Before I begin, let me make it clear that the advertising you see on this site is done by Google AdSense. I have no control over them. This means that if you’re looking at an ad for WoW, I did not put it there.
Second, this isn’t a review of the guides themselves. I’ve only used two, one for each faction, so I can’t give a comparison about which is more effective. The purpose of this article is to inform you of what to expect in case you’re thinking of purchasing a copy. With that said, here’s a list of what you’ll usually get.
1. Promise of leveling from 1-70 in X days.
The number of days specified here is equal to what’s displayed when you type the in-game command “/played”. This means that if you played an hour per day for five days, you’ll get 5 hours as a response from the /played command. Obviously, playing only that much won’t get you to level 70.
2. No cheats or hacks.
This is true, thankfully. Some guides usually include addons, but that’s it. It is possible to level from 1-70 in less than five real-life days, but you’ll need to be glued to your computer to achieve it. The guides simply tell you where to go, which NPCs to go to and what quests to perform. To keep track of your progress, they’ll occasionally tell you what level you should be in before you can move on.
3. Really fast leveling.
This is true, but before you purchase it’s important to remember that you have to be completely familiar with how the game works. Certain addons, like those that provide coordinates, are a must. The degree of spoon-feeding depends with each guide, but it is absolutely necessary for you to be familiar with the game in order for them to work well. Also, if you follow the guides to the letter, expect to skip on working on your professions. The emphasis on leveling quickly is no joke, so don’t count on doing anything else other than that.
4. Hunter preferences.
The two guides that I used were made by people who played as hunters. Think of the advantages of a hunter (or the disadvantages of NOT being one) and you can probably guess where this is headed. It is one of the easiest, if not the easiest, class to play in WoW. For example, the guides will tell you to “kill X mobs to finish this quest”. This isn’t usually a problem for hunters, but gear-dependent classes will find themselves working at a slower pace. With that said, expect things to be a little tougher if you’re a non-hunter. The guides will not change the problems you’re running into with your class.
5. Check for updates.
Patch 2.3 introduced major updates to Dustwallow Marsh, including a boatload of new quests. Make sure that the guide you purchase allows you to update your copy, either for free or for a reasonable cost.
That’s it. If you have any questions, feel free to post comments.