World of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide

DK puts out some fantastic books. The books are always ruggedly constructed and have wonderful illustrations.

This book is no exception. For fans of World of Warcraft (WoW), you will recognize most if not all of the artwork.

It is a bit of a survey book. That is almost unavoidable though, because there is a lot of material. You could probably do a five volume set of books this size and still not cover all of the existing WoW lore.

The book covers the current WoW canon (that has changed a great deal over the past ten years), but gives a nod to areas where the WoW lore changed significantly over the years.

There were a few things that I wondered about, but I have faith that DK got the lore right.

One of the coolest things about this book is that you can tell that this was done by folks who were fans of WoW.

The world and its denizens are treated with great respect.

You could not play WoW just by reading this book, but you could learn enough that you would want to learn more.

It appears that Blizzard is pulling away a bit from WoW. There are several follow-on games in the works, currently in Beta. So, this might be the perfect time to have a retrospective look at phenomenon that has become part of popular culture.

In service,

Rich

This book is beautifully put together. Page after page of art, lore, and more art! To me, that is what sets this book apart from World of Warcraft Chronicle Vol 1. Chronicle is wonderfully heavy on descriptive text but very light on art. This book seems to find a nice balance between the two. Highly recommended for Blizzard fans.

This is a very good WoW reference. It is essentially an encyclopedia, with every major character, event, and land given its due. Even some of the weapons are identified.

Don't expect a lot of details though, as you mostly get a short paragraph with a image to go with it. Some of the images appear to just be character models, but others are concept art or some digital paintings. Everything looks very impressive.

One of the things this book purports to have is "a peek at the behind-the-scenes development of Blizzard's vivid fantasy world," but in actuality, this is a pathetically short section with some generic pictures and no real information. They don't tell us anything about how this game or world was developed. I was hoping for more information about how they came up with concepts (for characters and plot), and how they went about creating it (essentially, I was hoping for something akin to their documentaries they put out with their collectors editions of the game). It's a small part of the book, but since it was the part I was most looking forward to, I felt I needed to mention it.

My only other quibble with the book was that I wanted more images. More concept art, more character models, and frankly more of everything. One image for each thing is not enough to capture all the details that go into creating this large fantasy world.

What is here is excellent, however, and I recommend it to all fans of Blizzard and WoW.

Having played all the versions of warcraft I have to say this is an amazing book. Every page is full color with amazing pictures and well thought out captions for everything.

The book is 10 1/4” by 12 1/4” with a dust jacket and glossy thick pages, weighing a few pounds easily and at 200 pages this is a coffee table book that will probably have even non-wow’ers looking through it.

The authors take you through the history of Azeroth and all of the people and places involved. I even learned a few things in it I didn’t know about.

I liked that they have bios on all the main characters and what happened to them. (and the main pictures of them are incredible!)

I also like that the major cities have map locations and city maps along with the things you will find there, like Ironforge with Tinkertown and the Deeprun Tram.

I think the only thing I miss is that they couldn’t/didn’t do the history of all the areas like creepiness of Duskwood or the story behind the tainting of Felwood, things like that, but I don’t hold it against the book.

If you have someone who loves WOW and you don’t know what to get them for a gift… get them this book. They will LOVE IT! If you play it, you will love it.

5 stars

Well made, all in color, high quality, it really is the ultimate visual guide to Warcraft. Easily worth the price.

This is essentially a mix between a coffee table book and one of those high quality childrens' illustrated guides. A real treat to pour through the pages. Nice artwork, and a trip down memory lane for Wow lovers. Also a great intro to WoW for those that are new to it. This book has just the right level of detail on WoW lore and "how to play the game" and still maintain a light, fun, and visually delightful experience. The "serious" raider who is in the game for ego only will probably be displeased with this, but few other WoW players would be. This is the kind of book I would have spent many happy hours pouring over and memorizing as a child, and I'll do pretty much that now too. :-) Delighted with this!

UPDATE: It occurs to me that the "experience" of this book is much like the "experience" of the early days of playing WoW, when your character is at a lower level and you are learning the game. It's fun; plus the book also functions as something similar to cliff notes for the new player. So, if you're new, this will add to your gameplay; if your not new to WoW, this will bring those early days back to you.

This book is actually pretty cool. The World of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide is a comprehensive collection of art and designs of all cool characters and monsters from the World of Warcraft game, but it also has descriptions. Massive sections of text describe in depth every single picture. (Or most of them at least.) Locations are also depicted in this book with incredible pictures. It doesn’t stop there though. There are screenshots showing off the fantastic graphical capabilities of World of Warcraft. The book itself seems to be bound pretty well. It’s a nice hardcover book with a dust jacket. It’s a tad big though, and awkwardly juts out of the shelf where all my other hardcover game books are. The dust jacket too is a little bit too big, as the ends of it are farther out from the book itself. When they are pushed back in to match the book’s size, the jacket flaps out from the book. Everything about this book is too big. I would’ve been happy with a smaller book with more pages. All in all, this book is decent though and has some amazing pictures in it that I enjoy drawing from.

Stunning artwork accompanied by thorough and well-organized text makes this a must-have item for the WoW enthusiast.

I expected great art; afterall that's one of the aspects of the overall game that draws in fans. And I also expected some basic lore and descriptions of races, geograhpical areas, etc. But I must say I was blown away by the overall presentation. I feel I am quite knowledgeable about Warcraft lore, having played every game from the original "Orcs vs. Humans" but I still discovered new treasures while reading through this book. With so much history and lore to draw from, and so many heroes, villains, titans, etc. from WoW history, I worried that there would just be too much data and it might read like an encyclopedia. But not at all! There is depth here without a minutia of details and best of all, the "story" that is Warcraft is all layed out for us.

I envy those that have still to discover this book for the first time. Outstanding job to the team that brought this project to completion!

As an early role playing enthusiast, I cut my teeth with the old Dungeons and dragons PC games, no multiplayer and rudimentary graphics. By the time WoW (World of Warcraft for those living in another planet) came out and with it, a slew of MMORPG, I was a bit beyond playing these games and never went for the massive online playing experience. I always considered World of Warcraft as the dark side, game that killed the individual role playing computer game.
This book prompted me to take a look at the dark side.
It is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive and concise look at the world of Azeroth. Now I basically know what everyone is raving about and can understand some of it. What is the Horde and who are the Alliance.
I might even give it a try.
In essence, this book would be a great gift for any WoW wargamer in your list, or for the parents of one who want to know what their offspring is doing stuck to a computer screen for hours at a time.

We have three (former) WoW players in this house. While my husband and I really enjoy this book and think it's great for our coffee table or washroom bookrack, it's our 13 year old son who was most blown away by this book. Hubby has been playing Warcraft since Orcs & Humans. I didn't get involved until about 5 years ago, and our son plays rarely - although we all got a bit bored with Panderia.

For hubby, this book is a superficial, although gorgeous, nostalgic look. For my son and I, it's more informative. I've never read any of the novels, despite being a (rather good) player consistently at endgame raids. So the amount of lore here is actually, at times quite helpful to me. I'm only about halfway through, but really enjoying this book. Our son is loving this book - and anytime I see him reading, I'm happy!

The World of Warcraft Ultimate Visual Guide is a great book for someone who enjoys reading and understanding the lore of world of warcraft and someone who also likes looking at the artwork of the game. This is a very beautiful book with all of the picture of the characters of Warcraft and maps of the world of Azeroth. There are also behind the scenes pictures so things that didn’t make it into the game or got changed before release. The book does a great job of giving a brief and or in-depth overview of the history of Warcraft from the first game to World of Warcraft current storyline. Overall this book is good for any fan of Warcraft it fits in almost every Warcraft collection there is and the cover also is a plus you can’t go wrong with this book.

This hardbound book is well written on high quality glossy stock paper with good font. From the cover itself to the pages inside this book contains just fantastic artwork. The text in the book covers the history of the World of Warcraft that includes not just the MMORPG everyone is familiar with but also covers information on some of the earlier games. The history is not detailed but is written in such a way to give you a broad understanding of the complex universe that contains the world of Azaeroth. A full history would take a huge tome yet this touches on much lore and even gives you a brief glimpse of the convention but no real “behind the scene” information. It is a fast and enjoyable read. Other than that this is a book that belongs in the library of any fan of the World of Warcraft.

The book I received had an improper dust cover fold and one of the corners of the book was badly dinged. If I had purchased the book both of those would have been reason enough for me to return the book.

The book itself is large and a great visual guide but I wish it had been more coffee table book and less visual guide. There is a lot of great art in the book, many full pages and that is where my negative comes in. A lot of the art work is marred by descriptions and text blocks. I would have preferred if this were done more like a coffee table book and save the descriptions for the facing page.

I have played WOW since the beginning and still play occasionally and I learned new things from the book. A must have for WOW fans. Highly recommended.

Full disclosure- I've been playing WoW for more years than I care to admit, and so I suspect that I am one of the main target demographics for this book. This is a definitive, coffee-table companion to the game, a book that presents the huge WoW universe in fun-to-read, beautifully illustrated format. It covers a vast amount of lore, and even a veteran player like myself learned a lot about the backstory, the different characters and regions. Be aware, this is NOT a strategy guide or nuts-and-bolts type of book about how to play the game, this is basically an illustrated encyclopedia of Azeroth and the universe of WoW. Highly recommended.

Bought this book at a brick and mortar store yesterday. The book is absolutely amazing, I've played WoW for years and didn't fully appreciate or understand the rich lore. Having his book now I am learning all about the characters I have seen throughout the series and I have a much deeper and stronger connection to the games story, making my playing even more enjoyable and satisfying. Absolutely recommended

I have a few Warcraft books, some with maps, some with stats, and some with guides. This is not one of those books. If you're looking for help to play Warcraft, this is the wrong book.

This is more of a Lore-heavy coffee table book. For example, one of the races is the Forsaken, a type of undead. One of the notables given is Galen Trollbane, and it gives his picture and a write-up. A Google search will reveal much more about him in the various wikis.

Recommended if you want art and lore.

I always like to get books from the library first before I buy them, that way I know that I know that I want it. This is one of those that I wanted to preview first, and I hated having to return it when I was done. I thought it was going to be one of those giant, thick books full of pretty pictures and little or no text. Boy, was I wrong. It's got the pretty pictures and text, but the amount of text is staggering (to me) for a book this size. It's not just an ultimate visual guide, but an ultimate guide. If you've got the time to read it, and a love of pretty art, I definitely recommend this.

I am no longer into WoW, but reading through this Visual Guide made me want to play again. WoW has truly built a fascinating visual style and engaging storyline over the years,and this book was a good tour through that legacy. I can also see it being a great reference resource for artists and graphic designers looking to get into fantasy art or game design.

I liked it as its comprehensive, giving an overall view of what's happened in the world of Azeroth. Of all the notable races, characters and places.
If your curious on what the whole excitement of this without having to play the game, this is it.
Even if you have played it, wouldn't it be nice having an offline tome of your experiences?

This is an excellent resource for people who have and play the internet game Warcraft. The book is large, 200 page long, with lots of informative data on each page, frequently as much as half a dozen different subjects. It is filled with very colorful pictures. There are about ninety chock-full chapters. These include a full description of the world of Azeroth; the legendary weapons used during its various wars; a full description of the people; the timeline from the year 10,000 with a history; titans and old gods; heroes and villains with their pictures; the wars of the ancients; alliances; and much more, including eight pages describing behind the scene..

I always like to get books from the library first before I buy them, that way I know that I know that I want it. This is one of those that I wanted to preview first, and I hated having to return it when I was done. I thought it was going to be one of those giant, thick books full of pretty pictures and little or no text. Boy, was I wrong. It's got the pretty pictures and text, but the amount of text is staggering (to me) for a book this size. It's not just an ultimate visual guide, but an ultimate guide. If you've got the time to read it, and a love of pretty art, I definitely recommend this.

I am no longer into WoW, but reading through this Visual Guide made me want to play again. WoW has truly built a fascinating visual style and engaging storyline over the years,and this book was a good tour through that legacy. I can also see it being a great reference resource for artists and graphic designers looking to get into fantasy art or game design.

I liked it as its comprehensive, giving an overall view of what's happened in the world of Azeroth. Of all the notable races, characters and places.
If your curious on what the whole excitement of this without having to play the game, this is it.
Even if you have played it, wouldn't it be nice having an offline tome of your experiences?

This is a gorgeous book, very big and beautiful high gloss, thick pages. It's made with exceptional quality and detail. It'd make an amazing gift for any World of Warcraft player. I got it for my 17 year old son for Christmas and it was one of his most favorite gifts ever. Worth every penny.

This is an excellent resource for people who have and play the internet game Warcraft. The book is large, 200 page long, with lots of informative data on each page, frequently as much as half a dozen different subjects. It is filled with very colorful pictures. There are about ninety chock-full chapters. These include a full description of the world of Azeroth; the legendary weapons used during its various wars; a full description of the people; the timeline from the year 10,000 with a history; titans and old gods; heroes and villains with their pictures; the wars of the ancients; alliances; and much more, including eight pages describing behind the scene..

Very extensive compilation, divided into categories. Very neat, typical DK book. I love to see how complete it is, from the various races and its crest, and the heroes that make appearance through the game. If you like warcraft and you've been keeping a collection of its book then you should have this one too.

...but not a good resource for players overall.

The World of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide is more like a generic dossier for the major races, locations, factions, heroes, and villains... but that's about it. There's basic information for just about everything, lore-wise, but this is definitely not something I would call a guide. No strategies, no leveling tips, I didn't even find a single dungeon map while flipping through the pages.

Sure, there are plenty of bios and descriptions for major (and quite a few minor) personalities like Thrall, Sylvanas, etc., and even includes quite a bit of info on the latest expansion's (Mists of Pandaria) locales and celebrities, but no really meaty information that would be helpful for players.

Now, that said... the art is gorgeous. Beautiful, vibrant, and colorful, each mini-dossier (most cover about a quarter of a page unless they're major figures like Thrall), features a brilliant portrait, but that's the only draw for me in the "guide."

While it's nice to see old enemies and friends rendered on the page instead of the screen, this guide is really only suited for sitting on the coffee table and not next to your computer for reference.

I already haveWorld of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide which is the previous version, is it worth buying the updated and expanded version?

I thought this book was VERY poorly designed. The structure, the layout, the choice of artwork (or even lack of in some cases) all reminded me of a rushed high school graphic design project. It was not fun to look at or read, not designed nearly as well as the art books that accompany the Blizzard collectors editions, the strategy guides, or even the manuals.