Making the Most of the Faerie's Ruin Prize Shop

There are a lot of interesting things in the prize shop, from Sinking Faerieland Trinkets to Stone Pie (it really didn’t deserve that, don’t you agree?). Some of these things may intrigue you just enough to find a permanent home in your gallery or safety deposit box. Some of them may find a home in your Closet, such as Xandras Mast and Hansos Thief Jacket. There’s a petpet, a handful of Battledome weapons, and even (gasp!) a Faerie Paint Brush! Depending on how many points you have, any of these things could find their way to a new home. But because you can’t afford an infinite number of all of them, you have to make some tough choices. What do you pick? What should you spend neopoints on instead of plot points?

While I can’t help you much when it comes to picking gallery items and wearables (those you have to pick on your own, I’m afraid), I can help you with one huge aspect of the plot point store: turning your plot points into neopoints.

The most important piece of advice I can give you here is do not, and I mean absolutely DO NOT use the Trading Post solely as a guide to what you should buy. Why not? Allow me to explain.

If everything in the plot point store cost the same number of points, you would want to use the Trading Post (or Shop Wizard or Trading Post, depending on the item) to decide which items to spend your precious plot points on. However, since they don’t, you have to take into account how many plot points each item costs in addition to how many neopoints you can get for that item on the market. Instead, you need to find and use a value we’re going to call NPPPP, or Neopoints per Plot Point.

Why? Let’s say you have 50,000 plot points and want to convert those plot points to as many neopoints as possible. Sure, you could buy just one Brynns Legendary Sword of Wraith Smiting and you might be able to sell it for two million neopoints. But, as you’ll see, you could buy a higher quantity of some of the cheaper items (such as Xandra Mask) and sell them, combined, for closer to two and a half million neopoints.

Finding this number is relatively simple: just divide the amount of neopoints you expect to earn from selling the item by the amount of plot points it costs. Here’s an example:

The Nox Memoirs, one of the books available in the plot store costs 6,000 plot points. A quick glance at the Trading Post, removing outliers, reveals (at the time of writing this, at least) that The Nox Memoirs is selling for about 225,000 neopoints. So, simply divide 225,000 by 6,000 and you get the NPPPP for The Nox Memoirs. It happens to be 37.5.

We all know that you can’t have half a neopoint, but remember that we’re just using these numbers to compare the value of buying items from the plot store, so it’s important that you remember to carry that half.

Now, let’s look at some of the items in the plot store that are sure to be popular. For the sake of space, I’m not going to cover everything (there are quite a few items!), but you can figure out the NPPPP of all the items as I described above.

Continuing the trend, I’ll start with the books. (All of these numbers are based on values the day the plot store released, so you may want to re-evaluate the NPPPP of these items before making a final decision; I imagine that they’ll remain fairly stable in relation to each other with a few exceptions, which I’ll mention.)

1001 Roguish Insults (2,700 plot points, 29.63 NPPPP): Slightly worse value the The Nox Memoirs, but you’ll notice that most of the cheaper items in the plot point store will also have a lower NPPPP. This is because more people can afford them and, perhaps more importantly, more people will want to buy them to use up the remaining plot points after they make their big purchases. As the cheapest of the available books, expect this to be fairly common. It’s currently buyable, which means it’s less of a hassle to sell.

Harmful Faerie Artefacts (3,500 plot points, 28.57 NPPPP): The extra neopoints you get from buying this book over 1001 Roguish Insults aren’t worth the 700 more plot points it costs. If you have enough plot points left over (but not quite enough to get The Nox Memoirs), I’d recommend picking up two copies of 1001 Roguish Insults instead.

The Nox Memoirs (6,000 plot points, 37.5 NPPPP): One of the best deals in the plot point store, for sheer NPPPP. Additionally, it doesn’t cost all that many points overall, which means you can probably pick up multiple copies of this.

Noxs Mansion Background (1,500 plot points, 20 NPPPP): This makes the list because it’s the cheapest plot store item that falls into the “useful and cool” category. Compared to other items, its NPPPP is abysmal and will probably drop quickly because it’s already buyable, but it’s good to spend your remaining points on, provided you’ve used up most of your points and can’t afford anything else.

Xandra Mask (2,000 plot points, 55 NPPPP): For a mere 500 plot points more than Noxs Mansion Background, you get what’s perhaps the best deal in the plot point store. The future value of this item is going to be hard to predict because of its low plot point cost and high desirability—it's easily one of the coolest items in the plot store. I’d feel comfortable in investing in a handful of these and holding on to them for a while. Even if the price drops by half, its NPPPP stays close to the value of the cheaper books, which is rather extraordinary.

Xandras Cunning Disguise (6,000 plot points, 26.67 NPPPP): Skip it. For the same price you can pick up a copy of The Nox Memoirs for a whopping 10 NPPPP higher (which amounts to, very roughly, 60,000 more neopoints).

Brynns Brightvale Tunic (7,500 plot points, 16 NPPPP): Unfortunately this garment is another skip, and I recommend passing on it even more heartily than Xandras Cunning Disguise. I will note that the prices I found on the Trading Post for these had a fairly wide range, from about 60,000 neopoints to 150,000. This usually means they’re not selling at all: the low-priced ones are Neopians who are desperate to get rid of them.

Hansos Thief Jacket (10,000 plot points, 16.5 NPPPP): A little more promising that Brynn’s tunic, most of these that appear on the market are advertised within a much tighter price range. Still, the NPPPP is abysmal. Except for the Xandra Mask, it looks like the clothes aren’t all that great a choice.

Faerieland Destruction Background (30,000 plot points, 16.67 NPPPP): Now we’re talking about the big-ticket items. Unfortunately, this one is probably the worst of the four I put into this category (the other three being the Captive Shadow Wraith, the Faerie Paint Brush, and Brynns Legendary Sword of Wraith Smiting; you could argue that Hanso Charisma Charm also belongs here). It definitely has a cool factor, and backgrounds are generally in high demand as they’re the most impressive customization addition you can make to a pet. If you want one of these and have the neopoints on hand to afford the 500,000 neopoint price tag, I recommend you shell out the neopoints for it instead of the plot points. For the same amount you could buy 15 Xandra Masks, a whopping three times the neopoint value of this (provided that the price of Xandra Mask holds).

Captain of the Guard Stamp (4,000 plot points, 43.75 NPPPP): Another excellent buy, comparable to Xandra Mask in value. There has been quite a bit of speculation that the price of this, currently around 175,000 neopoints, will drop drastically because you only ever need one and most people have enough plot points to afford their own. I think this may be true in the short term, but highly recommend this if you’re looking for something to drop in your safety deposit box to sell at some indeterminate time in the future.

Hansos Legitimately Acquired Dagger (5,000 plot points, 30 NPPPP): Another item that unfortunately has a wide spread of values, ranging from the low end of 150,000 to the high end of 500,000. In calculating the NPPPP, I used the low end of advertised prices. If the price normalizes toward the high end (which isn’t all that likely), this may be the best point sink in the plot store.

Altador Strength Potion (8,000 plot points, 37.5 NPPPP): Here’s a tricky one if you plan on using it as an investment. Currently, it’s a great buy, and it will probably continue to be a great buy a good distance into the future. However, and this is a BIG however, you have to consider what it does, which is give one pet five strength points. At around 300,000 neopoints (if you can get a good deal), it’s currently priced very competitively compared to other items, like neggs, that have similar effects. As time goes on, this item will become rarer and rarer, inflating along the supply and demand curve, until it’s no long competitively priced against neggs. At that point, it’s going to become a very, very hard sell. If you know the Battledome markets very well or excel at things like the stock market, you may be able to divine the best time to sell this. If you don’t... it might turn out to be more of a headache than it’s worth as a long-term investment.

Hanso Charisma Charm (12,000 plot points, 35.42 NPPPP): Are you noticing the same trend I am? The Battledome items seem to have the highest NPPPP (with one notable exception coming up). Comparable in a way to Golden Compass, this item promises to hold at least some of its value in the long term.

Brynns Legendary Sword of Wraith Smiting (50,000 plot points, 20 NPPPP): Some of you may be surprised to see that the most expensive item in the plot store, the most awaited item, the pinnacle of plot success, has one of the lowest NPPPPs of all the plot store items. A bit of a Battledome upgrade over Ylanas Blaster, this item falls victim to its price being determined not by the plot point price attached to it but by the market for similar Battledome weapons. With the well-known Y-Blaster priced at an attractive 850k or thereabouts, this item won’t be going up much any time soon.

Captive Shadow Wraith (15,000 plot points, 20 NPPPP): Yep, another NPPPP disappointment in the high-end plot prizes. But, I just have to say, this is absolutely the coolest prize offered. Just sayin’.

Faerie Paint Brush (40,000 plot points, 20 NPPPP): I was actually shocked to discover that the four most expensive plot prizes had almost exactly the same NPPPP. In the name of full disclosure, I’ll tell you that I used a price tag of 800,000 neopoints for this item. Some have sold for as little as 300,000. Here’s another huge HOWEVER; here I’ll share some observations of point store opening night. Shortly after the prizes were released and these started flooding the market, the price dropped. They were regularly posted in the 500,000 to 600,000 price range. But, a few hours later, after things had calmed down, the frenzy also calmed down. To put it another way, in the scare about potential deflation, the early buyers were eager to get whatever they could for them and sold extremely cheaply, fearing that supply would far exceed demand. But this proved not to be the case, as evidenced by the dozens of “WTB Faerie Paint Brush” boards in Trades/Auctions. After the initial rush, it was difficult to buy one for 800,000, let alone less, and people were still posting them at the old price, about three and a half million neopoints. While the old price is far too high, expect the price of this item to hover around a million neopoints, and remember that the Auctions, rather than the Trading Post, is a better indicator of value in cases, albeit rare, like these.

So. The highlights of the Faerie’s Ruin prizes. They’re not quite what you expected, are they? For the most part, it looks like investing in some of the cheaper items and selling them to buy (with neopoints, of course) the more expensive ones generates the best value. It’s probably even a good idea if there’s something from the prize shop you want, acquiring it with something other than plot points, especially in the early days when prices are everywhere on most of the items.

If you want something from the prize shop, my advice is to get it as early as possible. The market has more of these items currently than it ever will as people spend their points, and prices fluctuate drastically in the first few weeks. When prices settle, they only start to climb higher.

If you’re after a Draik Egg or some other dream item, I also recommend turning in your plot points as soon as possible, but be smart about it! There’s quite a bit to be earned from your hard work in the Faerie’s Ruin plot, and careless purchases are the best way to squander that income.

If you’re good on neopoints on hand, don’t have any pressing goals, and are just looking to expand the massive pile of gold upon which you sit, here’s my advice: DO NOT spend your plot points. Wait. Watch prices. Re-evaluate NPPPP whenever you need to turn some of those plot points into neopoints. The prize store will stay open indefinitely, and spending later rather than sooner gives you an advantage: you get to see how prices settle. Will the demand for Faerie Paint Brushes cause the price to rise toward its pre-plot levels? Will Xandra Masks plummet in value? Where will Altador Strength Potions end up? All of these are important questions. Remember that your alternative is buying the items now and putting them in your safety deposit box to gain value; instead, keep your options open as long as possible so you can invest those plot points wisely!

Hoping this long-winded guide to the Faerie’s Ruin Prize Shop has helped you make high-value decisions, Phadalus.