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Achieving Through Account Improvement


by butterflybandage

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You’re looking for ways to improve your account. Whether you’re doing so to impress your friends, prove to yourself that you can, or are joining a guild with certain account requirements, it doesn’t matter … improving your account is something anyone can do, and something everyone SHOULD do! Not only is setting and achieving goals one of the most satisfying feelings in the world, it’s fun to dedicate time into working on something only you can do. Sure, lots of people do account improvements and earn trophies, but knowing that you are 100% behind the reason why your account is impressive is a feeling nothing else can replicate, and produces a reward far greater than any other Neopian achievement.

But what really goes into improving your account, and how do you know where to start? What are the first steps you should take into improving your account? Don’t worry—I’ll be detailing every area you should consider and give a list of suggestions on how to jumpstart your journey to a complete account overhaul! The four Sections I’ll be going over to improve your account are as follows: Pets, Collections, Trophies, and Profile. In each section, I will tell you the areas you should focus on as you begin improving your account and how you can build on your strengths, and work on your weaknesses—some of us aren’t good at games, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect trophies! And some of us couldn’t name a stamp to save our lives, but isn’t that more of a reason to start collecting?

So get a nice cup of borovan, grab a notepad and a pen, and let’s get started on seeing how you can go from drab to glam by improving YOUR account!

Section One: Pets

Don’t fall victim to the idea that you need well-named, expensively painted pets for them to be considered worthy pets. Of course you don’t! Some people prefer high-end unconverted pets while others would choose a sentimentally-named pet any day. This doesn’t mean that your first year unconverted has any less value than someone else’s badly named Hissi, or that your Royal Uni isn’t as fantastic as someone’s unconverted Royal Draik. Of course, if you’re involved in the trading world, you know that certain pets have more “trading value” than others; but if you’re keeping your pet with you, it doesn’t matter whatsoever! What’s important here in improving your account is making sure that your pets are at their full potential. There are three areas of Pet Improvement that are important in ensuring your lovely Neopet is as best as can be!

Customization. Customizing your Neopet is one of the easiest, surefire ways of making your account look impressive and your Neopet look in tiptop shape! Merely throwing on a cheap background can make your pet look like a million Neopoints—deciding on a theme and customizing to that theme will make your Neopet look like a TRILLION Neopoints. It shows that you dedicate time to your Neopet and care about their looks, and if you put that much effort into your Neopets then people will be immediately interested in how much effort you put into your personal account! Isn’t that neat? A great way to find the perfect clothing is to visit the official Neopet fan site Dress to Impress (located in the Community index).

Petlookups. Your pet’s lookup is where you can find all their information—age, birthday, training stats, and more. If you have a plain petlookup, it’s rather boring, so why not spruce it up? You wouldn’t leave your userlookup blank, so why leave your Neopets’? There are many users who make pet profiles, as well as Jellyneo and SunnyNeo, two more official fan sites you should check out if you haven’t had the chance! It creates a uniform look, connecting all your pets together.

Petpets and Petpetpets. Giving you Neopet a companion is a wonderful thing to do; they’re not only cute and cuddly, but look fantastic! There are hundreds of different petpets, and a handful of petpetpets, that would look great to improve your account. You can name your petpet, but you can’t personally name your petpetpet … it is possible to include your petpetpet’s name on the same space as your petpet’s name (for example, putting “Tyler & Flea” as the name of your petpet). Unfortunately you can’t chose which petpet your petpetpet attaches to, so make sure you either don’t care or only have one petpet attached at a time!

Section Two: Collections

Your collections are located on your userlookup, and include the following: Secret Avatars, Key Quest Tokens (this game is currently unavailable!), Stamps, Neodeck, Site Themes, and BD Wins (only calculated in wins accumulated before the revamped Battledome). I’ll also be including Shops and Galleries in this section, as they’re also important to improving your account. The number one way to make your account look impressive is to add to your collections (especially avatars!).

Secret Avatars. Secret avatars are found on various parts of the Neopets site, including games, random events, and visiting certain pets! If you’re looking to join a guild or are interested in being lent an item, many users will have an avatar count requirement, such as having at least 150 avatars before gaining an invite or being lent an item. There are many easy avatars to get, and some are more difficult. Jellyneo has an Avatar Checklist, where you enter the avatars you’ve already obtained and they give you a list of avatars you still need—how AWESOME is that?! You won’t believe how easy it is to collect 180 avatars in just a few days. If you’re stuck on games, there are lots of game guides you can find that break down how to play the game and give you tips on successfully getting that avatar score.

Stamps and Neodeck. There are many inexpensive stamps and Neodeck cards you can purchase to add to your collection, immediately improving how impressive your account looks. In a few short minutes and a handful of Neopoints, you can easily add 50 stamps and 50 Neodeck cards! On a more fun note, you can name your Neodeck! Coming up with a clever name is a cute way of adding personality to your profile.

Site Themes. The amount of site themes you can collect depends on how long you’ve been a member on Neopets. Some themes are no longer available, because they were released a while ago, and some are still available today, such as a Purple, Altador Constellations, and being on the winning side during Battle of the Obelisk. Site themes can’t be seen by other users, but you can update your site theme to change the way you experience Neopets. The number of site themes you have is shown on your profile, and the more you have gives other users an idea of how involved you are on Neopets.

Shops and Galleries. Having a shop and gallery that is large, sizes 100+, is a nice, small way of showing your dedication. Because each update costs Neopoints, investing that amount of Neopoints into your shop and gallery is quite an impressive feat. Having a unique shopkeeper, shop name, and shop layout is also a cool way of improving your account. Nice features like that really add to the value of your account, whether you realize it or not! Galleries are also an amazing, easy, way to make your account look great. Pick a theme and work with it; my gallery is potions/magic-themed, and it can take a large chunk of time updating, but it’s definitely worth it. Knowing that you have put effort into collecting something not only makes your account look good, but reflects positively on YOU.

Section Three: Trophies

Trophies. WHO DOESN’T LOVE TROPHIES? Their shiny, boasting appearance on your profile rivals that of a king’s treasure. But how can you start adding these beauties to your profile? What’s the best plan to being tacking on these trophies to your list of accomplishments? I have an easy plan of attack you can follow, as well as a list of the easiest trophies, so you can get started!

Site Event Trophies. Site Event Trophies are the first line of trophies you see on your profile. They are awarded during participation in Site Events, including plots and site-wide game activities. The easiest trophy to add to this collection is “Royal Astronomer”, obtained after completing the Altador Plot (which is incredibly fun and worth the time, trust me). You can find many guides or try to complete it yourself—after finishing the last step, you will be awarded this beautiful trophy, and believe me when I say you’ll probably spend lots of hours ogling over it because it’s so gorgeous! Other trophies that will be added to this section come from Charity Corner, Games Master Challenge, and Daily Dare. There are lots others, but why don’t you participate in site events and see if you get a trophy? I don’t want to spoil ALL the fun!

Site Feature Trophies. These trophies are awarded to people who participate in special features that the Neopets site offers, such as feeding Kads at the Kadoatery, battling villains in Defenders of Neopia (unfortunately, these trophies currently aren’t working!), and if you’re a Premium user, you’ll receive the Lucky Space Faerie Charm. Everyone starts with the Lutari Talisman, where you can add rare beads if you ever find any! The Kadoatie Trophy is the most popular, and people will always be curious to see how many you’ve fed. There are lots and lots of guides on how to feed Kads, but don’t be afraid to stop by the Game forum and ask experienced Kadders how to Kad. They’re friendly, insightful, and always willing to take time to help out a newbie. It can be frustrating, and time-consuming, but it’s fun and you’ll fall victim to Kaddiction (Kadding Addiction!) sooner rather than later!

Game Trophies. Ah, game trophies. The sign of an experienced player, the amount of trophies you have really make an impact on your account. This is the perfect case of the more you have, the better! I could go way more in-depth than necessary about trophies, but it’s important to know that you don’t have to be good at games to get trophies … THERE ARE LOTS OF DIFFERENT GAME TROPHIES YOU CAN EARN!! Are you great at writing? Submit to The Neopian Times or try out the Poetry Competition; you’re bound to earn a gold trophy if you’ve got talent. Like playing card games? Try your luck and you’ll be surprised to see how quickly you can earn a Solitaire trophy (psst … it’s not hard!). And if you’re good at flash games, then you’ll be in luck … there are dozens upon dozens of flash game trophies you can earn. You don’t need to have impressive handiwork, excellent hand-eye coordination skills, even a natural ability to play games to earn trophies. Dedication is all you need. It’s impossible to say “I don’t have the abilities to get any game trophies, I’m just no good!” because you are bound to earn at least one trophy. Do you like role play games? Take some time to play NeoQuest and its sequel, NeoQuest II. Have a pet with a pulse? Battle Punchbag Bob—yes, there’s a trophy for beating up a PUNCHBAG! It’s easier than you’d think earning trophies, and there are many guides out there updating the masses on the easiest trophies and the scores needed. You’ll get there, because it is so easy.

Section Four: Profile

We’re finally to our last Section! By now, you should have a few things in the back of your mind: customizing your Neopets, making a neat gallery and adding to your stamp collection, sending scores in from different games, just to name a few. But this section is called “profile”. Isn’t that awfully … vague? Doesn’t “profile” include everything we’ve already covered? Sure! But what I hope to stress in this section is the importance of Profile Maintenance. If you don’t keep your profile updated, then it shows a lack of dedication. I know, I know; I’ve used “dedication”, “time-consuming”, “expensive”, and “hard work” a lot of times throughout this article—probably more times than I care to count!—but it is vital you understand that improving your account isn’t something that happens over the course of a day and that you can then push to the back of your mind. No, account improvement is something that happens every single day of your Neopian life. There’s always work to be done, and there’s always one area you can constantly be pushing the boundaries to get one tiny inch closer to being the best you can possibly be. As we settle into this final section, remember that.

Userlookup. Having a beautiful userlookup is an easy way to spiff up your profile. A custom theme that showcases your best areas (pets? Trophies? Collection?) is a wonderful way of drawing visitors’ attention to your strengths and favorite areas of improvement. You’ll find there are many users that excel in coding that would love to make a theme for you, and there are plenty of users who have made themes for everyone in Neopia to enjoy! Don’t hesitate to ask someone for their favorite themes, just don’t be mean or expect someone to give up time to make you a theme just because you want one. Remember to always be courteous, thankful, and respectful. Not everyone has the time to code a theme and create a graphic, so don’t expect them to! Besides, learning to code yourself is a great way of getting involved with other users and to expand your mind and learn new talents. Most themes have a section where you can tell people about yourself, such as your goals, achievements, dream pets, and more. Keep this section updated! By doing so, you’ll keep yourself on track and it will keep you accountable. If your goal is to earn 10 million Neopoints and it’s on your profile, wouldn’t it feel kind of lame to only have 10,000 Neopoints saved up? Don’t make yourself feel bad about where you are, but work your hardest at achieving what you want. EVERYTHING on this site is achievable if you believe in yourself. There’s no reason you can’t feed 1000 Kads. There’s no reason you can’t have 20 trophies. THERE’S NO REASON YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR DREAM PET! Work hard—every single person got what they wanted by working hard, and all those people are cheering you on because they have been in the same exact spot. The richest Neopian started off with 1,000 Neopoints one time, too.

User Info. Did you know you can have a custom shield? Did you know you can add your favorite hobbies to your userlookup? If not, that’s something you need to check out! It’s perfectly fine to change your shield to reflect your personality; for example, instead of a boring old 8 Months shield, you could have a rainbow cupcake … or an adorable Slorg … or whatever you want! As long as the image and text follows Neopets’ guidelines, and you aren’t misleading people about the age of your account (changing your shield to an older account shield is not allowed and definitely not okay!), then you’re free to change it to whatever you like to fit who you are and what you’re all about. Changing your hobbies is another fun way of letting people in on who you are, and these changes can be made under the My Account index, at “Edit Profile”. From Astronomy to Space Exploration, there are many different hobbies you can add to your list of three!

Well, that concludes my guide on how to improve your account! Everything on this list could be expanded on, but I don’t want to take the fun out of figuring it out yourself. Sure, there will be times when it gets really frustrating and you feel like giving up—we all have. But it’s knowing your limits, pushing past them, and working twice as hard, that really matters.

I hope you all found this helpful and that you feel inspired and ready to start improving your account. Taking baby steps is nothing to be ashamed of; 100 baby steps gets you to the same exact spot as 40 giant steps … it just takes a little bit longer!

 
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