Warning: long post
So since blizz is taking a break from the profession in shadowlands, added to the fact (at least what wowhead says) is that they have been wanting to get rid of archeology since cata. So this is to discuss the systems positives, its mostly negative aspects, and how they could keep the profession in the game by reworking it.
Positives:
Cosmetics and rares. That’s it, but the toys and mounts that come from the profession are cool and unique. It is awesome to see what has come from the profession and probably why id like to see the profession changed to be an engaging profession instead of this lame game of running around.
Bad:
The system of discovering fragments: It is actually so poorly made one has to assume it was hastily thrown together and given the slap of approval. How its bad includes as is not limited to, being told by the scope to leave the dig area, being told to leave a spot then being told to go back on the same fragment, zigzagging all the way across the dig-site, and the fact its a short hand fetch quest every single dig. Its not completely awful and has drastically improved over the course of expacs, such as the inclusion of mobs that can spawn to give more fragments, the tightening of zones to dig, and the highlight of legion archeology where it tightened focus around specific factions and weekly quests you could opt into have made this system go from eye clawing frustrating to minorly frustrating. The tightening of distance between different dig zones also has helped immensely. Yet in older factions where most players are wanting to focus because of the mounts and wider array of obtainable rares no actual attempts at improving these situations have been made
The ugly:
Finished factions: The fact a player cannot black list factions they have completed all the rare solves is beyond frustrating. Many years ago in patch 4.1 blizz changed it where once you finished all of a factions rare solves it drastically reduced the chance for that faction to pop up as a potential dig site. A simple discussion with anyone farming Tol’vir by scouring Kalimdor will be able to tell you how often that faction pops up for dig sites. Which is a shame because blizz has shown propensity in allowing the player to choose which faction they desire to solve for with the Mantid Locator in MoP yet somehow refuse to retroactively implement that function for other factions. Either of these two solutions would help immensely in the grind, so that the player wouldn’t feel so helpless
Solves: The rng of is among the worst WoW has to offer. Granted you are sure to get a rare from the faction within the first 10 solves for each faction but if you aren’t lucky with the rare you wanted it can take upwards of 1.5k solves. Legion did this best by just forgoing rng for its rares and attaching it to weekly quests that can be time gatey but compared to the typical solve pattern for archeology is a breath of fresh air. If the player doesn’t desire the weekly reward from archeology they can leave with no sweat off their back. No need to force through it to maybe get the next reward. The player is free to go and come back next week to put in effort and find reward.
So what are some ways blizz can remedy archeology?
Simple fixes:
A simple and extremely low effort change they could make is giving the player a way of trading resources for archeology fragments. No, not gold. The resources would be those from former expansions that just accumulate into the millions. These resources have no actual real spenders for them in their expac, and could find a cozy home aiding players who have accumulated far too many to actually put that number to zero, or close to it. Even if this was limited to a yearly holiday like family history month
OR
Blacklisting / choosing what faction they want to dig for like with the mantid locator.
A more involved fix.
In bfa there is a quest where you use a bot to blast sand away from an archeology site which sadly did not innovate archeology in WoW. However this can be used as the basis for a new system. Change each current dig-site to a static dig-site where once completed it, its gone. The result of each dig-site is random but a fixed random for each player. By doing this there is a finish line, even in the worst of luck scenarios. While using the bot to clear sites, it can be a mix of whack-a-mole where certain swirls will pop up that help quicken the pace, enemies being aggroed who try and regress the progress done, and blasting lasers with the bot to clear debris too heavy for its vacuum.
Once done with the site it reveals if it is a common or a rare drop. For commons all can either be sold or used to give used in some with with the bot to boost dig site completion speed
As for rares when discovered the rare must be solved like a puzzle. Each rare would have its own puzzle to it. Like the scepter of Azj’aqir would have to be fit back together, or the puzzle box of Yogg-saron could be a gem that when used teleports you to an infinity labyrinth similar to that for the lucid nightmare mount. Giving each rare a puzzle to solve helps to engage the player more and feel accomplished. It can also be used as a pseudo testing ground for future secret-finder puzzles. These puzzles are not one time uses and could be accessed again by talking to an archeology trainer.
As for leveling the profession, players would keep their current archeology level but scaled down to the new level system and rare finds. Those with all the rares for factions could only find rares from the new static sites, but if they wanted to experience the puzzles, they could go to the trainer as is mention in the previous section.
For those new to archeology the max level would be compressed like they have done with every other profession and as the player levels up their archeology they are able to see new archeology dig sites, up until slightly lower level than max where all sites would be visible. The higher the archeologists level would also allow them to get better upgrades for the bot used during the digs.
I know its a long post, but thanks for reading.
TL:DR blizz typical rng is awful, especially in archeology. A controlled rng with a max range of attempts would help open it to more players. Making it a more engaging mini game would broaden its appeal.