How I finally got the Queen Fyora Stamp.
Feb 14, 2023 19:35:53 GMT -5
darkelfa, Breakingchains, and 2 more like this
Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Feb 14, 2023 19:35:53 GMT -5
Some time during my adolescence, when I was perhaps eighteen or nineteen, I decided that I liked Faerieland and started filling in my Faerieland stamp album page. I must have actually dreamed of filling up the whole page one day because young-me didn't just save the stamps in her SDB, but actually put them onto the page.
Time passed; life became very busy, and I lost interest in the site for years at a time. When I returned to Neopets during the pandemic at the beginning of my thirties, I felt like I'd come home in a way. I decided that I wanted to fulfill my younger self's dreams while I had the chance. I reconnected with other Neopians who were in the same boat, and began to play very enthusiastically.
Then came some hellish disappointments. Every time I managed to save up enough for the last stamp, the price would jump, higher and higher, constantly out of reach for two years. When I started saving, the stamp was valued at 50M; and of course the pain was that I just didn't have 50M at the time. By the time I finally got it... well, you'll see.
What made things worse was that during those two years, I was an active player during several events that could have gotten me the big break out of poverty: Storytelling 900, Poetry Contest 2500, Neopian Times issue 950, Mystery Pic round 1713. These contests' respective prizes were The Storyteller, Alstaf Poogle, Neopian Times Coin, and Scary Tree Stamp, all worth many millions. I tried my best for each and every one of these opportunities, and I was not successful. All I needed was one big break to make the jump to be able to afford the stamp, but it didn't come. In the meantime, I continued to do Food Club, stocks, games, and the Premium battledome, and hoped. I was close to tears and giving up many times, but I never truly stopped hoping.
I sold the Thunder Sticks rather quickly - too quickly, in retrospect - but held on to the Dress because I sincerely liked it on my Mutant Hissi. This month, however, there were finally some very nice NC mutant dresses released, which meant I could think about letting go of the neopoint Dress.
Last week, I sat down and thought seriously about how badly I wanted the stamp. Did I want it badly enough to get it now, while it was so inflated? Yes, probably. Was there a chance it could be re-released and deflated in the future? Yes - but I realized with a chill that I was not the only person waiting for a re-release. I saw one person saying on the Premium neoboards that she "desperately" wanted the stamp. I also saw people talking in the restocking channel on the Neopets discord about their in-game goals and stamp avatar dreams. In my closer friend network, I know people who want the Faerieland avatar as well, though they may not say it. Lots of people are saving for the stamp, some of them far more aggressively than I am. And if I don't act now, I might lose out forever.
My experience with NC trading has made me shrewder than I was two years ago. In the NC economy, random "populars" get re-released every now and then, generally through gambling, and it's a mad scramble each time. Sometimes, the sudden influx of an inflated item brings the value down. (Examples would include Bakery Display Case and Victorian Wintery Bridge Background.) But sometimes the value doesn't come down. In the case of some deeply beloved items like Sun Prince Markings and Nutcracker Face Paint, the value stayed high even during and after a re-release. Because despite the sudden increase in supply, it wasn't enough to satisfy the long-hungry demand. The demand had always been there, it just wasn't easily seen in trade data due to lying dormant: lots of people taking breaks from trading and telling themselves the price would come down one day, while never truly giving up on hoping to achieve the item one day.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe the price of Queen Fyora Stamp will come down with a re-release. Nobody knows for sure. But I realized I wanted the stamp badly enough that I didn't want to take the risk of waiting.
I used Jellyneo's wishlist feature to make a visual list of basically everything I owned, and put it all up on a petpage. Then, going against the shadowy secretive culture of the Trades Chat where everyone kinda keeps their interests veiled, I boldly announced my one wish - the Queen Fyora Stamp - and showed everybody what I had to offer for it.
I suppose my open, sincere, persistent and vulnerable style of negotiation moved some hearts, and some friends came forward to help me. One linked her own in-game reputation with mine and helped me break into a very exclusive trading circle. Another offered to give me the most valuable in-game possession she had. (I turned it down because I felt bad about accepting such a huge gift, but it did make me feel supported.) A third friend told me about a resource for checking the latest auction data for an item. This resource was more up-to-date than Jellyneo's price history and trading post history, and made it much easier for me to get a grasp on the in-game values of things.
After a day or so of bumping my neoboard, Person A told me that she had a Queen Fyora Stamp up for trade and asked me how I valued my Mutant Yooyu Dress. To be honest, I have no clue. Thunder Sticks cost 3,500 prize shop points each, while Mutant Yooyu Dress cost 15,000. During the first few weeks after release, Thunder Sticks sold for around 20M neopoints each, but then there was a ton of speculation surrounding the next plot and whether there would be a battling component, and a lot of people - battlers and resellers alike - started buying up all the Thunder Sticks out of fear of missing out. The market price of the Thunder Sticks shot up to 70M at its peak; currently it's hovering somewhere around 60M, but it might still be inflated, I'm not sure. I did the math and hazarded a guess for the Dress: "280M." And Person A's response indicated that the value she had in mind was wayyyy off from what I was thinking. So, it didn't work out.
Then I got another neomail, tentatively worded, from Person B. He had a very long and carefully-thought-out wishlist of items that he wanted for his gallery. I looked at the gallery and was impressed. I told him I would look for some of the items he wanted and try to work out a trade for his Queen Fyora Stamp.
I wrote a post that I cross-posted to the Battledome Chat, Trades Chat, and the trading channel in the biggest Neopets discord. I also reached out individually to some persons that I knew from my avatar-collecting and Battledoming days. I didn't list everything that Person B wanted because some of his wishlist items were very rare and hard to find - the sort of thing that a reseller could easily gouge him on by buying up and holding all of the available supply. I basically just made it clear what sort of items I was looking for, and trusted that the message would get out to the right people.
Various items were then brought to my attention. I checked the trade data in the resource that my friend had given me, and found that most of the items were either overpriced or not rare enough. Finally, one item surfaced - an ancient Rare Item Code plushie owned by Person C - that was last known to have changed hands years ago. This felt like the right hit and I reached back out to Person B.
After talking back and forth for a bit, Person B agreed to take 150 million in pure + the plushie in exchange for his Queen Fyora Stamp. Now here's where I ran into an obstacle. I only had 150 million pure. I could try to liquidate some of my investments but it would take time to find buyers and in that time-frame Person B might walk back his offer. So I told Person C frankly that I only had items left to offer, and let him choose from my carefully-assembled investment portfolio.
Person C took a look and tentatively expressed interest in my Mutant Yooyu Dress. I praised him for his investment insight and explained that the dress 1) was very rare due to being released in the same prize shop as the much more ETS (easy-to-sell) Thunder Sticks; 2) would probably have a place in a niche gallery in the future, like an Altador Cup gallery, Mutant gallery, or Wearable collection. These were factors that he had probably already considered, but I figured that talking them out would make me seem more serious than if I simply assumed without saying anything. "I'm sure that with time and luck, you could find the ideal buyer," I continued. "If you want to make this investment, I'm happy to let you have the opportunity." I then made the bold move of just offering the dress in exchange for the plushie, and Person C seemed taken aback.
"You know what," Person C said. "This is getting too confusing. Let me talk to Person B. If I manage to trade for his Queen Fyora Stamp, I'll come back and try to work out a trade with you. I am definitely interested in the dress" - up from just tentatively interested.
Funnily enough, as it turned out, Person B had already tried to buy the plushie from Person C some time ago, but they hadn't been able to agree on a price. They'd negotiated back and forth for weeks and were kind of ghosting each other by the time I suddenly appeared on the scene. Person B wrote back to me; his excitement was visible. "What is the offer that is making everyone want to trade the QFS to you? xD"
"Person C is interested in my Mutant Yooyu Dress," I replied, and nonchalantly added, "but we haven't worked out other details yet."
Person B was smart, however. After some more talking with Person C he figured out what it was that I had offered, and said to me - very simply and frankly - "How about this. 150M + Mutant Yooyu Dress for my QFS." And I accepted. xd I put the dress up on the trading post, he bid the stamp on it and set up two junk auctions, I accepted the stamp first, and then transferred 150M pure to him through the junk auctions.
Some time after I'd already albumed the stamp and was happily chatting with some friends, I got a neomail from Person C: "We got kind of close but he hasn't responded in a bit so I am not hopeful."
I felt a bit like a traitor. xD "I ended up trading with him," I said. "I'm sorry xD I hope the two of you can work out a trade some other time."
"I'm glad you got something worked out! I just thought he might be more interested in my plushie haha. What'd your trade end up being?"
I told him. He politely thanked me and congratulated me. My guess is that the two of them will continue to patiently battle it out - Person C holds basically the only plushie of that sort on the market, which is the perfect fit for Person B's gallery, and in a way Person B has no choice but to buy from him. But Person B is equally as shrewd and won't pay more than he feels he has to. And now he owns a Mutant Yooyu Dress, which could give him more bargaining power depending on what other collectors he's able to reach out to. But now all of that is none of my business. xD
In the end, I probably over-offered. But I didn't mind too much. Out of all the traders I met, I felt that Person B was the least rascally of the lot. I could be wrong - I sometimes am wrong about people - but basically, he struck me as somebody who had a clear sense of what he wanted to collect, and who was patient enough and intelligent enough to save and invest until he got those things. His budget was just as constrained as mine was, and he wasn't limitlessly greedy.
This, is how I finally managed to achieve my third stamp avatar, after years of patience, sweat, and tears. I will probably never manage to afford a fourth, let alone a fifth stamp avatar, unless the game design is dramatically overhauled to become less cut-throat (which I still think it should, to be honest). But three stamp avatars is enough for me for now. I feel happy and fulfilled.
On this long and harrowing journey I learned who my fake friends were: people who told me my ambitions were illegitimate, who pretended to care but really did not, who watched coldly on the sidelines while I struggled - or laughed at me behind my back for wanting a virtual item so badly, and who basically made me feel, through various means, that I wasn't welcome in the game community and that I should leave.
I also learned who my true friends were: people who understood me, who were there to support me, and who deep down truly loved and respected me as a person and believed that I was deserving of one of the highest honors in the game.
Even if Queen Fyora Stamp gets re-released in the future and my pixel achievement gets diminished to nothing, the lessons I have learned from this experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Time passed; life became very busy, and I lost interest in the site for years at a time. When I returned to Neopets during the pandemic at the beginning of my thirties, I felt like I'd come home in a way. I decided that I wanted to fulfill my younger self's dreams while I had the chance. I reconnected with other Neopians who were in the same boat, and began to play very enthusiastically.
Then came some hellish disappointments. Every time I managed to save up enough for the last stamp, the price would jump, higher and higher, constantly out of reach for two years. When I started saving, the stamp was valued at 50M; and of course the pain was that I just didn't have 50M at the time. By the time I finally got it... well, you'll see.
What made things worse was that during those two years, I was an active player during several events that could have gotten me the big break out of poverty: Storytelling 900, Poetry Contest 2500, Neopian Times issue 950, Mystery Pic round 1713. These contests' respective prizes were The Storyteller, Alstaf Poogle, Neopian Times Coin, and Scary Tree Stamp, all worth many millions. I tried my best for each and every one of these opportunities, and I was not successful. All I needed was one big break to make the jump to be able to afford the stamp, but it didn't come. In the meantime, I continued to do Food Club, stocks, games, and the Premium battledome, and hoped. I was close to tears and giving up many times, but I never truly stopped hoping.
Then there came the Altador Cup of 2022, which I realized was probably my only chance to get out of poverty. For one hellish month, I put myself on a schedule that would seem insane to people who don't understand. I became very quiet on social media because all of my leisure time outside of work was dedicated to grinding out the prize points. When I couldn't be at my computer, I played Shootout Showdown on my phone. Through sheer blind effort and daily persistence, I earned enough prize points to acquire the highest-valued items in the prize shop, two Thunder Sticks and one Mutant Yooyu Dress.
I sold the Thunder Sticks rather quickly - too quickly, in retrospect - but held on to the Dress because I sincerely liked it on my Mutant Hissi. This month, however, there were finally some very nice NC mutant dresses released, which meant I could think about letting go of the neopoint Dress.
Last week, I sat down and thought seriously about how badly I wanted the stamp. Did I want it badly enough to get it now, while it was so inflated? Yes, probably. Was there a chance it could be re-released and deflated in the future? Yes - but I realized with a chill that I was not the only person waiting for a re-release. I saw one person saying on the Premium neoboards that she "desperately" wanted the stamp. I also saw people talking in the restocking channel on the Neopets discord about their in-game goals and stamp avatar dreams. In my closer friend network, I know people who want the Faerieland avatar as well, though they may not say it. Lots of people are saving for the stamp, some of them far more aggressively than I am. And if I don't act now, I might lose out forever.
My experience with NC trading has made me shrewder than I was two years ago. In the NC economy, random "populars" get re-released every now and then, generally through gambling, and it's a mad scramble each time. Sometimes, the sudden influx of an inflated item brings the value down. (Examples would include Bakery Display Case and Victorian Wintery Bridge Background.) But sometimes the value doesn't come down. In the case of some deeply beloved items like Sun Prince Markings and Nutcracker Face Paint, the value stayed high even during and after a re-release. Because despite the sudden increase in supply, it wasn't enough to satisfy the long-hungry demand. The demand had always been there, it just wasn't easily seen in trade data due to lying dormant: lots of people taking breaks from trading and telling themselves the price would come down one day, while never truly giving up on hoping to achieve the item one day.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe the price of Queen Fyora Stamp will come down with a re-release. Nobody knows for sure. But I realized I wanted the stamp badly enough that I didn't want to take the risk of waiting.
I used Jellyneo's wishlist feature to make a visual list of basically everything I owned, and put it all up on a petpage. Then, going against the shadowy secretive culture of the Trades Chat where everyone kinda keeps their interests veiled, I boldly announced my one wish - the Queen Fyora Stamp - and showed everybody what I had to offer for it.
I suppose my open, sincere, persistent and vulnerable style of negotiation moved some hearts, and some friends came forward to help me. One linked her own in-game reputation with mine and helped me break into a very exclusive trading circle. Another offered to give me the most valuable in-game possession she had. (I turned it down because I felt bad about accepting such a huge gift, but it did make me feel supported.) A third friend told me about a resource for checking the latest auction data for an item. This resource was more up-to-date than Jellyneo's price history and trading post history, and made it much easier for me to get a grasp on the in-game values of things.
After a day or so of bumping my neoboard, Person A told me that she had a Queen Fyora Stamp up for trade and asked me how I valued my Mutant Yooyu Dress. To be honest, I have no clue. Thunder Sticks cost 3,500 prize shop points each, while Mutant Yooyu Dress cost 15,000. During the first few weeks after release, Thunder Sticks sold for around 20M neopoints each, but then there was a ton of speculation surrounding the next plot and whether there would be a battling component, and a lot of people - battlers and resellers alike - started buying up all the Thunder Sticks out of fear of missing out. The market price of the Thunder Sticks shot up to 70M at its peak; currently it's hovering somewhere around 60M, but it might still be inflated, I'm not sure. I did the math and hazarded a guess for the Dress: "280M." And Person A's response indicated that the value she had in mind was wayyyy off from what I was thinking. So, it didn't work out.
Then I got another neomail, tentatively worded, from Person B. He had a very long and carefully-thought-out wishlist of items that he wanted for his gallery. I looked at the gallery and was impressed. I told him I would look for some of the items he wanted and try to work out a trade for his Queen Fyora Stamp.
I wrote a post that I cross-posted to the Battledome Chat, Trades Chat, and the trading channel in the biggest Neopets discord. I also reached out individually to some persons that I knew from my avatar-collecting and Battledoming days. I didn't list everything that Person B wanted because some of his wishlist items were very rare and hard to find - the sort of thing that a reseller could easily gouge him on by buying up and holding all of the available supply. I basically just made it clear what sort of items I was looking for, and trusted that the message would get out to the right people.
Various items were then brought to my attention. I checked the trade data in the resource that my friend had given me, and found that most of the items were either overpriced or not rare enough. Finally, one item surfaced - an ancient Rare Item Code plushie owned by Person C - that was last known to have changed hands years ago. This felt like the right hit and I reached back out to Person B.
After talking back and forth for a bit, Person B agreed to take 150 million in pure + the plushie in exchange for his Queen Fyora Stamp. Now here's where I ran into an obstacle. I only had 150 million pure. I could try to liquidate some of my investments but it would take time to find buyers and in that time-frame Person B might walk back his offer. So I told Person C frankly that I only had items left to offer, and let him choose from my carefully-assembled investment portfolio.
Person C took a look and tentatively expressed interest in my Mutant Yooyu Dress. I praised him for his investment insight and explained that the dress 1) was very rare due to being released in the same prize shop as the much more ETS (easy-to-sell) Thunder Sticks; 2) would probably have a place in a niche gallery in the future, like an Altador Cup gallery, Mutant gallery, or Wearable collection. These were factors that he had probably already considered, but I figured that talking them out would make me seem more serious than if I simply assumed without saying anything. "I'm sure that with time and luck, you could find the ideal buyer," I continued. "If you want to make this investment, I'm happy to let you have the opportunity." I then made the bold move of just offering the dress in exchange for the plushie, and Person C seemed taken aback.
"You know what," Person C said. "This is getting too confusing. Let me talk to Person B. If I manage to trade for his Queen Fyora Stamp, I'll come back and try to work out a trade with you. I am definitely interested in the dress" - up from just tentatively interested.
Funnily enough, as it turned out, Person B had already tried to buy the plushie from Person C some time ago, but they hadn't been able to agree on a price. They'd negotiated back and forth for weeks and were kind of ghosting each other by the time I suddenly appeared on the scene. Person B wrote back to me; his excitement was visible. "What is the offer that is making everyone want to trade the QFS to you? xD"
"Person C is interested in my Mutant Yooyu Dress," I replied, and nonchalantly added, "but we haven't worked out other details yet."
Person B was smart, however. After some more talking with Person C he figured out what it was that I had offered, and said to me - very simply and frankly - "How about this. 150M + Mutant Yooyu Dress for my QFS." And I accepted. xd I put the dress up on the trading post, he bid the stamp on it and set up two junk auctions, I accepted the stamp first, and then transferred 150M pure to him through the junk auctions.
Some time after I'd already albumed the stamp and was happily chatting with some friends, I got a neomail from Person C: "We got kind of close but he hasn't responded in a bit so I am not hopeful."
I felt a bit like a traitor. xD "I ended up trading with him," I said. "I'm sorry xD I hope the two of you can work out a trade some other time."
"I'm glad you got something worked out! I just thought he might be more interested in my plushie haha. What'd your trade end up being?"
I told him. He politely thanked me and congratulated me. My guess is that the two of them will continue to patiently battle it out - Person C holds basically the only plushie of that sort on the market, which is the perfect fit for Person B's gallery, and in a way Person B has no choice but to buy from him. But Person B is equally as shrewd and won't pay more than he feels he has to. And now he owns a Mutant Yooyu Dress, which could give him more bargaining power depending on what other collectors he's able to reach out to. But now all of that is none of my business. xD
In the end, I probably over-offered. But I didn't mind too much. Out of all the traders I met, I felt that Person B was the least rascally of the lot. I could be wrong - I sometimes am wrong about people - but basically, he struck me as somebody who had a clear sense of what he wanted to collect, and who was patient enough and intelligent enough to save and invest until he got those things. His budget was just as constrained as mine was, and he wasn't limitlessly greedy.
This, is how I finally managed to achieve my third stamp avatar, after years of patience, sweat, and tears. I will probably never manage to afford a fourth, let alone a fifth stamp avatar, unless the game design is dramatically overhauled to become less cut-throat (which I still think it should, to be honest). But three stamp avatars is enough for me for now. I feel happy and fulfilled.
On this long and harrowing journey I learned who my fake friends were: people who told me my ambitions were illegitimate, who pretended to care but really did not, who watched coldly on the sidelines while I struggled - or laughed at me behind my back for wanting a virtual item so badly, and who basically made me feel, through various means, that I wasn't welcome in the game community and that I should leave.
I also learned who my true friends were: people who understood me, who were there to support me, and who deep down truly loved and respected me as a person and believed that I was deserving of one of the highest honors in the game.
Even if Queen Fyora Stamp gets re-released in the future and my pixel achievement gets diminished to nothing, the lessons I have learned from this experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.