Aelwyn's Guide VS. Derek's Guide
I'd like to take the time to actually compare the two latest in-game levelling guides that have just been released.
I am not comparing iDemise or Joana’s in game versions because they do not have a custom addon and the whole "Million dots on the map" thing just irritates me to hell
PURPLE = General
BLUE = Aelwyn
GREEN = Derek
Cost
Aelwyn's ($29.95) (4)
Derek's ($50.00) (2)
As you can plainly see Aelwyn's is the winner, but what about actual value for money?
Of course we all would like to have these guides for free and thanks to MMOwned we can
But if I had to put a price on both of these, it would look more something like this.
Aelwyn's = $29.95
I would leave Aelwyn's price as is, the addon itself is pure gold IMO and that makes it worth every cent.
The guide is pretty good too but it seems to be grind heavy at the start (1-12).
I have heard rumour that the guide is being redesigned to be even faster so this will address this issue.
(I'm not 100% so please confirm)
Derek's = $24.95
I marked this to half its price, the addon is not worth anything, and you can find free alternatives that do a better job.
The guide itself seems to be ok, but it does not give you a clear outline. It follows the same outlay as Joana’s in the whole. Accept "XXXX" then go do "XXXX"
Information
Aelwyn's (4)
Derek's (2)
Aelwyn's does not give you a hell of a lot of information, but by the layout it was never meant to.
It has a simple format of just telling you what you need to know and is set in a step-by-step method.
This is great, the creator had the right ideas when creating this addon.
I just have one thing to say, Pure Bliss!
But the reason it’s not a 5 star rating, is it does not include class training. You have to use your own brain for that. But I read somewhere this is already being implemented for a future release.
Derek's is still lacking a lot of information, but in some parts just overhauls you with a slab of text.
I don't want to see that. But at the same time, the slab of text in some cases can be good, because it will clearly explain what you need to do. Even though it may not tell you where to go to find the damn quest, it sure as hell is great when you get there
Ease of use
Aelwyn's (4)
Derek's (2)
Aelwyn's clearly is a winner here. You load up the addon and it just works. Do what it says, then click next.
Very simple. The only thing is it took me a while to realise that you have to right click for the menu, but I don’t use the menu anyway.
Also the guide itself is really easy to follow as I stated above a great step-by-step formula
1. Find Master Ko'jinn
2. Kill Master Ko'jinn
3. Get Master Ko'jinn's secret formula
Then you just click next and it will say what to do next.
Derek, you have a lot of catching up to do. It loads up and I'm pounded with text. If you're like me you just skip it anyway. Then you’re slammed with an addon that takes up half your screen :S after fiddling around you find that there is a mini version which still is larger than Aelwyn's but not unbearable, and you can re scale it too (but this also makes the text smaller and harder to read).
In short, besides all the random crap it’s not too hard to use, you just tick the box when you're done and then it jumps to the next step.
Waypoints
Aelwyn's (5)
Derek's (0)
Here is where Aelwyn's really pulls away from the competition ill break it up into sections.
Mini Map
It has a detailed minimap icon that shows you the distance to the waypoint, the zone the waypoint is in and also the title of the current objective. Also when the dot gets to the edge of the screen it changes to a nifty little arrow.
Main Map
This is truly wondrous, not because of the fact that it has the icon on the map itself, but because it’s the only icon on the map. Which may not seem to be a good feature but when you load up addons with cartographer there could be hundreds of dots everywhere. Aelwyn's actually deletes the dot from the last step and inserts a new one.
BIG Arrow
This is my favourite, a massive 3d arrow, you can drag it around the screen and place it where you like.
Because of this I never even look at my main map or mini map. However it doesn’t point up or down. Only in the direction you need to go (I dunno the vertical axis is possible with an addon arrow?? would be cool though)
The big arrow also has the distance to the waypoint as well so that’s handy too.
Well as you know Derek's waypoints don’t even deserve a score. If you want to know where to run download another addon, even then you have to type in the waypoint yourself.
The coords are lame and are usually tacked on to the end of his description eg. "Find Bob Gelosis he’s usually around 56,76). That’s expected in a text guide not an addon...
However he states the waypoints will be released in the future. Until then, Stars = Zero
Websites
Aelwyn's (3)
Derek's (3)
Aelwyn's Website looks cool but the main page is not exactly a sales pitch, it lacks the punch that guide websites should have, it doesn’t sell the guide to me, However the demo feature did, but I almost didn't download it though.
I feel if Aelwyn had a profession main page it would attract a lot more customers.
That being said I read the post about the upcoming features in his forum and that had a lot of exciting new which could attribute to the score of the site.
Also an awesome affiliate feature where you can sign up for free and earn 30% per sale.
Derek's website is a true sales page in a sense it’s the same as all sales pages. It offers a lot of information about the products. But sadly no demo or no screenshots, but it does have some videos in his blog.
Also the more and more I read the sales pitch the more and more I got tired of it and wanted to read something juicy.
Also fake testimonials was a big turn off.
You can tell their fake as there are multiple claims of levelling from 1-70 in 8 days... lol
I was at the site 2 days after release. I find it hard that someone bought the product and levelled to 70 in 8 days when it’s had been out 2 days.
The Future
No rating here I can't predict the future
I feel both the guides have a bright future ahead. Aelwyn has already announced what is ahead, and if you want to look see of what’s coming, scour around mmowned, FallingReign (aka Aelwyn) is a poster here and he often keeps us updated or you can just go to his site.
Derek has promised us waypoints, but after the hype about his secret levelling tip about the instances I'm not to sure what’s going to happen there.