by Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

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An example
of a map from the guide. Image courtesy of Prima Games.

Information in the Bundle


Three weeks after they were published, the hard copy of the guide has
fairly current, solid information. While I would argue that gamers can
get all of the information on the classes of WAR that they need href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/war/class/">right here
at Ten Ton Hammer, owners of the Prima guide would have the luxury of
thumbing through the spells tables offered in the guide while logged
into WAR without bogging down their machine with an Alt + Tab to access
the Internet. Or perhaps a gamer who is looking for a little reading
material on WAR for a road trip or bathroom break would appreciate the
hard copy. The copious lore
entries in the guide are very worthwhile. Six months from now, the lore
may be the only thing worth reading in the hard copy.

The contents of the atlas are far more likely to retain their
relevancy even through changes, and the entries are geared more for
quick access during gameplay. Again, I would insist that the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/war/rvr">Ten Ton Hammer
RvR guides will be the most current information found on WAR,
but the atlas has the added benefit of being in hand for quick
reference in the middle of a battle.

Both the guide and the atlas show signs of quality editing.
Readers will find few typos or erroneous entries. The bundle will be a
great purchase for the Warhammer fanatic who will appreciate the lore
in the guide and the maps in the atlas. Gamers who want a guide to the
top and don't care for lore should only get the atlas.

The Electronic
Updates

Players who choose to buy the eGuide version of the style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer Online Guide and Atlas
Bundle will have the option to purchase the Extended
Download Service (EDS) at the same time for only $2.99 more. Paying the
fee for the EDS ensures that the customer can download every update
Prima Games makes to the books. It does not appear that consumers can
purchase the EDS with hard copies of the bundle, and the Prima website
indicates that EDS must be purchased along with the eGuide, making it
sound as thought buying the service after the fact is impossible.

Without a doubt, the EDS purchase is a must to anyone buying
the eGuides. In fact, EDS is the whole reason a guide for an MMOG you
plan to play more than six months after launch can even be considered a
worthwhile expense. The sad thing is that customers lose the benefits
of the hard copy of the book, which is an impressive tome of lore
passed on from Mythic. Similarly, one of the best features of the atlas
is the ability to have it on-hand during gameplay. Gamers may find
themselves looking to print the needed portions of the electronic
version of the atlas so that they can have the maps on their physical
desktops while gaming instead of having to switch over to their virtual
desktops.

The good news is that Prima plans to break down some of the
bits of lore in the eGuide into separate eGuides. A tabletop Warhammer
player who is a Greenskin until death can get only the eGuide that
covers the struggle of Dwarfs vs. Greenskin. At publishing time for
this review, the links on the Prima site to the smaller portions of the
eGuide all led to the page for the full eGuide. Players who love their
lore should keep an eye on this, as it may change.

All in all, Prima Games is taking a necessary step forward
with strategy guides for the Warhammer
Online Guide and Atlas Bundle. The massive amount of lore
packed into the guide makes a hard copy purchase of it a good gift for
Warhammer lore fans even after the statistics inside become outdated.
The hard copy atlas is a great tool to have at the computer while
playing. The eGuides are a terrific way to keep the purchase useful for
the long haul with the addition of the EDS purchase.

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