Warhammer Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

by Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

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	Title:	Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Guide and Atlas Bundle
	Author:	Mike Searle
	Publisher:	Prima Games, 2008
	Price:	$34.99 (US)

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 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.

The guide gives readers the background story for every class. Image courtesy of Prima Games.

Did Prima succeed in their goal to make their 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lore and fun information that would retain its appeal even after balances to the game made other parts of the guide outdated.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? Continue to page 2.