My Crawling Claw story

[Morlis]

So I have intentionally avoided buying the Crawling Claw because I didn't want to spend and arm (get it?) and a leg to obtain it. So I plugged away at archaeology hoping that it would come up, have done it off and on since Cataclysm was new.

I honestly hated the grind, before Pandaria came out, because you had to farm all the spots on the continent and hope one would fall in Uldum zone. So my times I did it then were few and far between.

Then pandaria came out and there was a new way to farm the pieces without having to set foot in Uldum. Hooray for trading in for the parts!! I still found the farming to be a bit tedious but still I could see results from every time I complete a piece in pandaria I could trade it in for parts from Tol'vir. Still not much effort was put into archaeology to obtain the claw.

My latest effort involved the farm in Halfhill. I farmed (literally) the Motes of Harmony every day and when I had a bunch of the spirits of harmony I would see the vendor that you can trade the spirits for various stuff (mostly crafting) and would purchase the Restored Artifacts which I then traded for the crated Tol'vir pieces.

This process is slow but saved me from having to traipse all over the continent doing archaeology. I was frustrated now and then when I would get an item that took 150 pieces to finish only to get an item that was either outdated or a mere plaything. The latest one I had to trudge through was something about a monkey's paw. I though here we go another 150 pieces for yet another inventory hogging trinket. Imagine my surprise when I finished it and got a CLAW!

So yeah I guess had I paid attention I might have put it together that the Paw would be the Claw. So for those still trying for the claw, if you want to try this I found it minimal work for the most part, a few minutes a day at the farm, then once a week or so I would turn in for the parts. You could even do it on multiple 90's if you were that interested. You just have to be 90 and have 600 arch to be able to use the crated Tol'vir pieces.

[Kpb321]

I had the same initial reaction when the Monkey Paw came up for me but I figured out that it must be the Crawling Claw before I actually completed it. I was actually flying around and doing the archeology by flying around. It wasn't too hard to hit most spots while doing my loop for the trainers and I have plenty of the regular pet food so I don't mind wasting a couple minutes.

[Maizing]

I had the same initial reaction when the Monkey Paw came up for me but I figured out that it must be the Crawling Claw before I actually completed it. I was actually flying around and doing the archeology by flying around. It wasn't too hard to hit most spots while doing my loop for the trainers and I have plenty of the regular pet food so I don't mind wasting a couple minutes.

LOL... same here. Initial disappointment, followed by excitement when I figured it out, then extra effort to get the rest of the pieces.

[Worgenbait]

When I do my circuit of the pet trainers, I usually just hit the Pandaria arch spots along the way. You get a minimum 4 that way, and likely more as they'll respawn along your route. Doesn't take long, as Pandarian arch spots are really small in comparison to the other ones.

And quite frankly, I don't know why people hate arch so much. Maybe it's just the fact I've done actual archeology as a hobby since I was a kid (no money to be made in doing it as a career), but I quite enjoy hunting for the bits and pieces and putting them together and seeing what I get. I have every arch achieve there is.

[Laraven]

There was a glitch with the "Lorewalker's Map" that you bought from Brann Bronzebeard. It would give you 2-4 Tol'vir sites just by zoning in and out on Uldum. All you had to do was have it in your bags for it to work. I don't know if this was a glitch or not, but I got my mount after only 2 hours. Which I had been trying for since Cata, with over 120 solves.

I don't know if this still works,or if it has been fixed.

[Azillero]

This pet still eludes me. I've been at archaeology since Cata and still no Claw (or Vial). I keep trying though, mostly doing the Pandaria trade-ins now, instead of traipsing all over Kalimdor (that really sucked). It's good to have goals in the game, though, so I'll keep at it.

@Worgenbait: As a professional archaeologist of 20 years, I can guarantee that there is money to be made doing archaeology. Not get-rich money, by any means, but a stable career nonetheless.

[Greenstar]

After the expansion hit, I did archaeology on an alt that has alchemy since I wanted the mount recipe as well, and I got to 87 just from doing arch. I finally got the claw and then just did the Shadowmoon Valley pet master daily until he hit 90. I might use your method to work on the mount recipe.

[Graven]

Minimal effort, but wow, doesn't it take absolutely ages? 16 motes a day equals 1.6 crates (let's say 15 fragments if we're being generous). That's like 3 days for a normal artifact, and like 8-10 days for a rare.

[Morlis]

Minimal effort, but wow, doesn't it take absolutely ages? 16 motes a day equals 1.6 crates (let's say 15 fragments if we're being generous). That's like 3 days for a normal artifact, and like 8-10 days for a rare.

You are correct it did take a while, but for me it beat spending hours chasing down dig sites. While I did get the occasional mote from doing other things the bulk of the motes I collected were from the farm. Also don't forget that from the crates you could also get the Tol'vir Hieroglyphic which is the equivalent of 12 fragments.

I spent days and days chasing down dig sites, but I found on those days I didn't get much else done. No pet dailies, nothing to improve my character, no jumping around on alts (I am a big fan of alts), etc. Once you max out Archaeology and you are max level, the grind has no other purpose other than getting the fragments. So for me the trade off was extending the time it took to get the pet and still get the satisfaction of feeling I accomplished something each day I played.

Nothing worse than hours and hours of playing WoW and nothing to show for it but a few doodads to sell to a vendor. For me that's the bottom line.

[Hoopie]

I just did archeology until I got it, leveled it to 25. Used it for awhile then sold it for 20k gold. Was good money

[Gromagrim]

Another quick and easy way to get motes is the Troves of the Thunder King scenario - head to Isle of Thunder, kill a rare or loot a chest and go to the sewer entrance. Can be done once a week.

Strategy inside the scenario is loot as many chests in the first room as possible. Jump up on the ledge at the side of the room and scoot around looking for ways to climb up the pillars for more chests. You can clear the first room within the allotted time, and only 1 or 2 chests require any additional items to get to.

[Morlis]

... Used it for awhile then sold it for 20k gold...

For me its not about the money, I am a collector, I just really dislike the tedious nature of archaeology. So it took me a while. The gist of my story though is that I had the right artifact and completed it without ever knowing that: Monkey Paw Artifact = Crawling Claw.

[Kenneloth]

I just did archeology until I got it, leveled it to 25. Used it for awhile then sold it for 20k gold. Was good money

Dude! Why? It's the most awesome pet there is