Hacking World of Warcraft (ExtremeTech) by Daniel Gilbert, James Whitehead II
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.99 You Save: $29.00 (97%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Hacking World of Warcraft (ExtremeTech)
Book Review: Good guide for the lazy!
Summary: 3 Stars
Wasn't the best book, but for the price it didn't hurt. Best part about it is it had a list of addons for a few different categorys, and their descriptions, which was nice because he doesn't include any of the poor quality addons that litter addon sites. But for the not-so-lazy group, you can get all this information off addon sites quite easily.Book Review: Should have titled it "WoW for Dummies"
Summary: 2 Stars
I agree with many of the other reviewers who felt this book's title was somewhat misleading, or at least not descriptive of its true content. However, I do understand why prospective buyers would probably prefer not to think of themselves as dummies.
In addition, this book was dated as soon as hit the shelves. As other reviewers have noted, some of the addons recommended by the authors no longer function correctly in the current version of World of Warcraft. Other recommended addons still work, but have largely fallen out of favor as newer addons with improved features have taken their places. Nevertheless, the descriptions of what the addons do and how they can be used is still a useful introduction to many concepts in WoW.
In short, I would only recommend this book to people who are:
1. afraid of talking to other players,
2. uncomfortable reading online forums and asking questions, or
3. unwilling to learn how things work by trial, error, and experience.
For any serious potential addon authors out there, you will probably learn more from looking at existing addons' code and by actually speaking with other authors.
Book Review: Great for finding Addons
Summary: 2 Stars
I found this book to not be what I had thought. I can do a search for WOW addons and find them all over the internet. I was hoping that this would be "Hacking" World of warcraft. Do not buy this book if you want to learn how to write "Hacks". Do a google search for WOW addons and you can save yourself the $20 something for the book. Sorry authors, but not exactly what I wanted. This goes in my garage sale pile.Book Review: Not worth it!
Summary: 2 Stars
Unless you are wanting to learn how to create your own macros, don't buy it. The book is out of date with World of Warcraft. I learned how to do everything online (regarding add ons). I guess it would be ok for the basics for writing your own add ons for the game.Book Review: Not about "hacking", just an out-of-date catalog
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm so disappointed in this title that I'm returning it to Amazon for a refund.
The book's title and description are misleading. The book isn't about "hacking" anything; it's just a catalog of popular add-ons to the game. After an introductory chapter about how add-ons and macros differ, how add-ons can be installed and managed, each add-on is described and reviewed. Unfortunately, the authors don't describe their criteria for deciding which add-ons to include.
Undoubtedly, the term "hacking" was included in the title to make the book appear sexier; the book is really about expanding WoW functionality using available add-ons, not "hacking" in any sense of the word. Perhaps more frustratingly, the authors don't explain why most of the described add-ons are useful. Sure, I can get an add-on that tallies the damage done to me by various monsters, and by myself to the monsters. But why do I Want that? How does the use of such an add-on, for example, help me have a more enjoyable or productive gameplay experience?
Point is, though, that finding add-ons online isn't hard at all. A book cataloging them is practically worthless, as it is out of date just as soon as it is printed. You're better off finding interesting add-ons by searching your favorite World of Warcraft forum and asking other players.
The book's treatment of writing add-ons is superficial at best. Since this book is not a programming tutorial, any reader who wants to write their own add-ons needs to have some software development background. And anyone with some software development background would be able to examine existing add ons to "borrow" code, or learn how to write add-ons by reading the product documentation.