May Livestream: Royal Edition

On May 29th 2024, Neopets held a special livestream, hosted by TNT Luna. Theamandafiles (a Neopets YouTuber) and TNT Fallie joined TNT Luna and discussed the Royal NC pet styles, unreleased pet styles, avatar hunts and other shenanigans. TNT Dom held a Q&A based on community submitted questions. You can view a recording of this livestream on YouTube.
 

• November 2023
• December 2023
• January 2024
• February 2024
• March 2024
• April 2024
• May 2024

Livestream Timecodes

For your convenience, here's the important parts in the recorded live stream and their respective time codes

• Introduction [3:49]
  • Premium Announcements [4:28]
• Special Guest TNT Fallie [6:20]
  • Will the nostalgic pet styles ever get additional poses? [10:12]
  • Will pets that never got UC versions ever get nostalgic styles? (Grey Lutari teaser and Petpet companion wearables) [11:05]
  • Where is the Nostalgic Sponge Techo? [13:50]
• First Giveaway: Comment a Neopets Pun [16:00]
• The Puzzle Hunters Club with TheAmandaFiles [22:00]
• Second Giveaway: Name a Royal figure [41:50]
• Q&A with TNT Dom:
  • What are the fixes currently being made to the Battledome in conjunction with the new plot? [47:25]
  • What is the point and significance of the AMAs? Issues like botting still have not been addressed. [49:07]
  • Can we get another Charity Corner event with some perks? [51:45]
  • When is the Altador Cup 2024 happening? [53:00]
  • How is the Altador Cup going to be improved this year? [53:24]
  • Why should we spend time collecting when items are just going to be added to the Quest Log? [55:00]
  • Bring back the Defenders of Neopia!!! [57:00]
  • Are there any plans to raise the trading post and auction neopoint limits? [58:07]
  • What’s next for NeoPass? All accounts having access to the same bank/sdb/NC? [59:30]
  • Please introduce a way to change usernames and pet names. [1:03:30]
  • Where is our Brand Ambassador John Legend? [1:05:55]
  • We need more pet slots, especially with the release of the new pet styles! [1:08:15]
  • When are ambassadors rotating? [1:10:48]
• Code Giveaway [1:13:08]

 

tl;dr & tl;dw

• On-going premium promotion for new subscribers (2,000 bonus NC)
• Premium Perks will receive a future update (including a new scratch card prize pool update, monthly NC fortune cookies)
• NC Pet Styles:
  • NC Pets will eventually get poses, but the current systems/programming doesn't support it
  • 18 new pet styles for pets that never had an UC version (Vandagyre, Lutari, Ruki, etc)
  • TNT is working on a new Petpet companion wearable that is compatible with UC pet styles
  • Nostalgic Sponge Techo not activated because there is no converted Sponge Techo artwork yet, they don't want to paywall a colour that hasn't been released
• Puzzle Hunters Club - Fallie's idea to design the characters and event. The avatar will retire on June 15th!
• TNT Dom Q&A:
  • Plot will begin on June 17th!!!
  • Fixes for the battledome are being worked on (HTML5 conversion, fix freezing, item stealing and UI issues)
  • The livestreams/AMAs have been great for community interaction and communications
  • TNT has been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to prepare for the plot, security updates, dealing with bots and,
  • A new captcha will be introduced for Altador Cup (based on its performance will be released site wide)
  • Altador Cup will begin in early July!!!
  • Charity Corner type event was well received and may happen again in the next Faerie Festival
  • Quest Log: TNT's goal is to allow collectors achieve goals for items that haven't been available in decades
  • Defenders of Neopia: TNT would love to bring it back, but it's heavily tied to the old Battledome and is currently a low priority task
  • Trading Post and Auctions: Neopoint limits will be raised, but the team is focused on the plot currently
  • NeoPass: current setup is basic due to many system upgrades, there are lots of plans for future mobile game integrations and new features.
  • Changing Username/Pet name: very difficult at the moment due to poor database design, would require a lot of work to carry out
  • Pet Slots: more slots will be released, but the team needs to address various performance issues (relating to the poor database design) because of the extra pet slots.
  • Ambassadors Rotating: will not rotate currently but may be changes in a few months (the 1 year mark) because the ambassadors have brought many issues to the team that have been or will be resolved.

Introduction with TNT Luna

• Reminder of Premium Promotion going on now.
  • This is a promotion that is slightly different than the usual annual premium sale because they are working through some issues with their payment processor.
  • They are planning on having the annual premium sale once those issues are resolved.
• Premium perks will receive an update:
  • A free random NC Fortune Cookie each month
  • Scratch card prize pool will be updated
  • June launch of an exclusive e-shop early access launch (for merchandise products)
    
     

Interview TNT Fallie

• Faellie - Marketing team at Neopets alongside Luna. Makes content for social media specifically
  • Big fan of the McDonald's plushies - would have loved to be part of TNT during that promotion.
  • Favourite royal pet: Royal Girl Zafaras
• Luna’s favourite is the UC Royal Boy Acara
• Will the nostalgic pet styles ever get additional poses?
  • This is something the team does want to do, but the programming isn’t there yet. They’re working on this.
• Will pets that never got UC versions ever get nostalgic styles?
  • Yes! The team is working on 18 new pet styles now for pets that never had UC versions including the Vandagyre, Lutari, Ruki, etc.
    
• Where is the Nostalgic Sponge Techo?
  • Some people had released spoilers of this token but it's currently not active.
  • The nostalgic Sponge Techo has not been activated because there is no converted Sponge Techo yet. The team doesn’t want to paywall a colour that has not been released.
• Neopet Pun interlude featuring chat:
  • One of the giveaways in this livestream in addition to the code, to enter the giveaway you had to comment a Neopet Pun in chat
  • Three winners were picked from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
    • YouTube: leemineon answered "okadoatie"
    • Facebook: Rachel Helen E answered "You're the Aisha of my eye <3"
    • Facebook: Rui Quintas answered "Poogle it (google it) 😂"
  • The prize for the best pun: It’s Not Easy Being Royal
  
  

Special Guest: TheAmandaFiles

• Neopets YouTuber, went to school for wildlife biology. She's also a huge Animal Crossing fan.
• Thoughts on the anatomical accuracy of Maraquan Neopets?
  • Some are based on real creatures like the Gnorbu recently. There are a lot of really good ones
  • Amanda also loves the new animal-based wearable items.
• Favourite Neopets lore: Lord Kass, what he tried to do, considers him to be a hero in Battle for Meridell. Amanda is also still “shell-shocked” that Faerieland fell and how it’s still on the ground to this day.
  
   

The Puzzle Hunters Club

• TNT Fallie, TNT Luna and Amanda discuss Fallie's lovely social media based avatar hunt!
  • The avatar was designed by the Community Ambassador, Sosu
  
  
• Fallie came up with the idea of doing the social media avatar and created all 3 of the Puzzle Hunter characters.
• The PHC are a group of new characters that recently came out, specifically on the Neopets social media.
• They are a group of friends that love to solve puzzles and interact with other Neopians, a lens for how we experience Neopia.
• Fallie says that “it’s so surreal that I got to do this”
• Fallie brought out the puzzles on their social media, loved the puzzles, and wanted to have some fun on the social media.
• Amanda was witness to the clues being created and was amazed how anyone figured out some of the difficult clues.
• Luna accidentally leaked that the solution was a Grundo’s Warehouse code before it was planned to be hinted at in Amanda's video, but the community had already theorized this and were trying out different codes.
• Fallie personally created the concept art
  
• Fallie had a cool idea and wanted to have some fun with it, asked Aesop to pass along to the art team, which was approved and they let Fallie go crazy to design and create the characters.
• Fallie wanted to have a Darigan goth girl and relatable characters
• Interested in seeing the Puzzle Hunters come back for additional avatars in different ways in the future, including on-site!
• The avatar will be retiring on June 15

Second Giveaway:

• One winner from all three platforms (Twitter, Youtube, Facebook)
• The winner's name popped up on screen:
  • YouTube: Brittany Cheshire answered "Britney Spears"
  • Twitter/X: Pound Chat Tea Co. answered: "Lady Gaga Queen of the Gays!"
  • YouTube: Chloe Westergard answered "Mia thermopolis"
• The prize was a Royal Wedding Ring
• To enter the giveaway you had to enter the name of a real life Royal figure!
  

 

Q&A with TNT Dom

Before beginning the Q&A, TNT Dom said he was in Toronto, Canada, visiting family and checking out the Neopets TCG cards.


1. What are the fixes currently being made to the Battledome in conjunction with the new plot? [47:25]

• The new plot will be coming in THREE WEEKS TIME - June 17 is the current target
• Some fixes will be coming with the release for the Battledome! HTML5 conversion, freezing fixes, stealing item fixes, and UI (user interface)
   

2. What is the point and significance of the AMAs? Issues like botting still have not been addressed. [49:07]

• Dom understands the frustration that there are still a lot of areas of the site that need to be worked on. The to-do list has over 100 things.
• A lot of things they have been working on for the last few months have been less visible to the playerbase, such as:
  • Preparation work required for the new plot
  • A lot of security updates.
  • Part of the botting problem has been solved but they see.
  • There will be a new captcha for the Altador Cup, which will begin in July, and they’ll evaluate this captcha system during the AC before rolling it out elsewhere.
  • Want to have some room between the launch of the plot and AC
• Believes it is unfair to say that nothing has been done. The AMA is done to keep up communication with the community, which has been integral in keeping Neopets alive even though Neopets has been neglected over the years, the community kept it together.
   

3. Can we get another Charity Corner event with some perks? [51:45]

• The Recycling event was mostly well received by the community
• TNT is looking to do a Recycling event again this year with the Faerie Festival using some of the feedback they received from the community.
  • They'd like to evaluate and make sure its fair and balanced 

4. When is the Altador Cup 2024 happening? [53:00]

• Early July, no exact date, but looking at the first week of July.
• This is being delayed to coincide with the plot.

5. How is the Altador Cup going to be improved this year? [53:24]

• TNT will rebalance the rankings and how it works.
• Adding a new team, Dacardia, and adding new TNT faces as well.
• We hear the concerns that the top prizes are re-releases and we will reevaluate.
   

6. Why should we spend time collecting when items are just going to be added to the Quest Log? [55:00]

• Part of rotating the prizes is to help combat the inflation seen in the game.
• The 6 month rotation was deemed to be too long, and the 1 month they were planning for this cycle seemed to be too short for the community.
• The quest log is planned to be rotated every 2 months from now.
• The goal is to introduce new items so collectors have new items to strive to achieve. The Quest Log is trying to get items to players that have not been readily available for the last 10+ years.
   

7. Bring back the Defenders of Neopia!!! [57:00]

• This would be a big team effort because it is tied to the setup of the old Battledome.
• They have reviewed it, but it is a lower priority because of the amount of work it would take to reintroduce this and the other things on the to-do list.
• The new TCG has cards themed around the Defenders of Neopia 🙂
   

8. Are there any plans to raise the trading post and auction neopoint limits? [58:07]

• This is something the team can start working on in the future, but they are currently all hands on deck to launch the new plot.
• The plot took up more of the team’s bandwidth than originally planned. It is on their list of things to review.

9. What’s next for NeoPass? All accounts having access to the same bank/sdb/NC? [59:30]

• NeoPass that exists today is on step 1, requiring a significant system upgrade
• They are planning a lot of new features including integration with mobile games allowing users to earn Neopoints by playing.
• They want to make NeoPass a good way to connect games across multiple platforms so they can give new and returning players a good experience when linking these systems.
• There is a lot they have planned and the current NeoPass that exists is just the beginning

10. Please introduce a way to change usernames and pet names. [1:03:30]

• They have looked into this, along with looking into another purge of old pet names. However, they are not sure what the best way of doing this.
• The database design was not created with changing a username or a pet name in mind.
  • The current main blocker: all related to poor database design and not dynamic.
  • SunnyNeo's Note: When something is identified by a username or pet name they would have to update hundreds or thousands of data points with this identifier. A good database design would not identify data by a username but a unique numeric ID, allowing all data to belong to this unique ID rather than a username or name. This  better design would let you change the pet name or username, because data would be identified by a unique numeric ID that never changes. But currently if data is identified by a name, you would have to update thousands of records in multiple databases. If TNT were to allow this feature, it would probably be a massive task to update all databases and tables, and refactor decades of code to support such a system.
     

11. Where is our Brand Ambassador John Legend? [1:05:55]

• He might be in New York or Vegas for his residency
• TNT has been in contact with his team to try future collaborations
• The relationship with John Legend is something that was pre-existing, and the new team is not invested heavily into it. However, there may be some things in the works.
• Dom thinks John Legend as the brand ambassador would be great for Neopets and what they’re planning to uplift the brand and community in the future

12. We need more pet slots, especially with the release of the new pet styles! [1:08:15]

• The team is actively looking into adding new pet slots.
• The main reason it hasn’t been done yet is more database limitations (poorly designed database.)
• New pet slots would also add a much larger burden on server-side requests, making the site laggier.
• They are looking into solutions to mitigate this additional lag and improve site performance before they introduce more pet slots.

13. When are ambassadors rotating? [1:10:48]

• There has always been a lot of back and forth with all ambassadors.
• The team takes the suggestions from the ambassadors very seriously, and trusts them to bring community feedback to the team.
• A lot of questions from the AMA has overlap with the ambassador’s feedback.
• Punchbag Sid returning was because of a suggestion from an ambassador, and the team realized they could implement this easily.
  • It was something they were not previously aware was something the community was waiting for until an ambassador brought it up to them.
• There may be changes closer to the 1 year mark, but not at this point.
  
   

Live Giveaway Code

As a reminder, you may only use this on your main account as its only one redemption per player. It will expire May 31st at 5PM NST. You can redeem this at the Grundo Warehouse using the code MAYMAYLIVE .