Over the next few
weeks,Ten Ton
Hammer will be taking a look at
several leveling guides. We'll be covering in-game paid leveling
guides, as well as some free guides available for use on the internet.
Every guide claims to be the fastest and the best, but which one really
IS the best, and which ones are just cheap scams? We intend to find
out. After we've reviewed them all, we'll have a comparison to see
exactly which leveling guide reigns supreme.
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Joe Iuliani takes
a look at the Zygor's paid leveling guide.
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Zygor's Guide
Website:
www.zygorguides.com
Type: One
time charge
Price: $50 USD
Reviewed By: Bluto
No, Zygor’s Guide is not a handbook to a variety of alien
probing
locations. It, in fact, is the self proclaimed
“best” of
the top four World of Warcraft guides. Not having tried the
other
top guides, I don’t know if I can support or deny their claim
of
being the “best”.
Unfortunately the version of the guide I used was from the end of 2008,
and according to the Zygor website there have been some significant
improvements since then. One of these improvements addressed a major
complaint of the guide. See more under “drawbacks”
The installation of the guide is not difficult. It works like
any
other standard add-on. The drawback for me is that I had just changed
to a Vista PC vs. an XP PC. I was hoping for some
instructions
with the guide, but alas I was on my own, nothing a quick Google search
couldn’t remedy. Let us all give thanks to Google for owning
the
entire internet. For those of you who purchase Zygor’s Guide,
it
now comes complete with a detailed installation video.
Overview
Once installed, the guide couldn’t be easier to
use.
There are only two settings that users must choose. The first is what
view of the guide they would like to use. The BIG guide
screen or
small guide screen. The BIG screen is way too intrusive to
play
with in my opinion, so stay small and stay focused. The second setting
affects your map. Users can choose to have either their current
objective marked on the map, or all objectives marked on the
map.
I personally toggled between the two, but for the most part just kept
the current objective setting selected. It makes the map much
less confusing.
Well you’re installed, you’ve chosen your setting
selections, now it’s time to head out and start
playing. I
used the guide as a Troll Shaman. The guide instantly attunes
itself to your starting zone, as well as the beginning class quests.
Zygor’s guide may more accurately be called a walk
thru. It
provides step by step progression. As you complete it step in
the
guide, the next step automatically advances. An arrow appears
beneath your character pointing you in the direction of your objective,
as well as the estimated distance. If this wasn’t
easy
enough for you, your objective is also marked with a dot on the maps. A
dot will appear on both the main map and your mini map in the corner.
To be honest, that really sums up the guide in its totality.
It
truly is a very simple and easy to use. The secret to the
guide
is economy of motion. By strategically choosing your hearth points and
the order in which players quest the guide removes a lot of wasted
wandering around time. The guide’s selection of
hearth
points cuts down on a lot of travel. A tremendous benefit during levels
1-30, the dark pre-mount days. Unfortunately the guide is not
perfect hence forth…
Drawbacks
- The use of the Auction House to complete quests.
There were
only three instances of this occurring, and in each three of them for
me there were no available items on the Auction House. It can
be
a little frustrating. Just skip those quests and move on. - Grinding, way too many times grinding was the
guide’s next
suggestion. I personally found that completely
unacceptable. There are so many quests in this game there
should
never be a reason to grind out experience anymore. Fear not, there is
good news for you folks. As of February 24, 2009 the Zygor forums have
stated that the update has removed all grinding from the guide. - Some of the suggested Wrath of the Lich King quests are
listed
solo quests, but they take a significant amount of time to
complete. Most notably any of the quests that required
controlling another mob to defeat your opponent. Sure you can solo
them, but it usually takes a couple of tries to get right. They just
don’t seem to worth the experience vs. the time invested.
This list may seem a little petty, but during the usage of the guide I
felt they deserved mention.
Be Aware of...
- Training: The guide will not tell you when to
train. This
is something a player needs to be aware of. Following this
guide
can cause a certain amount of tunnel vision. You certainly
don’t need to train at every level, but keep it in mind every
few
levels. Depending on your class your training locations are
limited. - Professions: As with training, the guide doesn’t
take into
account your profession progression. If you are a gatherer it
can
be extremely detrimental if you don’t keep your training in
line
with your zones. Don’t fall behind. Of course training and
leveling professions does take up a certain amount of time. - Rested XP: Always remember to log at those inns and cities
for
that rested XP bonus. It may not be a lot, but some is better than
nothing.
Time Trials
Zygor claims that players will level in seven days of game play. Their
homepage does have a nice screen shot of “proof” of
leveling. Forty Nine hours from levels 60-70, with a total time to 70
being 5 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes. Of course I would like to
point out that they leveled that time with a Warlock.
Warlocks
being one of the quickest leveling characters in game.
For comparison purposes I was fortunate enough to have another Horde
Shaman that had just hit level forty on another server. The
time
comparisons are as follows:
Without
Zygor’s Guide to 40: 5 days 3 hours 2
minutes
With Zygor’s
Guide to 40: 3 days, 6 hours, 10
minutes
Total Savings: About
35% less time.
Followed by these two times:
My total time to 70:
8 days, 12 hours, 40 minutes
My total time to 80:
11 days, 15 hours, 21 minutes
In all fairness to the guide, that ending time may be a little
skewed. There was more than one instance of me falling asleep
at
the keyboard only to wake up and find myself disconnected. I
don’t know how much time that added to the total.
I’m sure
more proficient players would get closer to that seven day promise, I
myself could not. Although a player new to World of Warcraft would have
the learning curve to cope with in addition to the pressures of
leveling.
In Closing
Zygor’s guide is an extremely useful and easy to
use
guide. I would recommend it to players who may be working on
a
second or third character. If you are new to the World of
Warcraft I would try to steer clear of the guide. It has a
tendency to remove some of the fun from the game. Take that
time
to read the quests and absorb some of Warcraft’s lore.
Zygor’s guide is a hardnosed fast paced trek to 80.
It’s essentially a solo guide removing the need for groups or
running dungeons, which are two major joys of playing any MMORPG. I
know there is major drive to achieve level 80 these days, but trust me
take your time getting there the first time. There are many
game
dynamics to learn prior to hitting that level cap.
So swing by the Zygor website and take a peek at the
improvements. Additionally they have nice forum for users
that
may answer some additional questions folks may have.
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