Joana Has Been Called The Web’s Number 1
Horde Leveling Guide Expert…
And His Name Is Better Known
Than ANY OTHER World of Warcraft Leveler…
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Welcome to the review for Joana’s Horde Leveling Guide!
Joana’s guide is a great guide for Horde players, because: -You’ll be using a guide specifically designed for Horde players (Joana only does Horde guides)
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Problems with Joana’s Guide include:
- Its the most expensive guide online. If you want a guide that’s almost as good, Dugi’s guide is the best value guide on the market in my opinion.
- You can’t buy an Alliance version, which means you’ll need to install a different guide for your Alliance toons. No big deal but you get used to a guide.
- No automation features. To advance to the next step you have to click next/previous which can be a bit of a hassle over the long term.
Joana’s Guide Ratings:
| Installation: 5/5 |  |
| Ease of Use: 4/5 | |
| Leveling speed: 5/5 | |
I was very satisfied with the quality & polish of Joana’s Horde Guide. It was easy to use, easy to follow along, and fun to use.
If you’re looking for a guide for your Horde toon or toons, you won’t go wrong with a specialist Horde only guide by the most trusted guide maker in the WoW community.
Read on and find the full review below…
The Full Review
In case you didn’t know, Joana has only recently updated his horde leveling guide with a brand new map mod. That means each and every player who owned the original guide now has access to the new, easy to use map mod enabled guide.
That’s just one reason I chose to review Joana’s Horde Leveling Guide this week, but more so is the fact that the net is practically abuzz with raving fans for Joana’s guide. Check out World of Warcraft forums, check out Joana’s mySpace page, check anywhere, and you’ll find a lot of praise (and a healthy dose of jealousy) about Joana’s guides and how good they are.
But lets get into the review, shall we?
First up, installation:
Excellent, simple installation with easy to follow instructions. If you’ve been around computers for more than 6 months you can install this guide with no problems. A complete novice to computers might not understand what “unzipping” or “extracting” means, but if you know what win zip is and how to use it, then you can install this guide.
Secondly, introduction & orientation:
Impressive introduction via Joana’s installation page. You’re told how to activate the guide, potential conflicts, and then are told via text and screen shots how to use the guide in the game.
Once I got in-game with Joana’s guide going I was treated to yet more familiarization through the in game leveling guide. You’re told how the guide works again (good to ensure you don’t have to alt tab out when you’re getting warmed up), and you’re told about the excellent color coding system Joana uses to make your life a little easier.
Basically, Joana’s color coding system tells you at a glance what you need to do – accept a quest, turn a quest in, do a quest, or refer to more detailed instructions outside of the game (gasp, shock, horror).
What am I gasping about? Well, I’m always talking about how much I love map mods that mean you don’t have to alt tab out of the game to use the leveling guide. I’ve traditionally always thought you could do it all inside the game… however Joana’s horde leveling guide has made me think twice…
You see, one interesting “side effect” has come about due to Joana’s guide being in html (web based) only form for so long. And that is, in addition to your in game guide, you’ll also get a more in depth guide outside of the game, which even includes photos, maps, and VIDEO. Highly impressive, and something I found very useful. In fact I kept open Joana’s html based guide at all times, and watched 2 videos during the 5 levels I played with it.
This is VERY handy when you need to know how to complete a certain complex quest, or how to kill a particularly difficult elite. You’ll also have access to Joana’s maps that show the exact route you’ll be taking around the zone. These maps can come in handy, and they really hammer home how well Joana has optimized his leveling and questing routes.
Third up, how does the guide play?
In short, I give Joana’s guide a 4.5 out of 5 for his horde leveling guide’s effectiveness. Joana’s questing and pathing efficiency is excellent, which means you’ll complete quests which are close to other quests, and turn all your quests in at the same time. A big time saver.
The guide is also very easy to use, and it doesn’t get much simpler than following the handy directional arrow which points you from quest to quest.
If there’s ever any doubt in your mind as to how to best complete a quest (say, how to kill an elite) then there’s a ton of backup info on the included html guide and videos.
I started using Joana’s horde leveling guide at level 25. Unfortunately, at that level I came in 2 multi part quests were in progress, which after consulting Joana’s html guide I decided to skip (too hard to go back & not enough exp for the effort). Once I realized that was the problem, it was smooth sailing and clear skies.
Joana, maybe you could have color coded multi step quests, or told your user the quest was a multi part?
Understandably 99% of the time the users of Joana’s guide won’t have this confusion, but I figured I had to find fault with this guide somewhere… 
The progression of each quest is handled simply by means of a drop down menu (to select your current location and level range), and then using the previous/next buttons to select the exact step along the path.
Its very simple, and once you accept a quest, you click the next button and are immediately greeted by a handy directional arrow which shows you exactly where to do the quest, you then click the next button again, and you’re shown exactly where to turn it in.
Simple and very effective. You’re even told the distance and eta to your waypoints, based on how fast you’re walking or galloping! Handy.
During my time with Joana’s horde guide I barely ever read the quest text, and simply kept hitting next, next, next, being led quickly by the easy to follow instructions laid out for me. Of course if its your first time through the game, there’s nothing stopping you from absorbing the back story to the quests!
I was also very interested to see the number of quests I wasn’t doing. Joana has clearly put in many hours working out optimal questing paths, and it shows when you realize that a certain quest would take you too far away from a particularly effective and efficient leveling route.
You are asked rarely to grind at mobs, but again, this is due to well thought out and calculated reasons that are designed to ensure you don’t waste a minute of your time. Further more I didn’t actually ever need to do this, bar 1 time when I was checking out the 1-12 Tauren leveling guide included (also very, very good). There’s also a 1-25 blood elf guide, and 1-12 undead guide – I had a quick look and both are the same high quality.
Time for another gripe…
Twice during my level 25 to 30 adventure, I found myself leaving an area (such as Dark Cloud Pinnacle in Thousand Needles), and then realizing that Joana’s next step required me to stay at the top of the spires. A lazy mistake on my part not to read the leveling guide text closer perhaps, but I’d love a clearer note at the beginning of quests that occur in a geographic area that’s difficult to get to, just quickly informing me that the next 3 quests all occur nearby each other.
Another minor complaint out of the way.
And that’s the last of the complaints, believe it or not.
One last big kudos to this guide is the inclusion of “hard to find quests”. During my 5 levels I must have completed at least 5 quests I never knew existed, all close by to another questing location along Joana’s amazing optimized leveling route. Some of these quests are almost impossible to find without a leveling guide (they’re certainly not available in town) — in fact I’ve leveled up 5 horde characters prior to writing this guide, and never once had I stumbled across these locations before.
I really was pleased to be able to eek out 2500 exp “on the side”, just by following what was just another step in Joana’s horde leveling guide.
Conclusion & final score.
In short, once I had gotten over some confusion I suffered from starting a leveling guide at level 25 (rather than following from level 1, for example) it was smooth sailing. The in-game leveling mod, “out of game” html guide, photos, videos and extra tips and advice offered were a priceless addition to an already amazing in game leveling guide.
The TomTom arrow which guides you every step of the way is an amazing friend to anyone who has tried to steer their character based just on coordinate figures, and the simplicity and ease of use of the next & previous buttons makes finding quests extremely easy.
If you’re tired of accepting a quest, reading the text, and then wondering exactly where they are referring to, then Joana’s Horde Leveling Guide will help you a lot.
Score:
4.5 out of 5.
Gained points on: Almost everything. Slick, easy to use, effective, no nonsense, extra content outside of the game, etc.
Lost points on: Not being clearer about staying put in a geographical location (like Dark Cloud Pinnacle). Not telling me that quests I was looking for were multi part (possibly something to include in the introduction to pre-warn new users).
After playing other guides and reading over hyped web pages, I’m happy to report Joana underpromises, and then goes ahead and over delivers. I’m very, very happy to recommend Joana’s Horde Leveling Guide for anyone who is on the fence about what guide to choose.
Stay tuned for the next Horde Leveling Guide review in the near future!
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