Major Turnovers of Year 9!

A year has just passed... A year full of excellent progress, but with some drops of thumbs down... Many severe changes took place last year that changed life at Neopia for our own good, even though some Neopians still have some demands! This detailed review is just here for you, to mention some of the most major turnovers of Year 9.

First, a massive change that brought other equally effective changes as this, is the change of the Site Layout. On 26th April a giant Meepit appeared in the News page informing us, "You are not prepared." Later that day, we were all shocked, seeing that the old Site Layout was getting carried away, giving place to a spiffier and cooler one! At first, many liked it, but there were still many of us that were greatly disappointed by that. Complaining was the only thing that we thought were able to do at that moment, not seeing that this was for our own pleasure and satisfaction. Due to that, half of the Neopians obtained the TNT Staff Smasher avatar that night. As time went by, after not knowing where our favourite places were and getting lost thousands of times, we finally got used to it. One of the changes, and we can say the most important one, is of course the navigation. The most frequently-used places were put in a drop down menu. In addition, on the homepage appeared a daily puzzle that awards you with a prize (mostly Neopoints, but sometimes with an item too) every time you find the correct answer. Also, all the exciting new games, some of the newest items in sale, the most recent spotlight winners, and a flashy link to the New Features, are now located on there too. Furthermore, since then a Neofriend Beta exists, giving us the possibility of knowing when our precious ones are online.

On the same day, all the pets got a redraw. A thing that most Neopians didn't like was the fact that now even Grey pets are smiling and they don't look so gloomy, since that was the main reason that some of the grey pet owners bought the Paint Brush!

Because some of the Pets were getting an entire new style, the Neopian Staff gave to the owners of such pets, the opportunity to choose between converting their pets or not! Most of the owners didn't even think of converting them, because the old styles were different for each colour of each pet and they felt that those pets were more special and unique (see cinderela_girl). But something mysterious made the majority of them change their minds and convert their pets... something that the simple Neopians couldn't understand... something that we know and of course we are sharing our knowledge with you... Wearables!

Accompanied with the New Pet Styles, a great new feature was added to the whole site. Something that we were keep asking for a lot of years. The Pet Customisation is a spontaneous way to dress up your pets so none of your friends' Lupes wear the same fashionable hat as your Chia! You can get your 'Wearable' clothes from the various shops around Neopia, or get some other, special ones from several Paint Brushes. There is a huge Mall, also known as NC Mall, where you pay NeoCash (or NC) to buy clothes that are not accessible to everyone. A point that is worth mentioning is that old-style pets cannot wear any kind of clothes and they can only be customised with backgrounds except if their owners convert them! Due to the Customisation, a new Spotlight has been created: Customisation, where the most well-dressed pets take a new, shiny trophy for their cabinet.

After the Customisation and the New Pet Styles, the pound was suddenly taken down from the site! No one really knew why. Everyone was really disappointed from this, as they had a lot of painted pets in the pound, while it was down to get fixed for unspecific reasons! Everyone is now wishing that it returns soon, and that it has some better features than the previous one! Many owners want to transfer their pets to their side accounts and not just abandon them, but they still need to make some place for new pets. In fact, we are all worried because, since the pound is currently down, where are all these pets getting food and such? It has been down since late April or so and we hope that we will get it back soon. Rumors have it that a really weak but expensive and unnamed Grundo has taken over the pound. Was it sent by the Meepit on the News earlier that week? Only the Neopian Staff knows...

The Yooyuball mania that started in year 8 continued with the same or even greater success for a second time. Altador Cup 2 started on 1st June and took place for about 5 weeks. Everybody joined one of the sixteen teams - Kreludor did not participate but in its place Shenkuu joined - and the yooyuballing started immediately. Others just preferred either to Make Some Noise (commonly known as MSN) to motivate their players for better games and scores, or serve some slushies to all those impatient fans that wanted something cool to satisfy their thirstiness. All the players worked hard but unfortunately only four could pass into the finals. The top four this year were Roo Island, Darigan Citadel, Krawk Island, and Shenkuu, leaving behind Haunted Woods, which was the predecessor of the Altador Cup title and Maraqua that was considered to be Year 9's underdog. Players from other teams had the opportunity to rejoin one of the four best teams, helping it reach the desirable gold trophy and stay forever in Neopia's history. All Final Four teams had a lot of loyal players, making the prediction of the winner even unthinkable! Every team had equal chances of winning, but fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, Darigan Citadel was the greatest team to win the Year 9 Altador Cup after scoring a great victory against Lilo Blumario's team. All Darigans earned themselves a shiny, gold trophy to show off, while Roo Islanders earned themselves a new, silver one, which matches better with Roo Island's logo as Rooligans claimed to justify second place! Shenkuu finished third, while its opponent, Krawk Island, finished fourth, only managing to earn themselves a Medal for participation and a lot of points to spend on the great prizes!

Another great feature that was added to the whole site in Year 9 was Neovision! A great way to watch some of the latest videos made by Neopians themselves! In several occasions, some contests are put up, making for us possible to earn some Neopoints, a trophy, and eternal glory. Neovision has been helpful to us on a really vital occasion. While AAA was around Neopia, Neovision was able to show us some of the 'secret games' that AAA didn't make clear, so everyone must now thank Neovision for its great help! Neovision can also bring fun in your bored times, by enabling you to watch one of the big variety of videos, so you better run and try it today!

After all those great events occurred, another Neopian year flowed without noticing for us hooked Neopians... But there is still something that we couldn't resist mentioning. The only thing we have all noticed is that, two years have past already, and still we haven't got one Bonju Hint! Although it is an avatar that was released two years ago, no one was able to obtain it... Even though we are still trying Culinary Concoctions with several items, on special days but still nothing. Let all hope, that among the New Year, new avatars, new games and new experiences are going to occur at Neopia, making our life there better.

NOTE: This article DOESN'T want by any reason to offend anyone, especially the Neopia Staff. We did our best to point out only the facts, not adding much of our personal opinion. TNT, you are doing a great job and thank you for that! Have a happy and safe new year! =)