Nielo

I haven't had any issues at all with Neo this week; what exactly is happening when you visit the site? Is it not loading at all? Are you unable to login? (Also, if you ever want to check if a site is down, you can use 'is it down right now?'. This will let you know whether the site is down for everyone, or if it's just your connection.)

? I'm with you on that; haven't seen that happen before with the staff tournament prize shop. Maybe they feel like everybody had it easier because they announced the strongest players/team every round? ?

Thanks for entering, everyone, and congrats to the winners! (Apologies for the alignment of the two 3rd place entries; this editor is not my friend. XD) The info on next round's theme can be found in this thread.

If you're new to the contest, or simply want a reminder of the rules, they can be found right here. Current theme: Tea Party Description: Show us a pet having a tea party. You're free to pick whatever colour/style you like for your entry. (As long as it doesn't involve the political kind of tea party.) Entering period: Monday, July 15 - Sunday, July 21 Voting period: Monday July 22 - Sunday, July 28 I also just want to remind everyone that whenever the image DTI provides doesn't look as awesome as you'd like, it's always okay to send me a screenshot instead! (You can also ask me for help with the screenshot, if you don't know how to get one to me, or if the one you made didn't turn out the way you wanted it to.) Let me know if you have any questions about this round, the Runway in general or screenshots, or if you have any suggestions for future themes! 

Hmmm, yours is different from mine, even though we both played for TM. Didn't the same thing happen last year though? I think this might just be a caching issue again... *clears cache* Nope. Still looks like last year's. Interesting; I just checked the urls in @jellysundae's post, and for TM the gold and bronze trophies are new, but silver is old. XD

I like @Angeló's idea of mini lab rays, but I doubt they'll do something as awesome as that. XD Good point, I forgot. XD We're definitely going to get a Snow PB, aren't we? ? Lol, it would be, but I doubt that'll stop them from putting it up in the prize shop for a ton of points. XD Oooh, now that would be awesome!

I think the paint brush is always based on last year's winner. Next year's paint brush should be TM related (although it's hard to say which colour they'll go with; Ice would be awesome, but they might just pick Snow, or, I don't know, Christmas, even XD).

I'm kinda sad the stamp costs 1k more than it did last year though. (It doesn't help that I got rank 16 last year, but only reached 13 this year. XD) I'm going to have to think for a while what I'll spend my points on, I guess.

Woohoo, they've finally announced the winners! Congrats everyone!

@GillyTook is right, this is something to keep in mind. You can find all the info on transferring pets right here. (For instance, you can't adopt (or receive pets from a transfer) that are limited edition/restricted, if your account is under 4 months old.) So, if I were you, I'd make the side account anyway, and just leave it idle until you have a need for it. (Just make sure you know the rules that apply to side accounts. )

It's time to vote for your favourite entries again! Important note: Voting for yourself is NOT allowed! Doing so will result in disqualification. Please double check your votes before submitting them to avoid mistakes, because they can't be changed afterwards. Current theme: Daily Dare Description: The Daily Dare is coming up - show us what AAA (a Yellow Blumaroo), Abigail (a Blue Aisha), Lulu (a Red Cybunny) and Chadley (a Green Zafara) are up to. Your entry needs to feature one of the four aforementioned pets, and preferably have at least a slight link to the Daily Dare (be it in referring to a certain game, referring to things the character often does, or just to your own love/hatred of the Daily Dare). Entering period: Monday, June 24 - Sunday, June 30 July 7 Voting period: Monday July 1 8 - Sunday, July 7 14 Be sure to check out the animation link below each entry to see them in all their glory! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Voting is now officially closed! And the winners are...  1st Place Angeló Where's Lulu?  Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1882998 "Abi did a better job dressing up as her cousin Lulu than getting better scores in the DD. Can you tell who's the real Lulu?" 2nd Place AppaMomo Chadley's Gaming Party Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1880551 "The ever-charming Chadley is keeping it cool and hosting a swanky gaming party to prepare for the upcoming Daily Dare!" 3rd Place 3rd Place aleu1986 FreakyBowie Daily Dare NC Event: Lulu On Vacation Abigail (TCG) Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1879720 Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1879020 "While her cousins are busy competing in the Daily Dare, Lulu is taking a "Nowadays, Abigail has a penchant for stealing AAA's glasses relaxing vacation on Mystery Island. Collect daily postcards and pulling all-nighters at the arcade." from Lulu to win exclusive NC prizes! ?" _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  #1 jellysundae While Lulu's out of town... Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1879314 "Little did she know that while she was on vacation during last year's Daily Dare; Chadley was sneaking into her house and dressing up in her clothes. ?" #2 aleu1986 Daily Dare NC Event: Lulu On Vacation Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1879720 "While her cousins are busy competing in the Daily Dare, Lulu is taking a relaxing vacation on Mystery Island. Collect daily postcards from Lulu to win exclusive NC prizes! ?" #3 Bookpony A New Chadley! Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1879042 "After the scandals of the last Daily Dare, Chadley has turned over a new leaf. A honest and truthful leaf. Now, on the way to a pre Daily Dare picnic with AAA, he was ambushed by a pack of reporters. Though once his only thoughts were of fame, now only one yellow Blumaroo occupies his mind...." #4 FreakyBowie Abigail (TCG) Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1879020 "Nowadays, Abigail has a penchant for stealing AAA's glasses and pulling all-nighters at the arcade." #5 Angeló Where's Lulu?  Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1882998 "Abi did a better job dressing up as her cousin Lulu than getting better scores in the DD. Can you tell who's the real Lulu?" #6 AppaMomo Chadley's Gaming Party Animation link: https://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1880551 "The ever-charming Chadley is keeping it cool and hosting a swanky gaming party to prepare for the upcoming Daily Dare!" (You guys were all very in sync, and I love it! )

I'm so sorry for your loss! That's a lot to deal with all at the same time.

I'm pretty sure they used last year's prizes by accident and closed the shop again as soon as they realised what they'd done. (Which... should've been a matter of seconds, honestly. Any kind of software test should involve at least a cursory glance at the part of the site that was just updated...)

Honestly, I'd like to see you try. (If your entry is nothing like the theme (which might be harder than you think, as themes can be open to interpretation), I'll just tell you, and you'll deal with it. )

I think communication (or rather, a lack thereof) is definitely Neo's biggest problem. I personally mind mistakes (from anyone) a lot less, if there's clear communication about it. Those options all sound great, but I feel like the Neopets code might not be up for such advanced technological tricks. XD (Just look at how basic the forums are - you can't even edit your own posts.) Then again, they did manage Trudy's Surprise (although we all know that has its glitches as well), so a pop-up that shows up for everyone is within their capabilities... I totally get this option, because people like you, who only just missed their goal rank because of the downtime, definitely deserve the opportunity to make up for lost time! (I just personally will be torn between wanting to maybe rank up a little (the downside of not setting a goal rank at the start, but seeing where you end up based on where you are a few days before the end up of the cup, and only setting a goal rank then), and not wanting to play at all, and will be feeling frustrated all weekend, regardless of which option I choose. ?) *Edit: If Neo's current functioning is any indication of how it'll be this weekend, things are only going to get worse ?:

Ugh, I know! I don't want to play, but... I also feel sort of obligated to participate in the whole cup. Blegh. I just want to do nothing all weekend, but I also know that I'll feel as if I should be ranking up. ?

Sure it counts, why wouldn't it? (Were you worried about the theme? Because an entry would have to be extremely unrelated to the theme (or completely ignoring the few rules I set) for it not to count. )

I like the idea of bumping up the shop points based on the rank people reached (because if they'd give extra play time, I'd probably try to play more, even though I don't really want to play more. It just feels like I should, because the opportunity is there). A few hours of downtime is all that it takes for someone not to be able to play Neo at all. As @jellysundae pointed out, a lof us Europeans weren't really affected by the downtime during the AC, as the worst downtime happened during the night for us. But Neo being down for a few hours could definitely prevent me from playing at all, as I usually only have some time to play in between having dinner and going to bed. I'm pretty sure no one likes the downtime, including TNT/JS/whatever the company's called that owns Neo now. They're not that good at communicating, but I'm sure they're working on it - a site that keeps going down is code red for any IT company; I can only imagine the stress levels at the Neopets office right now. ?

I just remembered I'm going to a concert tomorrow after work, so I won't have time to set up the round at all. Since I've also only received 4 entries so far, so I'm going to extend the entering period by one week.

Oh yeah, that's a must, even for my measly 100 a day (at most XD).

True, but I think I'd never be able to get into any kind of zone with Make Some Noise. XD Yeah, I think I can see maxing SOSD. (Not every day though, but every once in a while, when the circumstances are juuuuuust right and I have no work and no other plans either, I might be able to max SOSD. I usually just... don't want to. ?)

I have to ask: how? I mean, I made All-Star one year, but I only managed to do that because I was unemployed at the time, so I didn't really have anything else to do anyway. I guess I just never understood how there can be enough hours in a day to quad-max. Or how anyone can manage to quad-max without going insane. XD Niiiiiice! I almost forgot to ask: how about you, @Scoobert_Doo? How are you doing?

"Only". ? (I'm assuming you mean, compared to what you're usually aiming for? Because I think a loooooooot of people either aim for All-Star or (much) lower.) Congrats! ? The TDN thread, or a Neopets thread? (Because I don't think the amount of TDN members supporting a team is necessarily a good reflection of that team's total amount of players.) I'm currently at Rank 12, hoping to reach 13 before the Cup ends. I usually don't really set out with a specific rank in mind, I just see where I end up. It's usually between Rank 11 and 16; I just can't force myself to play more than that (nor do I have the time). But, go @jellysundae! You can do it!

Lol, I think the TM thread is never quite as active as the Shenkuu thread. ? (I know I usually don't have much to say in threads like these. I might be a very loyal player, but I don't really care that much about winning, so... yeah. XD) I think the downtime happened at night in my timezone, as I didn't notice it at all.

Haha, you did. As long as it's clear which character you're using, it's fine.