First off, I apologize if this has been already confirmed to be in the pipeline at some point, but I thought I'd throw out my thoughts on it...
After taking a look at ESO's new Antiquities system & remembering how VR has said Fishing is going to be very involved & well worth picking up, I firmly believe something similar would fit very well in Pantheon.
Basically, I think it would be cool to have a profession that involves searching for artifacts (to sell for money, learn lore about a race, and so on). The more valuable artifacts could be located in more dangerous areas, and maybe some artifacts could even be the key to unlocking say for instance, some of the Epic spells for certian classes. Still others might trigger Perception quests, or be dangerous or cursed somehow.
It's already been stated that the devs want this game to feel like an immersive experience that's not necessarily driven by going where a blinking icon on your map tells you to go, and so something like this would give players another reason to participate in high risk, high reward exploration - and tag along with a group even if they don't necessarily have a Perception quest pointing them towards that part of the zone per se.
I actually like treasure hunting idea.... could be fun to lol up with friends and have adventures.... but it shouldn't be easy...
I would also like to see a nod back to ultima online were you found a treasure map from fishing.... then go have an adventure that spawns when you get close....
Plus it doesn't always have to be treasure... like you said it could start a quest for a spell....or lore... or perception quests...i think it would also be another way to build up salvage....find stuff and then break them down for crafters....
Artifacts would be cool as well
Adventurers are treasure hunters by default. We know mobs possess things we want so we go out, kill them, and take it their treasure. Done.
Could be akin to the other resource gathering crafting support skills/activities. I wouldn't want to see valuable and instantly usable gear just hanging about on the map like a mining node, but collectables and crafting resources that are discoverable and retrievable based on an 'archaeology' skill in addition to mining/harvesting/foresting/etc would be fine.
As I type this I realise there already are plans for something similar, if I recall correctly...
Haven't heard much recently, but it was referred to on a couple of streams and possibly elsewhere... wracking my brain to try and remember... I want to say... Scavenging?
Just a matter of making 'things' that would ordinarily just be background - crates, barrels, etc - occasionally be Scavengable. I believe it was intended as one of the ways to gather crafting materials.
Standard resource gathering from nodes, scavenging from found containers and I think there was another planned which was... erm... what's the word for breaking something into parts for re-use? Like cannibalise or recycle, but it wasn't that... Can't remember... I'm getting old... Ah! Salvage!... I think...
Anyway, I suppose scavenging and the concept of archaeology would be very similar so maybe get rolled up? Or perhaps scavenging would be for crafting materials and archaeology for collectables? One's Keeper/Perception skill could lead to places where scavenging for archaeological finds might be successful.
I've quite enjoyed similar things in the past. Harmless and pretty easy to develop. Would encourage exploration and could be immersive. Yeah, why not?
((Adventurers are treasure hunters by default. We know mobs possess things we want so we go out, kill them, and take it their treasure. Done.))
Quite true. As an old paladin explained once - an enemy is evil if it gives experience or treasure.
I have no problem with the concept of treasure hunting if it doesn't violate what has become Dorotea's primary guiding principle. Get the show on the road with no delays for minor improvements. Delay only for the critical things - having a world and a game that aren't too buggy or incomplete and that are attractive to players at launch. Get subscriptions and investors. Add anything that is nice but not critical in an expansion (which will also increase revenue later since it will make the expansion more appealing).
As far as we know, scavenging is still a game feature.
For those who might not know or remember: Scavenging is essentially a type of gathering system, where there will be objects that spawn in monster lairs and NPC camps that you can interact with to get something. For example, if you beat the bandits in the bandit camp, you might find an interactable bag there. If you rummage through that bag you'll get some things - maybe a useful item or piece of equipment, or maybe some crafting materials, or maybe something else. The primary purpose for the system (as it was originally explained) was to promote adventurers paying attention to the environment, as well as to make adventuring a viable source of crafting materials (when combined with salvaging), alongside traditional gathering - which would enable traditional gathering nodes to be a little more rare or special than they are in most games as well.
With that in mind, if it were up to me, I would accomplish "treasure hunting" by using scavenging as the base system. On those scavenging tables, you might find "interesting" things - like fragments of a treasure map, or maybe odd lore-related items. These, in turn, could be expanded: Collect enough treasure map fragments and you can start to piece together a location, go there, and maybe you're perceptive enough to find the treasure (which itself might be a higher-value scavenging node). Collect and study those lore items to raise a lore skill, which might over time allow you to more easily identify dispositions for a type of NPC, or to understand non-obvious weaknesses).
Love the idea of treasure hunting and archeology. Would be cool to see a lot of different non-combat skills like this, such as surveying (to get maps for minerals/ore) or gardening, etc. Might be best to dive deep into these in a couple expansions though. Should be plenty to do at initial launch, and these could create some new replayability of older zones down the road.
I like this idea, but it needs to be done right to really feel like more than just regular looting / treasure finding. Most treasure should be hidden from view or indistinguishable from all the other clutter and it would take a high enough skill to see it. Some treasure would require you have an ancient scroll / treasure map and the skill to read it. To avoid having blinking/glowing objects, the scroll / map could show you the specific symbol / rune marking the treasure and you would have to actually look for it. If your skill isn't high enough when trying to get the treasure, you can destroy it or set off a trap.
To really make it interesting, imagine if there were two opposing sides to this: Archeologist and Looter.
Archeologist:
They are the Indiana Jones types and will recover artifacts intact and will sell them to city officials / scholars / letitimate places. They will be rewarded with moderate coin and a mild, long-lasting buff (that's related the magic essense of the item). Because they don't damage artifacts, it takes them longer to remove items and they have more limited tools. They also get paid less than Looters, but they can learn lore and gain favor with NPCs that can provide treasure maps and information. If they return an artifact back to the racial city from which it originated, they will earn favor with that race.
Looter:
These are the grave robbers. They smash their way to remove items and then sell them to black market vendors or destroy the artifact to get it's magic essense (something that can be used in crafting to provide a buff). If they are caught in possession of a stolen artifact, they will lose faction with the city and no longer be welcome. (Passing within 10 feet of a city official / guard / scholar / trainer / etc triggers this). They get more immediate benifit from stealing and selling, but they don't learn lore or information and have to buy their maps on the black market. Over time, the number of artifacts available to them should slowly diminish to reflect them taking and destroying them. The ability to destroy rare artifacts for crafting components should make for an interesing black market economy.