Account Refurbishment

Finding your headquarters dusty, neglected and missing that special something is something a lot of us have experienced at least once. However, not all of us take action to improve our accounts, simply because either we don't know where to start or we find the task too daunting. Well, we're here to tell you, help is at hand! Follow these simple steps and shake those cobwebs off forever!

1. Avatar Count - Not necessarily the most important but definitely up there in the list. If you have an avatar count you can't shake a stick at, then it's time to up your game. There are several avatar lists out there that offer you the solutions and provide you with links to clickable avatars; which makes up more than 90 current avatars! Also there are plenty of people in the avatar chat in the neoboards who are more than willing to lend you avatar pets if they deem you trustworthy enough.

2. Pets - Pets is usually what people judge an account by straight away. Basic colored pets with no customisation, weak statistics, no petpet, no lookup and are crying their eyes out pretty much screams "HELP! This person isn't looking after us!".

First off, send your pet to the Neolodge. 28 days in the ever so magnificent Cockroach Towers only costs 140 NP per pet. It doesn't matter which hotel you send them to so you can be a miser here.

Second, dress up your pet... after all, most wearables usually look splendid on plain pets. If you're not sure what items would go well with your pet, use a preview program to see before you buy: Jellyneo and Dress to Impress are very good for this. Even if you don't have access to NC, there are some wonderful NP wearable alternatives out there!

Third, giving your pet a little companion is not such a bad idea. It really isn't as expensive as you think and it gives the message that you care about your pets. Even most avatar petpets are cheap so if you're not particularly fussed about what petpet your pet has, then age those cute petpets and get an avatar in the process... it's just a matter of trying to separate them afterwards. Remember that petpets that look similar to their owner is a sight to behold, especially if it also comes with a petpetpet.

Is your pet just a pretty face? Then train them! The Swashbuckling Academy is a good cheap place to start. At less than 2000 NP per stat until Level 20 and about 5000 NP until Level 40, it's so much cheaper than the Mystery Island, with the bonus that dubloons can be found in the dailies Anchor Management and Coltzan's Shrine.

Balance out the brawn and brains by reading them books! There are literally over 200 books that are less than 1000 NP each. Check out Jellyneo's book & booktastic checklist for unread books, they even have prices for easy browsing.

To jazz up your pets even further , Sunnyneo has a wide array of gorgeous pet lookups and petpages to suit any pet species/color or preference. Make sure to type up a paragraph or two about your pet, how they look, what their preferences are, their history and their personality.

Last but not least, if you can't afford to paint your beloved pets, then try visiting the Magma Pool, wait around for the Fountain Faerie or if you have no luck like me... adopt a painted pet! There are tons of Up for Adoption pets advertised in the Pound Chat in the Neoboards and there are plenty of wonderful people who might grant you a dream pet. You can also take advantage of the brand new Battledome and beat up some worthy adversaries. Who knows, you might get a lovely paint brush for your efforts.

3. Collections – Stamps, Neodeck Cards, Site Themes and 1 Player Battledome Wins: the more you have of these the better.

Stamps get fairly expensive quite fast. But don't let that discourage you from starting up your own collection. The first hundred should be less than 5000 NP each, with the cheapest ones being only 1 NP. If you're not sure about prices, check out Jellyneo Stamp Checklist to see which ones you still need and their prices.

Neodeck Cards start of definitely cheaper, with the first 200 being less than 5000 NP each. Again, Jellyneo has a Neodeck Checklist complete with cards you still need and prices.

Site Themes isn't hard to come by. Just try and participate with every site event you can and basically do your best at it, it be a plot, the Altador Cup or the Negg Festival. Don't forget to collect your advent calendar prize everyday during December and refresh at 12:00am on Halloween night. If you cant remember, make an alarm for those special occasions. *nudge nudge*

Some people don't think this is important but I personally find it impressive if a person has more than 1,000 wins. It doesn't even have to be difficult opponents, Clown Chia, Mr. Chuckles, Boochi, Donny and the Pant Devil are easy picks. If you are fortunate enough to have acquired Lens Flare for your magnificent pet then use it against opponents you know you can defeat in one blow... and voila! You can defeat them as much as you want without having to heal every several fights.

4. Trophies – Shiny yet hard to obtain. Having tons of these babies says "I'm good at games or at least put a lot of effort into gaining them." There are plenty of guides that give you the easiest of trophies to acquire, there are good ones in The Daily Neopets and Jellyneo. Remember that if you're pushed for time or skill, there is no shame in getting a medal or Bronze. Try for Gold once you have mastered the game. There are also several trophies for dailies such as the Wise King and Test Your Strength so remember to do all your dailies everyday!

5. Participation - To make sure you are well versed in the ways of Neopia, try to participate in every site event. Not only do events give you lovely prizes, most of them also award your participation with a cool new trophy, avatar or site theme. Annual ones are quite good as you know when they're scheduled and the amount of effort you need to put in to reap good rewards. Annual events include: The Negg Festival, Daily Dare, Altador Cup, Games Master Challenge and the Advent Calendar. However, if any other surprise event *cough* plot *cough* appears, make sure to sign up for it as well!

6. Achieving – If you are serious about achieving in neopets, goal-setting is the way to go. It helps if you list all your short-term and long-term goals down and you can even set yourself a *realistic* deadline if you're into getting things done quickly. Setting goals will motivate and remind you to complete them and you'll never know, your friends might be able to help you with them. To really motivate yourself, display your goals where you can see them and where else better to put them than in your user lookup or one of your pet's pages! To keep up with your progress of revitalising your account, make goals to update your user lookup, pet lookups and petpages every now and then.

Follow these steps and you'll have a gleaming active account in no time at all! Good luck in your neo journey.

Note: All sites mentioned are certified and recommended neopets fan sites. For the site locations, visit the Hub and take a look at the Fan Sites section.