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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Feb 14, 2023 18:12:16 GMT -5
So, we get a new PB this year and 4 pets have been announced. They are Aisha, Kougra, Kacheek and Draik Note: The new colour isn't available to view at the Rainbow Pool just yet, so I'll have to go with the species, for now DraikAishaKougraKacheekThere's also a clothing set, Valentine Armour |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Feb 14, 2023 21:01:31 GMT -5
A Colour long requested (especially after Petpets got their version of it last year), in-line with the Halloween & Christmas Colours, finally the day dedicated to love gets its due; The Valentine Colour is here! From the four example Neopets we can figure out some traits that'll probably be shared among most, if not all, Valentine Neopets. For the most part its a simple palette pattern: a pink body with other pink hues (and white) hearts spotted around. How much of the body is covered with hearts will vary, looks like generally the entire body will be, though there will be exceptions like the Draik where they got more decorative and decided to limit the heart pattern to certain parts of the body. That's pretty much the general aesthetic I see, so now we get into the details. From what I see so far, all the Neopets have additional traits to them, be it how the hearts are used around their body and/or slightly adjusting the line art. We'll go into each Species going from least changed to most changed: * Kougra: Kougra & Kacheek actually demonstrate another thing some Valentine Neopets likely will have in common for those who have them: Noses will be re-shaped into a heart. Speaking of heart re-shaping, the Kougra gets a unqiue one with th patches around its eyes. Interestingly they removed all the Kougra's stripes, which has been done before for certain other Colours when the stripes would get in the way of a pattern or certain look they were going for, such as here. A final addition: the Kougra was given a cute pink bow around its neck, the only Valentine Neopet of the initial four to get unique clothing. With how little they changed with the Kougra, I imagined the bow was added to give it something notable about it; something which may very happen to other Valentine Neopets that TNT couldn't really do much else with (it may also not be a neck bow each time). For the first simple Valentine Neopet I'll give the Kougra a pass.  * Kacheek: In addition to its nose, the Kacheek gets two other changes: the chest line has been heart re-shaped, as well as the tail line, and finally the two hairs on the top of its head and curled into a heart shape. A few bits more than the Kougra (surprised the Kougra's ear clip wasn't heart re-shaped), though I do feel the Kacheek may have also been a Neopet needing a unique piece of clothing to give it something extra; like a bow tail. TNT likely thought the hair heart was enough of a standout feature (and I'm going to guess other Neopets with pieces of hair like that will get a similar treatment).  * Aisha: Aisha & Draik do something slightly different with the heart pattern. While the Kougra's and Kacheek's have a solid outline, the Aisha and Draik are dotted line, like the hearts are patched on. It's more obvious with the Aisha, who's face was specifically designed to have a (dotted line) hear on the forehead and cheeks. They left the patches around the eyes alone, though the antenna ears were heart re-shaped. And of course we can't forget about the Aisha collar, some Colours do something special with it, other's don't; Valentine is thankfully the former, changing the "A" tag into a heart with "XOXO" (higs and kisses, or is that kisses and hugs?) written on it. It's the standout detail here which I feel brings the entire look together. * Draik: Now didn't they get fancy here! The segmented chest & undertail scales have been heart re-shaped, notably having a heart on the center of the chest. The back spikes and tail spade have also been heart re-shaped, a change I feel more notable than the segemented scales. My eyes are always drawn to the heart on the end of its tail before the face, which doesn't look to have been given any changes (not the ears or the hairs on its head). Also, since it breaks away with having the heart pattern all over its body, it's body is a pale pink as the other parts of its body are the darker pinks (thus where you eyes go to when you look at it); on its own nothing special but when with other Valentine Neopets looks pretty unique. The Draik gets two thumbs up from me!  Not really much to say about the Valentine Paint Brush, it does the job. It being placed in the Hidden Tower is a bit of a surprise, not unwelcomed as it means people will immediate access to the Colour, though I do feel they should have removed another PB. I think Baby Paint Brush's retirement is long overdue. Valentine Faellie is alright though kind of hard to tell its meant to be Valentine (though ideal if you wanted a magenta Faellie). Valentine Spyder is funny and clever, I like it! The Valentine Armor actually looks pretty cool, reminds me of the Yu-Gi-Oh! monster "Queen's Knight". |
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Post by June Scarlet on Feb 14, 2023 21:07:55 GMT -5
 dorothy_scarlet got an upgrade from Pink. |
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Post by RielCZ on Feb 15, 2023 3:29:45 GMT -5
...though I do feel they should have removed another PB. I think Baby Paint Brush's retirement is long overdue. This is the most controversial take I've heard on the forum in ages.  |
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Post by Kat on Feb 15, 2023 7:56:06 GMT -5
We've seen what happened with the Faerie Paint Brush when it was retired and removed from the Hidden Tower. Let's not retire the Baby Paint Brush any time soon especially since baby pets are always in demand and you can't get baby from the lab.
Anyway, I'm thrilled as well for the Valentine pets - sure, the base is pink, but it does give you more than your standard pink. Am considering painting one of my existing pets - or perhaps more depending on the next species that get Valentine paint jobs. It's a good thing it's available in the Hidden Tower so people don't decide to sell them for like 10M.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Feb 15, 2023 19:41:46 GMT -5
...though I do feel they should have removed another PB. I think Baby Paint Brush's retirement is long overdue. This is the most controversial take I've heard on the forum in ages. We've seen what happened with the Faerie Paint Brush when it was retired and removed from the Hidden Tower. Let's not retire the Baby Paint Brush any time soon especially since baby pets are always in demand and you can't get baby from the lab. Huh, I didn't think that suggestion was going to be controversial at all.  Didn't think Baby was that popular, thought it was a niche Colour especially after Customization. Alright, let's keep Baby in then, and while we're at it maybe also put the Faerie PB back in (feels odd to have Baby, Darigan, Maractite, and Valentine in there but not the Colour that's based on the land the Hidden Tower is in). |
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Post by Twillie on Feb 15, 2023 22:01:19 GMT -5
I think the Baby color still has its fans, but even moreso, Baby PB's are essentially a form of currency in the trading post, so people will slowly stock up on them each Hidden Tower Discount Day. They're fixed at a nice near-half million NP's, which I'm sure is a convenient number to work with when trading for high price items.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Feb 15, 2023 23:35:19 GMT -5
I think the Baby color still has its fans, but even moreso, Baby PB's are essentially a form of currency in the trading post, so people will slowly stock up on them each Hidden Tower Discount Day. They're fixed at a nice near-half million NP's, which I'm sure is a convenient number to work with when trading for high price items. That was one of the main reasons why I suggested it. Didn't know it was still the case, I just remember seeing in the past the PB used more as an alternative currency than NP. And when an item is being used more in an unattended alternative way like this, I'm not sure if that's something which shouldn't be looked into. Like, if players were looking for a large & stable "Item Currency", that should be something intentionally made. Sure the Baby PB could be used as such, but being its a PB there's a chance it to be used as a prize in something that'll temporarily tank its price. Right now obviously there is no alternative, though if this is something players want a suggestion to TNT should be made for such an item. From how I'm imagining it, maybe have the Neopian Bank offer a "NeoBullion Service", or "NB" for short. What this service does is that you can exchange various large amount of NP for a NB (an Item which is tradeable but cannot be disposed of; also something which can be easily tracked in the backend) which at a later time can be exchanged back into NP. I'm imagining the amounts being something like 500k (Copper), 1 mil (Bronze), 5 mil (Silver), 10 mil (Gold), 50 mil (Platinum), 100 mil (Diamond).EDIT: Or just increasing the NP limits on Shop & the Trading Post and fixing the Auctions would also suffice. |
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Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Feb 15, 2023 23:59:14 GMT -5
Well the thing is that Baby PB has been a standard unit of currency for so long that it would be weird to change it now. It would be like as if one day, all ten-dollar banknotes were rendered invalid and a completely new banknote was issued in its stead. Everyone who happens to already have a ten-dollar banknote in their wallet would... no longer be in possession of ten dollars lol xP Instead it would become a shiny piece of paper that only has niche collector value or something.
The larger issue though is that inflation has gotten so out of hand, everyone has had to adapt to trading around the limits. Shop limit is 1 million. Trading Post limit is 2 million. Auctions take a minimum of an hour to process; not to mention, they often break and lag too. xD Nowadays, when even just a petpet, paint brush or customisation item often costs more than 2 million, it's become standard practice to offer 2M pure + baby paint brushes to make up the difference.
To stop people from needing to use Baby PBs as currency, the trading post limit should be increased and auction length shortened. And auctions should be fixed in general haha so they don't break and lag so often.
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Didn't think Baby was that popular, thought it was a niche Colour especially after Customization. Alright, let's keep Baby in then, and while we're at it maybe also put the Faerie PB back in (feels odd to have Baby, Darigan, Maractite, and Valentine in there but not the Colour that's based on the land the Hidden Tower is in).
