Prima Strategy Guide - Worth it?

Hey all...

I started playing GW shortly after it came out, but quickly lost interest. It wasn't that GW was bad or anything, it was just that I'm already into WoW and FFXI and my mind simply wouldn't stretch itself around a new game.

I recently saw an ad for a Prima Strat guide for GW that (I think) just came out. It sounds pretty good ...

I'm just wondering - is it worth the $30?

(This is obviously an opinion question - any opinions would be appreciated)

No, its not.

First of all, you should never waste any money on guide when you have the internet (only exception being a really artsy guide with lots of exclusive artwork).

Second, the information on it is probably already outdated since the last 2 patches, and you'll just be wasting you're money on wrong information.

Third, don't ever buy a guide when you have the internet.

I have the internet, yes. I have a laptop right next to my gaming PC... But looking stuff up on the internet is great AFTER you get the hang of the game.

I say the same thing to people about FFXI - everything's on the internet. But when I was a newbie the strat guide was invaluable. BUT - I got the strat guide when I was a WoW newbie, and I almost never looked at it at all ...

So ... Without saying "just use the internet" (because I did find this forum, didn't I?) is the strat guide good for a new player?

Well, it may provide some basic helpful things like what quests to do, where to go, what skills there are, what weapons there are, etc, but information like that is not worth 30 dollars. The devs made this game to be fairly straight forward and most of the times there will be an arrow pointing to where you need to go. Skills are introduced slowly, and with attribute reset, you'll never fear having made a wrong decision on your build. If you have 30 dollars to blow, then go ahead and buy it. However, since you found this forum, you can easily find anything you want to know about the game here by using the search function. If you can't find it, just ask the question here, and it'll probably be answered within a couple minutes.

I got the e-guide from Prima and its only $15 plus they will update it as the game changes with patches. I like it because I dont have to sort through 300 posts that have my search string in it just to find the one thing I needed.

I like it, but that's just me. I love having the pull out map beside my comp, and having the minimaps in the guide for the coop missions to show me through them without having to minimize GW (which makes my computer grumpy). but, I was willing to pay $30 (Canadian) for it.

Yeah, pretty much you are paying 30 dollars for a printout of most of the information you need which is available online.

I paid $14 for it on amazon. Where are you guys getting $30? Anyhoo... a poster sized map is cool. Having all the skills and where you can get them is cool. Having all the quests listed for you is cool. Worth $14? It depends on what you can get for $14. In California here it will barely get you a pizza. It won't buy you a bottle of wine. In Ethiopia it might feed a family for a month. Price is all relative.

Got the Eguide. Its nice to be able to search a collector and find out exactly where he is and what he wants. In fact its nice to be able to search anything in the game and not have to sift through different sites.

nothing compares to it online for listing which skills can be quested

I found it worthwhile

14 $ for a PDF file?!!?? Come on!! What good is that, unless you empty out your printer cartridges printing it??!!

The small mini PDF they allowed us to download/preview seesm to me it would be better to buy the physical book -- unless you just WANT to spend 14$ for a 224 page PDF file. Yeah, you can search it, bookmark it --- but 14$ for a PDF file?!

Preference I guess. I supposed the so called updates are what make it "relevant". But how often are the updates?

From Prima's site:
"Prima may release an updated eguide that reflects these changes."

But still 14$ for a PDF file??

I was going to buy the E-Guide BUT when i read that each additional update is 10$ i decided to go with paper back

I bought the paperback strat guide even tho it doesn't tell u where all the quest are it tells u great amount of information on class's and skills..where the collectors are, armor amounts, pet stats, henchmen.. and the map is great, it tells u where the boss's are if ur lookin for a skill to cap as well. like EXACT locations

Yeah u can find all the info online, but having something to read while ur bored waiting on a mission or goin out and just need something to read its a great guide to bring.

I dont think its worth it, I dont think any guide is. But I guess if you find these types of games challenging maybe it would be a good idea. The thing is, its easy to find any information you need with the net, or with players ingame. Why pay for something you just dont need?

While I wouldn't buy this, I would like to see all the skill quest locations. Is there somewhere on the internet that list these?

I bought the book (both my husband and I use it) and find it usefull. I like being able to look up where to get the skills I want, not that I mind doing it the good old fashioned way too, but there have been a couple of skills that we have looked all over for and just couldnt find, that is where the book comes in handy. Mainly we got it for the maps. I like to explore, and when I think I am dont in an area I look at the map to double check, and there have been a couple of times that there will be a corner I have missed.

Ist off, i dont know where you find this strategy for 30$...anywhere in the US its 19.99, and if your not in the US (sorry about your luck). The Guild Wars Official Game Guide is a must have for any GW Hardcore player. I use the internet, this forum and the Guide as a quick reference to maps, what max dam on all the weapons are, (so i know what to keep and what to salvage). My favorite part about the book, is the Class Breakdowns, tells what mergers work, and dont work. Skill listing for every class is a bonus, right there so when im tryn to cap an elite spell i can open the book, read what spell it is, what it does so i can equip it or not. Also tells you what drops monsterous fangs, lists all weapons and bonuses, what materials craft into what with a salvage kit. There is SO much info jammed into 225 pages. Its mostly acurate on what things cost, cept for the dye section..but heck--that fluxuates everyday. If your the type of person that wants to know stuff like "the Horn bow has a range of 142 feet" or how damage is applied at different armor levels or How Divine Favor works, then yeah..you want this book. Yes a lot of info is on the web...but this book takes 80% less time to find, its more like a cross reference guide (or a code book for GW). I use the Strategy Guide every day. The 3 foot x 4 foot wall poster is great for planning where your guild will be on saturady afternoon. Looking at the size of this book, and the quality of print, im saying 19.99 is very reasonable for this book. I dont know who has to pay 30 for it, because its 12.99 euro. So you might want to fed-x it from someplace cheaper.

PS--This is not a picture book, its an info book. The picture book came with the collectors Edition and was much smaller.

I bought it and I love it. It has a few short comings and type-o's but other than that I find it invaluable. One thing that did bug me though was it listed the skills "Meteor" and "Fire Attunement" as being capturable in the "Kryta - The Wilds" mission. Now I'm not saying they aren't there, but when I looked for them all I could find for a skill was "Rust". And the guide has it listed as only being obtainable at a vendor in Port Sledge. I'm confused.

I suppose my query to those naysaying the guide (and I am one of them) is: would you rationalize paying for the guide if it were bound with paper and glue rather than 1s and 0s?

Personally, I enjoy getting game guides, even if they're made obsolete after a patch or two.
-- Scaper-X

I think it is worth what I paid for it ($20us). Guess that makes me in the minority. I have found the maps have helped me at times. I do agree you can minimize the game and do a search but I find having the printed guide before me more useful. I do think the printed guide will be dated as changes are made and the online guide can be updated as needed so in the long run the e-guide might be of better use. I think though the devlopers should take time to give the guide inside info on what is really going on with some items/equipment/pets etc.

Judge for yourself. Prima got a large preview on their site:

http://estore.primagames.com/eguide_...?prodid=NC2100

Click:

If im paying $15 for a PDF, the least they can do is not force me to print it out to be able to view it WHERE I WANT.

they are there.. there is a boss towards the ends that spawns different skills, so when you go through it he might use Curse magic and not Fire so you cant caputer it from him at that time. you have to go back through it and hope he spawns as a fire Mage and it will be available

I got the guide when it came out. It's not a necessary buy to get through the game but I have found it help at times, but I have also found it annoying with some of the errors I have noticed. The errors are not game breakers, it's various collectors listed to be in a certain area who does not exist. The quest rewards pages were not put together correctly, for many of the skills are listed under Mesmer and Necromancer when they are for the other classes. However, the maps have been quite helpful and the mission sheets are great for when you get stuck on a mission or really want to get the bonus and don't want to wander around the whole map trying to figure out how to trigger it. If you have to skimp and save your pennies to spend the $19.99 to buy the book, use the internet. If that $20 bucks isn't much to you get the book, there is some good information about classes and what attributes to raise to make the most out of that ELMO or NEMO or whatever your combo is.

Not exactly true, to be honest. There is a lot of convenience in having a guide next to you that you can look through while playing, rather than having to continuously switch and search guru

As for whether the guide is worth it, well... Yes and no. There is a lot of information in the guide that's just plain basically redundant. The first 60 pages or so are just descriptions of the character classes and of the skills. I KNOW what the character classes do, and that's just useless info, although it IS handy to have full lists of skills, including elites.

However, there are maps of all the areas (quite handy in the desert when you're trying to find something), lists of all the collector's, names of all the bosses who have elite skills etc.
The full color map is quite useful too.

30 dollars, I'd say no, I bought mine for 20, which is pretty decent for what it offers.

Creston

Fire Attunement was kinda in kryta but in fishers haven

Although guide itself is mostly outdated, many info are still good. I have found the use of many skills that I didn't pay any attention before, just because it's more convenient to look at a book and compare different skills. And collectors info, though none of their locations is given, by their names alone and with some on-line searching, I'm able to find out where they're and what they're giving. So for me it's worth it.

I saw the guide at the store and I think the most useful part may be how each mission's monster make up is shown. So you can figure out what kind of enemies are in the mission and plan your party build accordingly. Ex: Lots of warriors/rangers monsters? Get a Necro.

I would say to all the new players to GW/MMORPG world, that the strategy guide is an invaluable tool to help you get the feel for the game. It is going to offer you some information that, while it is on the internet somewhwere, it is compiled into one spot.

Trust me, I'm a noob to the whole GW world, and I found this resource invaluable.

Basicially there is nothing in the guide you can't find out for free online.

One of my guildies bought it ... and stated 'it doesn't really contain anything on collector's in depth like item location on map etc' which is really unfortunate as that was the reason he bought it. So he wasted his money. As stated above you can findmost of the information ... ie. weapon speeds, skill info, walkthrough of missions and bonuses on the net.

It's not worth the money (at least at this point in time), unless you're a completionist or OCD (like me) about those things. The guide is riddled with factual errors and omissions as it seems it was based a lot on the beta events than when the game was released. You'll find a lot of fan sites have better organization for the info, and it'll be correct way more often than the guide currently is.

Is it just me, or does this type of thing seem to be the norm in guides (and software for that matter)? I can't remember the last guide I bought, be it from Prima, BradyGames, or others, that actually supplied correct and useful information for a game (this dates back to the Stronghold and Total War originals).

More and more it seems that software developers and guide publishers simply want to get the product out ASAP, no matter how many bugs it may contain - the attitude of "sell, then patch" seems to be the norm in this industry, and this is what's going to kill any decent software releases in the future. After all, who wants to buy a product the day of release, and need to download a patch for it even before they reach their front door?

This is just poor business practice all around. The gaming industry really needs to clean up its act.

Hanok Odbrook
Real Millennium Group Guild
http://www.realmillenniumgroup.com/guild.html
Truth * Knowledge * Peace

I agree with you, however I was only trying to speak to someone who has never done any MMORPGs. I was a fish out of water when I started playing GW. If hadn't been for some helpful individuals, a good friend, and the guide, I would have never seen how in depth and involved this game really is. While it isn't the most accurate or in depth, it would be extremely helpful for players new to online gaming in general, not to mention GW.

i have it.

it's pretty good.

useful.

useful maps.

skills portion for each - not bad.

quick/ez to flip thru.

my own conclusion: useful (for me)

(and the bonus is: i got it onsale )