NEOPIA CENTRAL - First perhaps I should explain my title, which may in fact
seem rather odd to some people. Experiment_ex is an account I created a little
while ago after being told by a Neopets user that making NP is harder that I
think, that I'm very lucky to be so rich, and that I should give them a Halloween
Paint Brush. I'm sure you can work the rest out. So armed with my brand new
account that had not been tinkered with I set off to make NP quickly and easily.
But what good would such exploits lead to if the whole of Neopia or at least
a large portion of Neopia didn't know about it? None, so here's this article.
Aim
The aim of this experiment is to prove just how difficult it isn't to earn NP
and just how little time it takes while exploring different techniques that
you can use to make NP.
Hypothesis
I predict that it will take less than a week to make my target of 10,000 NP.
I predict that it will take very little time each day to make this meagre amount
of NP.
Method One
The first method used to achieve my goal of 10,000 NP was the shop. I reverted
to the shop basically because that's where I feel that I made my fortune (almost
2,000,000 NP before I went and spent it all on stamps - what a waste). As you
may or may not know it costs 150 NP to start a shop, a pleasant surprise as
it cost me 100 more Neopoints when I started playing Neopets.
Step One
My first point of call as a technical newbie was to get my hands on something
I could sell. My newbie pack, another charity that I did not receive, was perfect
for this and went straight into my shop. Next I popped over to the Shopping
Wizard and looked each item up and worked out what the maximum number of Neopoints
that I could price each items at was and priced my items accordingly so that
they would sell reasonably quickly and not be hanging around for weeks.
Step Two
After creating a shop, even though I quite obviously had 50 NP from creating
my pet: experiment_why I needed more NP if I were ever going to start using
my shop as an NP-making tool. So I played a few games to give my initial bank
account a bit of boost and off I went.
Step Three
Now armed with more NP I paid another visit to the Shopping Wizard and used
something that most newbies would not have and that's prior knowledge. I knew
that items such as a Fire Jug, Nanka Bottle, Steam Jug, Stream of Light, Downpour
Bottle, Starburst Bottle, Firestorm Bottle, Flamestrike Bottle and Zap Bottle
could if I were patient enough be snapped up for 100-300 NP cheaper than the
average selling price. So I scoured Neopia with the aid if the Shopping Wizard
and bought as many items as my limited supply of Neopoints would allow me. These
were then put in my shop and priced a bit below the lowest on the Shopping Wizard
so that they would sell quickly.
**Note: the prices for these items have increased and they are
not as good for this purpose any longer but I would still recommend the Fire
Jug and Nanka Bottle and also Exploding, Icy and Sticky Snowballs.
**Also, it is possible to buy the above-mentioned items from the Magic
Shop and make an even larger profit in some cases but compare the shop price
and the Shopping Wizard prices to ensure that you will make a profit when you
buy them on the next restock.
Step Four I collected my earning from selling my Newbie Pack and those initial
items that I bought and headed off to repeat step, buying items priced cheaply
and marking them up to a bit below the average selling price. Alternatively
you could hang out in the Neopian Book Shop and buy up some books and then complete
step three with the remaining NP. Books as a general rule sell quite well and
a handsome profit can be made from them the only problem is that it is only
profitable to buy them from the Book Shop and not through the Shopping Wizard.
Times Summary
Session one |
20 minutes |
1,250 NP |
Session two |
5 minutes |
2,235 NP |
Session three |
17 minutes |
5,793 NP |
Session four |
6 minutes |
6,883 NP |
Session five |
15 minutes |
9,599 NP |
Session six |
5 minutes |
10,351 NP |
Session seven |
23 minutes |
13,928 NP |
Landmark NP Summary
1,000 NP - 5 minutes
2,000 NP - 25 minutes
5,000 NP - 34 minutes
10,000 NP - 38 minutes
Method Two
The second method I used to test how long it would take to make 10,000 NP was
to simply play games. In the table below is the name of the game I played with
how much NP I earned from it and how long it took me to earn that amount.
Meerca Chase |
976 NP |
6 minutes |
Table of Enchantment |
1,039 NP |
7 minutes |
Cheat! |
180 NP |
21 minutes |
Spell-Or-Starve |
426 NP |
13 minutes |
Pyramids |
3,133 NP |
59 minutes |
Codebreakers |
456 NP |
9 minutes |
Destruct-O-Match |
574 NP |
12 minutes |
Potato Counter |
150 NP |
1 minute (56 seconds) |
Poogle Solitaire |
735 NP |
3 minutes |
Wack-A-Staff-Member |
140 NP |
3 minutes |
Extreme Herder |
1,021 NP |
10 minutes |
Carnival of Terror |
897 NP |
12 minutes |
Treasure Planet - Solar Surfer |
242 NP |
6 minutes |
Jelly Processing Plant |
64 NP |
2 minutes |
Total |
10,033 NP |
2 hours 44 minutes |
Discussion
The shop method does not take a lot of your time. You stock your shop, go away
and then come back later to pick up your earnings. The projected earnings of
your restock can be calculated by subtracting the price that you bought an item
from the price you are selling an item. So theoretically as long as you Nanka
Bottle that you bought for 150 NP sells for 500 NP you've earned yourself 350
NP the second you submit your shop prices. The games method takes quite a bit
more time but once you've sent your score in you've earned those Neopoints and
they are in your pocket and not just a prophesised profit sitting in your shop.
When you glance at the results running a shop looks like the more effective
method to make Neopoints; it take much less time and effort. But this is quite
deceptive, as the amount of Neopoints made using the shop method uses projected
earnings and the time when you are logged off does not count as your time. So
basically only the time you spend stocking the shop is time that you spend trying
to earn Neopoints Games on the other hand once you've played them you've got
the Neopoints sitting in your hot little hands and ready to spend.
The pros of the shop method are that you can theoretically make one thousand
or so Neopoints in ten minutes, log off and come back later to collect the Neopoints
But it's also bad because the Nanka Bottle market can change and your forecasted
profit can disappear. The games method is good because you play the game and
collect the Neopoints, there's no sitting around tapping your fingers, waiting
for someone to buy an item.
Conclusion
To make a conclusion short and sweet shops are probably the better method if
you haven't got a lot of time to spend on Neopets; they will allow you to spend
more time pampering your pet. While games are good if your want some Neopoints
and you want them now, but they will cost you more time. |