Getting Far in Neopia: Episode I - The Care-Taking Menace by stal0s |  |
NEWBIE CENTRAL - Hello all! You may, or may not, remember me and my article
on the Neopian Economy, during the inflation and deflation debates (Go Meerca
Party! Oh…wait…eheheh). I, stal0s, am back to guide you through a process of
how to make it in this world and make some NP (Neopoints). It will be written
from a standpoint that you are new to Neopia. Though, if you've been on for
a while and wish to read my article, you are welcome to do so. Just don't get
offended when I include the basics. :)
The first episode/issue in this series is entitled "The Care-taking Menace"
*cough* (I'm a major fan of a certain Science Fiction franchise, you'll have
to excuse all the things related to it.). If you cannot get it from the title,
this is based for pets and taking care of them. Hence, "The Care-taking Menace".
Getting a pet
I will start off by saying this: Don't create/adopt four (4) pets just for
the sake of owning them. That is a mistake many, MANY people make in Neopia.
They create/adopt because they like the pet, or the way it looks. They don't
look to the future. They concentrate too much on the here and the now (as opposed
to "…he has looked…to the future, never his mind on where he was or what he
was doing"). While that is a good trait to have (that trait being the here-and-now
portion), if you don't look to the future at all, it may cause many problems.
For example, one of my friends has been on Neopets about a month longer than
me. Or at least the last account I heard he signed up with. I shall let him
keep anonymity with his screen name, but I shall refer to him as Brian or Takeru.
*waves to Brian* When he, Takeru, started, he created four (4) pets. But whenever
I talked to him, he was always talking about how he needed to feed his pets,
and it's expensive taking care of four (4) of them, and he can't afford everything
for them and so forth. Now some thinking: if he has four (4) pets and can't
take care of them all, he must not have a lot of NP. Exactly, or at least that's
the last I heard.
I, on the other hand, created ONE (1) pet. I have been able to take care of
him quite well, buy him a rainbow paintbrush, give him some decent Battledome
equipment, keep him fed constantly, and very happy. I've only had a short time
period where I had two (2) pets, and found it to be a hassle to juggle them
both (I was taking care of my sister's pet). When I went back to one (1) pet,
everything seemed to be fine.
Another thing: In adopting or creating a pet: don't go for the one's that
look the strongest. They're usually the ones harder to take care of. Skeiths
and Grarrls, for example, will go into your items and eat ANY item, if they
get hungry enough. Books and other things included. I suggest a pet that maybe
matches your personality or looks preference. A Shoyru or a Meerca are good
pets to have. Personally, I think Meercas are better. :)
As for naming: Don't worry if your favourite name is taken. There ARE over
ten million (10,000,000) pets and usernames in Neopia (over ten million [10,000,000]
of both, not added together). Just 'shop' around and see what you can get.
So that's lesson number one (1) of this article: ONLY GET MORE THAN ONE (1)
PET IF YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF THEM ALL!
Taking care of your pet
Now that you have a pet, you should know how to properly take care of it.
If you don't, never fear, as I will help out.
The first thing you need to do with your new pet is feed it. But wait, you
say you don't have any food, and a very limited amount of NP (if I remember
correctly, you start off with 500, plus 50 for creating a pet). There are two
solutions to this first problem: (A) Your Newbie Pack, and (B) The Soup Kitchen.
I'll explain the Newbie Pack, and how to get it, first. When you start Neopets,
you don't get any items at all, as stated previously. Neopets will give you
six (6) free items. How nice of them. :) They give you one (1) book, one (1)
cheap and not-so-good Battledome item, one (1) toy, and three (3) food items.
All you have to do to claim this nice gift is go to your inventory. You can
reach that from Pet Central, by clicking the "Your Items" link. You should be
able to figure out what to do from there. Although, if you got a random event,
giving you an item, click on your item and put it in the Safety Deposit Box.
From there you should be able to figure out what to do.
The second method I mentioned was the Soup Kitchen. The Soup Kitchen is run
by the soup faerie, and kept running by donations to the Money Tree. What you
do there is feed your pet, for free. But only if you have LESS than two thousand
(2000) NP. It's a good way for poorer Neopians to feed their pets.
Finding the Soup Kitchen is a bit trickier, though. First you need to click
the "Shops" sidebar link. Now, look at the top toolbar, and the main oval in
the centre of it. Those are links for Neopia Central's main shops. The left
takes you to another shop location. The middle, where you are now. The right
is the one you want to click, it takes you to the Marketplace. In the Marketplace
you need to find a soup pot building. It won't take that long to find, and there
you go, feed your pet.
There is another, though more unreliable, source for feeding your pet. If
you go to the Healing Springs (found in Faerieland), sometimes the Water Faerie
will feed your pet all the way. But that is fairly random and not as reliable.
Still, it'd be good to visit there before you feed your pet, manually. :)
Now, for future reference, you should know how to get food. You can get one
(1) free omelette a day, from the Giant Omelette on the Tyrannian Plateau (Click
Explore on the Side bar. Now Tyrannia. Now Plateau. Now click on the Giant Omelette.
Viola.). An omelette is perfect for feeding your pets, as it can be fed to your
pet three (3) times (as in you start off with full, then 2/3 of it, and then
1/3 of it.). Make sure you get a free omelette every day, as it'll really cut
down on food expenses.
If you need other foods-and you will-use the friendly shop wizard to buy some
cheap foods at the marketplace. Just do a search on a certain food you saw,
or one of them from your newbie pack, or omelettes. Here's a tip, though, foods
over the price of 100 NP, I'd ignore. You don't need to feed your pet over-extravagant
stuff when there are cheap things that work just as well.
Playing with your pet
Do not forget to play with your pet! That is something that a lot of Neopians
I know tend to forget. I admit, as well, that I forget to actually play with
my pet with their toys on some days; it happens. So here are some tips on good
toys and stuff.
When you start your account on Neopets, as mentioned earlier, you do not get
any items, other than what's in your newbie pack. There's only one (1) toy that
comes in your newbie pack. This toy is known as a fuzzle. I think, currently,
the fuzzle you get is blue. This is a good toy that you can start your pet out
with, as most pets love fuzzles.
When you reach a higher amount of Neopoints, you'll be able to afford bigger
toys, like bicycles, plushies, Petpets, and so forth. For now, though, if you
wish to buy more toys for your pet, I recommend a deck of cards, orange and
green fuzzles, and possibly a diary. They're pretty cheap, and the only ones
off the top of my head. Be careful, though, some toys (like fuzzles) break/tear.
=\
Backtracking for a second: I seriously suggest that when you have a few thousand
to burn, you get your own pet a Petpet. Pet pets are good ways to keep your
pet happy, while letting them have a pet of their own. So, when you can afford
one go to the "World" sidebar link. From there, find a link called "All Petpets".
Find one you like and shop for it. :)
That is about all that comes to my mind, for now, when it comes to the care
taking of your pet. I'll throw in more at a later time period; this being written
from a perspective that you're a newbie, you won't need it all now.
Join me next time when we enter the world of games, in "Getting Far in Neopia:
Episode II: Exploring the Land".
The author wishes to thank the following people: Randy, for getting him
into Neopets, and mentioning Meercas Takeru, for providing a great example of
what not to do :) . Finally scriptfox,
whose archive page got me wanting to write in the NT again. |
