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Account Improvement: Hey, I Want That!


by incheesuswetrust

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Have you ever visited another user's lookup and wished that you had some of the things they had? Confession time, I know I have! Looking at so many trophies, amazing customized pets, and high avatar/stamp counts are just some of the very impressive things to have on this site. If you're just starting out on Neopets, it can be daunting to try and even come close to all of that at one time. Even some of us with older accounts can struggle with it, too. One thing is for sure, if you have put forth any effort into your account (young or old) it says a lot about you! It also produces warm tingly feelings of joy when you bask in the awesome glow of your accomplishments.

So let's take a look at some things to do to help making your account look a little more polished, like some thought was put into it! Please note that these are definitely not the only options for you to better your account, but more about how to get started.

First things first. If you're new to Neopets, the best thing you can do is play some games! Not only will it jump start you into building up a nice supply of neopoints to spend, but there are a lot of basic trophies that you can acquire that are fairly simple to get if you have the time. Card games like Pyramids, Solitaire, Go! Go! Go!, Cheat!, and Roundtable Poker are all examples of simple games that award trophies. The other thing to remember is that on the 1st of every month, the hi-score tables reset! Trophies are always rewarded sometime around 10:50pm NST. That gives you plenty of time to try and get a score that may not be considered an expert score later on in the month, but one that is decent enough to get a trophy early on.

Trophies that require luck, like Grumpy/Wise Old King, Test Your Strength, Double or Nothing, Kiss the Mortog are other ones to consider going for, because they are absolutely random. I am a Test Your Strength Champion because of taking a chance. Additionally, Illusen's Glade and Jhudora's Bluff can be gotten if you are diligent enough to get a score for at the appropriate times of day (every 12 hours). Your score is based on how fast you get the item, so having the shop wizard search in another tab along with copy + pasting quickly is key. Lastly, if there is a game that you are pretty good at, keep practicing it! Learn the cheat codes (if any), and try for a really hi-score when the tables reset to maximize your chances.

After being on the site for a while, you should notice that throughout the year there are many annual events that take place on Neopets. Some things like site themes and avatars are only available to obtain on a certain day, perhaps even at a certain time. Site events or plots will be more rewarding if you finish a task on the day it is released. More than likely if you keep up with these events, you'll be rewarded with something only obtainable on a certain day or something that will never be released again. If you want to go down in Neopia history for being a part of one of these events, be sure to look out for them and participate! They're always fun to do and the prizes are worth it. I was around for the Great Stamp Giveaway, and now those stamps so rare that they're virtually nonexistent or worth more than you can even begin to comprehend.

Realize that any item with a rarity of 101 is special, meaning it was given away during a special event. Sometimes they are given away every year for an event, but other times it may be a one-time thing. Items that are rarity 180 are retired, meaning they will never (in no way shape or form) be obtainable again. It may be wise to hang on to some of these items and sell them for a lot in the future when they're harder to come by.

Once you have some neopoints saved up from playing all of those games (plus some shiny new trophies!), you may want to start shopping around for paint brushes and customization items to spruce up your pets. Try not to overdo it. Sometimes I see pets with a ton of Neocash items plastered on them and I personally find it distracting. There are also plenty of Neopoint items that actually look better in my opinion. Once you've found what you like, set up a goal for it! If you calculate it, you can figure out how many neopoints you can earn in a day and know when you'll be able to have it. It will be something you can work towards and know that in the end you will be rewarded.

It's also nice to come up with a unique theme for your Neopet. What makes it special and stand out from the other Neopets of that species? If you can answer that, then you can spruce up its lookup. You could even enter in one of the spotlights or submit a Neopian Times article about it, adding another trophy to your collection.

Next up, we have avatars. This is my favorite thing to do on the site, collect avatars. The reason for my love of avatars is because of the topic of this article. Almost everything has an avatar attached to it. It's proof that you achieved something, and to have a nice collection of avatars proves that you are a well-rounded player. As you collect avatars over time, your account slowly morphs into something that stands out. A lot of game trophies that I have are from getting an avatar associated with it.

Since there are over 300 avatars, it's best to approach this like we did with trophies. Start with the easier ones. Some only require visiting a certain page on the site, or viewing a certain kind of Neopet. Then work your way up and get some of the easier game avatars, which will help save up more neopoints for your other goals on the site. It's pretty easy to get 150 avatars. Getting up to 250+ more avatars after that is a count that starts to stand out, and anything over 300 is jaw dropping amazing and you've probably been around the Neoblock for quite some time.

Alright, so your account should be looking pretty decent at this point. If you have a substantial amount of neopoints stashed away and you don't know what to do with them, maybe it's time to buy your own shop so you can sell your loot and make more money. You could also get a gallery and use your neopoints to let you place more items in it. If you've found a certain type of item that you like a lot, or you really got into the theme of a site plot, or maybe there's a character from the site you love... let your gallery be the theme of what you love! Once you have one that stands out, you can work towards a gallery spotlight submission.

Another way to make money is to have a Habitarium. You can easily start one for free. If you find a guide for it or surf the Neoboards in the Habitarium topic, it can be super fun and addicting to play when you understand how it works. Many people will help you on the boards to start out, as they can gift you buildings which take too many resources to build when starting out. Once you level it up to Level 50, you will be rewarded with purple gems worth 100 neopoints each as you earn points in the game. It also doesn't require you to tend it 24/7, either. By checking it maybe twice a day and leaving it up and running, you can usually make about 50k-100k per day! That's easy money, especially considering that after your Habitarium is Level 50, there's virtually no work involved.

So you're probably tired of playing games at this point, even Habitarium took it out of you. How in the world will you make money now? If your account has aged past 3 months, you will be able to see items in shops that have any rarity. By refreshing at a shop of your preference (pick something that interests you or has items you want), you will see that it restocks randomly. If you're fast enough, you can get rare items for dirt cheap and sell them for enormous sums of money. This process is called, "Restocking". It's the way a lot of people are able to make money on this site, however it requires you to not only be fast enough at the haggle screen, but you also need a fast internet connection. Restocking during slow times on the site when less people are logged in gives you some better odds at success, or picking a less populated shop to restock in. The Stamp shop, for example, is a high traffic shop. Sometimes you can refresh and not even know a restock happened, that's how fast the items were purchased by another Neopian.

Well, look at you! All accomplished and such. But where do your pets live, and where do you display all of your shiny achievements? Perhaps it's time to be a first time Neohome buyer. After you've been on the site for a while, you should know what you like and don't like. You've probably participated in the Altador Cup and have your favorite team. This is probably how you should base your decision on the location of your home. After that, it's up to you if you want to decorate it or not! It just adds another neat thing to your lookup.

If you've accomplished a lot of these things already and don't know what else to do to make your account look all pretty, figure out what you like to do the most and run with it. If you find out that you're an avatar addict like me, go for it! That's exactly what I did, and somehow 9 years have gone by and it's what has kept me coming back on the site because it's fun for me to do.

If nothing else, remember to have fun and relax. I hope this guide will help a lot of you find your way around Neopets and stick around for a while. If you've already been on Neopets for a long time, then I hope you learned some new tips and tricks to making your account the best it can be!

 
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