Apocalypse Now!

The End is Nigh!

You have no chance to survive make your time!

…

So, yeah. 4.0.3a has dropped and brought with it the much anticipated doom of Azeroth. In the space of a few moments (plus or minus for the excruciatingly long download) everything that we had come to know and love about WoW was suddenly turned on its ear.

There are new quests replacing the old ones, the areas we’ve been acquainted with have been razed and burned. Not to mention all the class and ability upheavals. Seriously, I never thought I’d see the day when no one really wanted a heal spec priest! Tanks seem to be the en vogue class, especially prot spec since the healers are effectively worthless right now. Warlocks got some nerfing too. In fact, everything doing with elements seems to have taken a distinct nose dive. Makes sense, given the lore behind the expansion. Elementals have been in a state of disarray ever since the fall of the Lich King. No one has been able to explain their behavior, and now that Deathwing has come back it all falls into place.

So, it seems just about everyone has their nerfs to deal with, and tanks are the way to go if you’re going to buy wow account. Only question is, do it now or wait until a little after the expansion so that you can try one of the new races?

See, I’ve actually be waffling on this. Yes, there will be a degree of danger associated with buying something after the drop. Blizzard is known for their strict enforcement of them being the only one to provide anything WoW related. Just ask anyone who’s formed a classic server how forgiving Blizzard is about them horning in on corporate turf. It gets ugly in a hurry. Can’t think of one that’s survived more than a year, really.

I think I will buy myself a new Worgen if the opportunity presents itself. They should be easy to prot spec and I’d really like to put it through its paces. I’ll try goblins later. Too much like gnomes for my liking.

Anywho, keep an eye out for scammers. They’re really starting to get active. I found no fewer than 10 new ones today alone. And stay away from Craigslist. It’s even worse there.

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.

This time I’m talking about what’s going to happen to prices for accounts. Sure they’re great now, but what happens when you try to buy wow accounts close to release date? Or after it? Actually, this is less paranoia and more economic fact.

What I’m referring to is the simple concept of supply and demand. You see, right now both of these factors are fairly well balanced. With no releases since Ruby Sanctum there is no real pressure to buy an account or two since you feel like you have plenty of time before Cataclysm hits shelves. But let us think about what will happen once the release date is announced. Then people will start thinking, “Boy, do I really have time to get everything I need and all of my toons leveled before then?” People will start getting a little antsy about that and the fragile balance between supply and demand will be lost. Demand will increase while supply stays the same.

(Okay, theoretically supply stays the same. There is the chance that some sites have a huge backstock of accounts that they can pull out at a moments notice, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll let us know that.)

There is also the possibility that supply will start to dry up. When that happens the balance will be further upset and the results will not be pretty. Prices will start to climb as more and more sluggards find themselves falling behind.

Then comes release day itself, and it will only get worse.

See, this little expansion includes a couple of fun surprises. Well, not really surprises since they announced it a long time ago, but it’s going to make the whole idea of buying an account kind of different for a while. What it will include is two new races all geared up and ready to go. That means there will not only be a run on the accounts just before and shortly after the release, but for some time after the release as well. That will be the result of accounts including the new races becoming available.

All in all it should make things rather interesting around there.

So like I said, you may just want to buy an account now if you’re going to. Otherwise you may not get a good chance.

Today we’re putting on our paranoid conspiracy theorist hat and taking a different look at the upcoming expansion release.

There isn’t much to talk about right now in WoW news other than Cataclysm because it’s going to be the next real change. And they’re making it into a doozy, too. Complete overhaul of Azeroth, even down to the original areas. And there’s no turning back, either. If you start a new toon the Cataclysm has still happened and you’ll be running those initial quests in post-apocalyptic wasteland. Mad Max, eat your heart out.

While everyone is excited about this, not to mention the raised level cap and all of the fun new stuff to be done with the new character classes, I think folks in our little community are overlooking something very important.

We all remember just what happened when 3.1 launched and the Chinese gold farmers and their patrons were caught. That was ugly. Real ugly. Since then Blizzard has done an awful lot to keep folks like that from coming back in the game and shifting the power balance.

My question is, what if they institute some sort of new way to detect the buying and selling of accounts? I mean, it isn’t like they couldn’t. Just based on the content we know they have some truly amazing developers out there, and their GMs are top notch. I’m truly afraid that something bad is going to go down when it comes out. Something that makes us more vulnerable to being caught for buying accounts.

That’s why I’m telling you to buy wow accounts now. That way, if something like that does go down, you won’t be caught in the crossfire. Yes, you’ll have to grind your way up to level 85 like the other shlubs, but at least you’ll get to keep the account.

Personally, I’d head over to Toonstorm. They’re still offering the discounts on accounts with alts, and that way you get some variety in there in case you want to change toons every so often. It can save you a bundle, too.

Now, I’m not saying this is going to happen. I don’t have anything to back it up. It’s just one of those little concerns I have whenever there’s an official release. Blizzard hasn’t made it this far by not paying attention to what’s going on. I’m just saying it may be a good idea on the odd chance that it has an effect on us is all.

Futurama’s new season is here!

Wait, wrong blog…

Seriously, though, there is good news out there for us wow players. I just can’t believe that they’re going to keep kicking out new content after putting the Lich King down. The only thing that I can figure is that they’re gearing up for Cataclysm and they need some transition material. It really makes me wonder just how far out the plot arc for Azeroth is planned out. Even if you aren’t into the lore, you really have to appreciate the fact that they can generate this much content on such a regular schedule.

Anyway, the new raid dungeon is call the Ruby Sanctum, and they’ve kept the details limited. I haven’t had a chance to get in there just yet, so I can’t even tell you just what kinds of good stuff that might be in there. Or the dangers that lurk, for that matter. Something tells me it can’t be good.

What it boils down to from the first look can be summed up in one word: dragons. There will be lots of interesting stuff going on, and it’s all about dragons.

The backstory plays out like this: The red dragonflight has been acting as a peacekeeping force in Azeroth for some time now, heading up a group called the Wyrmrest Accord. There have been periods of unrest within the ranks, namely when some twilight dragon eggs were discovered in teh Obsidian Sanctum. This led to some sneaky moves by the red dragonflight which resulted in some humans breaking in, killing Sartharion, and destroying the clutch. Now, the black dragonflight is the type to hold a grudge, and the fact that the Wyrmrest Temple is suddenly very much empty has a lot of people, particularly scaly ones, looking at them very closely. However, it seems unlikely that they have anything to do with it given their limited numbers. Besides, there would have been some sort of warning of an attack, or at least signs of resistance. But there’s no evidence of anything of the sort.

Anyway, sounds intriguing. And even if you don’t care about the lore, there’s bound to be plenty loot to pull from a dragon’s lair. Anyone with a basic knowledge of D&D can tell you that.

If you haven’t yet, I’d recommend that you take your level 80, buy wow accounts if you have to to get one, and check it out.

No, seriously folks. When I say cheap, I really mean it.

Here’s the thing: I don’t know if Toonstorm just has a huge surplus of accounts just sitting around, or if they’ve just decided it’s time to push the envelope during the current announcement lull, but they’re offering some awesome deals.

Usually about this long after the last major announcement I’ll see prices taking a pretty steep dip. The rush to get a new account so you can play with the new stuff just isn’t there anymore. Now they’re just wanting to get their more steady market. These are the people who are finally getting bored with the character they have and really want to try out something new. Some of the sales will be those desperate moments where a guild loses a critical character and needs to replace it ASAP, but those are rarer.

Unfortunately for them, it gets harder and harder to make those sales as time goes on.

That is, unless there’s a really, really good deal going with it.

And at Toonstorm right now, there is.

The deal, in a nutshell, is to buy one toon, get one or more at a discount. This deal can range pretty wildly depending on what it is you want to buy.

A good example is one I found earlier. The primary character is a male undead death knight (unholy build) for $142. He comes with 11 epic pieces of gear and 5 rares. In and of itself, a really great toon for the price. But, with that you can also save $56.80 on one of three other alts. They include a level 80 human warlock, a level 80 blood elf paladin, or a level 80 gnome rogue. Each of these alts is as completely decked out as the main character, and can all be used on the same CD key.

As Billy Mays once said, “But wait! There’s more!”

If you buy all three alts, you get them at 50% off the total price (actually a little more if you do the math yourself). Basically you get all three alts for 333.50, when you’d normally pay over $1100 if you bought them individually. Plus, they’re all on the same key, which saves you the expense of buying more of those.

This is just one of those deals that I don’t think is worth passing on. If you were going to buy wow accounts, I would say now is the time.

Honestly, I don’t know how the crew at Blizzard finds time to sleep with all of the stuff that they keep kicking out.

Less than a month after 3.3.2, where they add a whole new chapter to WotLK, they drop another patch creating a whole new aspect to the PvP mode. If you haven’t heard about it yet, they’ve added a new queue to the Battlegrounds called Random. It does just what you’d think it would and dumps you into a random field. That way there’s no time to prep, no time to try and plan a strategy. Obviously the same strategies that you’ve used on those fields before will work just fine, but you’ll have to be ready to respond on the fly for it.

I like the challenge the whole idea presents. The only thing I don’t like is that you have to be level 80 to use it. There are tons of great bonuses for winning in that mode and it kinda bugs me that only the top dogs get to play. Of course, this doesn’t mean anything if you just go and buy wow accounts like I do. It just makes life easier. Plus if you pull an Honorable Kill on any Battleground now, it’s double the Honor points, which means more trinkets for you.

Something else worth mentioning is a little event that you can’t buy wow accounts for. The 2010 WoW Arena Tournament is set to begin in May, and registration is already open. It’s going to be absolutely amazing! The reason bought accounts don’t matter is that you create a level 80 at the time of the tournament and get to deck them out with all of the epic gear you could possibly want. Infinite gold, and the ability to use that gold to buy just about anything you could possibly want, means that you get to build the ultimate toon that you’ve always wanted. Of course, you don’t get to keep it afterwards, but that’s not a big deal. If you win the regional invitationals you get $15,000, and the global invite’s grand prize is $75,000, and that’ll buy you just about anything you could possibly want, including a pimped out account.

So keep these things in mind so that you can take advantage of them. It’s pretty awesome times.

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.

Okay, sorry about the extended absence.  Things got really busy towards the end of summer so I wasn’t able to do the account buy with my uncle like I’d planned.  His tour got extended for another 6 months at the last minute, so I’ve been holding off on posting until he came back.  I would have posted sooner, but no one was really interested in buying an account until just recently.  Money is just tight all over, it seems.

But, there’s new stuff out there that has people making new plans to buy wow account.  If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, then you haven’t been playing wow for the last few weeks.  The 3.3 patch dropped a couple of weeks ago which means all sorts of new bosses, items, and the chance to kill the Lich king himself!  I’ve run that a few times myself, and it’s absolutely amazing.  It’s working out well for people who want to buy accounts, too, because places have been offering sales like crazy lately.

For example, Toonstorm has an amazing deal on a human death knight.  It comes with 4 epics and 8 rares and blacksmithing/mining.  Normal pricing is $425, but they’ve cut it down to $157.  And that’s only one of the deals I found there.  They had thousands of other deals on wow accounts, just as good, and they’re all backed by the same money-back guarantee that I’ve mentioned before.

Well, my uncle should be back stateside in a week or so, so he’ll be buying an account shortly after that.  I’ll be able to post a review then.  Plus, one of my old friends has been talking about it, too.  I’ll see if I can’t sell him on the idea a little more so I can have another review for you later.  I’ll keep you posted on what happens.

Later!