Official WOW Strategy Guide?

[nobbie]

Is the "Official WOw Strategy Guide" (by Brady Games, 384 pages) useful and worth the price, or is it just "nice to have"?

[FoxBat]

I'd think the anwser this crew would give would be obvious. :P

[WarLocke]

1) I don't think any true Lurker would actually suggest buying a strategy guide. B)

2) Strategy guides are usually printed a while before a game is released, and often are out of date to begin with. It's even worse with MMORPGs which are continually changing. I've already spotted inaccurate stuff in the WoW manual!

[Roane]

For this sort of game, the information on the fan sites usually surpasses the strategy guide in quality and depth before release even hits.

[stabby]

I bought the thing because I like supporting the boys at Penny Arcade, and they have a number of strips in it. A capsule review:

Pros:
Penny Arcade strips are funny.
The maps/quest info section is kind of handy, as far as knowing where to look for everyone.
It provides solid advice and a decent glossary of terms for those new to MMOGs.
The list of crafting recipes is decent.

Cons:
Kind of pricey for what you get.
Most every bit of info found within is more easily located at Thottbot or other community sites.
A lot of the info contained within is out of date -- their paladin listing is especially screwy, with the skills being pre-revision, but the talents reflecting post-revision.
Editing mistakes abound, annoying the more cantankerously grammatical among us.
The introductory sections don't hold a lot of information that MMOG veterans would find of use, beyond stuff you could easily find in the manual.

Overall: a decent buy if you're a Penny Arcade fan, a newbie to MMOGs and have money to spare; otherwise, give it a miss.

[nobbie]

I think I'm going to buy the guide anyway, if only for the nice layout and images, and to support Blizzard and its great artists ;)

[Sabra]

I bought it, even though I know it will be a basic waste. I have a decent amount of expendable income too. The best info will come from here. I just happen to like to buy what I view as "the whole thing."

[nobbie]

I just saw this funny Penny Arcade comic about "Death and Rebirth" in WOW, which is in the WOW Strategy Guide :lol:

LINK: http://www.blizzard.com/books/brady/images/page2.jpg

[nobbie]

I have now ordered the (English language) "World of WarCraft" Brady Games guide from Amazon.co.uk last week and find it actually well done. It has the size of a warehouse catalogue (430 pages, format DIN A4) and a very good, comprehensive layout with lots of information, (actually useful) tips, tricks, all kind of game tables, quest overviews, maps, and more. The print and paper quality are very good making the abundance of (good) in-game screenshots and the funny WOW Penny Arcade comics a pleasure to look at. Sure, some of the game tables are not quite up to date anymore (the data is from the U.S. Open Beta), but this is normal and fine with me because Brady Games offer the actual data as PDF file downloads on their website. Very helpful is the nearly complete game features overview in the guide. If you wanted to collect that mass of information using the known web resources, it'd be quite a task and you'd still hardly be able to find and store it that comprehensively structured.
From all Blizzard guides I've seen so far, incl. the rather well done WarCraft III 'Reign of Chaos' and 'Frozen Throne' guide, this one is the best. If you, like me, are the type who likes to plan your basic strategies with a cup of tea away from the computer, it's definitely worth the 20-25 bucks. 4.5 stars out of 5 (because some things can always be made better ;))