 How to Become (Or Avoid Becoming) an Ultra Packrat
by andrewo94
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There comes a point in every avatar collector’s life that they decide to go through the onerous task of stockpiling items for the Packrat avatar. Accumulating 1,000 unique items is not a simple task and often times will take quite a bit of time and effort. However, finally accomplishing this avatar is a reward in and of itself. The question that arises after finally achieving this avatar is what comes next with all the items? Well, in my case, I just continued collecting and the amount of items in my Safety Deposit Box kept growing… and growing… and growing until the point where I consider myself not simply a packrat, but an ultra packrat. I won’t reveal the exact number of items I have sitting in down in the National Neopian, but it is safe to say that I have enough items in there to get the Packrat avatar many times over. The majority of these items are essentially worthless but I have simply not had the desire to empty out my collection of items. In this article I will go through the process of how I became the packrat I am today. I expect you could read this article in two ways. The first is as a guide for any aspiring packrats out there to finally achieve the strenuous Packrat avatar or any users who themselves would like to be considered “ultra” packrats. The second is as a cautionary tale of how not to become a packrat who hoards all their items in a Safety Deposit Box. Either way, I hope this article will be a fun and entertaining read about one user’s experience into packrat-dom.
Step 1: Always do your dailies
This first step to becoming a packrat is pretty simple. Over the years, I have diligently done my dailies all across Neopia in order to rapidly accumulate items. Including my winnings from the Battledome, I will typically receive around 25-30 items per day by simply going around Neopia and doing these simple daily tasks we all know and love. The trick here is that I will always immediately put all those items in my Safety Deposit Box, regardless of their worth or utility. I will almost never sell any items I get from my dailies, which is a concept that does not necessarily appeal to or work for everyone. Items from dailies can sometimes be worth quite a bit and can be great Neopoint generators. However, for those aspiring packrats, keeping items from your dallies in your Safety Deposit Box is essential. Dailies are a fantastic way of quickly getting many unique items to start up your packrat collection.
Step 2: Participate in Site Events
Site events are a great way to gather up items for a packrat collection. Site events will often offer unique, event-specific items, both throughout the event and as final prizes. Over time, keeping these prizes in your Safety Deposit Box will quickly grow your stockpile and help solidify any packrat collection. However, with unique site event prizes, the difficulty arises in not selling your hard-earned rewards. Since site event prizes often require some sort of effort, they are usually quite exclusive and often very valuable. It is very difficult to resist the urge to make some quick Neopoints by selling these prizes. However, if you want to keep up a large packrat collection, keeping these prizes will be a big help. There is also the added bonus that these exclusive prizes could increase in value over time so it might just be well worth it to stick them right into your Safety Deposit Box and leave them there for a while!
Step 3: Start a Collection
Starting a collection is an excellent way to grow your item collection while adding a sense of purpose to the equation. A collection can come in many forms. For example, one of my favorite collections is simply a single item, Ghosts of Days of Giving Action Figures, of which I have collected a large quantity. This item is not incredibly expensive so whenever the mood strikes, I buy a few and add them to my collection, which has grown substantially over the years. Another type of collection could be items that have similar characteristics, such as a collection of red items or a collection of spooky items. When going through my own Safety Deposit Box, I notice that I have quite a few different collections growing in there, some intentional and other unintentional. Now, if you place these items in your Safety Deposit Box instead of your Gallery, the collection will only be for you to look at and admire. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing! The sense of self-accomplishment can be just as valuable as admiration from others. It is always a rewarding feeling to make an addition to a collection and these additions have the added bonus of increasing your Safety Deposit Box size as well!
Step 4: Buy! Buy! Buy!
This is probably everyone’s least favorite stage of packrating. While this part of my packrat journey is not the largest portion, it is a significant one. Buying items is almost inevitable if you are trying to achieve the Packrat avatar quickly so here are some tips I have for that. I will often times go to the Shop Ads board and look at the shops others users are advertising. Sometimes, these shops will be having sales or Safety Deposit Box clear out events, which are exactly what you should be looking for. I will often times look for relatively inexpensive items that I do not already own in my Safety Deposit Box and buy them up from those shops. I can usually pick up a considerable haul by simply going through other users’ shops. The second method I recommend is to go through actual Neopian shops all across Neopia. Often times these shops will have cheaper items available to purchase that may even be less expensive than buying from the Shop Wizard. There are quite a number of shops across Neopia so buying many unique items from these shops will help you achieve packrat status in no time!
Step 5: Diversify your Interests
I have this step as the final one since it is a little odd and can take some time. Over my many years on Neopets, I have gone through many different interests that have, at one point or another, taken over all of my time. For example, at one point, I really wanted to feed a lot of Kadoaties at the Kadoatery so I purchased thousands of food items for my Safety Deposit Box in order to gain an advantage when trying to feed. At another point, I decided to start a gallery of Daily Dare prizes and display all the AAA rewards from over the years. Well, eventually these phases passed and I moved on to other things. However, the things that remained from all of these experiences were the items. Much of my Safety Deposit Box is filled with items from projects I left behind or things I simply moved on from over the years. My box at the National Neopian is almost like a personal history of my time on Neopets, which I think is actually pretty cool! My advice for this step of the process is to explore all the different aspects of this site. While some interests may come and go, make sure the items always stay! One Final Tip… One final word of wisdom I would like to impart on the process of becoming an ultra packrat is that all of these steps only work under one assumption. I have briefly mentioned this assumption in some of the steps listed above, but to make it perfectly clear, the assumption is that you do not sell or discard any of your items. I know that this can sometimes be a tough task, but becoming a packrat is a tough job. While packrating beyond the Packrat avatar may not be for everyone, I hope this article has given you some insight into the habits of a packrat. At least wow you know how to become (or avoid becoming) an ultra packrat!
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