Spotlight on Y13

Year 14 is finally upon us. While we look forward to what the New Year brings, it is also important to look back to the memories we've all shared throughout Year 13. These memories are unique and will always be looked fondly upon as events that shaped and added to Neopian history. Before the final curtain closes on Y13, here is a recap of what we think are the most important events that happened Y13.

April What?

Y13's April Fool's joke was the pandemic of Scourgies. Neopians had to heal each other's pets with a limited cure that would eventually wear off. Each time someone healed another's pet, there was a chance to win a very special background (Blazingly Hot Soup Background). TNT set up hazards and quarantines in this very fun/sort of creepy April Fool's joke.

Altador Cup IV

Altador Cup VI opened with a new version of the game, Yooyuball. This caused quite the calamity on the site for some time, but the "games must go on" as they say in Altador. Team Virtupets won this year after a very grueling match versus the reigning champion Krawk Island. Kreludor placed third and Maraqua fourth. The remaining teams placed as follows: Meridell, Tyrannia, Darigan Citadel, Terror Mountain, Roo Island, Shenkuu, Haunted Woods, Brightvale, Lost Desert, Mystery Island, Faerieland, Kiko Lake, Altador and Moltara.

This year's staff tournament gave us a bit of a shuffle from the years past. We got to create our very own Fantasy Team of staff members. Each week we could reshuffle the players and try to rack up more points based upon the outcomes of each player's contribution to their teams. A separate prize shop was opened solely for this event.

Festival of Neggs

The Festival of Neggs was opened once again, er, sort of. The Negg Faerie was having troubles setting up her booth and called upon us to help her round up the supplies she needed to create her fabulous booth. Once the festival opened, she had a Negg Hunt! We had to scour the lands searching for patterned and plain neggs to bring back to Karie. The Festival of Neggs Y-13 Builder avatar was released.

ONE TRILLION

The site got ONE TRILLION Page views! To celebrate, TNT set up the account TRILLIONFTW that gave away rare items via the Trade Post and auctioned off more rare items at very low prices via the auction house

New Loyal User Perks!

Working to extend special site features for the most dedicated of players, TNT has been slowly adding user perks. From a 3% Hidden Tower discount to the new Abandoned Attic, users can now take advantage of some great deals! With a plethora of loyal user perks, TNT added more this year. A new neoboard title called 'Unconverted pets are best'. This title is only available for accounts that are 10 years and older.

Krawk Island Mystery

All of Neopia woke up to find Krawk Island map not looking as it should. Krawk Island was under the attack of what's being described as claws or tentacles encircled the island. A few days later the Island disappeared into the seas with the shock and delight of some Neopians. A small plot of land and the solitary shanty that rested upon it were all that remained. We were introduced to Gavril McGill, who needed our help in discovering what happened to Krawk Island and to possibly bring the Island back from wherever it went. Just like any other mini activity, we all had to bound together to retrieve Krawk Island. At the end of all our hard work, we got a revamp of Krawk Island map and a new daily. We also gained accessed to a new treasure map through the games room Treasure Hunt page. The Forgotten Shore Map gave us a chance to collect a Magical Pirate Krawk Plushie and a Pirate Draik Egg by visiting the Anchor Management. That made the prices of these items affordable for many Neopians to get their hands on these Neopets.

New Security Feature!

TNT had the site even safer with the birthday login prompt. If you check the box, you will be prompted for your birthday every time you login from an unfamiliar location. Of course this includes your password as well. Thank you, TNT!

Nox Memorial Day

We got a day dedicated to Nox in Y13. It has been over a year since this villain's untimely demise. Nox is gone, but we will always remember the... sacrifice? he gave. We thought that this event is special enough to mention. Please give a moment of silent for dear old Nox.

NC Mall

The Blumaroll game rolled back into the NC Mall last year with a whole new set of items. Dice packs start at 200 NC and are available in 1, 5, and 10 packs for our convenience. Not to be outdone, JubJub Power Bounce also returned with a whole new set of summer prizes, then a holiday theme prizes followed after the summer was over. We also got a new New Wonderclaw Machine in a new spooky gothic theme. It also debuted a royal machine later on during the year. For Halloween we were introduced to the Haunted Hijinks. To participate, all we had to do was purchase a mallet pack from the Halloween shop, activate it, and bop a ghost to get a spooky wearable NC item. We got tons of freebies from the NC mall in Y13. We also had a super sale at the mall with almost everything marked down 50%. That was a good day for NC mall addicts. In the month of Celebration the Stocking Stufftacular came back for the holiday season.

The Curtains Close on Treasure Keepers

The game on Facebook opened to beta this summer. It was something new and interesting that get a lot of people excited. I know people from my guild were pretty excited *cough* Baba *cough. We tended our shop, met new characters that asked us to collect items for them, and in the process went on quests. A few months later, TNT announced that Treasure Keepers was closing. It created an uproar, but the game shut its curtains on the 14th, month of Celebration. Again, let's have a moment of silence to a game many people loved.

New Paint Brush Galore!

We got new paint brush colors this year. The new Water Paint Brush was introduced and Kyrii were lucky enough to be the first to be painted Water! On Korbat Day, TNT released a brand new paint brush color called Wraith. Maractite Petpet Paint Brush was also released. The Royal Petpet Paint Brush was also released to the delight of put petpets.

Neopets Connects with Facebook

This is one of the biggest news in Y13. Social media is everywhere nowadays and Neopets finally realized this. This feature is only available for users 13+. What does Facebook connect mean? This is only useful if you have a Facebook account and want to connect your Facebook and Neopets information. It is also a way of making it faster and easier to log in or sign up on Neopets using your Facebook information.

The Haunted Fair

The Haunted Fair opened its spooky gates again last year. To begin the festivities, the Apple Bobbing station got all new items, including new apples. We were also introduced to the Haunted Hijinks, an all new NC mall Halloween event. Not to be outdone, the Masks of Dread made its debut in Y13. To participate, we had to go on a quest by heading to Saskia's cart. Picking a wearable mask every Neopian can wear, we were given clues we had to solve. Solving the quest gave us the option of keeping the mask (five in all). In the end we had the masks combined into an ultimate master mask with all the features of the five masks.

Revamps

The Rainbow Fountain and the Fountain Faerie were both redrawn to give it a cool new look. Krawk Island got a new map with a new daily to boot. A few months later, our beloved Snowager also got an update with a brand new look. The winter started with the Snowager going into habitation. We were able to collect items from the Snowager once a day without him blasting us to bits.

Happy 12th Birthday Neopets!

Neopia turned 12 years old in Y13. I never thought we'd be here, but we are and it's even sweeter. We were able to train our pet(s) at the Swashbuckling Academy for free for the whole day. Treasure of the Black Pawkeet was free for the rest of the day. The Brain Tree quest increased its Neopoint reward by 25%. The number of tickets sold at the Ticket Booth increased, and we were able to claim our free Festive Balloons Goodie Bag from the NC Mall.

Games Master Challenge - Brains vs. Brawn

The game totally changed on us in Y13. The challenge involved joining a team, Brains or Brawn. The brainy AAA led Team Brains and his sister, Abigail, was in charge of Team Brawn. Of course Lulu came back with her version of room raid. At the end of the challenge Team Brains was considered the winner.

Dream Neopet Giveaway

To celebrate the holidays, the Dream Neopet Giveaway came back again. All Neopians were given an opportunity to enter one pet into the dream neopet giveaway. This event was a way for TNT to give 10 fortunate winners their dream pet on December 25th. To the disappointment of many, only 10 lucky ecstatic Neopians woke up to find one of their pet magically transformed into their dream combination. To the winners of this special event, I say congratulations. To the many who were disappointed that they weren't chosen, including us, I hope Y14 has the same event.

Site Events

The Faeries Ruin Prize shop was opened, along with a new avatar (Ruined) and a site theme (The Faerie's Ruin). A new pet color Wraith would be later spawned from the art of this plot.

The Third Annual Neopies were hosted. Neopians flocked to the award ceremonies daily to reminisce and vote for their favorite things from the past year. Notable winners were the Chocolate Draik as the Best New Pet Color and Maractite Paint Brush winning Best New Paint Brush.

Habitariums were taken out of beta. Players can now level up from the previous maximum of level 25 all the way up to the new maximum, level 50. New "Snowy" decorative items were released.

The Water Faerie has been busy rebuilding her section of the newly grounded Faerieland. New art of both the site and the faerie were unveiled.

Dr. Sloth found a crate of old album stamps that he auctioned off to fund his "Grundo Relocation Campaign". Stamp collectors everywhere both cringed and rejoiced.

A chest full of Maractite Coins was discovered by the shopkeeper of Collectible Coins, resulting in a new album page "Maractite Coins".

Queen Fyora has bestowed upon us a new Faerie Quest hub. We were introduced to a new faerie called Delina, a crafting faerie. For a short time we could go to the Quest page and ask the faeries for a quest, reversing the usual roles.

Daily Dare came back to the site. The Staff Tournament pitted teams of two staff members vs. each other in specific daily games. Neopians voted for their favored team member and won prizes accordingly. New Daily Dare Staff Tournament avatars were awarded upon your first vote.

We were allowed to purchase some new non-tradable Books of Grimoire from the Hidden Tower to unlock the HT-Rich, HT-Richer and HT-Richest avatars.

The Wheel of Extravagance opened in Qasala. This new wheel cost 100,000 NP per spin and awarded such prizes as NP, paintbrushes, nerkmids and some very rare one of a kind item.

The Sword of White Lies restocked at Smuggler's Cove and the NC Mall celebrated its 4th birthday.

Games

Shenkuu Warrior II, SMELT, Blumaroll (NC Mall), Wonderclaw (NC Mall), Treasure Keepers – Facebook, and Invasion Blastoids.

Avatars

Daily Dare Staff Tournament, the Faeries Ruin, HT-Rich, HT-Richer, HT-Richest, High Roller, Krawken Attack, Forgotten Shore, Festival of Neggs Y13- Builder, and Wishing Well avatar was FINALLY SOLVED!

Good-Bye Y13

These are just a few events that happened in Y13 that have shaped the course of every Neopian in Neopia. We shouldn't forget the fun we had, the games we played, and all the new friends and conversations that took place on the boards. Whether good or bad, Y13 was a year some people will never forget while others wish they could erase from their memory. Whatever happened, we hope Y14 will be an even better year for all. Happy New Year, everyone!!