TNE Report Card for October 2003

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Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the news on a day to day basis. Here are the highlight from the Neopets news page for this month...

A new Shop has opened up on Kiko Lake selling all kinds of coral based furniture for your Neohome. (October 2, 2003)

Kiko Lake now also boasts of this wonderful Sweet shop that sells all kinds of sugary tourist treats. (October 2, 2003)

Good news for Neoboard users! Neopets has finally changed the NeoBoards so you can post links starting with http://www.neopets.com, http://images.neopets.com and http://petpages.neopets.com. (October 7, 2003)

The How To Draw page has been given an update, and now includes sections on how to draw items and Faeries. The first item added was the Chokato. (October 9, 2003) Next, the Apple Lantern was added to the How To Draw section. (October 23, 2003) Neopets added an Earth Faerie as the first faerie in the How To Draw Section. (October 15, 2003) A Fire Faerie has also been added to the How To Draw section. (October 17, 2003) They have added an Air Faerie to the How To Draw section. (October 22, 2003) Both evil and normal fuzzles have now been added to the How To Draw section. (October 29, 2003) You can now learn how to draw a Dark Faerie too. (October 30, 2003)

There is a new Neopedia entry that sort of involves spyders, which seems rather pointless... (October 9, 2003)

There is a new Neopedia article about a scary beast in the Haunted Woods. (October 22, 2003)

The NeoBoards were down for much of the day. The message on the screens simply said: The NeoBoards are currently locked for emergency maintenance. Sorry about this! Please check back later. We'll keep you posted. :) (October 22, 2003)

There is now an option on the NeoBoards to view boards in English, or all languages (Yes, you can also play the site in Japanese in case you didn't know.) (October 22, 2003)

If you pop by Kiko Lake you will be able to take a ride on the Glass Bottomed Boat. (October 22, 2003)

Now that the Mystery of the Volcano is over, that Neoboard has been changed to the Avatar/NeoSignature Chat. (October 27, 2003)

Now on your User Lookup you can see the number of secret avatars you have found. (October 27, 2003)

For those of you who were confused by the Volcano Mystery, don't worry! Neopets now has a Complete Solution online. (October 27, 2003)

Neopets has been updating the Help section over the last few days so you should start to see a lot more information appearing there. (October 27, 2003)

Lots and lots and lots of items around the site today (including a few paint brushes) have been retired! Neopets selected 50 items at random that will never be restocked or given out again. (October 28, 2003)

Neopets updated the online Merchandise Catalogue and added in most of the items they had forgotten to add over the last few months. (October 28, 2003)

NEW RANDOM EVENTS - The new software installed on the Neopets servers can now detect whether you have been nice to people, and if you have you may get the following random event:

Something has happened!
	Since you have been so nice, you may now play Defender Trainer three more times today! Hoorah!

Something has happened!
	Dr. Sloth has his "associates" take 20% of your Neopoints away to support his next Neopian invasion effort.

The question of what exactly "nice" is has not been answered, however... (October 28, 2003)

Adam has written an article about his Neopets TCG Deck - Petpets and Villains. Neopets plans to add some more articles like this soon. (October 30, 2003)

Neopets also fixed a bug with NeoFriends today. There was a bug where people could repeatedly request to be your NeoFriend, even when blocked, and it got annoying. It should be fixed now. (October 30, 2003)

There are some new Colouring Pages to choose from in the Haunted Woods. (October 31, 2003)

v You can now have a Mutant JubJub with the aid of the right potion. (October 2, 2003)

v Grarrls can be painted Cloud and Split at the Rainbow Pool. (October 3, 2003)

v If you like pink and freaky, you can now own a Maraquan Mynci. (October 6, 2003)

v Now the lab ray may turn your Neopet into a Chokato Kiko. (October 8, 2003)

v You can now paint your Eyrie with the Shadow Paint Brush or even invisible if you wish. (October 10, 2003)

v The Pirate Cybunny is now available at the Rainbow Pool. (October 13, 2003)

v Kikos can now be painted with the Halloween Paint Brush. (October 14, 2003)

v You can now own a Plushie Jetsam or perhaps you would prefer Orange. (October 16, 2003)

v Halloween Acaras are now available at the Rainbow Pool. (October 17, 2003)

v If you get REALLY lucky at the lab ray your Poogle may be zapped into a Malevolent Sentient Plushie Poogle. (October 22, 2003)

v Tuskaninnies can now be painted with the Halloween Paint Brush. (October 22, 2003)

v Korbats can be painted Plushie and Spotted at the Rainbow Pool. (October 24, 2003)

v Bruces can be made super spooky with the aid of a Ghost Paintbrush. (October 28, 2003)

q Slorgs, Kadoaties, Angelpi and Puppyblews are the first petpets that can be painted with the Island Petpet Paint Brush. ( October 1, 2003)

q Snorkles, Buzzers and Spardels can now be painted with the Halloween Petpet Paint Brush. (October 2, 2003)

q Nurannas, Fangies and Yullies can be painted BLACK at the Petpet Puddle. (October 9, 2003)

q Pfish, Miamice, Hasees and Angelpi can now be painted with the Plushie Petpet Paint Brush. (October 14, 2003)

q The Faellie is the latest petpet to be added to the How To Draw section. (October 14, 2003)

q If you own a Meowclops they can now be painted with the Robot, Halloween and Tyrannian petpet brushes. (October 15, 2003)

q Neopets has released some new Spooky Petpets, they are: Green Tentacle, Skelly, Dribblet, and Batterfly.

q Gallions, Weewoos, Fangies and Mazzews can be painted with the White Petpet Paint Brush at the Petpet Puddle. (October 27, 2003)

q If you own a Meepit, Kookith, Magtile or Deaver, you can now paint them with Ghost PetPet Paint Brush. (October 30, 2003)

q Symols, Mortogs, Angelpi and Snowbunnies can be given a new Halloween look at the Petpet Puddle. (October 31, 2003)

As with all good help sites, the pages on the Neopian Educator are always under construction. Suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome. Simply fill out the automatic comment form.

Some of the Tour pages have been updated and a new page for the Mini-Worlds has been added.

The Game Reviews page has been updated to reflect all the changes…just in time for the new section in the newsletter. As you have noticed, we now have a section devoted totally to game news. There is a possibility of including comics if we have any aspiring artists. Submissions should be send to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

All of the awards have been moved to one page. If you are one of the site owners we have given an award to, or if you just want to see who has won awards in the past, click here.

The site was taken down for a few days for some restructuring...including some sample/partial pages from our upcoming museum. This project is rather large, but at least you can get a quick look at it here. Note that these pages are still very much under construction. If you have anything you’d like to contribute, please send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

TNE's mascot, JC, has finally beaten the InSaNe! difficulty level of NeoQuest *cheers*

Games on Neopets are in a constant state of change and these changes are often not listed in the news. Here are the changes for this month:

a Tired of sitting on the beach all day? Burn off some calories with the game Mynci Beach Volleyball! (October 8, 2003)

a TEST YOUR STRENGTH is the newest addition to the Deserted Fairground. Smash the mallet down as hard as you can, and see if you win a prize. Costs 100 np to play. (October 8, 2003)

a To celebrate the launch of the Voice-Activated Plushies, Neopets has released a new game where you have to run around a warehouse finding them (but avoiding the Grundos who will sound the alarm). Click here to play The Warehouse of Lost Plushies. (October 9, 2003)

a Turmac Roll. Help the Turmac gather as much food as possible. (October 14, 2003)

a Pack 'em tight and let 'em fly (and don't hit Santa!) in this product placement game based on an upcoming film: Elf: The Movie. (October 14, 2003)

a After a delightful dinner, how better to wind down the evening with a jolly old game of Gourmet Club Bowls. Play against 7 new opponents in this great new game. (October 23, 2003)

a The following Japanese games were added for DION internet service users: DION Catch Hasee, DION Hott Grilled Neggs, DION Space Walk, and DION Virtupets Repair Hangar. Links to these (without earning neopoints) can be found on our Game Reviews page. Also added were Petpet Paddle Battle and Food Chase. These games are all in Japanese.

a Another product placement game: FurReal Friends. Use a “see-saw” to get food/toys.

a The Lion King - Simba and Nala had been out playing in the jungle all day when they noticed that the sun was starting to go down. Now they need your help to race back to Pride Rock to make it in time for dinner!

a Video Now - You have a VideoNow player, but you need to find your VideoNow discs. You've misplaced them, and all the discs are hidden throughout a maze.

Two pesky Meercas (Heermeedjet and Meerouladen from the Coltzan's Crown plot to be exact) are ruining some poor Neopets day at the beach... Can you help save the day? A new Defenders Of Neopia challenge has begun. (October 2, 2003)

Now if you try and play a flash game when you are not logged it, it pops up a little message telling you that you won't earn any Neopoints. (October 8, 2003)

Price increase: the cost of the Wheel of Excitement is now 150 NP. (October 9, 2003)

Neopets doubled the amount of Neopoints you get from playing the Elf Snowball Fight game. (October 28, 2003)

There was a bug in Dice-A-Roo where it wasn't awarding the correct jackpot. It has been fixed now! This also means the high score table will work. (October 29, 2003)

Neopets has a Chat Avatar Hi-Score Table. Now you can see who has unlocked the most of our secret hidden chat avatars! If you can't get your score to appear in the table, try visiting your own user lookup. (October 29, 2003)

As Halloween is on the way, they have started the festivities by making the Brain Tree give out a lot more Neopoints! They have also limited the quests to once a day. (October 29, 2003)

To celebrate the release of Finding Nemo on DVD, they have re-released the Finding Nemo game. (October 30, 2003)

Neopets pushed the amount you win from the Brain Tree up by another 50% on average, and soon say they will be adding more Brain Tree-specific prizes. (October 30, 2003)

Awwww, both the Slots games are down at the moment due to a few bugs. (October 30, 2003)

Who is that tapping at my chamber door? Why, it's none other than Count Von Roo, and it looks like he has a Dice Game to play with you... (October 31, 2003)

If you know of anything that was overlooked, or have suggestions or even constructive criticisms, use this form.

Carnival of Terror

In honor of Halloween, this month’s featured game is Carnival of Terror. The story is as follows:

There was once a carnival so amazing that Neopians from around the globe would flock to see it. Spectacular shows with all the colors of the rainbow would enchant audience members of all walks. That is, until they came…thousands of them. Machines to enslave the world at Sloth’s command…you are Neopia’s only hope of survival. Kill as many of the robot chia clowns as you can. Be careful not to run out of time or ammo, it will mean your life…

In this arcade style shooter, your goal is to shoot not just as many clowns as you can but as many different parts as you can. Keep an eye on your health, time, and ammo meters, and shoot the falling clocks, crates, and first aid kits to recharge them. Once any of these meters drop to zero, it’s game over.

О If you start to run low on ammo, ignore the clowns. Focus only on the pies. When an ammo case drops, then you can recharge.

О Each clown must be shot at least twice to destroy (Unless you hit their parachutes high enough that the fall kills them). For clowns close to you, try and shoot them as many times as you can to maximize points. For quick kills, double click on a clown head. That way, you hit both the clown head and immediately after that, the clown skeleton.

О Try to shoot clowns near the middle of the screen so that you can also have time to shoot any pies coming your way.

О Never miss a chance to grab more time. Those clocks never seem to fall fast enough and you can never have too much time.

From time to time, Neopets will retire items and increase their rarity. Neopets retired 50 random items on October 28, 2003 in one of the largest batches of retired items in Neopian history...or at least memory. Those items were:
1. Island Acara Stamp
2. Candychan Stamp
3. Golden Mr Irgo Stamp
4. Ummagine Stamp
5. Green Toy Car
6. Green Aisha Keyring
7. Green Nimmo Plushie
8. Pink Aisha Plushie
9. Drackonack Plushie
10. Blue JubJub Balloon
11. Space Faerie Snowglobe
12. Invisible Paint Brush
13. Golden Paint Brush
14. Shadow Ixi Morphing Potion
15. My First Chia Book
16. Full Moon Fever
17. Trumpadon
18. Cyodrake
19. Pirate Notebook
20. Double Ended Pencil
21. Bendy Yellow Pencil
22. Water Faerie Eraser
23. Sparkly Green Paint
24. Faerie Lunch Box
25. Blue Daisy Hair Clip
26. Orange Snow Puff
27. Ice Negg
28. Milk Chocolate Uni
29. Orange Chocolate Gelert
30. Mint Chocolate Techo
31. The Abandoned Acara
32. Swill Pudding
33. Colourful Cybunny Cookie
34. Iced Techo Cupcake
35. Uni Parfait
36. Blackcurrant Gummy Kiko
37. Iced Borovan Cake
38. Zeenana Ice Lolly
39. Level 2 Bubble Beam
40. Quiggle Helmet
41. Koi Defensive Goggles
42. Apple Jelly Helmet
43. Radioactive Muffin
44. Kyrii Bouncy Boots
45. Padded Cybunny Sword
46. Spooky Slime
47. Shield of Soaring
48. Glowing Desk
49. Ornamental Cannon
50. Nimmo Faerie Tales
51. Peophin MD

As you may have noticed, the phrase "increased rarity" has two meanings. The first and most obvious meaning is that the less of that item that exitst, the greater the rarity (meaning it is harder to find). Basic rule of economics state that the smaller the supply of an item, the greater the demand for that item...which drives it's price up. In other words, if there were only 8 Green Apples and 100 players wanted one, they would be a lot more expensive than if there were 100 Green Apples and only 8 people wanted one. What makes things confusing is when you notice that Neopets assigns a rarity value to every item...which may not necessarily mean the item is rare.

Each Neopets item is given a rarity value. You can find the rarity by looking up the item in the search bar or by viewing an item in your inventory. Some items, such as Gourmet Foods, are defined by their rarity. Take this example:

1-70: common items that are easily found in main Neopian shops and given out by random events.
71-84: rare
85-90: very rare
91-95: ultra rare
96-99: super rare
100-104: mega rare
105-119: Special, these items cannot be obtained through the normal shops. Often these are only given out as part of a special offer or from a special area.
120: These are items given out by the Brain Tree when you complete one of his quests.
121-179: Special. This works the same way as the 101-119 rarity items, but these are usually more powerful.
180: Retired. This item will never again be released and its rarity will never be changed from 180.
200: Artifact. These items are usually sold in the Hidden Tower.

Here is where things start to get confusing... Items with a rarity index of 71-111 may say "rare" or "special", but the may not actually be rare at all, meaning they may not be scarce. Your daily free foods are great examples of this. The next time you drop by the Giant Omelette or Giant Jelly, take a close look at the rarity index of what you grab. As you can see, going by the rarity index you would expect it to cost thousands or even ten thousands of np like some of the Gourmet Foods. In reality, these will usually sell for a maximum of 10 np.

This brings up a good point. Some less-than-honest Neopians will try to claim that they are selling "rare" items for "cheap" prices. When in doubt, always check the Shop Wizard to get a general idea of the real worth of an item. In Neopia, "rarity" does not mean the same as "worth". When you find trades set up like this, report them unless they are obviously new users

Name: Pumpkin Ice Cream
Available: From the Spooky Food Shop
Neopet’s Description: If you are really lucky your ice cream may have some seeds in it.
TNE’s Description: It sounds odd, but it tastes great.

Select a medium-sized eating pumpkin (Do not use the large jack o' lantern variety which is too stringy). This pumpkin is almost white and looks like a big squash. Slice pumpkin in half and scoop out the inner pulp and seeds. (These seeds can be roasted later like sunflower seeds for a nice little snack.) Place halved pumpkin cut side down in a large roasting pan. Since water is given off as the pumpkin cooks the pan must have a depth of at least 1 inch. If one pan is not big enough for pumpkin halves to lie flat, use two. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour or until the pumpkin is tender and pierces easily with a fork. Turn pumpkin halves over and allow it to cool. When pumpkin has cooled, scrape the pulp away from the skin and puree in blender or put through a food mill.

Combine evaporated milk, egg yolks, brown sugar, and spices in top pan of a double boiler. Using a wire whisk beat the ingredients until smooth. Place top pan over simmering water and cook until custard thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup pumpkin puree. Set aside.

In medium-sized bowl beat egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar until stiff peaks are formed. Fold beaten egg whites into pumpkin custard. Scrape into freezer container or serving dish, cover tightly, and freeze until firm (about 3 hours).

Serve in waffle cones and decorate with your favorite Halloween candies if desired.

TNE Teacher’s Pet Award
To see previously featured sites, click here.
Have a site you'd like to nominate? Send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

This month's featured site award goes to NeoNewsNow, a fun little site with quick loading pages and clean clear graphics. Side bar navigation makes it easy to find what you are looking for. The site also has interactive forums, chatrooms, and an automated "bot" to make things even easier. Best of all, no annoying popups to conted with.

Contents

Carnival of Terror