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"What’s a World of Warcraft Strategy Guide?", you may be wondering. As it turns out, this strategy guide by Killer Guides revolves around pretty elementary concepts of the game. Clearly not something for the experienced level 60 player, the first 45 pages only cover the basics. Such as: resting, combat, death, experience and races.
The next chapter dedicates a few pages to each class, briefly talking about "basics", "builds", "recommended tradeskills", "spells & abilities", "tips" and "suggested items". The problem with addressing all classes "in one fell swoop", is it won’t be very detailed. This ebook would need 500+ pages to really be able to say something worthwhile about the classes for both beginner and elite. Apparently, the author chose to write it with the beginner in mind.
There are sections of similar quality on the subjects of trade skills, making money and an "early walkthrough".
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think this information is valuable, even essential, for a beginner. There’s a lot to absorb and understand about the way the game works. And the tips given in the guide will definitely help. The reason I’m still not ecstatic about the World of Warcraft Strategy Guide, is that most of the information is freely available over at WorldOfWarcraft.com. Not everything, but much of it.
Instead of paraphrasing Blizzard’s game guide, I would have liked to see more original content. I think a strategy guide for World Of Warcraft is a great idea, but it should be all about little-known strategies for succeeding in PvP, the auction house, raids, instances, trade skills, gameplay tactics for every class, UI mods etc. The only chapters approaching that standard were the ones on classes and making gold.
After reading through it, I’m left wondering "Who is this guide for?" I guess the answer is: "For the beginner who wants to learn the basics, and just get a grip on how the world of warcraft really works."
That being said, there is no real room to grow with this guide. Once you "get it", you won’t need the guide anymore. It could act as a reference when starting an alt, but not likely.
Besides, the guide was last updated in April 2005. There have been a lot of game updates since then, all the way from 1.4 to 1.11 to give you an idea. As a result, some of the information in the guide is outdated. But more than that, it’s incomplete. With all the new additional features coming out in every patch, an update is really warranted.
Other things I want to point out: The suggested items in the classes section are really mundane, hardly addressing end-game gear at all. And how could it be addressed, considering so many items have been added since April 2005? I also missed map coordinates for the "early walkthrough", so you will still have to look up the quests at thottbot if indeed you want a walkthrough worthy of its name.
I’m going to give this guide 6 out of 10 stars. And only with the caveat that it’s a beginners guide and experienced players should look elsewhere for WoW strategies. Even so, you’re better off with the World Of Warcraft Mastery Guide if you want to master the basics. Click here to get the World Of Warcraft Strategy Guide by Killer Guides.
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