Newbie Guide to Prosperity by luckyladybug01 |  |
Neopia is such a big place with so much to do, so where do you begin? Hopefully
this will help you to use your limited resources to the greatest benefit so
you can get on your feet quickly and make a name for yourself. I've garnered
this information from lots of experience and advice from other players, and
I'd like to pass it on to you Newbies out there.
I. Getting Familiar With Neopia
This is the one bit of information that you have to hear first and remember
forever: NEVER GIVE ANYONE YOUR PASSWORD. Neopia is a wonderful place, but like
anyplace else in the world, there are people who abuse it for personal gain
and will take advantage of anyone they can. If someone ever asks you for your
password, or if you're in someone's shop and you're taken to a log-in page when
you know you're already logged in, DO NOT give up that information. Report them
to the team immediately by clicking on the "e-mail us" at the very bottom of
the yellow side bar. Also, always logout when you're done with your playing
session.
Now, on to the fun stuff! By now you've got a pet, just one, and you should
keep it that way for now. Too many pets will drain your funds and are more a
liability to you in this delicate transition time when you're getting used to
NeoPets. You can get more later on if you wish. The first thing you should do
is familiarise yourself with all the buttons on the yellow scroll bars at the
side of your screen and the top of the Shops screen. Click on everything and
read what you see, so that you know where to find the information you'll need
as you go. I never did this at first, and I'm still learning, after almost a
year, where everything is.
Now, go and open a shop. When you get your Newbie Pack, and if some other
items are dropped in your lap, you'll need to sell them so you have some funds.
It's not worth it just yet to get a bank account, so hang on to your money until
you can get some decent interest.
The next thing you should do is explore Neopia. Go to all the worlds and investigate
everything there. This will be very valuable to you as well.
The first game to play is Lenny Trivia. This game asks you questions about
Neopia and gives you 25 NP for each right answer. (If you've already investigated
the scroll bars and the worlds, you'll know many of the answers without having
to look anything up.) Use a separate browser window to research the questions,
which you can do by using the Search on the yellow side bar, going to the place
the question asks about, or by asking on the Chat Board. Not only will this
give you some NP to work with, but it will help you to learn a few things along
the way. (Note: Some of the questions are too hard to find the answer to, or
are in need of updating since some of the games got changed. If you find this
to be the case, simply refresh the page and you'll get a new question without
getting penalised for a wrong answer.)
The next game to play is the Treasure Hunt. You get clues and follow them
around Neopia until you are awarded with a map piece. Very often you'll need
to refresh the page to get the next clue, sometimes even several times, so don't
give up if you don't see the clue right away when you know you're at the right
place. Some of the clues are scrambled, so if you need help, go to the Chat
Boards and ask, and someone will be happy to give you a hand. This is a very
valuable game for you, since it also takes you to some good places on the site
that give you information and such, and plus the map piece is worth a lot of
NP. When you're brand new and you have very little money, the map is much better
sold in your shop. Later, when you're more established, you can collect the
pieces if you like and find the treasure. But for now, use the pieces to get
some starting money. You can only do one hunt every 24 hours, so try to do it
at a time when you're most likely able to get on the computer every day.
(Side note on using the Chat Boards: You will see that some people there beg
for money and NP. By no means should you copy this behaviour. It is rude and
will only prevent people from helping you. If you need help, talk to the people
in your guild, which we'll discuss in the next segment.)
II. Getting Around Neopia
There are lots of places you can go and games you can play, as you've discovered
by now, so what you need to do here is find out which of all these will help
you most in the beginning, so you can maximise your time and effort in Neopia.
If you spin the Wheel of Excitement, which you should do periodically, and
your pet gets sick, do not buy medicine for it. Keep visiting the Healing Springs
until your pet is fully healed. It will happen eventually, don't worry; you
can't afford any expensive medication when you're just starting out. As for
the Wheel of Mediocrity, don't visit that one much yet. While it can give out
prizes that make it worth your while, the odds of that happening are too low
to risk your meagre resources.
As for the quests, don't bother with Jhudora at all, or the Snow Faerie, just
yet. Jhudora gives almost nothing, and the Snow Faerie's quests are usually
quite expensive. You can do those later. You might be able to do one for the
Witch, but don't spend over 150 NP, since her prizes don't often reflect more
than that in payback. If you are selected by one of the other faeries to do
a quest, you'll be blocked from using the Shop Wizard to find that item, so
you can ask for help again on the Chat Boards. However, if you 're not interested
in increasing your pet's statistics (which is only needful if you plan to fight
in the Battledome someday), then you can go to the Faerie Quest building and
turn it down. It won't hurt your chances of getting a quest again in the future,
although you won't be selected for one for a short immediate period.
Visit the Omelette every day. This is free food and will save you from having
to buy any for your pet. The Tombola, Fruit Machine and Coltzan's Shrine may
also give you free food, and you should hang on to it instead of selling it,
because food from the shops can be expensive. Only sell if you see from the
Shop Wizard that it's worth over 40 or 50 NP, which is rare.
Always read the News and The Neopian Times. There's all kinds of good information
there to keep you up to date on things.
Don't play games of chance where you have no control over the outcome, like
Chia Bingo, Scorchy Slots, the Neopian Lottery, and Dice-A-Roo. Other chance
games like Scarab 21 at least let you use some strategy. With the others, all
you can do is watch as a machine throws your money away for no good reason.
If you have the games Click-O-Mania and Minesweeper on your PC and are familiar
with and pretty good at them, play Destruct-O-Match and Neggsweeper, which are
based on those games. They're good for plenty of NP to help you get started.
If you're good at matching games, play Kiko Match II and Return to Never Land
(although the latter is a limited-time game). If action games are your speed,
then try Ice Cream Factory and Meerca Chase. Although those are a little time-consuming,
if you can hone your skills, they can be quite lucrative.
Finally, join a guild. You can browse through the guilds, although that's
a rather daunting task because there are so many, or you can search for one
that serves one of your interests. There are lots of guilds dedicated to favourite
breeds of pets. Or you can find guilds centred around the Cooking Pot, doing
an array of good deeds in Neopia (from giving to the poor to adopting pound
pets), or even non-Neopian interests like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Do a few searches and see what you can come up with, and check out their Web
site to see what their rules are and what they expect and/or can do for guild
members. Maybe you could even Neomail a couple of members to see how they like
it there. The reason it's a good idea to join a guild is that there will then
be a group of people who know you personally and who can help you out when you
need it, plus it'll keep you going should you get frustrated and consider quitting
NeoPets. Just talk to your guild members and they'll do whatever they can do
make things right for you.
III. Getting Momentum
Now that you know what you're doing a little more, let's talk about how to really
pick up speed and get you on your way to being a millionaire (if that 's one
of your goals). By now you may have increased your shop size to fit more items,
and that's good progress. Now you can open up a bank account. The way to use
this to the greatest benefit is to deposit all your money, every penny, at the
end of the day. (Check your shop till before you do this to make sure you've
got all the money available to you.) Then the next day when you log on, go to
the bank and collect your interest. If you keep money with you, you can't get
interest on it; that's why you must deposit it all to get the most reward. Go
play games to get a little money in your pocket should you need it for quests
or to spin the Wheel of Excitement. If you still need more money, then you can
go withdraw some. But try to get by without it, because then your funds will
grow a lot faster.
Some people play the Stock Market, but I don't recommend it until you have
a whole lot more money, and even then I'm not too keen on it. It's still like
a game of chance where you can't control the outcome. You could invest all kinds
of money and then over time you could get a lot of return, or it could plummet
and be worth almost nothing. I personally don't like to gamble like that when
I've worked so hard to get my money in the first place.
Now you can start doing Snow Faerie quests, too. Still, don't do them if she
asks for items TOTALLING (not worth individually) 1000 NP or so. Again, the
risk of a short return is too great if you don't have money to throw at it.
Keep on avoiding Jhudora. This is more like a game of prestige than a quest,
and is not a good investment of your money at all.
You may adopt or create another pet if you wish, although I would still hold
off on it, unless you absolutely must have that Chia. The omelettes can only
go so far; plus, you can only have one pet selected at a time, which means that
if you are blessed at the Healing Springs or Coltzan's Shrine, only that pet
will benefit, whereas if you only have the one pet, it gets all the goodies
that come your way, and will be nuclear strong and fast, etc., a whole lot faster.
If you want to play with your pet, use cheap toys. Expensive plushies don't
make your pet any happier than a key ring or a sheriff's badge or something.
Don't fight in the Battledome with your pet yet, either. He probably doesn't
have high enough statistics to do much anyway, plus you don't yet have the money
for spells, armour, weapons or training. My pets have never fought at all, and
that's fine with me. I prefer fun kinds of games to trying to bash in somebody
else's head. But then, that's just my style. If you like to fight, then okay,
that's up to you, but you might want to wait a while still.
It's also not worth it to create a NeoHome. They're for display only, and
you get nothing back for your investment, monetarily speaking. Save that for
when you have so much money you don't know what to do with it.
It seems I've been telling you lots of things NOT to do, and it's all been
good advice because you have to be selective at this point. But here's one thing
you definitely should do, and you'll hear it from a lot of places because it's
true: PLAY GAMES. There are so many to choose from, you can find a few favourite
that you can play every day, and that's a lot of money you can earn while having
fun. If you keep doing those games every day, and put it in the bank to gain
interest every night, you'll be rolling in the dough before you know it. Don't
overlook the contests, either. If you get a picture or poem or story published,
you could win big bucks, plus get a trophy you can be proud of!
Remember, the most effective Neopian is an informed Neopian, so don't forget
to keep reading the News and the Times. It won't be long until you'll be offering
help and advice to the Newbies on the Chat Boards, yourself. J
My parting gift to you is a list of cheap foods that you can almost always
buy for less than 15 NP. (If you need extremely cheap food, then you can purchase
the gross foods like Maggot Stew, or spoiled food like Burnt Scarab Cookie.
Your pets will make a face, but it will fill them up nonetheless, if you're
desperate.)
Baked Beans, Prunes, Dried Apricots, Dried Prunes, Can of Prune Juice,
Box of Wheat Flakes, Box of Trifle Mix, Dandelion and Burdock Drink, Neoflakes
Cake, Brown Sauce, Tin of Sardines, Plain or Chocolate Faerie Cake, Musho Mushy
Peas, Tin of Olives, Semolina, Bagguss, Ummagine, Tchea Fruit, Cheops Plant,
Ptolymelon, Grakle Bug, Sutek Muffin, and Mummified Pepper. |
