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Neopia's Fill in the Blank News Source | 29th day of Running, Yr 26
The Neopian Times Week 33 > Articles > Look At All the Expensive Items!

Look At All the Expensive Items!

by sacred_revenge

The world of Neopia to a newcomer is one of exotic locales, fun and challenging games, cool online pets to choose from... and endless items to find, buy, sell, trade, earn, seek, auction, and generally yearn for. NeoPet to the fresh new user is a site full of opportunities galore.

But to a seasoned old Lupe like me, the site is a place of shifting trends, fashions, new waves, old favourites... and continuous speed bumps along the way to easy living in Neopia. We veterans have seen the rise of nations, from Tyrannia to Krawk Island. We have fought battles for those lands, and even at times fought each other. Lands have sunk and split and changed before our eyes, such as the lost city of Maraqua. But at what cost?

To those who have joined this wonderful site only in the last few months, here is a little history for you. For the rest of us vets, just nod your heads gravely as I describe the toll that the march of time has taken on us:

-First of all, some of our favourite haunts have slowed down over time. The Wheel of Excitement, and the Scratchcard Kiosk, used to be available for business every fifteen minutes. Those of us who could only spare an hour a night to go exploring could be able to rely on these noble hot spots for at least three spins or cards a night. Eventually, it was every thirty minutes... forty-five... an hour... two. A scratchcard went from 500 NP to 750, but refreshingly has dipped down to 600. True, these things must be adjusted to accommodate for all you youngsters... but I'll come back to that in a moment.

Next, our Battledome: Hidden niches or grand arenas scattered from the Haunted Forest to that great Space Station in the night sky, these places have been the testing ground for worthy NeoPet and bright-eyed newcomers alike, ready to try their skills as well as their prized weaponry. For the well-off owner, a pet could be outfitted with top-quality gear for around 120,000 NP and stand a good chance of winning. Since that day when all pets stood shoulder to wingtip, the advent of fantastic and highly-priced Hidden Tower items supplied by faeries themselves have put the wealthy in a category of their own, making themselves superior not through skill or strategy any longer, only through sheer brute force. New pets must beware of these heavy-handed Neo-millionaires who have transcended equal footing.

Our great hall of gaming - once the epicentre for leisurely playing, fun times, and piles of NP. True, many of these classics still exist for the careful building up to larger bank accounts, but contests such as "Better Than You" and "Mystery Picture" put emphasis on rushing to beat other players and turn the focus from simply having fun to winning through to the finish line. And where are those staple games that earned us such wonderful prizes in the past? Bullseye is gone, and Deckball no longer provides us with Dubloons. It was not so long ago that Dubloons looked to be the newest form of itemised currency, a revolutionary step for Neopian commerce. But with our sources of these valuable coins dwindling, what is to become of our newer members? Wealthy owners will begin to hoard their coins in safety deposit boxes like so many proverbial treasure chests, carefully holding them until they are worth the most. No, another renaissance may pass us by yet again.

Food, that simple staple in the maintaining of our dear beloved pets. It has never been a problem for the watchful owner, and it never will be. But like so many other things, the passage of time will make more and more different exotic foods harder to find or collect. Gourmet foods are beginning to cost as much as some Battledome items, and for what? Why must we keep so many delicious delicacies under glass and on dusty store shelves, when at one time we could treat our pets that we love so much and that love us in return to a feast of kingly proportions? Foods of all sorts have just become another precious commodity that allow the rich to flaunt their wealth... and the poor to look hungrily on.

Lastly, our accounts. There are far too many of us out there that can tell a tale of accounts past, either closed down as a result of foolish mistakes, made bankrupt by the greed and guiles of less moral men, or lost forever to the ravages of hackers. I myself have stories of that sort to tell, stories that pain me to this... very day...

Excuse me a moment, I need to remember some of the pets that I have been unable to care for through losing my accounts in the past. Take this time to reflect on the pets you know and love, and put so much of your heart into.

There, that's better. Anyway, those of us who browse through stores and watch the Trading Post know that the methods some people are using are becoming downright deceptive and misleading. And to top it off, prices are driving ever higher every day as people struggle to bring in the Neopoints needed to reach those high altitudes of numbers that luxury and freedom from poverty must reside in. It is a vicious cycle, I know, but Neopia is not as simple as it once was. Not all things are within our grasp anymore.

But there is hope. In each and every person, there is the potential to do good, and be fair, and help one another to reach our goals. Those staples that we put so much emphasis on Faeries, Codestones, Dubloons, paint brushes, maps, Neggs, and the like. All these are still out there, and appearing in the most unlikely of places. And before you set yourself down the road to riches and rewards, ask yourself this one simple question:

What do I want to have fun doing today?

Week 33 Related Links

Placing Winning Bids With a Slow Connection
Every time you place a last moment bid there will be two to three people toppling your bid when the auction is closed.

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I Barely Got Any Pocket Lint!
The Hidden Tower sure is gettin' chalk full of new and cool items lately, but this is the Hidden Tower we're talking about.

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