I personally don't mind the changes and think it's finally made Premium a good value! Since Neopets has been making losses for quite some time and have a lot of work to do, I am aware that they could really use the money right now, and I completely understand that they must generate as much revenue as possible at this moment in order to keep things running and to improve the game. I do completely agree with your point and hope it doesn't turn into a Maplestory situation either. They should continue to listen to their fans and strike a healthy balance. They have improved quite a bit on that specficially I think and I hope the communication will continue to get even better! I'm glad that they are continuing to re-release stuff that the vast majority of people will never be able to obtain, and that they are not caving in to the 1% affluent wealth hoarding players either. I like that the games items are becoming more obtainable for the majority of players.
I think as much as it sucks for people who cant afford premium but it's an ad and it needs to be in your face a little to be super tempting. Neopets needs money and if we dont provide the money the site can't thrive. It'll be interesting to see what else is brought out to tempt people into premium.
Comment for the algorithm! (Also this is babybritt76 haha) But yeah neopets isn’t gonna survive on ads anymore, if we want the site to survive we gotta support it. I support people on Patreon and whatnot, it’s just how it is.
As someone from outside US, premium does sting a little bit more here, since the money conversion eats a lot comparing prices. While I'm not a big fan from having stamps as exclusives, since they're part of a in-game achievement, my biggest issue is they're adding this seasonal exclusives which are going to be retired after well... the day after they've been released, so it feels contradictory to their "balancing goals" of releasing retired or really limited items in the long run.
Personally I think introducing it this way is pretty much fine. They show you the item not only to entice you to subscribe, but also so that if you DO end up subscribing, there's no real mystery as to what that gets you in regards to the advent calendar. Neopets needs to convert some small percentage of free users to premium users if they want to make money, and I think that doing it this way is about as safe and transparent as you can be. I'll of course call it out if I ever think it goes too far, but this feels pretty conservative compared to even other free-to-play browser based games like Fallen London (which I also don't think is intrusive, for the record)
Premium isn't the issue TNT needs to focus on - it's the person with the thousands of accounts botting the heck out of the site. Check out the Wishing Well for example. 8 or 9 out of 10 wish recipients look to be the same user. The accounts are all about the same age; only 1 pet with same name as account; no avatars; no shop; no gallery; no stamps; no games played; no nothing. Start cracking down on cheaters and you'll have a much happier user base.
This is exactly the main problem!! So many auction items get sniped by the Uber rich, it's crazy!! And it's always the same accounts, too. And you're 100% correct about the wishing well... I've been playing 24+ years and have never had a SINGLE WISH GRANTED, yet this person has MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS that win almost on a daily basis. It's almost like TNT knows who he is, but they don't care....
I subscribed to Premium for the sole reason of an easy way to get Sponge Techo. Now all of the sudden I have access to 2/3rds of hot items because they paywalled them. MapleStory comparison scary as hell, funny fact that Nexon assisted with the NC Mall lol
For the amount of fun and time I spend on neopets and all the amazing memories I made, I’m happy to support the game so it continues. Re-releasing items has been such a fun and exciting event and it makes it feel playable again.
I understand why people would be wary of this. It doesnt strike me as pay to win as much as the way nostalgic styles were implemented, but no one but me seemed to care about that at all hahaha
Neopets has always been a democratic game. What has failed democracy in the game were always hackers and bots only, which I like to think they are fixing. However, if you play literally any other online game today you clearly know that microtransactions and subscription services are far more abusive than Neopets has ever been. The Neopets community has always complained a LOT about the lack of updates, new plots and new features and we are finally getting it. Now that we're adults, I'm sure you, the player, know in your heart that the game needs to make a profit: it's a business, as much as we commies hate capitalism. The game still needs to exist and these changes are necessary to make that happen. Everyone is also tired of knowing that it's no longer a children's game, and I acknowledge that some of us kids in the past couldn't afford things like that, because we were literally children with struggling parents. Today most of the people in the community are adults who could save up a Heineken to pay for a premium if they want to, I'm pretty sure. If you don't feel like it, just don't do it - you have daily and weekly prizes that can be worth up to millions. Chill.
I totally see both sides. But as someone who accidentally forgot to cancel premium this year and was charged $70 unexpectedly , im happy with the new added perks lol. I
As a new player to the game, im happy to see the game become more sustainable. I dont pay for premium and probably wont until I get a significant salary increase lol, but I dont mind their being some PTW features because the core of the game isnt inherently competitive and its also a free game.
As a long time player, 25 years, plus being an actual retired, senior citizen living on a budget...I simply can't afford Premium on Neopets, unless I want to give up a of medicine each month or use less groceries or gas!!! Sure, it may not seem like much to some, but to others like me, that little bit of moneya huge difference in my daily living. How about some "perk" for your longtime, faithful neo players?? I spent a LOT of money during my years on site - I've had PREMIUM in the past & spent lots of $$$ on Neocash at the mall - however, that was years ago when i was still working and could afford it. Would be nice for some of us older players to see some appreciation....
TBH I only paid for Premium for the premium perks and SSW. Once they started rereleasing all the NP items, I stopped paying for premium because it felt likely that they're rerelease those too. With nothing of particularly high value and lots of items still very rare and/or valuable, I stopped trading as much. I don't have the money to buy the caps required for the stuff I wanted for galleries and outfits. Then they nuked UCs, so I stopped trading pets. Then I realised I was addicted to trading and had literally nothing to do. I don't think i've logged in since just after the UC release lol. This isn't a criticism of the changes, just my personal experience.
Spending money on neopets isn't the end of the world. As far as looking at it like a hobby. And it's a cheap hobby. People spend way more than $10/month on stupid shit all day long. People also love to complain about shit. They need to stop being a bunch of weak asses and get gud
Tbh I don't mind the advent calendar thing. It's not like there's absolutely no way to obtain those items, you can still trade and use in-game currency to obtain them, it's just much harder. I found one of the backgrounds in the thrift shoppe the other day lol. I think if they made all the premium items no-trade or something, that would not sit right with me, but as it stands I think it makes sense to make premium actually worth it. They've also been releasing actual good np stuff (specifically talking about wearables lol) so if they keep doing that I'll be happy.
I don’t think calling this pay to win is right. The items that premium users get are obtainable to non premium users. You can literally just buy the items or trade for them if they’re NC. Premium doesn’t put a block on them saying “oh you don’t give us X amount of dollars each month? You can’t have this item.” If it did that THEN I’d agree it’s pay to win. Also neopets isn’t a “winnable” game. There is no end game. Sure you can run out of things you want to do but there isn’t an end boss you have to fight or something. Neopets is currently running a deficit. Of course they want to make premium look attractive to entice people to join. There has to be some incentive to make people want to join. The rereleasing of unobtainable items due to the economy makes a lot of dreams and goals for players obtainable and also puts them back in the market. It’s a win for all players, premium and otherwise.
I personally don't mind the changes and think it's finally made Premium a good value! Since Neopets has been making losses for quite some time and have a lot of work to do, I am aware that they could really use the money right now, and I completely understand that they must generate as much revenue as possible at this moment in order to keep things running and to improve the game.
I do completely agree with your point and hope it doesn't turn into a Maplestory situation either. They should continue to listen to their fans and strike a healthy balance. They have improved quite a bit on that specficially I think and I hope the communication will continue to get even better! I'm glad that they are continuing to re-release stuff that the vast majority of people will never be able to obtain, and that they are not caving in to the 1% affluent wealth hoarding players either. I like that the games items are becoming more obtainable for the majority of players.
i feel like we're lucky neopets still exists at all. i would be shocked if they're not operating in the red.
I think as much as it sucks for people who cant afford premium but it's an ad and it needs to be in your face a little to be super tempting. Neopets needs money and if we dont provide the money the site can't thrive. It'll be interesting to see what else is brought out to tempt people into premium.
BRING BACK THE CALCULATOR
exactly that!!!
Comment for the algorithm! (Also this is babybritt76 haha)
But yeah neopets isn’t gonna survive on ads anymore, if we want the site to survive we gotta support it. I support people on Patreon and whatnot, it’s just how it is.
As someone from outside US, premium does sting a little bit more here, since the money conversion eats a lot comparing prices.
While I'm not a big fan from having stamps as exclusives, since they're part of a in-game achievement, my biggest issue is they're adding this seasonal exclusives which are going to be retired after well... the day after they've been released, so it feels contradictory to their "balancing goals" of releasing retired or really limited items in the long run.
Personally I think introducing it this way is pretty much fine. They show you the item not only to entice you to subscribe, but also so that if you DO end up subscribing, there's no real mystery as to what that gets you in regards to the advent calendar. Neopets needs to convert some small percentage of free users to premium users if they want to make money, and I think that doing it this way is about as safe and transparent as you can be. I'll of course call it out if I ever think it goes too far, but this feels pretty conservative compared to even other free-to-play browser based games like Fallen London (which I also don't think is intrusive, for the record)
Premium isn't the issue TNT needs to focus on - it's the person with the thousands of accounts botting the heck out of the site. Check out the Wishing Well for example. 8 or 9 out of 10 wish recipients look to be the same user. The accounts are all about the same age; only 1 pet with same name as account; no avatars; no shop; no gallery; no stamps; no games played; no nothing. Start cracking down on cheaters and you'll have a much happier user base.
This is exactly the main problem!! So many auction items get sniped by the Uber rich, it's crazy!! And it's always the same accounts, too. And you're 100% correct about the wishing well... I've been playing 24+ years and have never had a SINGLE WISH GRANTED, yet this person has MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS that win almost on a daily basis. It's almost like TNT knows who he is, but they don't care....
I subscribed to Premium for the sole reason of an easy way to get Sponge Techo. Now all of the sudden I have access to 2/3rds of hot items because they paywalled them.
MapleStory comparison scary as hell, funny fact that Nexon assisted with the NC Mall lol
i wore the same shirt two videos in a row ^_^ also shoutout to jellyneo u a real one
Shoutout Jellyneo! Shoutout you!
For the amount of fun and time I spend on neopets and all the amazing memories I made, I’m happy to support the game so it continues. Re-releasing items has been such a fun and exciting event and it makes it feel playable again.
I understand why people would be wary of this. It doesnt strike me as pay to win as much as the way nostalgic styles were implemented, but no one but me seemed to care about that at all hahaha
Kevino ur my content creator of the year 2024 the journalism
Neopets has always been a democratic game. What has failed democracy in the game were always hackers and bots only, which I like to think they are fixing. However, if you play literally any other online game today you clearly know that microtransactions and subscription services are far more abusive than Neopets has ever been. The Neopets community has always complained a LOT about the lack of updates, new plots and new features and we are finally getting it. Now that we're adults, I'm sure you, the player, know in your heart that the game needs to make a profit: it's a business, as much as we commies hate capitalism. The game still needs to exist and these changes are necessary to make that happen. Everyone is also tired of knowing that it's no longer a children's game, and I acknowledge that some of us kids in the past couldn't afford things like that, because we were literally children with struggling parents. Today most of the people in the community are adults who could save up a Heineken to pay for a premium if they want to, I'm pretty sure. If you don't feel like it, just don't do it - you have daily and weekly prizes that can be worth up to millions. Chill.
I totally see both sides. But as someone who accidentally forgot to cancel premium this year and was charged $70 unexpectedly , im happy with the new added perks lol. I
As a new player to the game, im happy to see the game become more sustainable. I dont pay for premium and probably wont until I get a significant salary increase lol, but I dont mind their being some PTW features because the core of the game isnt inherently competitive and its also a free game.
As a long time player, 25 years, plus being an actual retired, senior citizen living on a budget...I simply can't afford Premium on Neopets, unless I want to give up a of medicine each month or use less groceries or gas!!! Sure, it may not seem like much to some, but to others like me, that little bit of moneya huge difference in my daily living. How about some "perk" for your longtime, faithful neo players?? I spent a LOT of money during my years on site - I've had PREMIUM in the past & spent lots of $$$ on Neocash at the mall - however, that was years ago when i was still working and could afford it. Would be nice for some of us older players to see some appreciation....
I dont pay for premium but I do understand TNT wanting people to, and giving incentives
TBH I only paid for Premium for the premium perks and SSW. Once they started rereleasing all the NP items, I stopped paying for premium because it felt likely that they're rerelease those too.
With nothing of particularly high value and lots of items still very rare and/or valuable, I stopped trading as much. I don't have the money to buy the caps required for the stuff I wanted for galleries and outfits.
Then they nuked UCs, so I stopped trading pets.
Then I realised I was addicted to trading and had literally nothing to do. I don't think i've logged in since just after the UC release lol.
This isn't a criticism of the changes, just my personal experience.
Spending money on neopets isn't the end of the world. As far as looking at it like a hobby. And it's a cheap hobby. People spend way more than $10/month on stupid shit all day long. People also love to complain about shit. They need to stop being a bunch of weak asses and get gud
Tbh I don't mind the advent calendar thing. It's not like there's absolutely no way to obtain those items, you can still trade and use in-game currency to obtain them, it's just much harder. I found one of the backgrounds in the thrift shoppe the other day lol. I think if they made all the premium items no-trade or something, that would not sit right with me, but as it stands I think it makes sense to make premium actually worth it. They've also been releasing actual good np stuff (specifically talking about wearables lol) so if they keep doing that I'll be happy.
I don’t think calling this pay to win is right. The items that premium users get are obtainable to non premium users. You can literally just buy the items or trade for them if they’re NC. Premium doesn’t put a block on them saying “oh you don’t give us X amount of dollars each month? You can’t have this item.” If it did that THEN I’d agree it’s pay to win.
Also neopets isn’t a “winnable” game. There is no end game. Sure you can run out of things you want to do but there isn’t an end boss you have to fight or something.
Neopets is currently running a deficit. Of course they want to make premium look attractive to entice people to join. There has to be some incentive to make people want to join. The rereleasing of unobtainable items due to the economy makes a lot of dreams and goals for players obtainable and also puts them back in the market. It’s a win for all players, premium and otherwise.