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World of Warcraft Mastery
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Review
Updated on: 2/23/07
Dan West has been playing World of Warcraft since
beta. He has 20 different characters, and his deep knowledge of the
game and its many facets shows through in his guide. What you receive
when you purchase
World of Warcraft Mastery is a massive tome of information. More than
one guide, it's really 4 different guides, 315 pages in total, plus a
23-minute video to
help you get started. Dan also includes surprise bonuses with your
purchase which he seems to change from time to time as I can no longer
find the ones that originally came with my package on the downloads
page, and there are now new bonuses up in their place.
The one piece of
cautionary advice I have for you before you put your hard-earned money
down for this guide is this -- It really is geared more towards the
newer player
than anything else. If you already have a character that has reached
level 60 and
above, a lot of the information that you'll get out of World of
Warcraft
Mastery may not be new to you. The seasoned player can expect
to
get a little something out of this
guide, but those of you who want
315 pages of groundbreaking information will be disappointed.
That being said, the reason why this guide made my list of the
best Warcraft guides around is that for the new player, I haven't seen
one better. Doubly so if Warcraft happens to be your first MMORPG.
Below, you will find a review of each of the main sections of World of
Warcraft Mastery. Because of the nature of this guide, I've tried to
look at it from both the perspective of the new player and the Warcraft
addict.
Main Guide
Addict: For
you,
the new information here will be minimal. As a longtime player, this is
what I got out of it -- There's a list of sites with character name
generators that was fun
to play with. Had I found this guide earlier on in my Warcraft career,
I might now have a character named Grumbleclown. The Learning Hotkeys
and Functions
section had a nice list of keyboard shortcuts, some of which I'd
forgotten about, if I ever knew them at all. Ctrl-S toggling sound, for
example. The most fun thing I got out of this section was the
6-page, comprehensive list of emotes in the game. I didn't know that
/bleed, /bonk, or a host of others existed.
Leveling Guide
New Player:
The leveling guide will be of particular help to you, with tips about
how to successfully be either a casual player or a powerleveling
maniac. It will guide you through the various aspects of leveling, such
as speccing and respeccing your talent tree, when and how to grind
effectively, and dealing with gear. The Road Map
Leveling Chart on page 73 will tell you what general areas you want to
be in at
what level, and how much XP you'll need before you gain the next level.
Also, for the player who still doesn't know where all the
instances
are or what level you should be at to attempt them, the
Instance
Chart will prove useful.
Addict: The
leveling guide actually has some decent information in
it for you too. I found the Warp Speed Leveling section to be a fine
guide to general questing and grinding areas.
There were some nice grinding locations in there that I'd never tried,
and one that I
didn't even know existed. With emphasis on the grinding, I'd go so far
as to say that if you don't want to do quests at all, then this is the
guide to buy. As an added benefit, if you're concerned about tweaking
your character to maximize damage dealt and fine-tune
combat
strategies
for PVE or PVP, and you don't know how to create and analyze
a
combat log, as many people don't, you'll find out on page ten.
Gold
Making Guide
New Player:
This will prove to be a really nice
overview of the many different techniques for making gold in World of
Warcraft. It covers playing the auction house, grinding for a living,
trade skills, and several other gold-making formulas.
Addict: The
World
of Warcraft Mastery package will be fairly
disappointing if you buy it for advanced wealth producing systems. The
techniques will be too general for you, and if you've been
around long enough to reach level 60 and beyond, you shuold
know
all of them already. As far as
gold guides go, there are better choices out there.
Class
Guide
New Player:
You'll find this guide to be helpful in choosing a class that
you'll enjoy playing, and selecting
the best race for that class. It will tell you which talent tree you
may want
to focus on for PVE or for PVP. It will tell
you what role your character should be playing in groups, and what
attriibutes (Strength, Stamina, Agility, Intelligence, Spirit) you
should be focusing on when getting geared up. It also
recommends professions
for your character, and gives you effective attack
combinations for downing mobs quickly in the earlier levels.
Addict:
The
advanced player can still find some tips in this section. For example
-- I'd been playing for about a year when I decided to roll a Druid. I
knew the classes I'd played very well, but I'd never played a
character with a rage meter before, so when I got into
bear form, I never used the Enrage ability. This ability, I'd later
find out, would prove to be useful in getting a head start at building
up rage right before you attack a mob. This guide would have sped me
through
that whole learning curve. If you're rolling a new class that you have
no idea how to play, World of Warcraft Mastery could be helpful, as it
includes solid tips
for all classes.
Outland
Although this guide has been updated for The Burning Crusade, anyone
buying it primarily for an Outland tutorial will probably be
disappointed.
Conclusion
The World of Warcraft Mastery package is an absolute wealth of
information for new players. Its overall usefulness scales downward for
the
experienced player, though. This package does contain a good chart of
grinding
locations. If you're dead-set against questing at all costs, this may
be the leveling guide for you. Click
here for more information.
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