly like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys.

As time is passing I noticed it seems the casuals are the ones that make LRD a success and not the hardcores.  The reason dungeons where so fast where because of people that do them all the time and do them with 6 alts per day.  That is why they were fast.  Those players are the players classified as casuals or altaholics.  It is that class of player I have to wait for before doing heroics are an option.

My problem is because I fall in the middle of the pack.  I am not hard core.  I do not min/max.  I do not stress if I miss a shot in my rotation (although there is never any excuse for not being hit capped).  I do not scream that everyone is bad whenever they do not do everything perfect.  I am also not the casual that just does it for fun or just really does not care.  I do it for fun but I do care.  If you do not do your best then you are a bad player.  Notice I said your best, not the best your class is capable of.  That is what makes me casual and not hard core.  I do not expect everyone to be perfect.

As it seems the casual players are catching up now.  Normals, which where annoyingly over an hour, are starting to be quick.  It seems the casual masses have now arrived in normals and this is a blessing.  People have already stopped asking for CC.  Bosses are going down in 30 seconds.

While I love that dungeons are under 40 minutes again I am really not liking the idea that normals are so easily out geared.  Does this mean that in 2 more weeks heroics will be the same way and I can finally get a pug that can kill more then one boss?

The main idea of normals, or so they say, is to be an easy version of heroics.  Beating a boss in 30 seconds is not really an easy version of a boss.  How it is an easy version of a boss when you can completely ignore the mechanics of the fights and brute force your way through it. 

Second boss in BRC is the perfect example.  Why screw with the beams if she is going to be dead before even one of the assistants turn?  Try not blocking any of the beams in heroic right now.  Not happening.  Maybe in a few gear bumps but right now it would mean instant wipe.

Aren't normals supposed to be to teach people the mechanics?  Kind of hard to do when the boss is dead before they ever even see any of the mechanics happen.

Maybe I have just been getting unlucky with groups when I try heroics.  I've actually had a few friends tell me they go a couple of bosses in usually and I read on the forums all the time about people saying they have had no issues in pugs. 

I just always seem to get the groups with the tank that runs in saying "I'll tank in my DPS gear, but don't worry I'm good." or the healer that say "I'm going to heal in shadow because my mana regen is better that way" or the DPS that says "gogogo I've got class in 10 minutes".

I should get used to bad luck, if it were not for bad luck I would have no luck at all.  In all of LK content I only won 1 roll, ever, in ICC 25.   That is basically my luck in a nutshell.

Oh, did I have a point here?  I think I did. 

They need to make normals harder.

The trash is okay on normals, they are down to reasonable times to run them, now boost the bosses so people can actually see mechanics before the boss is dead. 

And, if you can't beat them, join them... I'll just slow down and become more casual and wait for the masses to catch up.  I guess it is my own fault for being heroics ready in about 30 hours after the game was released and not being hard core.  Sometimes being in the middle can really suck.

Dungeons will live and die on the casual player.  I can't wait for them to catch up so it will make LFD tool useful again, it will be great.  At least I only have 4 possible characters to run through it at the moment.  Maybe by the time I have 8 ready for it they might be worth running.

I look forward to... I don't look forward to... Why MM?

I've leveled my DPS main, a Hunter of course.  I put some time in on my Rogue and my Mage.  They are all the same animal however, they are DPS.  Now that I am leveling my Bear and my Disc Priest I have to look forward to a different aspect of the new dungeons.

Length of the dungeons have been my only real complaint about them so far and I see that becoming shorter in time.  Length of waiting for the dungeon however I see continuing to be long for DPS and possibly even longer as time passes by being it seems more and more like tanks and healers are going the guild only route.

Does that mean that I will start running my Tank and Healer in randoms?  Probably not.  I did not like doing it in wrath when everything was a cake walk so why would I do it when things might actually require more brain cells then it takes for some college kid to light a joint.

I look forward to tanking actually. 

Being I am only leveling my tank now it is behind the pack.  This means that most of the DPS should have already started to learn the "new rules" by the time I get there.  The main reason I hated tanking was because people would pew pew everything before I even got to it.  They would not focus fire and they would not wait for me to position mobs.

Now they are being taught, by the unfortunate tanks that leveled first, that you need to wait for the tank to position the pull.  You need to CC when needed.  You need to focus fire.  If they are capable of learning then maybe, just maybe, tanking might be fun again.  I hated tanking in wrath because everyone went all balls to the wall on everything even if I hadn't gotten to it yet.  So maybe there is some potential to bring the fun back into tanking.

I don't look forward to healing however.

I leveled my Disc Priest doing only PvP until level 60, quested from 60-80 and then offered my services to guild mates so they could get instant query for heroics to gear myself up and ended up healing ICC  7 bosses in right as I hit 80 thanks to the 30% buff.  I had the easy route.  I am not a good healer, never have been a good healer and I doubt I will like the feel of healing at 85 so I am really not looking forward to healing.

I can attempt to get better really and I might just do that but unlike in wrath where I moved from quest greens to ICC without batting an eye I am going to take the slow route here.  I am not going to be relearning to heal I am going to be learning to heal to begin with.  What I was doing before could barely be called healing.  The moments where it where challenging where few and far between and those moments where only challenging because I was healing ICC in quest greens and blues. 

I liked the excitement of being tested back then and it being hard back then.  The sad part is that did not last long.  A few weeks in ICC and I had all T10 gear and it was no longer a challenge.  My learning curve for healing was about 2 weeks.  That basically mean I have no clue what I am really doing.  I am not looking forward to healing in a way that I really don't know how to do it well. 

If there is any plus side it is that I will really be learning for the first time so I will be learning the right way.  Sometimes it is easier to learn something the first time then it is to relearn something you have been doing forever.  Habits are hard to break.  Maybe it should be the players I am group with that should not be looking forward to me healing.

Why MM?

A Hunter friend that switched to Survival asked me yesterday why I am still MM with MM looking like the worst DPS spec at the moment.  He has a point.  I am doing the same DPS now that I was doing at 80.  It really does kind of suck and if you know anything about Hunters then you know that MM has the most demanding timing of shots of any spec.  So it does bad DPS in comparison and it is harder to maintain the SS buff with all the movement in fights.

I am staying MM right now because everyone is in the learning phase of things.  People do not have mechanics down to the point where it is trivial yet and healers are still mana starved most of the time.  My Chimera shot heals me.  Yeap.  That is the only reason I am still MM.  To take stress off the healer.

I will usually tell the healer not to worry about me at all unless it is group wide damage that is unavoidable.  Otherwise my Chimera shot should be more then enough to keep me healed through any encounter.  When learning a fight it is more about survival then high DPS. 

My Chimera heals me for around 6K and apparently can crit as I have seen 12K heals on rare occasion.  I can shoot that every 10 seconds.  That means I can heal myself every 10 seconds for a minimum of 6K.  If I am taking more then 6K damage every 10 seconds from avoidable damage then I am doing something wrong and the healer should let me die in my opinion.  Outside of group wide damage I should never need more then the occasional HoT and that is about it. 

I am staying MM now because I am still learning and the healers are still under geared.  Maybe when the time comes where a healer can afford to throw a heal at me every 10 seconds if needed then I might switch to get more DPS but at the moment it is all about survival and oddly enough, MM gives me more survival then survival does.

Adjustments, Weird and Cool

Adjustments:

When questing that first day going through Deepholm I had mentioned to a few friends that they really need to adjust herb respawn rate.  There were so many I kept getting distracted by them and forgetting about my quests.  Not like that is a bad thing.  I just never pass an herb node unless I have to.  This meant that I spent more time in Deepholm farming herbs then questing that first time around.

In my time there I farmed over 2000 herbs.  I was only there for a few hours.  I knew they where going to have to adjust it and I am glad they did but I think they adjusted it a bit to much.  Since that initial burst I've farmed left and right for herbs, this time looking for them and not just stumbling over them, and I doubt I have found 200 in the many days after that.  The last time I needed to empty out my herb bag was the second day of release.  From one extreme to another.

My bank character was very happy from my first days herb gathering however.  Not for money to be made but for inscription.  My bank character is a scribe and with all those herbs I was able to get a serious amount of inks. Have to love that one.

Weird:

The other day I got the achievement for Fungalophobia and I was not even doing it yet.  I was trying to do it.  I was standing at the respawn spot to talk to the earthmender so I could start the quest and some people just ran right past me.  The earthmender was not there so I figured they did not know the quest said you need to talk to her.  They apparently went straight in, as a group, and killed Glop.  I got credit for the quest being done having never talked to the earthmender, never shooting one shot at Glop, hell, never even moving.  I also got the achievement.

I've noticed that a lot of the quest bosses allow anyone that contributed to get credit for the kill and some where anyone in the area will get credit for the kill.  So I will guess this is maybe one like that.  If it is one of those area rewards for the kill I do not think there should be an achievement like this for it.  While I do not mind getting an achievement for doing nothing it feels rather cheap.  At least make me be in range of getting hit from at least one boomshroom before giving me the achievement.  It is pretty easy to avoid getting hit by something when you are never near it to get hit by it.  Maybe it was just a bug.  Weird.

Cool:

I got another achievement yesterday with help from a few other people.  Not like they knew they where helping me.  My Very Own Broodmother came thanks to three other people that I guess did not want to take time to wait their turn.  I rang the stone and jumped up.  At first they all stood back but then all jumped on and helped.  The dragon was down in less then 30 seconds.  I got the achievement. 

I am sure they will patch that at some point saying you have to do it alone but I am not sure how they will do that.  That would mean if someone else comes along and hits it while you are doing it they screw you out of the achievement.  Being it is a daily the odds are many people will be doing it if you do it during prime play time. They will most likely leave it as is and just make it that you can not be in a group to do it.  Either way, a thank you goes out to those unknown helpers.

Dungeon Cool:

I was in Stonecore on the dragon boss and the tank, healer and one DPS all go down about half way into the fight leaving just me and a DK.  I have aggro the moment the tank dies and I decided that I want to keep it that way.  While those stones can be a LoS nightmare for healers and ranged it can also be a nightmare for the boss it seems. 

I used them to keep the dragon LoSed as the DK beat the crap out of him along with my pet.  It took a while but with some quick movements, a healing potion, bandage and luck we downed the boss, just me and DK and my trusty cat.  Mind you, this was on normal and not heroic.  I think on heroic I would have ended up as road kill trying to kite the dragon around the stones.

The early take on LFD

We all have an opinion on this one and they are usually one of these.

I love the new heroics, they are a real challenge.
The new heroics are easy really and this will weed out the bad players.
I hate the new heroics they are too hard.
I hate the new heroics, it is impossible to find a random group that can do them.
I think they have potential.

I probably would fit into the fifth option, I think they have potential, but currently I have to go with the I hate the new heroics because you can not find a random group of people that can do them.  If I go with guild mates they can still be a challenge but they can get done in time. 

If I go in a random, unless the other 4 people know each other and I can pick up on their pattern of play quickly, it will be a complete and total failure.  Notice that I even said it could be my fault.  I am extremely far from perfect.  Knowing what other people will do it almost as important as the game mechanics sometimes.

Example.  If I am in a group and people know I always throw a trap for the healer they will not waste time with a sheep.  If I am in a group that does not know that is what I am going to do then we now have 2 or even possibly 3 DPS going out of their way to help the healer.  This is a waste of DPS, a waste of time and can cause a wipe.  You see that, a wipe because people where doing the right thing, saving the healer.

That is where the biggest issue with heroics are now.  You can put a group of five random people together.  All five of those people can be great players.  The random will still fail.  Simple as that.  Hence the reason most people hate the LFD system right now and I actually agree with them.

However...

That is not why I dislike the LFD system now.  I hate them for a completely different reason then anyone I have seen has mentioned.  Even for normals, which I've had no issues with failure as most people can handle them, I hate the LFD system now. 

I have no problem what so ever spending and hour and a half to two hours with guild mates in a dungeon.  I have no problem with spending an hour and a half to two hours training people that have never been there that I know.

What I have an issue with is spending an hour and a half to two hours with four other people I do not know and will most likely never see again.  The LFD is just to get some points and maybe some gear and that is it.  It is not to make friendships.  It is not to learn mechanics.  It is not to get better at playing my role.  It is for quick and easy gear. 

I hate the new LFD with a passion.  I do not care if it is the smoothest run ever in the history of wow.  It is still going to take time.  Time that is a waste even if it is easy.  It is not about dungeon difficulty.  Hard or easy doesn't even register in my assessment.  It is about the fact that I do not want to spend all that time with random people I don't know and don't care about. 

Add to the fact that I keep getting Shaman healers rolling on my gear.  If you want to roll on Enhancement gear then query up as Enhancement.  I lost the same boots twice to a Restoration Shaman.  See what I mean about running with people you do not know?  Even the best players are complete and total assholes most of the time.  There is no accountability for people.  They know they will never see me again so they can ninja all they want.

Because of reasons like that I want to spend as little time as possible with these people.  The time it takes to do dungeons is horrendous.  Even the hardest dungeon in the world should take no more then 30-40 minutes.

Do not say "run with your guild" either.  I run with my guild but I also run on my own.  I am not going to sit around waiting for guild mates to come on.  I will run on my own and then if they need me later I will also run with them.  Not to mention I have more then one character.

Time is now a huge consideration.  Once I finish my dailies and run a dungeon the best case scenario is 2 hours have passed.  Admittedly I play more then that but what about the people that don't?  Not everyone can be on that long each day. 

The time it takes to do these dungeons needs to be greatly decreased.  How they do it I do not care.  Make the trash have less life so they die faster.  Lower the bosses life so they go down faster.  Remove trash completely and just make it boss after boss like ToC.  I do not care.  I just do not want to spend 2 hours running with some asshole shaman that is going to steal my boots any more.  I would not mind at all if it was a 30 minute run.  I can spam randoms until I get it again and then I will win next time. However at 2 hours per run I can not do that. There is just not enough time in the day even if I quit my job to spam dungeons all day long when they take forever to do.

Raiding should take time.  Dungeons should not.

This has nothing to do with difficulty.  This has to do with time.

LFD needs to be fixed.  The dungeons need to be reduced in the time required to do them.

Some other reasons for why the time needs to be reduced.

1) There is a 40 minute wait to begin with.  Add a 2 hour run and that is 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Not acceptable.
2) If you happen to hook up with a group of friends in the random you can get kicked for any reason at all meaning you wasted all that time.
3) Being they take so long getting kicked just because your class can roll on gear someone else needs is common.
4) No such thing as offspec and main spec any more when people wait forever to get in and the runs take forever.  They roll need on anything that the button allowed them to hit need on.
5) Turn over in dungeons is crazy because they take so long.  I've never been in a dungeon before where you had no wipes and you still went through 15 people to complete it until now.
6) People dropping just because they do not like the dungeon is even more common now being they know it will be 2 hours instead of 15 minutes in a dungeon they hate.
7) Having to explain the same boss tactics over and over because people drop after one wipe and the new people don't know either gets annoying.

Again I say it.  I've no problems with difficulty.  I have huge issues with time management.  Dungeons need to be shorter.  Let me get my points and my loot and be on my way.  There are much better things to do in the game then spend 2 hours with people you do not know and most likely will never see again.

Time will fix some of these problems.  As people know the encounters better they will get easier which in turn means faster.  As people get more gear they will blow through things quicker as well.  In a matter of a month no one will be mentioning CC any more because everything will die to quickly to care and that will speed things up.  Some dungeons like ToT will turn into less then 30 minutes runs, it is already less then 30 minutes on normal but others are just going to take time no matter what.  Those are the ones that need adjusting.  Remove the fluff put there just to make it more challenging.  Challenging is fun.  Challenging for the sake of making it take longer is not.

Okay, grumpiness time is over.  I now return you to your regular programming.

Archaeology 101 (with color blind tips)

Step 1, as with anything, getting the skill is required.

List of Archaeology Trainers

Step 2, learning your new skill.

Survey - Will be the new skill you will be using to level up Archaeology.

First you will need to find a site where you can dig for relics.  You can do this by opening your map.  Extend your map out to view the whole continent.  With the big map you will see 4 little shovels marked out.  Each one of those 4 little shovels marks a spot where you can dig.

When you are in the area that had the shovel you can check your map of that area.  You will see an area highlighted in a different color.  (color blind tip: it is a darker area on the map with a bold dark outline)

Things you need to know about your shovels:

There are always 4 per continent.
From skill level 1-300 you will only have 4 on Kalimdor and 4 on Eastern Kingdom.
From skill 300-375 you will also have 4 in Outlands.
From 375-450 you will also have 4 in Northrend.
From 450-525 you have a chance for Uldum to have dig sites.
There are 16 total as soon as you reach 375 skill.

Each dig site is yours and yours only.
You can dig up 3 relics at each dig site.
You must dig out all 3 from a site before it will disappear and respawn another one.
If you log out or if you do not dig for a month it will not change the digs you currently have.  Those same digs will stay there until you clear them.

How to use Survey:

Find an area inside the dig site bordered and click survey.
A tripod will appear.
The blinker on the tripod will give you an indication of where a relic might be.

Red Indicator: It is far away. Think 50-100 yards. (color blind tip: it is a solid color, not blinking)
Yellow Indicator: It is some distance still.  Think 25-50 yards. (color blind tip: it is a slow blinking color)
Green Indicator: It is close.  Under 25 yards. (color blind tip: it is a fast blinking color)

Once you hit green (fast blinking) move 3 steps in the direction and survey again.  Keep this up until you find your relic.   

Color blind tip:  If you click survey and the tripod does not appear that means a relic was found.  Fossil relics have a tendency to blend in with the grass in areas like Un'Goro.  So just hover over the area immediately around you until the cogwheel appears.  It is there somewhere, just a matter of finding it.

Step 3, making artifacts.

Just like all skills Archaeology has a spell book so to speak.
The main page on it will show you all the things you can discover artifacts for.

Kalimdor (excluding Uldum) &  Eastern Kingdom.
Night Elf, Fossil, Troll and Dwarf
Outlands.
Orc and Draenei
Northrend.
Nerubian and Vrykul
Uldum in Kalimdor
Tol'vir

Clicking on a highlighted one will show you what project you are currently working on and how many fossils you need to complete it.

Pro Tip:
Do not build any projects until you are at least level 75 Archaeology. You stop getting skill ups from finding relics at 100 and it gets really slow after 75.  You get 5 skill points when you build an Artifact that is common and more (10-15-20 all confirmed so far) depending on the rare.  So do not waste the easy skill up from finding things on making artifacts until you are not getting skill ups from finding things any more.

To go back to the main book just click the top tab again to see all projects.
To see completed projects click the second tab.

Rare and Epic finds are random.  I found my first rare before level 100 my second rare before level 150.  Some people are 300 and do not have one yet.  The more you do the more likely you are to find a rare.  Know what rare you are going for and you know where to set your focus.  More on that later.

Step 4, making rare and epics

You can not just find these.  You need to find other things to find these.  It is exactly that, rare or epic.  When you complete a project the next project is random.  Sometimes that next project will be a rare or an epic.  Rare and epic projects are considerably more work to assemble, needing many more pieces to make.

Some rare or epic items give you an option to move it along faster with the use of special items.  Each race has its own special items and those items are randomly found doing digs.

There are as follows:
Troll Artifact Bonus: Troll Tablet
Night Elf Artifact Bonus: Highborne Scroll
Fossil Artifact Bonus: None
Dwarf Artifact Bonus: Dwarf Rune Stone
Orc Artifact Bonus: Orc Blood Text
Draenei Artifact Bonus: Draenei Tome
Nerubian Artifact Bonus: Nerubian Obelisk
Vrykul Artifact Bonus: Vrykul Rune Stick
Tol'vir Artifact Bonus: Tol'vir Hieroglyphic

None of these items are BoP so you can sell them or buy them if need be.  Either way, they are not useless junk.  Do not throw them away.  If you are building a rare or epic item there will be a place in the lower left hand corner to place these items to help speed up the project.

Once placed they do not stay there unless you complete the project but it is suggested you place them to see how many it can take.  Only one place will appear but once it is filled if another is allowed it will appear. Unless you complete the project at that moment as soon as you close the window the bonus pieces will be returned to your inventory.

Pro Tip:
When you first get the chance to build a rare or epic fill the bonus slots instantly.  This will show you how many bonus parts you have.  For example if three open up in a project that needs 100 you only have to collect 64 pieces instead of 100 because you will be able to use 3 of the bonus items and bonus items count as 12 pieces each.

Step 5, the good stuff.

We all know why people are going to do Archaeology.  For the shiny goodness of items and fun stuff.

Here is a list of goodies you can get.

Notable Common:
Canopic Jar - Tol'vir common item that may contain Recipe: Vial of the Sands or other goodies. Open before selling as junk.

Night Elf Rares:
Druid and Priest Statue -
Bones of Transformation -
Queen Azshara's Dressing Gown - BoA Level 60 Cloth Chest
Tyrande's Favorite Doll - BoA Level 85 Intellect Trinket
Wisp Amulet -
Highborne Soul Mirror -
Kaldorei Wind Chimes -

Troll Rares:
Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds - BoA Level 85 Two Handed Strength Sword

Fossil Rares:
Fossilized Raptor - Mount
Fossilized Hatchling - Pet

Dwarf Rares:
Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan - BoA Level 85 Spellpower Staff
Chalice of the Mountain Kings -
Clockwork Gnome - Pet
The Innkeeper's Daughter - Hearthstone Replacement

Orc Rares:
Headdress of the First Shaman - BoA Level 70 Mail Head

Draenei Rares:
Arrival of the Naaru -
The Last Relic of Argus - Random Teleporter

Nerubian Rares:
Blessing of the Old God - 
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron -

Vrykul Rares:
Nifflevar Bearded Axe - BoA Level 80 One Handed Axe

Tol'vir Rares:
Crawling Claw - Pet
Pendant of the Scarab Storm - BoA
Ring of the Boy Emperor - BoA Level 85 Caster Ring
Scepter of Azj'Aqir - Mount
Scimitar of the Sirocco - BoA Level 85 One Handed Strength Sword
Staff of Ammunae - BoA Level 85 Healer Staff

I know there are more items you can get but could not find them on the wowhead list to link right now.  As I find them I will update this.

Have fun digging and good luck.

Mini Guide To CC - (for all classes to read)

Basic Rules:

If you play as a class with a CC option such as Sap, Traps, Sheep, Chains, Shackle, etc you should always have it on your bar and you should always have it hot keyed even if you do not use key binds normally.

If you play a Hunter and have bad aim.  Own up.  It is better to say so before being asked to do it then to have the group depending on you doing something that you are not good at.

If your healer is a Priest after an Undead or a Shaman after an Elemental it might miss.  Healers usually do not have any reason to have hit rating.

Rules For CC Order:

If there is a Rogue in the group he always goes first.
If there is a Hunter in the group he always goes second.
If there is no Rogue but there is a Hunter the Hunter goes first.
Everything else can come after.

Rules for a Successful CC:

With the exception of a Rogue all other types of CC will pull the mobs.
A Hunter can CC and not pull mobs if you want him too.  If you want that done, say so.
Mark targets. *
Kill order should always be the same. ex: Skull then X
CC order should always be the same. ex: Sheep Moon
State the kill and CC order.  Different servers have different normal rules.
If there is a Rogue and/or Hunter in the group all other CC must wait until they do theirs.
Focus fire targets.
No AoE even if you think the range is fine.
Make sure you remove any glyph(s) that make you hit an extra target.

Rules For The Tank:

If you want CC you need to speak up.
Wait for Hunter/Rogue CC.
Mark targets. *
Know the skills your damage dealers have. **
Pull the mobs back.

Rules For The Healer:

Stand near the Mage/Hunter/etc. (If they see you getting hit they can help you)

Rules For DPS:

No AoE.
Focus Fire.
Know how to use your CC.
Know what your CC works on.

Rules That Might Seem Stupid:

CC is not just for pulls.
CC mobs eating the healer.
CC runners.

* (Mark Targets)
- Every time a tank yells about DPS not focus firing all I hear is charlie browns teacher.  You would be amazed how well marking targets is.  Even a noob, first time player, will understand that the skull must die and they will focus it if you take the time to mark it.
- Do not, repeat NOT, tell people to assist tank.  Assist tank might be good sometimes.  Not always.  I can't count the number of times I did my assist focus macro and the tank was targeting something we where not focusing.  I've also tanked and know I like to switch targets or move from skull to X as soon as I have an ample threat lead on skull. DPS can assist, but if they hit the wrong target remember it could be your fault as well.  You are the one that told them to assist and you are the one that was not on the focus fire target.

** (CC Abilities)
The Top Tier:
Hunter: Freezing Trap (All)
Mage: Polymorph (Beasts and Humanoid)
Druid: Hibernate (Beasts and Dragonkin)
Shaman: Hex (Beasts and Humanoid) / Bind Elemental (Elemental)
Warlock: Banish (Humanoid and Elemenal)
Paladin: Repentance (Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoid and Undead)
Rogue: Sap (Humanoid, Beasts, Demons and Dragonkin)

Secondary:
Priest: Shackle Undead (Undead)
Druid: Entangling Roots (All)
Warlock: Enslave Demon (Demon)

Limited:
Death Knight: Chains of Ice (All)
Druid: Cyclone (All)
Mage: Frost Nova (All)
Death Knight: Hungering Cold (All)

There are many other things people can do to help control an area.  From a Hunters perspective I know them best.  Ice trap, Concussive, Scatter, can all slow people down. Distracting is a good way to get something off a healer and then FD near the tank hoping it gets picked up.

Not all crowd control is about stopping movement completely.  And some CC like Shackle and Roots can be extremely effective, just as good as freezing, when used on a melee mob whereas they become almost useless if used on caster mobs still in range.

Knowing the CC the classes behind you have will only help you.

Hope this helps some.