You know what occurred to me just recently? Here I’ve been, listening to the Blizzard communiques playing on my teeth and leaping down every rabbit hole I can find about what might go wrong after the expansion, but I haven’t been helping you guys take care of yourselves out there. After all, when you buy wow accounts there are three parties involved that you have to pay attention to.

The first is Blizzard and their crack team of GMs. I think I’ve covered them enough over the last couple of posts so I’m going to let that dead horse ripen for a while. Tangentially, I need to go buy some glue tomorrow. Ran out while making a WoW collage this afternoon.

What?

Second party you’ll need to keep a close eye on is the seller of your new account. If you’re buying from a site like Craigslist or ebay, you’re bound to get hosed. No buyer security, complete anonimity, and no way to be sure that delivery will be even remotely safe. It’s a trifecta of account doom that makes me want to double up on my meds every time I think about it. There are also the myriad other sites out there that promise amazing things, but want you to send a money order for that oh, so special account of your dreams. Feh. Every time someone talks about sending a money order for something I imagine I can hear someone laughing and shouting “SUCKER!” in the distance. Don’t do that to yourselves, people. Use secure buying methods only. Google checkout, paypal, credit cards, even Western Union all have ways to help you out if something goes wrong. They’re safe, secure, and well trusted the world over. That being said, don’t buy from outside your home country. There are all sorts of laws that don’t make sense out there, and who knows just how account buying fits into them. Better to stick with people you could get a hold of if you have to.

The final portion of the equation, and the one you as a buyer have the most control over is: YOU! I can’t tell you the number of accounts I’ve seen lost because someone shot their mouth off. Blathering on about your new account is a sure way to get it taken from you. Also, dont use your purchased account to buy gold. Have an alt for that. Makes things less suspicious.

Yeah, I’ve been a little jumpy lately about the whole expansion thing. It’s hard not to be seeing as Blizzard has a history of doing the impossible. After all no one thought that the Chinese farmers could be caught, but they got nailed many, many patches ago. The folks in Blizzards dev department have only gotten more sophisticated since then.

So I’m a little nervous about buying an account after the expansion releases. Oh, I’m sure that really well established sites like Toonstorm won’t be affected in the least. They have tried and true policies in place that will help keep us safe from marauding GMs. And if something does change for the worse, they’ll be smart enough to stop sales temporarily until they find a way around the whole thing. Even Real ID hasn’t slowed them down any, and that’s supposedly fool proof.

I’m just feeling like if you’re going to buy wow account, I would do so before expansion day, just in case. No sense running the risk of being in the spotlight unless absolutely necessary.

Another thing that always makes me twitch around expansion time is the sheer number of scammers that crawl out of the woodwork. Yeah, there are always a few out there snaring the unsuspecting fool with their empty promises of $30 accounts. Poorly worded Craigslist ads still exist with nothing to protect the buyer but their delusions about the decency of humankind.

I really need to start watching happier TV shows. Discovery and History are turning me into more of a nut than I was before.

Anyway, expansions seem to bring out the worst elements of the internet business racket. They crawl out of their holes like cockroaches and fall upon us en masse. Search for accounts to buy and you’ll be flooded with horribly worded sites offering amazing accounts, some of which are impossible (who ever heard of a gnome mage with an assassination build?) all carrying items that any seasoned player knows doesn’t exist. The Fork of Horripilation is from a different game entirely, people! Pay closer attention!

Then, about a month after duping everyone they can, the sites just disappear. Try to get to them again and you’ll only get messages about bills not being paid, or, if you’re really lucky, a 404.

Seriously, just stick with known sites like Toonstorm around that time.

Well, another month, another release. Blizzard is really pulling out all the stops these days trying to get as much content is as they can before they release Cataclysm. It’s nice to see that they don’t have any plans for leaving us hanging with what’s going on in WoTLK. Not that I was worried they would do that. The guys over at Blizzard are way too savvy to just drop us all like that. I’m really curious to see how the next chapters play out.

Until then, I’m going to have my hands full trying to take down the Lich King. Me, and just about everyone else out there.

Now the thing this brings to mind is the fact that a lot of new players are going to be bummed that they can’t see all of this great new stuff yet. That’s where places like Toonstorm start coming in. Unfortunately, there are always those waiting to take advantage of inexperienced players.

What I’d like to do today is share a few tips that should help keep you safe when you’re shopping for an account.

First and foremost, make sure that you’re doing your homework. Never take a site’s claims at face value. It’s really easy for them to make claims about the experience of “Jim from Ohio” without there ever actually being a Jim involved. When you find a site that looks pretty good, be sure to check out if they’re accredited in any way. For example, Toonstorm puts on their front page that the BBB gives them the thumbs up. Also be sure to check for customer reviews outside of the main site itself. Find blogs like mine to back up their claims.

The next and biggest thing is to use your head. Look around at what the good sites are claiming for delivery times and prices. Get an average from them and keep that in mind while you shop. If a site is claiming way cheaper prices and faster delivery, I start getting suspicious. Often those places are either running things really poorly (which can get you caught) or are flat out scams (which gets you ripped off). Just keep that average in mind so that you don’t get carried away when shopping. It’s easy to get lured in by deals that are too good to be true.