It's always like this every year. None of this should suprise anybody. It will stay like this until the end of March when it begins to pick up again. April is better, May is good. June to August is AWESOME! It's the same every year

I've just spent a good while reading through this thread, and there's a lot here that could really help TNT in improving their site. The problem is, I think TNT do know what 'we' want, but they've already got us hooked. They don't need to perform according to our desires (we offer no threat or reward for them). They're looking for a) new members, b) more money. I'd say that a good portion of the userbase are from long term accounts; those that have succeeded in neopia and want to keep playing. TNT will mostly lose these users via freezings, due to people getting bored, or just not having enough time. And these wont happen overly often (to the key users). On a side note, TNT believe that most freezings will result in players either starting again, or that the loss isn't a problem due to the influx of new players. I'd argue that the 'die hards' are worth more to TNT than any number of new players. The core userbase is the group that is keeping neopets running. We're more likely to spend money on NC stuff, movies, games, merchandise, etc. We're more likely to encourage other people to play and offer worthwhile assistance to new starters. Yet TNT is more interested in running money making 'schemes'. This presents a bad image of them; all players (including those who are first introduced to neopets) see this and it affects their/our interest in playing. Neopets offers no tangible rewards, and the intangible rewards are more than a little abstract, especially when first starting. This means new starters have to have some driving force behind their interest in playing; which is usually some connection with someone else who plays. I'd argue that nearly all of us 'die hards' started playing this game after being introduced to it by someone else (and most of those players stopped playing). The error TNT has made, is they have bought this fantastic world with a large userbase, and rather than seeing it as a system to uphold and work with, they've seen it as a business resource to exploit. Now that the numbers are dwindling, they've become a little frantic and it seems they may have crossed that line where they have to start listening to the things that the current players want. It's common sense to see that we'd know how to improve the game. Their accountant isn't going to have the right idea... I really could go on (and on), but it's getting late. I'm sure I've just reaffirmed what others have said or are thinking. But sometimes it's just nice to know that there are others out there that share some insight with you. Cheers for reading all this :)

[quote=saudor]Sales are actually starting to pick up now --------------------------------------------- Decorate your V2 Tent and supersize with Irisheyez Direct http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=irisheyez[/quote] i was just about to say that. --Manic http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=tehubermanic

[quote=tehubermanic][quote=saudor]Sales are actually starting to pick up now --------------------------------------------- Decorate your V2 Tent and supersize with Irisheyez Direct http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=irisheyez[/quote] i was just about to say that. --Manic http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=tehubermanic[/quote] I'm still having up and down rollercoasters. There are days where sales are high and others where I'm getting 1/2 or a 1/3rd of what I'm use to. And views keep slipping as well. But in a sense I'd rather have a rollercoaster than all bad days. http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=evilbluemunkeyz

[quote=darkelvensfi]I've just spent a good while reading through this thread, and there's a lot here that could really help TNT in improving their site. The problem is, I think TNT do know what 'we' want, but they've already got us hooked. They don't need to perform according to our desires (we offer no threat or reward for them). They're looking for a) new members, b) more money. I'd say that a good portion of the userbase are from long term accounts; those that have succeeded in neopia and want to keep playing. TNT will mostly lose these users via freezings, due to people getting bored, or just not having enough time. And these wont happen overly often (to the key users). On a side note, TNT believe that most freezings will result in players either starting again, or that the loss isn't a problem due to the influx of new players. I'd argue that the 'die hards' are worth more to TNT than any number of new players. The core userbase is the group that is keeping neopets running. We're more likely to spend money on NC stuff, movies, games, merchandise, etc. We're more likely to encourage other people to play and offer worthwhile assistance to new starters. Yet TNT is more interested in running money making 'schemes'. This presents a bad image of them; all players (including those who are first introduced to neopets) see this and it affects their/our interest in playing. Neopets offers no tangible rewards, and the intangible rewards are more than a little abstract, especially when first starting. This means new starters have to have some driving force behind their interest in playing; which is usually some connection with someone else who plays. I'd argue that nearly all of us 'die hards' started playing this game after being introduced to it by someone else (and most of those players stopped playing). The error TNT has made, is they have bought this fantastic world with a large userbase, and rather than seeing it as a system to uphold and work with, they've seen it as a business resource to exploit. Now that the numbers are dwindling, they've become a little frantic and it seems they may have crossed that line where they have to start listening to the things that the current players want. It's common sense to see that we'd know how to improve the game. Their accountant isn't going to have the right idea... I really could go on (and on), but it's getting late. I'm sure I've just reaffirmed what others have said or are thinking. But sometimes it's just nice to know that there are others out there that share some insight with you. Cheers for reading all this :)[/quote] Well said! I wonder if the recent Hidden Tower discounts is a sign of what you are saying here. ~ Mimi temps_bons graphics ~ http://www.neopets.com/~Mimi_Miaulement

Previously TNT have been reluctant to reward long term users, mostly because it gives the older players (who are already well ahead) that extra edge over other players. It also leaves a lot of room for people to complain about it being unfair. Personally, I see it as something that more players will look forward to within the game; as opposed to being upset about it. As for the recent increase in sales. I'd say that the stock market's performance at the moment would be contributing to it somewhat. For those that play the market, you'll understand what I mean. But there's currently a high unlike any I've seen for many years. People will be cashing out on their shares with millions of spare NP to spend in our shops.

[quote=darkelvensfi]Previously TNT have been reluctant to reward long term users, mostly because it gives the older players (who are already well ahead) that extra edge over other players. It also leaves a lot of room for people to complain about it being unfair. Personally, I see it as something that more players will look forward to within the game; as opposed to being upset about it. [/quote] Yes they haven't quit done discounts before like this, but there have been times that the older users did get rewarded. Just think about rarity of items that are seen in the shop. There are some that you have to so many months in order to see, and I think for the HT you have to be a certain amount of months as well. That might be said to be in effect so therefore users don't create accounts to RS on once they are RS'd banned, but it's still rewarding people for keeping their accounts. http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=evilbluemunkeyz

Its only 4 months until you can see all the times which is not that much time really. Older accounts have so much advantage already that it is overpowering at times. I'm not saying its not fair (My 1st account is 115 months of age) but I think just playing the game for a while itself puts one at a tremendous advantage. I'm not even including Food Club in this either. ------------------------------- See my new screenie petpage? (: http://www.neopets.com/~TKDChampion www.youtube.com/TKDJamesPakTKD Check out my Martial Arts samplers =)

Yeh, there's food club and keno grarrl. And the new(ish) stock market avatar can only be collected after 4 or so months of playing the stock market. There are a range of things that older accounts do get over the younger ones. I'd say it's not enough.. but it's more about encouraging people to be careful with their accounts (rules wise) than anything else. Out of nearly all of the 'advantages' older accounts get, I don't think I make use of any. I've rarely restocked, I don't play any games, I missed the hidden tower discount (probably wouldn't have taken advantage of it in any case), and I'm sure there may be a couple others thrown in there that I don't even know about. The benefit for older accounts should be things that make neo-life easier, rather than give us a distinct advantage over others. Having some sort of system that recalled your normal daily clicks, and presented them in a list would be worthwhile. Mind, I've got my own list that I click through in short order. People should be given something like 'site-points' which they can allocate into different site add-ons. So, after each month or two, you get a site point. You could spend the site points on having an alert come up when a specific shop restocked (at maybe a high 'site point' cost), or having a notice when a stock reaches a preselected sell point. Extra links within a quick link area. No ads for a month. An easy one click 'remove everything from your shop till' button. An auto 'purchase the cheapest item' in the wis option when doing searches. A tally of the NP worth of items in your shop. The list could be quite extensive if you put your mind to it, and I'm sure all of you would have your own desires. These are things that could be fairly easy to implement into Neopets, but TNT don't ask us what we want. I don't receive anything from them asking for my opinion. Sure, I have the option to submit feedback or offer suggestions, but from what I've seen, TNT are law oriented. They are just as likely to not use anything submitted to them for legal (copyright) reasons. Anyhow, I'm rambling again :) I tend to get carried away with ideas, and each one flows into the next.

neither for me, I go with the flow and get lots of sales!