November 2010 News Archive

After all this hard work, it's finally time to show all that effort on your userlookup. The Game Master Challenge is (finally) over, so go and collect your trophy. The prizes for the NC Challenge haven't been awarded yet. So keep an eye out for those.


And we also completed the Community Challenge! Who would have thought we could send in scores for 45 million games in just 7 days. You can all be very proud!


Update:
The GMC NC Challenge prizes have been released. Go check out and see what you won.


Check our GMC guide for all the trophies and prizes.

The two new colours for Xweetok:
And the marquee:


Caption contest #1166:

It's the final day of the Games Master Challenge. Our guide has been updated with day 7 of the Games Master Challenge.

You have until 11:59 p.m. NST tonight to complete all the challenges. This also includes the NC Challenge.

Hi I'm Kass and I'm a new General Guide Writer for SunnyNeo!

If you're going on vacation or if you ever just wanted to learn more about the Neolodge, you can now with our new Neolodge Guide!

Our Games Master Challenge guide has been updated with all the challenges and prizes for day 6, of course it also holds a few useful tips to help you get the score needed.


Our Diseases & Cures page has been updated with the new medication for Bloaty Feet: Finger Splint.

Are you enjoying the beautiful colours of the leaves on the trees? You can now keep this experience in your shop or gallery with these brand new layouts.

For those in the US, the Sega Sonic Colors sponsor area is giving away an item today.  We've added the item to our Sonic Colors guide, along with the daily trivia answer.


And you're remembering to enter the NC giveaway and the Petpet Park NC giveaway each day, right?

Of course we've updated our Games Master Challenge Guide for day 5 of the challenge.

For those who did not know, the new Habitarium game can now be added to your Userlookup! But it seemed to not work with many of our premade lookups... until now! All our userlookups have been updated! Be sure to update your existing code if you are currently using one of these layouts.

If you need to fix your own lookup, copy and paste this code within your style tags:

I hope you're not too bloated to play after all that turkey from yesterday's Thanksgiving, because here's the fourth day of the Games Master Challenge. Check our guide for prizes and tips.

You remember we posted yesterday about the Neocash Giveaway?  If you are a resident of the US, Canada, UK or Mexico, you can enter once a day until December 20.  Prizes are NC cards in various amounts.

Well, there's more good news: There is also a Petpet Park NC Giveaway!  The entry period is the same, you can enter once per day until December 20.  Prizes will be $15 Petpet Park NC cards. 

Life goes on after the fall of Faerieland and so does the Games Master Challenge. It's is the third day of the Challenge and our guide has been updated with prizes and tips.

At Target you can now buy special $15 Petpet Park NeoCash Cards
(DPCI is 276 02 0005):


Redeem these cards on your Neopets account only (not your Petpet Park account), to get NeoCash (which can be spend at both the NC Mall as the Petpet Park), Gift Boxes and one of these two items:


Thanks to the many users on Charter for this info.

Check out our NC Mall Customisation page for previews.

A brand new paint brush colour was just released: Maractite! Its so new that the paint brush image wasnt even uploaded yet =)


This paint brush can be bought for 4,000,000 NP at The Hidden Tower!

Something horrible has happened... Faerieland has CRASHED! You can read about it in Chapter 13 of the Faeries Ruin plot. Thank you yooo_danhel and yeashin_10.

There is a Neocash Card giveaway going on currently. Once a day you can enter in the giveaway in order to get a chance at winning. The giveaway is only open for users from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico. 
The contest runs from November 23rd to December 20, 2010. There will be 5 Grand Prize winners of a $25 Neocash card each, and 200 First Prize winners of a $10 Neocash card each.

The second day of the Games Master Challenge has started. Our GMC guide has been updated with prizes and tips.


Don't forget that the Faeries' Ruin Plot is also still running and Faerieland is at 1,000 feet above Neopia now! So check our updated Guide, with even more tips, to see how you can help Xandra, Hanso and Brynn before it's too late.

If you are having trouble with containment then maybe our modified guide will help. We have put up a slight variation to the methods most people/guides have up in our Plain of Peace Guide. Hopefully this might help a few of your get your Jack Achievement. There is also some new information pertaining to guiding, check it out as well, it might help you with guiding too if you are having a hard time past the 30 meters mark.

The P3 Habitarium is back up again (at least for Premium members), but beware: there's no more reset! This is what Snarkie posted on the Premium board:

Hey! Wanted to let you know that we're going to open Habitarium back up in a bit and roll it out slowly, starting with you guys. This should happen within the next few hours. Once that looks good, we'll continue opening it up in small batches to everyone else (probably in the morning). I believe they're going to reset, also. It's been a few days since anyone was able to get in and likely everything will have deteriorated in that time, which is lame. So you'll be getting the NC stuff back and start from level one next time you log in... same deal as before. I'll mention this again, too: assuming everything goes properly, this will be open beta launch. (Attempt #3, I think, but we'll get it eventually. ) Anything you consume in-game from here on out is PERMANENT. We do not plan to reset again since the game is launching to everyone. I think that's it. We'll post on the official TNT board in a few minutes, but I wanted to let you guys know what's up in case they open the game before then. Thanks, guys!

For more info on, check our P3 Habitarium Guide.
Thanks to ohlush for giving us the info.

A Games Master Challenge image has been found! Keep looking at the Neopet's News page for an update!

EDIT: The Games Master Challenge has been released! Make sure to check it out! Check out our GMC Guide, its getting updated by the minute.

For those of you wanting to play P3 Habitarium, you're in luck! The game was down for maintenance but it just went back up. Read our P3 Habitarium guide for more information.
Edit: According to the The Official Neopets Team Message Board, "We'll be opening up to small groups of players at a time until we get to everyone."

So, if the game is still Down for Maintaince, stay tuned, hopefully it will be working for you soon.

Check out our new Destruct-O-Match III guide! If you don't have the avatar yet, this may help!

A new battledome challenger has appeared: Oblivion! Three new achievements have been added as well! We have updated our Faerie's Ruin Guide.

The next tier for the Faerie Ruin plot has been released. Go ahead and grab your "Magical Healing Potion" at the Battle Status page.


Now, go fight in the Battledome to qualify for the next prize.

In the next round of Super Sale items in the NC mall, you can spend your NC on accessories.

Here's the list of items on Super Sale:

Beautiful Clam Shell Purse
Belt of Fire
Brain Necklace
Butterfly Sun Glasses
Buzzer Keeper Helmet
Classic Black Bob Wig
Faerie Bubble Earrings
Flower Beauty Mark
Flowering Vine Sun Glasses
Knit Flower Scarf
Mind Control Headset
Polka Dotted Magenta Bow Tie
Pompadour Wig
Pretty Pointy Hat
Ruler of Measuring Might
Sparkling Skull Belt
Spin Fun Pinwheel
Stained Glass Earrings
Stained Glass Necklace
Steaming Mug of Hot Borovan

The Super Sale ends on midnight NST December 5th, so get your cards ready!

A new plot counter has just been added to our The Faeries Ruin Plot Graphics page. This new counter shows all 9 shadows, so you can show everyone how well you've been doing in the battledome.

	1110		1110		1110		1110		1110		1110		1110		1110		1110

The 20th tier has started. Head over to the Battledome to defeat even more of those Wraiths! 

The prize for participating in the 19th tier is a Gold Handled Short Sword:

You can claim this item at the Battle Status page. For more Battledome info, visit our 
Battledome Challengers page.

Three more plot related Battledome Challengers have been released: the Shadow Phantom Fury, the Shadow Phantom Zealot, and the Shadow Phantom Tormentor. We will be updating our Battledome Challengers guide as soon as possible.

---

The 19th tier has just started, so go battle any of the Phantoms to qualify for the next prize. The prize for qualifying in tier 18 is Scroll of Moon Light, so head on over to the Battle Status page to collect it.

This is the new image for Caption Contest #1165:

We have been working on updating all sorts of plot guide pages, and wanted to keep you posted.  The Battledome Challengers page has been updated with the current challengers and tiers.  Chapter 12 page has been updated with the known info on Battledome and Puzzle Achievements (Fearless Deeds).  We're also adding a Plain of Peace guide page for the current puzzle step.  We are still adding more information, especially to the puzzle step guide.

Tier 18 of the plot battledome challengers has started!  If you participated in Tier 17, you can pick up your Fiery Sun Scroll now at the Battle Status Page. Look at our Battledome Challengers guide for more info.

Three more plot Battledome Challengers have been released, the Shadow Phantom Brute, the Shadow Phantom Conqueror, and the Shadow Phantom Annihilator. We are currently in Tier 17 of the Mass Destruction Prizes and we will be updating our Battledome Challengers guide shortly.

Yesterday the Habitarium was released to the public. Unfortunately you were not able to test it due to maitenance. Now the Habitarium is working again! Make sure to go test it out! If you need help check out Sunnyneo's Habitarium Guide!
EDIT: The Habitarium is now down for maitenance again. We will make sure to keep you updated! Thank you aishaaddict12 for this information!

TNT just posted an update on the Habitarium on the The Official Neopets Team Message Board:

We just wanted to update you all on the Habitarium downtime! Our programmers are currently looking into a database issue and will put the game back up once that's fixed. We're hoping this happens in the next few hours, but databases are jerks sometimes and don't want to listen, so it may take longer than that. Pfft. When we have more information, we'll let you know. Until then... well, you might want your time free for something else being released in a bit anyway. *shifty eyes*

We will make sure to let you know when the Habitarium is up and running!

---

If you do not have the darigan pteri avatar then make sure to get it today! Desinential and Old_Wise_Owl are both 644 days old! Remember: you can only get the avatar when a darigan pteri is exactly 644 days old! Thanks to kelly_mistake for the reminder.

« neoHTML sweet little bird ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ neoHTML [center][fontf=wingdingss=3]«[/font] [fontc=#69287Bf=impacts=3]neoHTML[/font][br][fontc=#E3A800f=verdanas=1][u][i]sweet[ ][/i] little [b]bird[/u][/b][/font][br][fonts=3c=#837133][B]¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯[/b][/font][/center] siggy

There's a new puzzle step added to the Faeries Ruin.

More info is added soon.

Until then check our Plot Guide for all previous steps.

An unreleased Keyquest token was found, its a token of the Snow Beast. Thank you yooo_danhel for the information.

Tier 17 of the plot battledome challengers has started!  If you participated in Tier 16, you can pick up your Dark Fire Potion now at the Battle Status Page. Look at our Battledome Challengers guide for more info.

Some new plot related battledome challengers have been discovered! Will Hanso and the gang be able to take on:

Shadow Phantom Minion
Shadow Phantom Destroyer
Shadow Phantom Commander
Shadow Phantom Brute
Shadow Phantom Conqueror
Shadow Phantom Annihilator
Shadow Phantom Fury
Shadow Phantom Zealot
Shadow Phantom Tormentor

Xandra, Hanso and Brynn must act quickly in Chapter 12 of The Faeries' Ruin plot!

There are no known plot steps at the moment.

EDIT: There is now a new Battledome step! Thanks to happy2010newyear for pointing that out. We'll update you with more information as soon as possible.

Follow our Faeries Ruin Guide to keep up with the adventure!



Like our Xandra image? Check out SunnyNeo's The Faeries' Ruin Graphics!

---

                

On October 4th TNT mentioned they were thinking about having NeoCash Cards from other retailers give out NC exclusives too, and now they do!

Check out our NC Mall Customisation page for previews of the prizes you may receive when redeeming your NeoCash Cards.

PS: Some items are glitched and make your Neopet and other wearables dissapear. This will be fixed soon :)

This is the new image for Caption Contest #1164:

If you still want to get your hands on those Halloween and Fall themed items, you better hurry up. The Haunted Woods JubJub Power Bounce will retire tonight at 11.59 pm, along with the Tokens.

Don't worry, you can still use those Tokens when TNT releases the new Winter version.

Snarkie made a board on Premium for people who didn't receive NP during the latest reset.

If you're not receiving any NP when leveling up, please post here so I can collect usernames for the programmers to look at. As always, browser, OS, and Flash version are helpful bits of info, but it would also help to know what you *are* seeing when you level up. Do you get the NP notice at the bottom of the level up window, but don't receive the NP in your account? Do you not see the NP notice at all? Etc. If you have a screenshot, that's also helpful. Thanks, guys!

Edit: Snarkie posted a reply to the bug mentioned above

They've figured out what's causing this and are trying a fix in the next build. Once the game is updated, let me know if you're still not getting NP. Hopefully everything works, though. *fingers crossed*

Snarkie also made a board about the glitch where you're not able to load the Habitarium correctly:

Hey! If you're having the issue where you can load the Habitarium, but you only see the bar at the bottom, background, XP, etc. (no stage, Petpetpets, resources), please post here! We need a batch of usernames to hand over to the programmers so they can look into specific cases. Please post what browser, OS, and Flash version you're using. And, if you remember, when the bug started happening for you. (During the tutorial? After you left the game and came back? The very first time it loaded? Etc.) Thanks.

Edit: Another reply by Snarkie:

Thanks, guys! I've sent your usernames off and they're looking into it. They won't have a fix in for the next build, but you'll likely be able to play again anyway because we're resetting all the data. Once you restart, please let me know if you experience the problem again (and when, etc.). This has been an... interesting bug to track down. O_o

There are two new unreleased smileys: 


They can't be used on the neoboards yet,  but hopefully they can be soon! :)

We will update our Smileys guide with the two new smileys when they are released.

Snarkie posted on the premium boards that a second reset is coming today (the board itself was made yesterday):

Hey, folks! I wanted to let you know it's time for another reset. We've rebalanced some things, and hopefully fixed some of the bugs you were experiencing. The game will go down for a few hours like last time, and then come back up and you'll start from level one. We're shooting for this to happen later today, but it may be pushed 'til morning. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Partially consumed NC items will be refilled again. Note that we aren't returning depleted NC stuff this go, though. (Don't worry! We will indeed be resetting *all* NC items when we launch to everyone. Just leaving them empty for this reset.) Please continue to test if you have the time. I sound like a broken record, but all your testing and feedback has been VERY helpful and we really appreciate it!

Check our P3 Habitarium Guide for more info.

You can now protect NC Mall items from being discarded by putting a pin on them. Head over to your Pin Preferences to do so.
Thanks goes to aquaantoni for sharing this info with us!


Also, the latest Supersale in the NC Mall will end after this Sunday. This time, the items selling for half of their original price are trinkets. If you're low on NC, this is a nice chance to get some items cheap! 

TNT has just released two new smilies: a weewoo and a slorg! Look at our Neo Smileys page for more smileys.

	*weewoo*
	*slorg*

This is the December premium card:

The first virtual item prize is available from the Sonic Colors sponsor area today.  The item is not a new or exclusive item, but is quite colorful!  If you're a US resident, check out the sponsor area and our Sonic Colors guide for the daily trivia info.

We have updated with a guide to the new sponsor activity, Sonic Colors. Currently it is only available to those in the US. The daily trivia will be updated each day and when the three exclusive items are released, those will be updated as well.

A free item code was just announced on Neopets' Facebook.

*sings* Happy Birthday to us... Today is Neopets' 11th birthday! As a thank you to all of our fans we wanted to give out a special item code. Go to the Grundo Warehouse and type in this code for your free item: 11FB2010Bday11. We hope you like it! :)

You can redeem this code at the Grundo Warehouse. You will receive a book called Still With the Times.

Last week we announced a reopening of the Keyquest Expert staff position. Today a new staff position has been reopened. We're looking for several people who are interested in becoming Graphics Searchers for our site.

This job entails you looking for images and tagging them with keywords. You do not need to know HTML or CSS. But you do need to be creative with keywords and be dedicated to your work for SunnyNeo. If you're interesting in helping out, please fill out our application form.

Hey everyone! My name is Jake and I am one of the new additions to the Sunnyneo graphic's staff. Tomorrow Neopets celebrates its 11th birthday! Don't forget about all of the special goodies that will be going on tomorrow!

     • Pets up to level 40 receive free training at the Swashbuckling Academy.
     • You can play all games 5 times from November 15th to ??.
     • You can play Buried Treasure for free.
     • You can unlock the Neopets Birthday avatar by looking up the News page.

Also in celebration of Neopet's 11th birthday we have a brand new userlookup!

As you might have noticed, the Haunted JubJub Power Bounce Tokens have a retire date. So if you still want to get your hands on the Halloween or Fall themed items, be sure to play the game before midnight on November 18th.

This means the JubJub Power Bounce game gets a new look and what would be more logical after Fall and Halloween then Winter.

Here's a preview of the new logo:


And these are the new Tokens:


Keep checking for more previews, but until then, just check our JubJub Power Bounce Guide for all the current prizes and previews.

This is the new image for caption contest #1163:

 

 

On the Premium board, Snarkie answered a couple of questions regarding the reset of P3 Habitorium. Read our P3 habitarium guide for more information.

Friends thing: Not fixed yet! They're working on it, though. Loading Issue: We've narrowed this down to Flash player. Uninstalling and then reinstalling seems to do the trick. Try that! 5 vs. 10 uses: Not all consumable items have 10 uses. That was just an example. Like, Blue Ink Bottle has 5 drops. The pirate Ink Droppers have 10 drops. Some items can only be used once. Etc. And the NC bottles are indeed supposed to have 10 drops, not 5. I'm told that should be fixed in this next build. Keeping NP: Yes. It's yours. NP awarding: The NP not being awarded was a bug. This is beta, so we're not going back and granting any "unawarded" NP, if that's what you're asking about. It should hopefully be fixed this round, though, so if you're still not getting anything, please submit a report! Multiple Habs: You're absolutely correct that, because of the NP earnings, it shouldn't be played on side accounts. The FAQ should say main account only, and it's being fixed soon. Don't worry if you already created a second, though. It's our fault. HOWEVER, please do NOT go back and load that Hab on your side account. It will award you NP if you level and we have to start dealing with people who play on multiple accounts once the FAQ is fixed. Don't want you caught in the crossfire. Just ignore the extra Habs until we can delete them! Used up ink: I don't think they can replace full items... just fill them back up. But I'll check on that! Replacing "empty" NC consumables: I'm told that's the plan. Long story short, it's a technical challenge because of the way Habitarium is set up. They just need to figure out how to do it and not break anything. NC items rolling over to launch: Yes. We will be resetting again at least once for sure when we launch the game to everyone. Between now and then, though, we may reset again many times or not at all. Depends on what we need to have you all test. And you may not have your items refilled every time, because we're testing and turning things around so quickly. But regardless of how many times beta resets, *anything* you purchase during this time will be returned/refilled during that final reset when the game launches. Does that make sense? Lemme know if I'm just being confusing. Trophy/Spotlight: Trophy, no. Spotlight, we're thinking about it. Lots of things to work out, but no decisions have been made yet. P3 menu: We have something in development already. It's not a menu, but it makes it MUCH easier to find the profession you're looking for without clicking through everything. Might not be ready for launch. I think it's coming a bit after that. But it is coming. Naming: This was a feature, actually, but we removed it for emotional reasons. I'm not kidding. People were getting really attached to named P3s and, instead of being happy about getting a gem, they were sad Billy was gone.

Keep checking for more updates...

A message from snarkie on the neoboards regarding P3 Habitarium. Read our P3 habitarium guide for more information.

Heya, Habiteers. We've gotten a lot of really good feedback from you guys (thanks!), so we have a new build of Habitarium coming for you to test. Hab will be coming down soon for maintenance while we replace it. This will take a few hours. Once it comes back online_ you'll start again from level one. Please continue testing and sending us your thoughts! I know what the next question is. Your NC items will NOT be cleared. Any NC items in your Item Bag will still be there once you go through the Tutorial again after the reset. Also, if you have any partially-used NC consumable items in your Item Bag - for example, you used four drops out of ten of your Mootix Pirate Ink Dropper - we'll fill them back up for you during the reset. I think that's it. Thanks again for all your help. Your feedback has been awesome.

In other news, we're reopening the staff position for Keyquest Expert. If you enjoy playing this game as well as helping out others, please consider applying!

Chapter 11 has been released, we've updated our Faeries' Ruin Guide. :)  No known plot steps at this time, but Faerieland is still sinking.

The new game that we mentioned a while ago, P3 Habitarium, went up for beta testing for premium users. We've quickly pulled together a P3 habitarium guide to show you some insights on the game. This guide will be expanded further at a later stage.

Update: We're slowly adding to the guide, a few new sections have already been added, among which about breeding and pets.

This is the unreleased caption image for Caption Contest #1161.

Chapter 10 of the Faeries' Ruin has been released.  No known plot steps at this time.

Hello readers! Three new baby neopets have been added to The Art Adoptables page. The weather's getting colder, so it seems to be a great day for some pajamas!

                   

"Uppies?"

Since yesterday users have a chance of getting one of the NeoCash Exclusive items when redeeming NeoCash Cards from Gamestop. TNT's response about this:

Hi, Thank you for writing. The NC item as the free/bonus item is a Gamestop exclusive If we do decide to have these for Neocash Cards from other retailers though, this will most likey be announced on the site. Thank you for expressing your interest! For any additional inquiries, kindly send us a new ticket (referencing your ticket # if necessary) with a brief description of the situation, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Regards, Nathan

Thanks to kimvanwilligenburg for giving us this info

These are the items so far:
 

 Check our NC Mall Customisation page for previews.

This is the new image for caption contest #1160:

Now that the Haunted Faire is over, Bart has moved his Apple Bobbing booth to Neovia.  You can now bob for apples daily year-round, it seems!  Apple Bobbing results are a bit different from the earlier version, now it is possible to lose items or neopoints or have your pet catch an illness.  There are also lots of spooky items given away when you bob for apples, most are spooky foods, books, and other spooky items.  We're working on a guide, where we will be listing only the new items available.

From the Neopets Facebook:

We thought you might want to see some concept art for a game that we are launching soon, called Professor Milton Clodbottle's Astounding Habitarium! Erm... just Habitarium for short. Can you guess what it will be about?

This looks awfully familiar to their stranded attempt to launch a game called P3 Habitats. Look at our P3 Habitats guide to learn all about it. The images below were also posted on facebook. Click on them for a larger image. Thanks yooo_danhel for the info.

Chapter 9 of the plot has been released. There are also some new steps involving escaping from The Wraith Caverns. Chapter 9 of our plot guide has been updated as well.

As announced in today's New Features, more smilies have been added to the Neoboards. Our Smileys page shows all the smileys you can use on the neoboards.

	*gnorbu*
	*pteri*

And the final item in the NC Collectible "The Royal Treatment" Collection has been released.  The Bonus item for this collection is King Kelpbeards Collectable Orb.

There was some confusion yesterday about Trick or Treating around the site for goodie bags (see our newspost of 30th of October 2010 at 10:45 AM NST). Thanks to alotties we can clear up some of this confusion with a quote from TNT regarding the matter.

Dear alotties, Thanks for writing! We are sorry for any confusion this Halloween! As we released goodie bags in the Apple Bobbing Halloween Event there was no additional Trick or Treating available throughout the site. This is not a bug and was intentional. Any bags that were available throughout the site were left over from last year for those of you who did not collect them then. This is also intentional and not a bug Thank you for your feedback! We hope you had fun! Charlotte K