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I've been playing World of Warcraft for years off and on. I started playing a few months after the game released, stopped playing when my kids were born, and picked it up again for short periods in the years since then. When I recently came back to WoW I wanted to level fast so I could raid with my guild. That's how I found out about both Joanasworld and Zygor. (read more) ZYGOR VS JOANA WOW CLASSIC
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ZYGOR FREE TRIAL VS
JOANASWORLD LEVELING GUIDE FREE
Both of these guides offer a free version.
Zygor lets you download a sample, which includes a certain number of quests so you can get the feel for how the guide works, how the in game arrow and foot pathing work, etc.
Joanasworld also offers a free guide in the form of a few pages on the site that tell you where to go and what to do, stopping at level 12. If you want to go past level 12 on Joanasworld, you must purchase the guide.
That was simple and sweet, so let's move on to how each guide works, because this is where the differences really start for me.
AZEROTH HAS SOME GREAT FOOD, BUT OUR FAVORITE SNACK BOX IS UNIVERSAL YUMS
Zygor lets you download a sample, which includes a certain number of quests so you can get the feel for how the guide works, how the in game arrow and foot pathing work, etc.
Joanasworld also offers a free guide in the form of a few pages on the site that tell you where to go and what to do, stopping at level 12. If you want to go past level 12 on Joanasworld, you must purchase the guide.
That was simple and sweet, so let's move on to how each guide works, because this is where the differences really start for me.
AZEROTH HAS SOME GREAT FOOD, BUT OUR FAVORITE SNACK BOX IS UNIVERSAL YUMS
JOANAS WORLD LEVELING VANILLA
Since I am only playing Vanilla (Classic) WoW right now, I will only be speaking to the effectiveness and ease of use for both of these guides in Vanilla.
Joanasworld is a browser page that you must have up on your computer while you are leveling. I suppose you could print a PDF and reference that as you go, perhaps highlighting the steps you've taken already, but that's not what I did.
I play on a Macbook, so I kept my browser open in the background and toggled back and forth between the game and the guide as I went. I know that a lot of players have two screens, so you could feasibly have your game open and your guide open without having to toggle.
Toggling back and forth was not the best or fastest way to get this done with Joanasworld. I would often lose my place while I was leveling and would have to spend time reading the guid over to see what I had and had not already done. This could get really tricky if I didn't take the time to get myself to a safe place before toggling out of WoW, inviting pats and respawns to beat me up while I was trying to figure out what to do next.
Also, if you play many alts (I am leveling two at the moment), it can be a little difficult to keep track of where you were on each alt. This is doubly so if you choose a specific class in Joanasworld as it will have you do specific class quests, like if you play a warrior and it wants you to get your Whirlwind Axe right at level 30.
Another thing to note is that Joanasworld will let you choose specific classes, but it won't let you choose all classes. I was playing a priest, and I wasn't able to choose priest as an Undead Horde.
Joanasworld also tends to put text in the guide that can feel a little frustrating. You might see things like "You need to kill 10 casters, but these are really hard if you're a warrior. You might not be able to do it alone, so if you can't, just skip it."
I don't like seeing quests that I might not be able to do. The entire point of my spending money on a guide is that the guide is showing me quests I can absolutely do so I can get myself leveled.
Something else to note, and I will talk about this with both Joana and Zygor, is that sometimes the guide wants you to grind. Joanasworld would often have text put in that said, "Make sure you reach level x here." There were times where I was a half level from where it wanted me to be, but I couldn't pick up the next set of quests because they were too high for me and I wasn't able to accept them.
This was worse for me on Joanasguide than on Zygor, but (and I will say more about it) it did still happen on Zygor.
A really big deal breaker for me on Joanasworld were the text lines that told me to leave things in the bank or pick them up again. It was VERY easy to miss these steps, which means I might put something in the bank and then not have it when I needed to get the quest done. This is all obviously operator error, but I would recommend not putting any quest item in the bank if you're using Joanasworld.
I also ended up with a lot of stuff in my inventory that I did not need, again because I missed the text line telling me to dispose of a quest item no longer needed, etc.
The guide does get the job done, but it's not extremely user friendly as far as having to go back and forth between the guide and the game. Steps are easy to miss, picking back up after an absence can be tough, and it does waste time much more than Zygor.
Now let's talk about Zygor.
TY WRITES BOOKS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS WHO LOVE ROBLOX AND MINECRAFT
Joanasworld is a browser page that you must have up on your computer while you are leveling. I suppose you could print a PDF and reference that as you go, perhaps highlighting the steps you've taken already, but that's not what I did.
I play on a Macbook, so I kept my browser open in the background and toggled back and forth between the game and the guide as I went. I know that a lot of players have two screens, so you could feasibly have your game open and your guide open without having to toggle.
Toggling back and forth was not the best or fastest way to get this done with Joanasworld. I would often lose my place while I was leveling and would have to spend time reading the guid over to see what I had and had not already done. This could get really tricky if I didn't take the time to get myself to a safe place before toggling out of WoW, inviting pats and respawns to beat me up while I was trying to figure out what to do next.
Also, if you play many alts (I am leveling two at the moment), it can be a little difficult to keep track of where you were on each alt. This is doubly so if you choose a specific class in Joanasworld as it will have you do specific class quests, like if you play a warrior and it wants you to get your Whirlwind Axe right at level 30.
Another thing to note is that Joanasworld will let you choose specific classes, but it won't let you choose all classes. I was playing a priest, and I wasn't able to choose priest as an Undead Horde.
Joanasworld also tends to put text in the guide that can feel a little frustrating. You might see things like "You need to kill 10 casters, but these are really hard if you're a warrior. You might not be able to do it alone, so if you can't, just skip it."
I don't like seeing quests that I might not be able to do. The entire point of my spending money on a guide is that the guide is showing me quests I can absolutely do so I can get myself leveled.
Something else to note, and I will talk about this with both Joana and Zygor, is that sometimes the guide wants you to grind. Joanasworld would often have text put in that said, "Make sure you reach level x here." There were times where I was a half level from where it wanted me to be, but I couldn't pick up the next set of quests because they were too high for me and I wasn't able to accept them.
This was worse for me on Joanasguide than on Zygor, but (and I will say more about it) it did still happen on Zygor.
A really big deal breaker for me on Joanasworld were the text lines that told me to leave things in the bank or pick them up again. It was VERY easy to miss these steps, which means I might put something in the bank and then not have it when I needed to get the quest done. This is all obviously operator error, but I would recommend not putting any quest item in the bank if you're using Joanasworld.
I also ended up with a lot of stuff in my inventory that I did not need, again because I missed the text line telling me to dispose of a quest item no longer needed, etc.
The guide does get the job done, but it's not extremely user friendly as far as having to go back and forth between the guide and the game. Steps are easy to miss, picking back up after an absence can be tough, and it does waste time much more than Zygor.
Now let's talk about Zygor.
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JOANASWORLD TBC GUIDE
When I went back to update this post with the new Zygor offerings, I also went and checked out Joanasworld to see if they would be offering a Joanasworld TBC Guide. I believe they do, and here's the link so you can check it out for yourself.
The reason I say "I believe" is because, on the front page, Joanasworld lists their MySpace page. To me that says this page is very, very old. It might still work with the new iteration of TBC, but I can't say for sure.
It does appear to be included in your original purchase of Joanasworld, so at least you aren't paying extra for it, in case it isn't up to date, though I cannot imagine the quests varying that much from when TBC was originally released back in 2007.
Since I listed all the things Zygor covers, I want to point out that Joanasworld TBC Guide (at least the only one I've seen) is just a leveling guide. It's meant to get you to 70 fast, without a lot of bells and whistles.
Below are the pictures I grabbed from Joanasworld, so you can see exactly what you're getting, but it's important to note that you are not getting anything above a guide to help you speed level to 70. No gold guide, no faction guide, no Alliance guide (Horde only), it's a speed run guide, period.
The reason I say "I believe" is because, on the front page, Joanasworld lists their MySpace page. To me that says this page is very, very old. It might still work with the new iteration of TBC, but I can't say for sure.
It does appear to be included in your original purchase of Joanasworld, so at least you aren't paying extra for it, in case it isn't up to date, though I cannot imagine the quests varying that much from when TBC was originally released back in 2007.
Since I listed all the things Zygor covers, I want to point out that Joanasworld TBC Guide (at least the only one I've seen) is just a leveling guide. It's meant to get you to 70 fast, without a lot of bells and whistles.
Below are the pictures I grabbed from Joanasworld, so you can see exactly what you're getting, but it's important to note that you are not getting anything above a guide to help you speed level to 70. No gold guide, no faction guide, no Alliance guide (Horde only), it's a speed run guide, period.
ZYGOR LEVELING GUIDE CLASSIC WOW
In each place Joanasguide lacks, Zygor excels.
Zygor is an addon, so it's right there on your screen the entire time you are questing. There's an arrow that tells you exactly where to go, and there are little lines on your screen even showing you precisely where to walk. This is helpful if you need to do things like climb a mountain or come down a mountain.
The guide's steps are in red as you are doing them, but turn green when you are finished. This includes the steps that tell you to put things in the bank (to save bag space) and take things out of the bank. You won't mistakenly keep something you no longer need because Zygor also has steps for disposing of the quest items that no longer have any use for you.
Zygor does have some grind steps if you aren't at the level they want you to be, but you are able to skip these steps very easily by clicking on the arrow. I do not grind, I hate it, so whenever a step like this would come up, I'd click over and move on. Doing so never posed a problem for me and mainly resulted in a single quest where I had to be a little extra careful on my pulls so I didn't aggro more than one mob.
Leveling more than one toon is also extremely easy with Zygor. No matter when you log in the guide will be there with your next step. So if you can't remember where you left off, it's okay, you don't need to, and catching up won't cost you any time at all.
Now let's talk about the mobs you're fighting, because I feel like this is pretty important.
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Zygor is an addon, so it's right there on your screen the entire time you are questing. There's an arrow that tells you exactly where to go, and there are little lines on your screen even showing you precisely where to walk. This is helpful if you need to do things like climb a mountain or come down a mountain.
The guide's steps are in red as you are doing them, but turn green when you are finished. This includes the steps that tell you to put things in the bank (to save bag space) and take things out of the bank. You won't mistakenly keep something you no longer need because Zygor also has steps for disposing of the quest items that no longer have any use for you.
Zygor does have some grind steps if you aren't at the level they want you to be, but you are able to skip these steps very easily by clicking on the arrow. I do not grind, I hate it, so whenever a step like this would come up, I'd click over and move on. Doing so never posed a problem for me and mainly resulted in a single quest where I had to be a little extra careful on my pulls so I didn't aggro more than one mob.
Leveling more than one toon is also extremely easy with Zygor. No matter when you log in the guide will be there with your next step. So if you can't remember where you left off, it's okay, you don't need to, and catching up won't cost you any time at all.
Now let's talk about the mobs you're fighting, because I feel like this is pretty important.
HAIR GETTING IN YOUR FACE WHILE YOU GAME? CHECK OUT OUR REVIEW OF PONY O
ZYGOR VS JOANA CLASSIC WOW
FIGHTING MOBS
One thing I noticed when using both guides is that Joanasworld typically put me on quests that would have me fighting higher level mobs. This was great for XP, but not great in general because I died a lot more often.
I found myself frustrated more often with Joanasworld, wishing I were just a level or two higher, or that the quests I was on were just a level or two lower. There would be text in the guide (again, this happened a lot) that would tell you that you might not be able to do a quest at a specific level, and that the guide would mention it again when you were higher.
I wasn't a fan of this approach. I don't like attempting bosses, dying, rezzing, running, doing something else, then attempting that boss all over again. It felt like a waste of time and I didn't enjoy it.
There were just too many instances in Joanasworld where it felt like the author was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get something done, but "Hey, let's give it a shot." This was especially bad in Stonetalon where the death run is exceedingly long.
I would much rather fight lower mobs and take that extra time to level instead of spending the extra time running back to my body, wasting pots, etc.
Zygor did a better job at leveling, in my opinion. Most of the mobs I fought were green or slightly yellow, my level or one level ahead, and the quests were doable at the time they appeared on the guide.
You don't see text telling you that you might not be able to do it.
I felt like I died a lot less with Zygor, and that's mainly because the quests weren't pushing the boundaries of my abilities.
There were grind steps in Zygor as well, but they were easily skippable and I have yet to encounter one that prevented me from getting another quest because the next step was too high for me.
I do totally recommend killing everything on your way to a quest. I know it can be tiresome, but I'm advocating going through instead of around. It'll keep you closer to the level the guides want (on both guides) and will keep you away from the grind steps in each one.
Now let's talk about playing with a friend.
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I found myself frustrated more often with Joanasworld, wishing I were just a level or two higher, or that the quests I was on were just a level or two lower. There would be text in the guide (again, this happened a lot) that would tell you that you might not be able to do a quest at a specific level, and that the guide would mention it again when you were higher.
I wasn't a fan of this approach. I don't like attempting bosses, dying, rezzing, running, doing something else, then attempting that boss all over again. It felt like a waste of time and I didn't enjoy it.
There were just too many instances in Joanasworld where it felt like the author was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get something done, but "Hey, let's give it a shot." This was especially bad in Stonetalon where the death run is exceedingly long.
I would much rather fight lower mobs and take that extra time to level instead of spending the extra time running back to my body, wasting pots, etc.
Zygor did a better job at leveling, in my opinion. Most of the mobs I fought were green or slightly yellow, my level or one level ahead, and the quests were doable at the time they appeared on the guide.
You don't see text telling you that you might not be able to do it.
I felt like I died a lot less with Zygor, and that's mainly because the quests weren't pushing the boundaries of my abilities.
There were grind steps in Zygor as well, but they were easily skippable and I have yet to encounter one that prevented me from getting another quest because the next step was too high for me.
I do totally recommend killing everything on your way to a quest. I know it can be tiresome, but I'm advocating going through instead of around. It'll keep you closer to the level the guides want (on both guides) and will keep you away from the grind steps in each one.
Now let's talk about playing with a friend.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED WHEN COVID CONVINCED ME TO CUT MY OWN HAIR
ZYGOR GUIDE SYNC
PLAYING WITH A FRIEND
Zygor has a really cool aspect of its guide in that it lets you sync your progress with another player who is also running Zygor.
My best friend and I decided to level some toons together. She rolled a Mage, I rolled a Warlock, and we both started in the Undead area.
One of us would click the "sync" button on Zygor, and a message would appear on the other person's screen telling them that another player had requested to sync with them.
Once you accepted the sync you could see all of your steps and all of the steps the other player was on as well. As you quested things would turn green for you, or the other player, depending on when you completed things. The guide would hold at a certain place, not moving on until both players had completed the task.
This was a lot of fun for us. It made it very easy to level together, and we always knew where to go and what to do.
This was a big change from when we tried to do the same thing with Joanasworld and had one person on Discord reading out the next steps and where to go.
So if you're going to be leveling with a friend, I highly recommend Zygor.
Since (I feel) cost is the only reason a person would choose Joanasworld over Zygor, let's go into more detail here and discuss the ways you can bring your Zygor cost down.
TRAVELING OUTSIDE AZEROTH, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE DISNEY WORLD OR DISNEYLAND?
My best friend and I decided to level some toons together. She rolled a Mage, I rolled a Warlock, and we both started in the Undead area.
One of us would click the "sync" button on Zygor, and a message would appear on the other person's screen telling them that another player had requested to sync with them.
Once you accepted the sync you could see all of your steps and all of the steps the other player was on as well. As you quested things would turn green for you, or the other player, depending on when you completed things. The guide would hold at a certain place, not moving on until both players had completed the task.
This was a lot of fun for us. It made it very easy to level together, and we always knew where to go and what to do.
This was a big change from when we tried to do the same thing with Joanasworld and had one person on Discord reading out the next steps and where to go.
So if you're going to be leveling with a friend, I highly recommend Zygor.
Since (I feel) cost is the only reason a person would choose Joanasworld over Zygor, let's go into more detail here and discuss the ways you can bring your Zygor cost down.
TRAVELING OUTSIDE AZEROTH, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE DISNEY WORLD OR DISNEYLAND?
ZYGOR AFFILIATE PROGRAM
ZYGOR REFERRAL PROGRAM
ZYGOR ACCOUNT SHARING
Zygor offers a few ways to save money on your monthly subscription price. The first of these money saving tips is that you can share your Zygor account with other people in your household.
My husband and I used to play together, so we would be able to share a single Zygor account, both of us using the same login information. Same goes for my 13 year old son, who is showing an interest in playing WoW with me. If he does, he'll use my Zygor account, but we'll only pay for the one.
Another way to save money is by using Zygor's referral program. By going into your Zygor Elite account and clicking on Referrals, you will either be able to enter a person's name and email to refer them to Zygor, or you can click on your specific URL (which Zygor provides) and refer people that way. For each person you refer who subscribes, you get $1.00 off your monthly Zygor subscription price.
So, for each time you see Zygor highlighted in this text, that's my specific referral link.
Secondly, if you run a business online (like I do), have a large social media presence on any platform, etc. You can also share your referral link there, or you can become an affiliate of Zygor by going through Share A Sale.
Share A Sale will give you 50% on any subscription, but you do have to sign up for Zygor's program, and you have to wait for them to accept you.
As far as I know, Joanasworld does not offer any affiliate or referral program.
I'm going to cover a few other things Zygor offers, and then I'll wrap this up.
My husband and I used to play together, so we would be able to share a single Zygor account, both of us using the same login information. Same goes for my 13 year old son, who is showing an interest in playing WoW with me. If he does, he'll use my Zygor account, but we'll only pay for the one.
Another way to save money is by using Zygor's referral program. By going into your Zygor Elite account and clicking on Referrals, you will either be able to enter a person's name and email to refer them to Zygor, or you can click on your specific URL (which Zygor provides) and refer people that way. For each person you refer who subscribes, you get $1.00 off your monthly Zygor subscription price.
So, for each time you see Zygor highlighted in this text, that's my specific referral link.
Secondly, if you run a business online (like I do), have a large social media presence on any platform, etc. You can also share your referral link there, or you can become an affiliate of Zygor by going through Share A Sale.
Share A Sale will give you 50% on any subscription, but you do have to sign up for Zygor's program, and you have to wait for them to accept you.
As far as I know, Joanasworld does not offer any affiliate or referral program.
I'm going to cover a few other things Zygor offers, and then I'll wrap this up.
ZYGOR GOLD GUIDE, AND OTHER OFFERINGS
The main way I make gold in WoW is by using the auction house. I hate farming, I refuse to do it, so instead I buy things on the AH that are selling too cheaply, and I relist them for more money. This has been a little harder to do on my server in Classic, but before I left Retail the last time, I had maxed out my gold and never farmed a single thing.
Zygor does offer a gold guide that comes along with the monthly price, so this is absolutely something you can do without utilizing another addon, like Auctioneer (which is what I use).
Zygor will also suggest which quest rewards you should choose, which gear you should equip, and if you go into Retail with it (which is included in the price) it will even walk you through rep grinds, mounts, professions, etc.
So, while Zygor isn't as extensive in WoW Classic, it does offer its fair share of helpful tidbits outside of leveling. And, as I said at the start, Zygor absolutely is expanding with the upcoming TBC rollout, so you'll be able to get from 60-70, level a Blood Elf or Draenei, track your mounts, pets, etc. all in one guide. It's pretty fantastic if your time is limited and you simply don't want to waste it searching for the place you left off the last time you had a chance to play. Or, if you're like me and you want to hit 70 quick so you can move into the best (this is fact, not just my opinion) raid ever, Karazhan! :)
BEING BROKE IS FOR THE POOR - HERE'S HOW I STAY RICH IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT
Zygor does offer a gold guide that comes along with the monthly price, so this is absolutely something you can do without utilizing another addon, like Auctioneer (which is what I use).
Zygor will also suggest which quest rewards you should choose, which gear you should equip, and if you go into Retail with it (which is included in the price) it will even walk you through rep grinds, mounts, professions, etc.
So, while Zygor isn't as extensive in WoW Classic, it does offer its fair share of helpful tidbits outside of leveling. And, as I said at the start, Zygor absolutely is expanding with the upcoming TBC rollout, so you'll be able to get from 60-70, level a Blood Elf or Draenei, track your mounts, pets, etc. all in one guide. It's pretty fantastic if your time is limited and you simply don't want to waste it searching for the place you left off the last time you had a chance to play. Or, if you're like me and you want to hit 70 quick so you can move into the best (this is fact, not just my opinion) raid ever, Karazhan! :)
BEING BROKE IS FOR THE POOR - HERE'S HOW I STAY RICH IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT
FINAL THOUGHTS
If Zygor were a one time fee addon, this choice would be a lot easier. But, the fact of the matter is that, if you're going to level many toons and keep the addon for more than 3 months, it would be less expensive to purchase Joanasworld and call it done.
That said, Zygor has fantastic customer service and regularly sends emails helping you maximize the guide with things like instance maps, special events, action buttons, swapping to another location for leveling, locating the nearest vendors, etc.
For me, I'll keep paying for Zygor, it's worth it to skip Chick-Fil-A once a month and save that $8 for this.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope this post has helped you out.
Enjoy your time in Azeroth!
Ty
That said, Zygor has fantastic customer service and regularly sends emails helping you maximize the guide with things like instance maps, special events, action buttons, swapping to another location for leveling, locating the nearest vendors, etc.
For me, I'll keep paying for Zygor, it's worth it to skip Chick-Fil-A once a month and save that $8 for this.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope this post has helped you out.
Enjoy your time in Azeroth!
Ty
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