by Danny "Ralsu" Gourley
of Reckoning Guide and Atlas Bundle
October 7, 2008 - The biggest
obstacle to making a
quality strategy guide for a massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG)
is accounting for the frequent and major changes that developers push
out in what is an evolving game. Console games or simpler computer
games are usually static once they go gold, the last iteration prior to
release. By contrast MMOGs change many times and in drastic ways after
a product is purchased off the shelves.
Prima Games has been making strategy guides for a while now
and
understands the challenges of creating useful guides for MMOGs. So when
Prima Games set out to make their strategy guide and atlas for
href="http://warhammer.tentonhammer.com/">
style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer Online; Age of
Reckoning
(WAR), they wanted to make their product as fluid as the game it
covered. Trying to capitalize on the advantages of online gaming
networks such as Ten Ton Hammer, Prima developed both electronic and
print products with the most current up-to-gold information possible
and the opportunity to pay a one-time flat price for online updates to
their eGuides.
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The guide
gives readers the background story for every class. Image courtesy of
Prima Games.
Did Prima succeed in their goal to make their
style="font-style: italic;">WAR Guide and Atlas Bundle
useful for months to come? Does the addition of online updates make the
purchase worth the price? Prima did create a print product that has
value beyond the first changes that make the statistics in it obsolete,
and the online updates ensure that eGuide users can stay as current as
the
Prima website on the facts they need to know.
Philosophy
In addition to
the knowing the dual approach of print and electronic
information described above that Prima chose for their WAR bundle, it
is also worth
noting that Mythic wanted something different for the Prima guide, too.
Mythic suggested filling the book with lore and fun information that
would retain its appeal even after balances to the game made other
parts of the guide outdated.
The result of Prima's collaboration with Mythic is a guide
that is
very text-heavy. Races are not merely described with utilitarian bullet
points. The history, beliefs and struggles of each race appears in the
pages of the 335-page guide. Much of the text is written from the
perspective of the race or classed described. The few pictures are all
concept art instead of screen shots that could become obsolete with
changes to loot drops in the game. These elements--the lore-rich text,
the first-person writing, and the artists' renderings--combine to make
the book feel as much like a book of lore or a novel as a strategy
guide.
Meanwhile, the atlas is a very detailed primer on the
different maps in Warhammer
Online.
The first 10-15 pages dispense with the explanation of how to use the
maps contained in the 189-page atlas and outlines the strife between
the different races and factions. The remainder of the atlas presents a
practical how-to manual to each zone. A typical area appears on two
pages, with a full-page map on the left and a handful of screens and
concept art images with brief commentary on the right. The atlas marks
entry ports for each realm in realm-vs-realm (RvR) maps and gives brief
strategic advice.
Want to know how good the data in the guide is or how useful the
download service is?
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/45582">Continue to
page 2.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Game Page.
