Neopets’ Birthday Biggest Changes

The Biggest Neopets’ Birthday Changes

YEAR: 2004 (Y6)

NEOPETS’ AGE: 5

CHANGES:

1. You can Send Score 5 times per game from November 15th to the 22nd.

2. Increased the chance of getting a Paint Brush and Codestone from a Random Event.

3. Increased the Brain Tree’s rewards.

4. Introduced the Birthday Sidebar (later to become Birthday Site Theme) which is only active on November 15th and your Birthday.

5. Increased chance of getting something good from Coltzan’s Shrine on the 15th of every month.

6. Treasure of the Black Pawkeet is free on November 15th and 100 NP for the rest of the month.

7. The maximum NP you can have to eat at the Soup Kitchen as increased to 3,000 NP from 2,000 NP.

8. Wheel of Excitement is free to spin on November 15th and the day after is half off.

9. The Concert Hall sells 5 times as many tickets on November 15th.

HOW THIS AFFECTS PLAYERS:

The "Extra Special Birthday Treat" was the first to bring big changes on Neopets Birthday. It was a mix of birthday exclusive features as well as permanent boosts to other parts of the site. The most notable changes would probably be being able to Send Score 5 times on the week of Neopet’s Birthday (though future Birthday would change the dates) and the introduction of the Birthday Sidebar/Site Theme (which increases your chance of getting a Random Event as long as you have it. Also it was made so you had it on your Birthday as well). On a lesser note the boosts to Dailies would affect most players as long as they did those Dailies which for the most part everyone did.

Everything else was situational. You can’t control when you were going to get a Random Event (and with the revamp of the Random Events a few years ago this probably no longer applies), Brain Tree’s quests aren’t that popular (at least not anymore), the Soup Kitchen’s maximum NP increase didn’t really change much (I would say is maybe made getting the Avatar a tiny bit easier but not really), and rarely does anyone go see Concerts so it was never hard to get a ticket in the first place (and even if it was sold out you can buy one from another player).

YEAR: 2005 (Y7)

NEOPETS’ AGE: 6

CHANGES:

1. Introduced the Birthday Avatar which is only obtainable by refreshing on the News Feature page on November 15th.

HOW THIS AFFECTS PLAYERS:

Avatars are a popular collectable so any Avatar Collector’s collection isn’t complete without having the Birthday Avatar. While not difficult to get it is only available for one day a year so if you miss getting it you need to wait a whole year to try again (though most players get it on their first Neopets’ Birthday even if they didn’t know about it). While use for the Avatar is limited it can be used to show you’re celebrating Neopets’ Birthday, your own birthday, or even a friend or family member’s birthday. You could even stretch it to using it for an anniversary (which in its own way is a birthday of an event if you think about it). While not a big change, it does show how the site evolves to keep up with newly added features.

YEAR: 2010 (Y12)

NEOPETS’ AGE: 11

CHANGES:

1. Beginning of the Birthday Commemorative Mystery Capsules.

HOW THIS AFFECTS PLAYERS:

While previous Birthdays may have had some NC Mall items released for them this was the year when it became more consistent (and announced on the New Features page). While it mainly affected those who buy Neocash, for those who do it’s unlikely they passed up getting these exclusive Mystery Capsules each year. They worked like all other Mystery Capsules and their limited edition bonus items varied. However last year’s birthday changed things up a bit by offering a free celebration bag, a bundle item that rewarded one the 10th Year Birthday Celebration NC items, and individually released some special backgrounds in the NC Mall. Will this year’s birthday bring back the Mystery Capsule or also do something special?

As a side note, previous years have also started announcing a discount code for those who spend above a certain amount, usually 1,000 NC, on the New Features page.

YEAR: 2014 (Y16)

NEOPETS’ AGE: 15

CHANGES:

1. Grave Danger, Tombola, Anchor Management, Forgotten Shore, and the Lunar Temple rewards were updated.

2. Site Themes for Kiko Lake, Roo Island, Gadgadsbogen, Tyrannia, and Grey Day became available to use as default choices.

3. Avatars for the Site Spotlight, Beauty Contest, and Neopian Lottery became available to get.

4. Maximum amount you can offer on a Trading Post lot has been increased to 2 million.

5. Maximum amount you can have as the Start Price in the Auction House has been increased to 50 million.

6. Faerie Quest, Game, Lab Ray, Training, Upcycle, and NC Archives Fortune Cookie’s rewards have been increased.

7. Site Shops will now clear out unsold items allowing more items to restock.

8. Introduced the Vandagyre.

9. On a Neopet’s Birthday you can select a stat increasing cupcake on their Pet Lookup to receive as a gift.

10. The Ruki are made into a Limited Edition species.

HOW THIS AFFECTS PLAYERS:

By far the birthday which made the most drastic changes and all having to do with the site. Throughout the week leading up to Neopets’ 15th Birthday updates to site features were announced.

The biggest change would of course have to be the introduction of a new Neopets species, the Vandagyre. Ever since Customisation was introduced no new Neopet species had been made due to the complication of the new species being incompatible with all clothing released before it. TNT finally decided to release a new species, the Vandagyre, stating it’s incompatible with all clothing released before it but all clothing released after its release it will be able to wear. It was a big risk at the time but players accepted this and were just happy to see a new Neopet species. As a bonus, with the Vandagyre starting with "V" the Neopets’ "species alphabet" was now complete!

Much like with Neopets’ 5th Birthday the updates to the Dailies’ rewards are neat to those who do those Dailies. The Site Themes was a nice gift, especially those who were fans of Kiko Lake, Roo Island, Mystery Island, and Tyranna (and those who like the Grey Faerie would probably like the Grey Site Theme). The Avatars were very much welcomed with new Avatars being rare nowadays; these Avatars especially being noteworthy as being rewarded for winning a site competition making them harder to get thus highly sought after. The maximum NP increases for the Trading Post and Auctions is very helpful to those trying to sell very expensive items as many items sell for millions. The reward increase for the NC Fortune Cookies is great for those who use the NC Mall as it’s more benefits and/or items for their NC. The Site Shops clearing old items is mainly good news for restockers as the more space there is in the shop the better chance of a rare item appearing. Being able to receive a stat increasing cupcake on your Neopet’s birthday gives Neopets having birthdays a purpose instead of being trivial information. Finally the Ruki becoming a Limited Edition species, while many may see as a negative as it means they can’t create a Ruki whenever they want, means the species now has a certain status of value to them.

While not always bringing changes, Neopets’ Birthday has been used as a time to bring in big changes be it for the site overall or just how Neopets’ Birthday is celebrated. But even if no changes are done you can expect plenty of celebration as Neopets grows another year older. So whether changes are done or not, have a happy Neopets’ Birthday celebration and don’t forget all the neat things you can do that I mentioned!

EXTRA SECTION: Neopets’ Birthday Fun Facts

1. The following Coloured Neopets have been released on Neopets’ Birthday:

Y3 (2001): Purple Lenny & Rainbow Elephante

Y4 (2002): Fire Mynci

Y5 (2003): Spotted Shoyru & Gold Skeith

Y12 (2010): Royal Gnorbu (Boy & Girl)

Y13 (2011): Royal Bori (Boy & Girl)

Y14 (2012): Stealth Techo & Stealth Kyrii

Y15 (2013): Checkered Chia, Eventide Pteri, Split Moehog, & Starry Lutari

Y16 (2014): Red Vandagyre, Blue Vandagyre, Green Vandagyre, & Yellow Vandagyre

2. Since the first birthday that Krawk Island was involved in (Y3; 2001), Captain Threelegs had offered free training for all species in the Krawk Island’s Training Academy.

3. Escape from Meridell Castle was released on Neopets’ 3rd Birthday (Y4; 2002).

4. In Y5 (2003) Neopets’ 4th Birthday news was accidentally announced a day early on November 14th. This resulted in an extra long news update on the 14th and only the Neopian Times and Poetry Contest announcements on the 15th of November that year.

5. The Concert Band "Twisted Roses" was revealed on Neopets’ 4th Birthday (Y5; 2003).

6. The company "Jacko and Sons Painting Ltd" was removed from the Stock Market on Neopets’ 5th Birthday (Y6; 2004).

7. The Lost Desert Plot starts to wrap up as Emperor Razul enters the Battledome on Neopets’ 6th Birthday (Y7; 2005).

8. The Tale of Woe starts to wrap up as Chapter 13 is released where Sophie prepares to make the final potion that’ll cure Neovia and Gilly enters the Meepit Oaks Sanitarium on Neopets’ 7th Birthday (Y8; 2006).

9. Neopets’ 8th Birthday (Y9; 2007) was the first Birthday after the introduction of Customisation and the NC Mall.

10. On Neopets 10 Birthday (Y11; 2009) the "Neopets 10th Birthday Celebration" was held. The week leading up to Neopets’ Birthday you chose one of three glittering gift boxes that either gave you NP, an existing item, or an exclusive Birthday item daily. The NC Mall also had special commemorative wearables released representing events that happened throughout Neopets’ history. On Neopets’ 10th Birthday a special Avatar was rewarded, most Limited Edition species were released throughout the day, and the Send Score limit was increased to 10 times for the whole week. Finally on the following ten days there was trivia that rewarded items; some being exclusive.

11. Almost every year Birthday Goodie Bags are released in the Toy Shop. As of recent years they have a chance of giving out now highly sought after "Birthday" Coloured Petpets.

12. TNT had saved some of their celebration pics on the Neocam’s Randon Pics page.

13. Every so often TNT released a batch of... get ready for it... BIRTHDAY FUN IMAGES!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEOPETS!