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The featured article for this month’s newsletter is rather long. With the release of NeoGardens, I have received many questions about concerning both NeoHomes and NeoGardens.

Ø PetPet News

Ø TNE News

Ø Featured Article NeoHomes and Gardens Extensions, Options, Waste of NP?

Ø Featured Site Lync’s Lair

General News

It was a busy month in Neopia. There were many times that the site was taken down for server upgrades and bug problems/updates.

NEOHOME GARDENS finally arrived in Neopia (May 3, 2002)

Three Pets celebrated their “Special Day” in May, and everyone celebrated the defeat of the Monoceraptor:

May 2nd - Lupe Day
May 12th - Tyrannian Victory Day!!!
May 14th - Moehog Day
May 25th - Koi Day

There were new games added to the games area.

Ø There is a new game from the makers of Goldfish snacks. Keep the cheesy crisps on the table using the large hand-type thing, and earn as many points as possible. (May 17, 2002)

Ø Faerie Cloud Racing was added. (May 17, 2002)

Ø Check out the Alien Aisha Replicator, another bizarre machine from those 6-eared aliens. (May 18, 2002) It’s not exactly a game yet, but since they are planning to offer different prizes…

Ø Crazy Food Frenzy(May 24, 2002)

Ø VOLCANO RUN(May 24, 2002)

Ø DEFENDERS OF NEOPIA has just been released. (May 31, 2002)

Ø Here is the latest game from Neopets, the Harry Potter Sliding Puzzle Game. (May 31, 2002)

They added a new Neopedia article about that pesky Chia Clown. (May 13, 2002)

There is a new Neopedia article about Shuggu, the rather irritable Shoyru from Omelette Defender. (May 29, 2002)

There were some new additions to Gallery of Evil. The first is Meuka, a hungry Meerca formed entirely of mucus. Secondly, the Ghost Lupe has replaced the Ghost Lion. (May 8, 2002) The Grundo-hating commander of Sloth's invasion, Commander Garoo was added on May 9, 2002. Balthazar finally got his own entry in the Gallery of Evil. (May 29, 2002)

They have increased the Negg Tokens you get from each of last year's Easter Neggs, and now also you can actually earn Negg Tokens from this year's batch! (May 8, 2002)

It looks like there has been a development on the Maraqua front. The Whirlpool has disappeared. (May 31, 2002)

Two new stalls have just opened up in the Lost Desert. Osiri's Pottery sells fine ornaments for your NeoHomes and the Battle Supplies shop specializes in rare and exotic battledome items. (May 31, 2002)

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Pet Changes

The addition of the Baby Paintbrushes (May 15, 2002) and Pirate Paintbrushes (May 21, 2002) has caused much excitement. In a rare move, the Baby Paintbrush became the first paintbrush available in a “main” shop: The Hidden Tower.

Other changes were made to the following:

Dr. Sloth has a new potion for a MUTANT Lupe (May 2, 2002)
Robot Lupe made an appearance on May 3, 2002
If you stop by the Rainbow Pool, you can now paint your Kacheek Tyrannian! (May 6, 2002)
Kauvara finished a batch of Tonu Morphing Potions. (May 9, 2002)
Tyrannian Techo arrived. (May 10, 2002)
Moehogs can now be turned into robot versions. (May 15, 2002)
ELECTRIC Wockys entered Neopia. (May 16, 2002)
Baby Aishas arrived. (May 17, 2002)
A cute little Baby Peophin has just entered Neopia. (May 20, 2002)
You can now take your Usul to the Rainbow Pool and paint it Electric. (May 20, 2002)
Now you also have the chance to paint your Kiko Checkered! (May 20, 2002)
The Baby blumaroo and acara are also available. (May 21, 2002)
The Baby Lupe, Usul and Shoyru arrived. (May 22, 2002)
You can now turn your Moehog into a Baby. (May 28, 2002)
The Pirate Aisha became available on May 28, 2002.
You can now paint your Lupe Electric or your Moehog DISCO if you take him or her to the Rainbow Pool. (May 29, 2002)
Tonu are now available in this lovely shade of Checkered. (May 31, 2002)
You can now paint your Kougra Tyrannian (May 31, 2002)
Now you can own a Christmas Kau. (May 31, 2002)

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PetPet Changes

Not to be outdone, there were also several petpet paintbrush and potion options added this month as well.

v You can now paint some petpets TYRANNIAN at the Petpet Puddle (May 10, 2002)

v Take your Narwhool, Snarhook or Plathydon to the Petpet Puddle and you can paint them Tyrannian! (May 20, 2002)

v More petpets can now be painted MUTANT (May 28, 2002)

v Take your Horus to the Petpet Puddle and you can paint it Spotted. (May 29, 2002)

v Meekins can now be painted MUTANT (May 29, 2002)

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TNE News

I spent a lot of time this month working to improve the newsletter since the Neopets site was often unavailable. By the next newsletter, I hope to have finished my Tour of Neopia, as well as have updated Books and Game Reviews pages.

It was suggested that I use more graphics and add hyperlinks to the Table of Contents. I decided to try out a few of them this month to see how they look, but depending on how well these changes are received I may discard them after this trial run. Let me know what you think either by replying to this newsletter or using my Comment form.

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NeoHomes and Gardens Extensions, Options, Waste of NP?

After a wait of almost 15 months (NeoHomes were first introduced on March 8, 2001), Neopets finally released the NeoGarden option at the beginning of this month. This brought the whole NeoHomes issue back into the public mind. There has been a debate from the beginning concerning the use/worth of these NeoHomes and NeoGardens, with strong feelings on both sides. I posted this question on one of the chat boards, and here are some of the posts:

shoyru_lover91 @ 1:25pm :
hmmmmm, i think its brill idea but way to expesnive we arent all millionaires but it is fun and a good idea
evil_smurf_15 @ 1:19pm :
^{Neohomes waste of np, since it doesnt really have a use, same as gardens. But good for creativity. ^^}-€viL_SmoiF©
linkin_parkchick @ 1:18pm :
i think they're both a waste of nps.~im not special im unique~
danaeaphreal @ 1:18pm :
I think Neohomes and gardens are a great sort of creative outlet for us kids who cant actually afford real homes yet. Gives us practice for planning things out like that in the future, and it's fun decorating your own home!
pommelientje @ 1:18pm :
i think it's cool!! But the neogardens aren't as nice as i thought!!

My personal feelings on the issue are pretty much the same as my views on the rest of the site: The whole point of earning neopoints is to spoil your pet (and your friends). Yes, it’s a waste of np, but so what? I like having a happy (some say “spoiled”) pet. Hopefully, those of you who decide to build NeoHomes for your pets will want to read the rest of this article. The rest of you may want to just skip it.

Before you even buy the land for your home, take the time to sketch out what you want. If you have more than one pet, they may each want a room of their own. Will you want a kitchen or do you always eat on the run? How about hallways? By planning out what you want to put where, you can prevent having to demolish a room because you need something else (or you put the door in the wrong place). Demolishing rooms cost neopoints. You do not get a refund when you demolish a room or cancel construction, so plan it out first.

The next step is to determine where you want to build. This may be based on how much you are willing to spend or where you think your pet(s) would be happy. I chose Terror Mt because I love the mountains. JC was largely indifferent since she’s not real fond of snow, but loves the shorter trip to the Snowager’s Cave and the Neggery. Then buy a building permit for that land. When it is completed, you will be notified by neomail that your land is ready to build on.

Only one room or garden may be built at a time. This is why it is helpful to have a sketch to look at. Click on the area you want the room/garden to be built and a pop up menu will appear.

To see how much time remains until your room/garden is completed, click the Building Status link.

Now that it’s finished, you will want to add furniture to your rooms and plants to your garden. Jot down the room number (or garden name) on your sketch so you know which room is which. Place your furniture and plants in your inventory. When you click on them, the Furnish Room or Add to options will appear in the drop down menu. If you make a mistake and send it to the wrong room, it is easy to remove. At the bottom of the room (where you can see your furniture) is a button labeled: Goto Remove items from room. It takes you to a screen with a picture of each item. Click on the item you want to remove, and it will place it back in your inventory.

Here’s where the fun starts. Go back to the room/garden and arrange everything by clicking on each item and dragging it to where you want it. Despite the “lock/unlock” feature that pops up, locking it in place will not save it in that place.

For a room:

For a garden

The more rooms you create, the more Extension Options you can add. These are things you can add, but it charges you PER ROOM. Security, Carpet, Lighting, Central Heating, Wallpaper, Insurance are the current options available. The more you are willing to spend, the better the option level.

Hopefully this covers everything, but if I missed anything let me know either by replying to this newsletter or using my Comment form.

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Featured Site

TNE Teacher’s Pet Award

This month’s award goes to Lyncs Lair. This is the help page created and maintained by the TACO Faerie, lyncs_01. It gives a fairly detailed description of some of the most common scams as well as some handy tips and hints for some of the games. There are also some links to other sites that you may enjoy.

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