So, the Titan build is picking up again, and things have generally been good in the world of EVE.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been so good elsewhere. I was talking with a friend about funding my Titan, and playing EVE in general (he’s a HUGE EVE fan), when this lady comes out of nowhere and starts ragging on us about spending money on games when the people in Haiti were suffering.

This bugged me for a couple of reasons. You’ll see how it matters to the blog a little later.

First off, I’m just as sympathetic as the next person about the disaster that struck Haiti. No one should have their homes and businesses destroyed by an earthquake. And no one should have as much trouble as they are getting the relief they need to help them recover.

Second, I really resent the implication that we’re some sort of slackers or socially irresponsible just because we play video games. Yes, we’re spending a lot of money on a hobby, but so does every stamp collector, bird watcher, and model train builder out there. Just because it’s games doesn’t make it any less valid than any other recreation.

Fortunately, I had a comeback. You see, Mogs.com has started donating 5% of every purchase made to charity. They’re saving up to try and hit $7000, then they’ll hand that over to a major charity to help with the Haiti relief efforts. And while $7000 doesn’t sound like a lot, given the size of the business (let’s not kid ourselves: this is a seriously small niche we’re talking about) it’s really pretty impressive.

At that point, I had to ask her just what she was doing to help the relief efforts. Not suprisingly, she just walked off.

So, the lesson here is simple. A lot of us don’t have enough money to go throwing around without seeing something concrete back for it. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help out. Head over to Mogs ASAP and buy EVE Isk like there’s no tomorrow. You’ll get the goods you’re after, and feel good about helping out those in need.

Until next time!

I hope everyone had a good time over the holidays! I sure did, especially since my Isk order was delivered the day after Christmas, 2 days ahead of schedule. I love it when things work out.

Anyway, I thought I’d ring in the new year with a remedial lesson about how to safely buy eve isk. It’s been a while, so I figure any newbies could benefit from a crash course.

So, without further adieu, here are some basic do’s and don’ts.

DO make sure that all payments are made over a secure connection. Be suspicious of any place that wants the money through non-refundable places like MoneyGram or Western Union.

DON’T talk about the fact that you’re buying Isk. Personally, I feel that anyone who blabs about buying isk in open chat deserves to get banned. Either the GMs will catch you while they’re trolling, or another player will take offense and report you.

DO use common sense. Outrageous claims about pricing and delivery times are a sure sign of a scam. Does anyone really think that someone can deliver 1 trillion in under 10 minutes? It’s places like this that have caused the purges I mentioned last time at Mogs.com. Dishonest practices hurt everyone in the business.

DO double-check the reputation of a site before making a purchase. bizrate is a good place to check for reviews and ratings. For example, they gave Mogs.com an excellent rating in all categories.

DO look for a money back guarantee. I won’t buy from any place that doesn’t. It means that the site is willing to put you before your money. They won’t take any stupid risks when delivering your product, because they value you as a customer and want to see you come back again. I’ve noticed that places without a guarantee tend to let the customer come last in the transaction.

These little tips are just a few of the words of wisdom that many people who like to buy eve isk have shared with me over the years. Keep them in mind, and you’ll never have to worry.

Until next time!

I’m really sorry that I’ve been out of touch.  I know I said I would be doing regular updates last time, but things just kinda caught up with me.  Super busy life = teh suck.  Things have finally settled down a little, though, so I should be able to get a little more consistent schedule going again.  Not to mention winter is keeping me inside so it’s easier to play now.

Unfortunately, I’ve been out of touch with the Eve world, too, so my Titan buying has been slowed waaaaaay down.  I have a lot of work to do to get that project back on track.  Fortunately, we all know one way to help that process along. 

The real downer is that I haven’t been scouring for sites like I did before, so I don’t have a good review or anything to work with this time.  Companies that sell Isk come and go pretty quickly, so while a newcomer may look good, they aren’t necessarily what I’m after.  I must say I’m glad to see one old standby is still in operation, though.  Mogs.com is still around, and seems to have kept their reputation intact over the last few months.  In fact, I just read something interesting on their site that I feel I should share with all of you.  It seems that they’ve done a purge of their supply chain recently to improve safety to buyers.  Delivery times are a little slower than they were before, but they have ramped up the security as well.  This makes me feel good about buying from them again because I know that my Isk won’t suddenly be stripped from me.  Prices are still good with 200 million Isk for $19.69, so I’m going to place an order now and we’ll see if they still have all of the same procedures in place. 

Okay, it’s been about 5 minutes and I just got my verification call.  They explained the delay situation again, which is nice.  Keeps things from getting confusing.  They let me know that my order should be ready in about 5 days.  I’ll keep an eye on that and let you know just how it turns out in my next post.

Until then, later gamers!

I figured I’d come back with a BANG! or maybe a ZAP! Yeah Let’s go Zap…or maybe even a Pehw Pehw.

Anyway, I’ve got some questions from past blogs that I’ve posted that I think are pretty solid and need an answering. Let me first start by thanking the people who posted these questions and I hope you enjoy the site!
Let’s dig in - The first question comes from Angel about a blog I wrote in February! She asks:

”

Several blogs ago, you mentioned “safety procedures in place” that would assure a secure delivery.

Could you comment on what it takes to make a delivery safely?”

Great question and I totally didn’t think of explaining that good enough. On that particular blog we were doing a purchase from Mogs for a good amount of Eve Isk.  Safety procedures include how the company you’re buying from handles the ISK. In game there are scammers and fraudsters just like in real life. CCP is pretty good about banning or catching people who set up fake corps in game with the intent to defraud users, and people who hack accounts etc. In that particular blog I had a good conversation with the customer service rep at Mogs who handles the Eve Isk trades for their company and I was very impressed with his answers and knowledge of the game. Talking with a fellow player put me at ease, and hearing about how they handle the ISK, purchase from safe places, and the measures they take to prevent buying bad product or get their customers in trouble.

Here’s a few general tips on what to look out for:

This got longer than I hoped and I hate to bore, so I’ll answer more questions in the next blog, and I’ll get back to updating regularly

“Incredible rewards and certain death await explorers brave enough to fly into the unstable wormholes that have opened across EVE Online’s universe,” says Torfi Frans Olafsson, Senior Producer for EVE Online. “While EVE is certainly darker and more dangerous, it has also become accessible with our revamped new player experience, improved UI and renovated graphics and effects. Beginning your chosen path in EVE has never been easier.”

Apocrypha’s improvements include these highlights and more:

· The sudden appearance of unstable wormholes in space, making the universe 41% larger and much more dangerous. On the other side, a first acquaintance awaits to a formidable NPC group that guards the key to the next level of technology. This unknown, uncharted space allows for a true sense of exploration for those brave enough to grab hold of the dynamic new scanning mechanics.

· Strategic Cruisers come with the introduction of ancient technology into production. These modular ships allow for an extravagant level of customization and versatility.

· The first Epic Mission Arc joins an enhanced new player experience to guide fledgling pilots toward the opportunities space has to offer. This massive branching set consists of dozens of missions that are guaranteed to forge any soft-shelled rookie into a battle-hardened veteran.

· Massive sensory improvements for every player: an upgraded sound engine, brand-new animations for almost every effect in game and beautiful original assets in wormhole space.

· A newly designed skill queue allows EVE’s unique character progression system to truly shine and Neural Remapping provides an opportunity for players to refocus their development as they so choose.

· We are releasing our Premium Graphics client for Mac users and introducing Premium Lite as our new lower-end graphics suite for a more beautiful experience all around.

· Full Russian language support.

A full list of features for EVE Online: Apocrypha can be found on the features page: www.eveonline.com/apocrypha

On November 5th 2008 we made a pledge:

The purpose of this website is to educate my fellow Eve Online players; Eve Isk Buyers, and people in general on how and where to buy Eve Isk - safely;  with faster delivery.

I’m proud to announce that four months later we have been able to do exactly that! We have received tons of emails from loyal Eve Isk Blog followers who have found our write ups both helpful and true!!

Here’s a few example:

“Hey guys Tori here from Alabama; I just wanted to thank you for the isk tips, although my asperations are not quite as high (I don’t plan on buying a Titan), I have been needing isk to train a few high level skills, and I tried out Mogs.com like you suggested  in the blog this week and they did a wonderful job…so thanks!”

“Hey how’s the Titan comming?
I tried out one of the sites you listed and it was just as you said, fast and easy

Thanks!”

Hey no problem you guys thanks for reading and sending us an email! We’ll have an update on the titan progress soon…It’s just such a massive undertaking for someone who plays just a few days a week, but we haven’t given up!! haha I even have the Mrs. helping me out a bit with it
We won’t be doing an actual purchase review this week but of course we’ll give you a place we’ve purchased from in the past and has done well by us. That place is, as mentioned above by Tori, Mogs.com.
We’ll be back with a full review next week! Thanks for reading!

Boy, how the time does fly when you’re having fun. I’ve been playing a good amount of Eve in recent weeks, and my ISK reserves were getting low. I figured it was time to go EVE ISK shopping again, thus bringing you another review.

For past purchases, I’ve had superb service from MOGS.com. After a friend related a story to me about being unable to make a gold purchase at an unnamed shop, due to not owning a land phone line for their voice verification, I figured it was time to test them out on that front, to see how I fared.

After creating a new account, and giving them my cell number, rather than land line, I placed my order, with a note that the phone number given was for a cell, I then sat back to wait. To my delight, within ten minutes of placing the order, I was on the phone with a very polite CS rep, verifying my order. While on the phone, I asked about the phone number, and was told that as long as it is a valid number, and they could contact me through it, it was no issue. Concluding the conversation, the CS rep informed me that I should receive my ISK within thirty minutes. I then logged into my Eve account, and had the ISK in less than fifteen minutes!

I am more and more impressed with the fantastic folks over at MOGS.com each time I do business with them. Next time you’re in need of EVE ISK , you really should check them out.

You know that we are always searching the net for safe and cheap websites where you can buy Eve ISK. It is actually rare that they ever come looking for us.

After going though my usual morning schedule, I hopped online to check my e-mail. To my delight, I had an email from the management of Mogs.com thanking us liberally for our recent review of their website and EVE ISK selling abilities.

They are so elated with us that they offered up a special DISCOUNT code for anyone who came from this website to theirs. What an awesome way of saying thank you to us for giving them such a great review, and to our readers for striving to find the best EVE ISK sellers in the industry. The discount code is good until 2010. All it takes is for you to go to Mogs.com and place your order. On the last page where it asks for a coupon code just enter:

Coupon Code: VIPONLY

To get 5% taken off your order instantly!
As always, if you have trouble, please use the contact us page on the menu if you have any issues, and we will see about getting it worked out.

Thanks and happy reading!

Last week I said I would work on some tips and hints for buying Eve Isk safely. So, as promised, this week I wanted to give you a rundown of some of the mistakes people make when trying to buy Isk… and hopefully help you avoid some of those pitfalls that can occur. Some of this may seem obvious to you if you’re a veteran buyer, but much of it bears repeating anyway. And for those of you looking to buy Eve Isk for the first time, it’s definitely worth a quick read. So, without further ado, the DO’s and DON’TS of Isk buying:

DON’T  be fooled by outrageous claims. If it looks way too good to be true….well, you know the rest. Sites offering 1000 gold for $5 are probably out to scam you and take your money. Sad but true. Also look at their delivery time claims…..think hard about what is humanly possible.

DO run any sites you’re interested in through a google search. Often the worst scammers will have been labeled by now and discussions and warnings will pop up in a search. There are also sites dedicated to exposing scams, try those out as well. It’s worth the extra few minutes of your time to be sure. 

DON’T send any money unless you know it’s being sent over a secure connection. I won’t go into details here, but if you’re not sure how to tell if your transaction is secure, there is plenty of information out there, just Google “how do I know my transaction is secure” or something similar. This is so important when you’re giving out your credit card number.

DO look for a money-back guarantee (such as the one offered by mogs.com.) Any site worth its salt will offer you a full refund or equal credit if anything goes wrong. If they can’t promise you that, don’t waste your time or risk your money.

So that’s just a few quick things to keep in mind next time you go to buy Eve Isk. Wishing you best of luck and happy gaming!

I don’t think I’ll have my Titan by Christmas (huge shocker, I know…) but things are definitely moving along. Since the last time I wrote I have managed a few very beneficial alliances in-game and if I play my cards right I might actually accomplish my goal in less time than I thought. With Christmas coming up and family to shop for I have decided to hold off on buying more Eve Isk for the time being, as I have managed what I bought a month ago from Mogs.com pretty shrewdly and still have enough to keep moving forward on my goal. (You can read my review of their service just two posts down.) I do plan to buy some more soon, so stay tuned for more reviews and tips on how to buy Eve Isk safely. For now, I leave you with an excerpt from a breaking story about a massive Eve Isk scandal from the Wired Blog. These guys had balls, I’ll give you that, but I’d just as soon get my Isk the old-fashioned way–by buying it legally from a trusted source Anyway here’s the story:

“Though the truth is likely buried somewhere beneath the plethora of rumors, sci-fi MMO EVE Online is once again gripped by controversy. According to the official report, game masters responding to a player’s petition to address a glitch uncovered a network of player-run corporations engaged in exploiting a bug for unimaginable profits. Over 70 player accounts were banned, but the ultimate effects of the exploit are still being investigated.

The “bug” in question caused expensive raw materials used by crafters to be generated effortlessly, with the banned players selling these ill-gotten materials and reaping the benefits. But the rabbit hole goes much deeper. At a third-party discussion forum, an anonymous poster — supposedly one of the banned players — claims to have alerted game masters to the existence of the exploit as far back as 2004. His petitions ignored, the poster claims to have spent the last 4 years essentially printing vast fortunes of in-game currency, and alleges that many major player-run alliances in the EVE universe were also in on the ploy.” You can read the rest of the story here.