It’s been a heated debate for years now, which leveling guide is better. Guides come and go, some good and some bad, but two guides have been around for the long run – Dugi’s Ultimate WoW Leveling Guide and Zygor Guides. But which one is better?
If you have read anything about the two before you landed here you probably found that the comparison is almost dead even. Most players favor the guide they are using and make false allegations about their fellow competitor. Not to worry, I am going to settle this debate once and for all.
The Dugi vs Zygor Guides is a very in-depth comparison as we did not want to leave out any factors. The comparison had to remain unbiased and this was tough initially, as I am a Zygor Guides user. However, I really wanted to get to the bottom of this debate and decided to purchase and use Dugi’s guide to give him a fair comparison. I figured if Dugi had a better guide, then I would have no problem switching over as I had already purchased both guides.
So who was the decisive winner? Here is the breakdown:
1) Initial web research of these two guides left us with a dead even tie. It seems as though everyone was pulling for the guide they owned. This did not get us any further in deciding a winner but it did teach us that both guides deliver in terms of customer satisfaction and that you should be happy with either one.
2) Our next area of analysis was the ease of installation. Zygor guides clearly took the lead, as their installer is simple and intuitively designed. Simply download and execute the installer and click install. Dugi has you doing more steps that include downloading 13 “source” files and the installer, placing them in a common folder, and executing the installer. Not the end of the world but to have to do that every update can get quite tedious. Zygor’s installer has a simple Update button that does it all in one click.
3) We then tested the speed of each leveling guide and user interface. We found speed to be impossible to properly test, as you would need loads of test subjects with identical questing habits. We found both to be VERY fast at leveling and therefore drew even here.
The user interface is a matter of opinion. Dugi uses a more “WoWesk” looking display while Zygor Guides uses a custom design with different skins. However, we did find out Dugi uses free, 3rd party addons in their guide (the directional arrow is TomTom). A big nono as these authors could stop updating their addon, leaving Dugi and followers in the dust – minus one point for Dugi.
4) Each guide has a list of bonuses available after purchase. Since everyone seems to hype Dugi’s bonuses, we decided to put them to the test. The findings were not so surprising as BOTH Dugi’s and Zygor Guides offered practically worthless bonuses. What we did find out is that Dugi’s Cataclysm bonus is a Talent advisor that could have some worth (even though Zygor Guides offers it as a standard feature) but yet again the talent advisor is just the free 3rd party addon “Talented”! Charging for free products is bad for business Dugi.
Since the bonuses seemed to be a sales gimmick for both sides, no points are awarded to either side.
5) Talent advisors are becoming a very big sales attraction for players new to the game and for experienced players leveling Alts. Zygor guides talent advisor is fully automated. You can have it learn your points for you as you level or you can have it recommend the talents to use. The builds are all spot on leveling builds (healer, tank, and dps builds too for those that instance). Not to mention, Zygor’s talent advisor is built in-house.
Dugi’s “Talented” just offers visual talent trees where you have to manually put the points and learn them yourself. Not the end of the world as it still gets the job done. However, we awarded a half point to Zygor guides for their overall finesse of the talent advisor.
6) Are you still with me? I apologies about the length of this article. The smart injection system, our next area of interest, has really little to compare. Zygor guides has a fully automated system that scans your completed quests and current level to find the optimal spot in the Zygor Guides questing path to start you. Dugi’s guide offers a selection window where you have to pick the level range and zone you think you should quest in and then find your way to the best spot on the questing path.
Believe me, Zygor’s smart injection system is fantastic!
7) Finally something Dugi can take the cake on. Price. At the moment, Dugi is $10 cheaper than Zygor Guides. Probably a good idea as he is charging for 3rd party addons that are free and clearly has a less polished product. For those that are tight on money, Dugi’s might be the way to go. Remember what we stated before in the beginning of the article – both customers are very satisfied with whichever guide they own.
