Ancient Amber

Ancient Amber is a self-immobilization toy from the Archaeology profession. When activated, your character freezes inside a massive chunk of amber, loses control, and stands in place for about five minutes, like a fly trapped in resin. The effect can be canceled manually at any time — right-clicking the buff icon in the buffs bar removes the "imprisonment" early.

The item was added in patch 4.4.0 as a rare artifact of the Fossil race. In patch 6.0.2 (Warlords of Draenor, October 2014), Ancient Amber moved into the Toy Box: from that point on the item no longer took up a bag slot and became available on all characters of the account.

Visually, the artifact is a massive block of petrified tree resin with a tiny humanoid figure visible inside it. The creature's outline trembles and blurs when you look closely. The artifact's description directly references this eerie detail: "The tiny humanoid figure imprisoned within this massive piece of amber is impossible to make out — its outline seems to tremble and blur even under the closest examination. The item instills a sense of unease in those who stare into it too long, as if over the passing millennia the fossil has soaked up some strange, otherworldly power."

• A unique visual gag. There is no other way in the game to turn yourself into a living exhibit — a figure frozen in amber. The toy is often used for jokes in capital cities, for "I'm here forever" screenshots in dungeons, and for Jurassic Park-style roleplay scenes.
• Long duration with the option to cancel. The effect lasts 5 minutes but is removed with a single click on the buff. You decide how long to stand as an "exhibit" — a second or the full five minutes.
• Usable at any level and in any location. Ancient Amber requires no campaigns, reputations, or max level. Once the artifact is solved, the toy works on any character of your account regardless of level and faction.
• Part of the toy collection. Ancient Amber increases your Toy Box counter and brings you closer to the meta-achievements Toying Around, Tons of Toys, and Remember to Share.
• Combines with farming other Fossil artifacts. The same Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor dig sites also yield fragments for the Fossilized Raptor, the Fossilized Hatchling, and a dozen other collectible artifacts. One route — several collection goals.

Ancient Amber is a rare artifact of the Fossil branch in Archaeology. It cannot be bought at the auction house, dropped by a mob, or earned from a quest: the only way is to personally dig up 100 Fossil fragments and solve the artifact in the Archaeology window. The Fossil race has no keystones that could replace some of the fragments — so all 100 units must be collected in full, with no discounts.

Step 1. Learn Archaeology

Archaeology is a secondary profession and does not take up one of the two primary profession slots. Any of your characters can learn it alongside two chosen trades. The minimum level to learn it is 20.

• Alliance: speak with Harrison Jones in Stormwind, in the library of the Old Town.
• Horde: speak with Belloc Brightblade in Orgrimmar.

After training, you will gain the "Archaeology" and "Survey" abilities. Skill-ups come from excavating dig sites on any continents. Each excavation yields fragments of the chosen race and portions of profession experience. In Midnight (12.0), Archaeology received no updates — all mechanics and the maximum skill of 950 remained the same as in Battle for Azeroth.

Step 2. Find Fossil Dig Sites

Fossil dig sites appear only in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor — on the two starting continents. On each continent four dig sites are active at once, and the proportion of Fossil sites among them is roughly equal to the other starting races (trolls, dwarves, night elves).

Eastern Kingdoms. Fossil dig sites occur in Wetlands, Duskwood, the Hillsbrad Foothills, the Swamp of Sorrows, the Eastern and Western Plaguelands, the Redridge Mountains, the Blasted Lands, the Burning Steppes, and the Northern Stranglethorn Vale.

Kalimdor. Fossil dig sites occur in Desolace, Tanaris, Un'Goro Crater, the Southern Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Thousand Needles, Durotar, the Dustwallow Marsh, and other starting zones of the continent.

Dig sites appear randomly — you cannot "reserve" a Fossil point. If there is currently no Fossil dig site on a continent, excavate any other points so that the dig sites "rotate" and the ones you need appear among the new ones.

Step 3. Collect 100 Fossil Fragments

Solving Ancient Amber requires 100 Fossil fragments. Each excavation of a Fossil point yields from 3 to 9 fragments, and a dig site itself consists of three dig points. On average you get 18–27 fragments from a single dig site, so reaching 100 units usually takes 4–6 full dig sites.

Key features of the Fossil race:

• No keystones. Unlike other races, the Fossils have no keystone of their own that would replace 12 fragments in the artifact. All 100 fragments must be collected in full.
• Fragment cap — 200. Once you reach 200 units, excavations stop yielding Fossil fragments until you solve at least one artifact. So hoarding "in reserve" is pointless — farm exactly as much as you need for the next solve.
• Access at any skill level. Fossil dig sites are available from the very start of leveling — skill 1 already lets you dig Fossils in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. This race has no thresholds like the tol'vir (450) or pandaren (525).

Step 4. Wait for the Project to Appear

The main difficulty is the randomness of the project. When you accumulate 100 fragments, the active "research project" in the Archaeology window is most often a common, not a rare artifact. For the "Ancient Amber" project to appear, you need to complete common Fossil projects one after another until the next one randomly turns out to be exactly the rare one you need. The chance of a rare project is fixed for each race (about 1% per solve) and does not depend on your actions — you cannot speed up the drop.

The sequence of actions repeats in a cycle:

1. Open the Archaeology window (by default through the professions interface).
2. If the active project is common, click "Solve" and take any artifact (fragments are spent, the skill grows).
3. Move on to the next project: it will change automatically.
4. If the project is rare and it is exactly "Ancient Amber", the "Solve" button will light up once you have 100 fragments. You click it — the toy appears in your bags and is automatically added to the Toy Box.

The Fossils have other collectible rewards among their rare artifacts too. So each rare solve is a lottery: sometimes Ancient Amber drops, sometimes another rare project, sometimes a common one. In the experience of collectors, reaching one specific rare solve takes on average 150–250 common projects, that is, many dozens of hours of farming. Some get lucky in 10 solves, some need 400+ — account for the variance.

• Effect: the character is encased in a chunk of amber and freezes in place.
• Duration: 5 minutes (can be canceled early with a right-click on the buff icon).
• Cooldown: 30 minutes. The cooldown is individual to the toy and is not shared with other toys.
• Cast time: 1 second.
• Activation in combat: no. The toy does not activate if you are in combat mode. Leave combat before using it.
• Movement: during the effect the character is fully immobilized. The camera stays under your control, but you cannot walk, jump, or attack.
• Where it works: in the open world, in capital cities, in dungeons, and in raids. The effect is visible to other players, so it is often used as a "prank" in public places.
• Behavior while flying. If you activate the toy while mounted or in flight, the character first dismounts and then freezes in amber on the ground. Flight is not preserved through the cast.