NeoHomes: Out of Control

by tahara69

NeoHomes, furniture, new food items and a new Faerie food shop. These are just some of the things that have been happening over the past few weeks in Neopia. By themselves, these are great things. Everyone now has a wider range of things to select from. Now there is a serious drawback: You have to be quick! Not everyone CAN enjoy these new things. If you go to the Trading Post and look for a rare furniture, you'll come up with a few. If you check the username's other trades, you'll most likely see that he/she has a number of rare items. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing.

I was lucky to be able to grab a few items from the furniture shop when it first started. Just a rug and a few chairs. Now, every time I try, by the time I even make an offer, the shop is empty. That is frustrating. So someone out there has all these cool and rare pieces of furniture. Good for them. But what is done most of the time? The rare stuff isn't used, it's traded or displayed. Certain pieces have become status symbols. If you have a Tiger Sofa or chair, kudos! Those are hard to get! Here's the question: how often has that item traded hands before it got to you? Well, all I know is that in a month or so the prices of furniture will drop and then we will all be styling!

Recently I won a Golden Paintbrush through the Mystery Picture. The only pet I had that I could use it on was my Gelert, but I liked the color. So now I just had a Paintbrush. I looked around the post, and someone was trading both the Tiger Sofa and Tiger Chair and his wishlist was: Golden Paintbrush. We traded. Then I just looked at these things and didn't really want them. Go figure. Then to my horror my Kougra got zapped! Oh no. I needed a Magical Silver Kougra Plushie to change her back. What did I trade for it? You guessed it, the sofa and chair. If you really think about it, I got that plushie for nothing. I won the paintbrush then traded for the sofa and chair that got me the plushie. Where those two are now? Your guess is as good as mine.

So everyone is clambering for these pieces of furniture. Mostly everyone wants them, but who has them? People who are fast enough. And what do some of those people do? Demand enormous amounts of money for them. But who can trade for those amounts? An elite few. So all the really sought after items just stay with a select bunch. What about the regular Neopian player? Like me, all they got were some rugs and a bunch of chairs. There is one good thing about this. So that elite have all the rare times and only they can trade for it. Soon, no one will be able to afford them and they'll lose their status symbol (this may take a few weeks).

Remember, these things are new, not even a week old. By this time next month, enough of the items will have been made and the demand will have decreased. A lot of things that were once "unbuyable" have lost that status. It's just a matter of time.

And then there's Faerie Food... I've tried buying from the shop...never got a bite. I just got something from the Treasure Hunt. The rest... I had to wait for a chance to buy them. Once again, these things are new! Just because it's new, we should stop going gaga over them. So someone pays a lot of NPs for it, in the next few days, for the same amount he/she paid, he/she could have purchased 10. Although I will admit, they look pretty good, and I would have probably spent my entire savings on such an item. Just kidding.

The first piece of real good advice I can give anyone, wait. Wait for a few days so the ones with the fast connection will have used up a lot of their money to get these items. By that time, some of the more common items don't cost as much, so you can get some basic things.

I've been playing for a while and I've seen the trends come and go. The moment there's something new, everyone wants one so they can sell it for a profit. Personally, I just like collecting. I'd rather stick to selling the items that are a necessity and not a luxury. Besides, I can't navigate through that many stores before they run out. I only get one shop per try. And most of the time, I come up empty-handed.

Yes, it's great that there are all these new things going on in Neopia, but stop for a moment and think. Give yourself a moment and decide what you want. Furniture for your brand new NeoHome or getting the status symbol? Buy the items that you know you'll use. I know I want a bed, but I'm not going to pay 20,000 NP for it. I can wait. So stop going crazy. Put your head back on your shoulders and do what this whole thing is about, which is caring for your pet.