- do not buyAsk yourself whether you are new to WoW (World of Warcraft) or experienced.
If you are new to WoW, then the bulk of BC (Burning Crusades) material is not relevant to you until you've played for quite a while. The new zones are all level 58 or higher, which for a casual new player to WoW will take a while to reach. By then, you can buy the second edition. If you are new to the game, go ahead and buy the *second* editions of "Master Guide" and "Dungeon Companion", both of which are fine for new visitors to Azeroth. And note that this guide assumes you are fully familiar with current WoW, for example only the new talents are explained.
A third of the book is full of equipment tables (the purpose of which is dubious since it's incomplete and won't tell you *how* to get *any* of the items). Many pages are dedicated to crafting tables, again missing pertinent information (e.g. the characteristics of any of the items!). And there is no information to help you find and navigate the best online resources, such as Allakhazam, wowwiki, and thottbot.
The graphics for the zone maps (something that really is useful in a guide book) are poor. And the page layout for the zone chapter is HORRIBLE. The first zone (Hellfire Peninusla) has a two-page legend and starts out the chapter on zones, which means that *every* other zone after it are layed out such that the legends for each map is on the *next* page!
If you are already familiar with WoW, then the first edition of this book is so full of duplicate material that you already know, and errors and omissions for material that you *do* want to know, that it will be just frustrating. Not even the flight path maps are correct (some FPs are missing, some are on the wrong spot on the map, and the faction element to the FPs is not even mentioned) - so you can imagine the quality to the rest of the material. Indeed, the portals in Shattrah are not mentioned - even though there is a graphic for them!!
The really valuable information - like sorting out the new factions and key/attunement quest lines, giving a good balance on chosing Scyer or Aldor - are either omitted or plain wrong.
Etc, etc.
In other words, this guide should simply not have been published. Shame on the VPs that gave the green light to it when it was clear the team was way behind schedule. There is a clear role for good printed resources to supplement the in-game help and the online databases and wikis. This guide does not fulfill that role.
The comment from the intro in the guide reveals the attitude: "anything else that we could fit between the covers". Indeed.
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