New Features in Neopia

[Siniri]

Yeah, the timing was completely off; the entry window needs to be open for at least 24 hours, and even if they can't read every single caption, they should randomize which they read, making sure they draw from the entire sample of selections so that everyone is in with the same chance (entering soon after the competition was announced often increased your chances, as it seems to have done again this time).

Worse, they've added new captions since last night. They need to upload all the selections at the same time.

And apparently the voting will last two weeks?! At least that's what I heard. (Which mitigates the last problem I mentioned, since there will be more time to earn votes.)

Votes aren't necessarily cheated/botted. There are people in very large guilds/fan sites who can gain a lot of votes quickly.

I hope the prize script doesn't create the same lag issues that caused the CC to be suspended in the first place. Speaking of which, I never did get my prizes for the last few contests because they had to suspend the script... Oh, well.

[Pickles]

I submitted 4 entries right after they added the second set of captions. I hope they add a few more, but if not, they should at least close down the entries.

And yes, voting is until the 1st this time, I believe. I don't know if that means it's going to be every other week, or what. A little clarification on posting entires/voting, and how long the contests will be from here on out would be nice...but I'm just glad to see it back!

[Daze]

Scrappy made an appearance on the boards and answered some questions. Jellyneo have done a very nice wrap-up.

Regarding the Caption Contest...

Well, we released it and put it in the news that day! As for the releasing, we got a few thousand in the first day alone so we thought we would try this instead of releasing a bunch at once. It would allow for more captions to get seen rather than a few at the end. However, since some captions will have more time to be voted on than others I'm not sure that this is how we will keep it.


Also guys I was thinking about a new avatar for the Caption Contest. Would that be crazy?


Here, Scrappy confirms that the avatar will be released as a prize for the current contest that went live yesterday:

Okay here's what I'm thinking stick with the old one for this contest and then new one for the rest and like someone suggested, the old for every 1000th [sic].


Regarding the plot...
In response to someone asking to confirm if the plot would happen before the holidays this year:

I can't spoil the plot but I can tell you plans haven't changed (well, other than some improvements).


A longgggg time we've been planning this!


Regarding the HP increase for the Battledome...
It appears to not be on the current to-do list, and TNT does not seem to have plans to implement it for the upcoming plot:

5. The HP increase is something we've looked into but I'm not sure it's the direction we will go in with BD.


Also, I in no way said the increase is coming back. Actually, I think I said the opposite. I can't say its 100% never coming back but right now it's not.


Don't get me wrong, folks. It's not like we're giving up on BD. We have plans, they just are different than HP increase. Just give it some time!!


Regarding other site features...

1st, I would love to bring back random contest its so fun! ... 4. Eh, not sure about the site spotlight yet.


Honestly, we've been talking about and looking at so many things we haven't really discussed World Challenges so I don't know about that one.

Siniri, although almost all cc entrants are not cheating, I can absolutely say with 100% certainty that a few do use bots for votes. By being able to see how many votes you have, the botters only need to make sure they are winning by a few votes, which makes it harder to spot.

A 'famous' botter mysteriously disappeared when the CC was shut down after a very weird competiton where hundreds of votes were being made on the first 5 or so places.

ETA (21/07) From Editorial

CAPTION CONTEST ANNOUCEMENT:
Alright guys, a lots going on here so here's the deal. The one was kinda thrown off since we published it later in the month and we still wanted everyone to vote. SO, Sunday will be last day for submissions! Cut off will be Noon PST. Then the voting will remain open for the rest of July and winners will be announced.

Now, from now on that is not how things will be going. From August forward, we will release a new image on the 1st of every month. Submissions will be allowed the first week (7 days) in every month. Then the captions will be released and voting will be open for the last three weeks of each month! I know I know this is an avatar round but I'm also going to make an Avatar round every 10 contests so it will be about once a year! (Also I might add a special one in whenever I'm feeling generous)

Also, so all of you Neopians can take a breather...I'm making August an Avatar round as well so those that felt cheated in this round have a fair chance of winning...don't waste it

Also, Caption Contest will be monthly instead of weekly! Now, as for the rules - they are remaining the same as previous Caption Contest's, for the most part. This means the only advertising that will be allowed from this moment forward is through your Neoboard Signature. (Yes on any board, not just the charter board) However, NO BOARDS DEDICATED TO ADVERTISING YOUR CAPTION ARE ALLOWED. The monitors have been informed of this rule, so please keep the advertising strictly to your signature!

Okay friends, I thinks that all I have on that. Love you all, remember to breath. All will be okay

The BIG change here: advertising that will be allowed from this moment forward is through your Neoboard Signature. (Yes on any board, not just the charter board) However, NO BOARDS DEDICATED TO ADVERTISING YOUR CAPTION ARE ALLOWED.

[Pickles]

Apparently there was also a Q&A on the premium neoboards. JN summed it up here.

Also, there were some other things of note in the editorial:

Hi! Could I get clarification for something you said in Editorial last week (#789). Is it really OK to switch mains for a week and then switch back like the question and answer suggests? For now, it's been that you can switch your main account, but then you stick with it. Switching back and forth frequently has always been nono. I can see people abusing this if you can just go change it for a week. This week this is my main account and next week I change to this one and then again back. Thank you for answer!
Okay, there's been a couple questions about this. In no way did I say you can switch back and forth weekly. Yes, if you want to switch a main to a side then it can be done. My answer was a simple how-to on the correct way to switch. I get with that question how it could have been confusing. HOWEVER, switching accounts should not be done lightly or to abuse the site. Our monitors will find you...and they will freeze you....
So with that in mind, happy switching

OTHER UPDATES:
First, quick note about the Premium Sale, this will be released within the next few days! We had to work out some small things buttttt it's comingggg!!

Second, I got a couple questions about the Prepaid Cards. So, they should be working fine right now! However, there might be a couple that are still affected. If you have any problems send me or our support team (preferably support team) your NC Card Pin Number and date of redemption and we will fix that right up for ya Thank you everyone for your inquiries and patience, we are definitely doing our best to clear this issue up and fast as possible!

Lastly, the Collab Issue "In The Sky" is coming up! Since we missed a week of NT (Sorry, sorry), the issue will now be Issue 794 instead of 795. It will still be the week of August 18th. So try to finish sending in those submissions ASAP! I'm very much looking forward to it

Honestly, Scrappy has been more communicative than I think we've had anyone from any version of TNT or TJNT in AGES. Clearly she at least is watching the neoboards, and things submitted to the editorial, and paying attention and responding when she's able (or allowed) to. This is a huge step in the right direction, I think.

[Daze]

The 'special' Editorial was released on the 18th.

It features FYORA & XARTHAB.

Besides being 2 of the most unlikeliest duos, it does seem the editorial is pointing towards a faerieland/space themed plot/event.

.......And can there be a faerie plot?
As for your last question, I sure hope not! I don't think Faerieland needs anymore mischief! Although, we do have something quite special coming up... (Don't tell Scrappy, I might've forgotten to tell her...)

Although it says, no to the plot question, it is saying there will be something.

[Siniri]

Well, the annual faerie festival is supposed to start soon, so maybe they're tweaking it? Or maybe just hinting at it?

I could see them re-levitating Faerieland as a small branch-off event, maybe to test some coding/their ability to run a plot-like mini-thing before trying an actual real plot. Then again, I'm probably giving JS too much credit - and anyway, Scrappy gave hints about raising FL in the editorial, so context clues imply that I'm way off base.

[Daze]

It does sound reasonable to have a faerie event and redo the map. Afterall, Faeries aren't meant to be grounded. I would love to see them back up in the clouds.

Maybe it is the start of the HTML5 do-over?

[Pickles]

It'd be pretty cool if they did raise the faeries back into the clouds in time for the Faerie Festival. However, I'm hoping this doesn't happen until after labor day (or any event for that matter). It's going to be hard enough to have time to do dailies for the next two weeks!

[Daze]

I have just been checking the page source of the Faerie Festival, and it contains urls for a Toy Charity Drive.

Also something called Adopt A Neopian.

It seems strange that they store future urls in a page that isn't been used for it.

Get those toys save up my friends!!

[Pickles]

Very interesting finds, Daze!! I definitely just stocked up on some R90+ toys/plushies that were under 3k. Hopefully it was a good investment - I spent around 500k on it. If it turns out to be toys/plushies, though, as indicated by the info you found, those will be selling at like, 20k+ during the event, so who knows?

I've been pretty consistent with doing all my dailies and battling, but I've slacked off in the last few weeks (hm, I wonder why?) so I guess it's time to get back to it!

[Daze]

Oh boy! Sorry Pickles, but I may be wrong.


I just checked up on the last toy charity corner (I wasn't here for that one), and that had 'Adopt a Neopian', so I think that the code hasn't been taken down and is a remnant of the 2014 CC.

Sorry to get your hopes up!


The only good thing, is that toys have been a feature in 2 of the charity corners, so hopefully your investment wont go to waste.

[Pickles]

Fri Sep 22, 2017 10:54 pm:

I just checked up on the last toy charity corner (I wasn't here for that one), and that had 'Adopt a Neopian', so I think that the code hasn't been taken down and is a remnant of the 2014 CC.

Sorry to get your hopes up!

Haha, it's OK. I figure whenever they do another CC, it'll have been worth it one way or the other.

ETA Oct 18, 2017:
In case anyone hasn't noticed yet, this was in the news today:

BIG changes have taken Neopia by storm, and for you that means that starting today you can create, customize, and care for 5 Neopets per account! That’s right... 1… 2… 3… 4… 5!

This also mean that Premium members now have a 6th slot to add to their growing brood of Neopets! So whether it be a fiery Shoyru or a cute Uni, which of the 55 species will you choose to join you on your next adventure?

Premium users also received this neomail:

Hello,

Thanks for being a Premium User! As you might've heard, we have knocked down some walls and made some extra space for all to have an extra Neopet.
As a Premium subscriber you can now adopt a 6th pet of your very own!

On a day like today, we just want to show you how much we appreciate you being a part of the Neopets Community!

Please enjoy this Goodie Bag that we've placed in your inventory!

- The Neopets Team

A Premium Rewards Goodie Bag is now in my inventory.

User lookups have been updated, so now there's a scroll on the Neopets section. There's also a scroll section in the battledome.

...what am I going to do with my 6th slot, I wonder? <toddles off to ponder this>

[Blue]

Hmmm. A 5th pet? If only I did not forget the details on my first side account, I would pull back a pet. Ah well, I might need to pull over my recent side pet with a familiar name

[Daze]

Coming Soon page has been updated!!

Coming Soon

* Plenty of Things to Wear
* A Battle Against Darkness
* Neopets Birthday Celebration
* Games Master Challenge Returns
* Patapult Update

~~~~~

EDIT 15th Nov

reCAPTURES have been removed and we now have this:

Our meepits are diligently (or so they say) working to connect you to your page...

(Which then connects you straight to the page).

[Pickles]

A very informative editorial this week.

Hi Scrappy!! Do you think we'll ever be able to have more way to search in our safety deposit box? I think it would be great to be able to search by quantity.. see and sort by the rarity, and have some more categories (plushies, etc.) to sort by. Maybe you can pass that along (along with these cookies!! *hands plate of cookies*) -cheyenneboots22
Yes, so this is definitely something we've talked about, I can't give you a definite answer since we haven't made a definite decision yet. However, this is on our radar! We really want to focus on some of these improvements in the coming months so I will be sure to see what we can do!

Can you please fix Defenders of Neopia? I think a lot of us would like to at least earn the avatars for it. Now that my pet is at really awesome levels, I'd love to be able to really play through the plot. ~lastbattlefan
Sooo! As stated in the last question, this is another one we REALLY want to focus on now! Who doesn't love the Defenders of Neopia?! I do and I would love to see them back in action! There's still a lot of work to be done with this but we're really excited about it!

Hey there TNT, were there any updates on the timeline toward raising the NP limit on user shops? Currently players have to use the trading post and auction house as workarounds when they want to do a simple shop transaction and it would be a huge quality of life upgrade to be able to do higher limits in the user shop. Thanks!! ~keleri
Yes, this is one of the first updates we want to roll out to you guys so you can expect to see this one fairly soon!! I know you're all just sitting there like...

And I feel ya, but it's coming soon!!!

I left off a couple of questions, though they were informative, too. But raising the user shop NP limit would be AWESOME.