World of Warcraft(r) Atlas

Got his for my fiance as a birthday present - along with some other WoW books. This is the one he always turns back to. It's useful for a wide variety of questions, and easy to read to boot!

This is an incredible atlas! I use it constantly, to locate my quest recipients, find answers for online buddies, and to help local family members and friends in the game. Although the regional maps do not have absolutely every detail labeled, and the large cities do not have individual shops specifically identified, the atlas has so many other benefits, this is insignificant. The region maps do have names of places printed on them, as you would see them after exploring in the game, and as if your mouse were hovering over every named location. A directory beside each region map tells you where flight masters and a few key vendors are, using a grid system to get you close to the target. There is a world map in the front of the book with all regions and instances labeled for quick reference, and all flight and boat paths drawn in, in color to show whether each is for horde or alliance. There is a huge section of smaller town maps that don't exist in the game itself, showing each little town in detail with a directory beside it showing you exactly where each vendor or key person is. Next, there are many, many pages of alphabetical listings of almost every character you will ever need to find in WOW, whether it is a quest giver, specialty vendor, or named creature--so when you have no idea where to turn, just look up the character in the index, and you will be told a brief description of that character, which major region and town map they are associated with, including page numbers, and a specific grid location for them on the region map, so you can even choose the closest flight point to get there. Next is a bunch of tables to help you easily locate: Weapons Trainers, Mount Trainers, Innkeepers, Flight Masters, Class Trainers, Profession Trainers, Skill Trainers. After that is a section of resource charts, showing which regions have specific minerals, herbs, and skinning types, and which animals drop the type you need. Finally, there are pages with Rare Mobs named, described, and listed by region, so you can seek out the wandering, Elite, named monsters to get that special treasure, and a chart listing all the specialty vendors and where to locate them. This Atlas was published prior to the Burning Crusade expansion, so at the time I am writing, it does not include any of the new lands, resources, or characters. This is such an amazing book, I recommend it to all my friends who play, and I would gladly pay twice the price to own it.

A must have gives you maps to all areas around the WOW world.Great investment for a new player.

this is an excellent book. it contains many details not found in your official books that you use for the game. it has a wealth of information that you dont see in other guide books such as the master guide or the burning crusade book. it has excellent maps with incredible detail. it is an invaluable tool for maps.

As an adult gamer who just enjoys playing WoW, I would say that this is simply the best gaming tool for WoW--period. As mentioned in some of the other reviews, it is not meant to be like the Brady guides, and frankly--I prefer it. It doesn't have quest hints, or dungeon layouts, or walkthroughs. It doesn't make suggestions on who to have in your party for a given instance. It's not supposed to. It has maps of every region and every city. It has an index that refers to all quest creatures and people that makes it worth it's weight in gold! It does have a color code issue on one page with flight paths--but it's an obvious red/blue thing that's easy to interpret properly. The indexes are great and they help you find the zone for the person or creature(s) you're looking for without giving away the quest. I really like this tool and frankly, find it better than the Brady guide because it has an excellent index, and it doesn't give away the answers--it just helps you know where to go. Given the size of the WoW world, it's particularly helpful to be able to find exactly the kind of spiders (kobolds, wolves, thieves, dragon, NPC, raw material, professional trainer, or whatever) that you're looking for by just checking the index. Then you can go straight there--instead of wading through a mass of guys in an area of the Wetlands that you don't need until phase 2 or 3 of the quest you're on. I highly rate this Atlas as the best 'non-cheat' tool for WoW.