Please explain. Pretty please?

[nicolelouise]

Hi everyone,

I might have joined neopets 10 years ago, but I've never been involved with the Altador Cup.  In fact, I don't think I'd heard of it before last year and only then when it was all done and dusted.  I've looked at some sites and I'm not sure I quite understand how this works.  Can anyone explain it to me, please?

 

What I've worked out so far is that you pick a team to support, you play yooyuball (yeah, never played that before) which sounds like a variation of soccer or something, and then...??  The most I really know about the cup is that everyone complained last year about people cheating.  Again, I have to say...??? 

I saw someone mention something about other games, I saw something about rubbish prizes last year, I've seen complaints about how hard it is to get to the next level, but I'm not quite getting it.  In my brain, I'm likening it to the Battle for the Obelisk, so I have to ask if you have a minimum number of games you have to play per day or anything like that.

 

What have I got right?  What am I missing?  I'd love to hear from someone, please!

 

 

[Aquamentis12]

LOL First of all, I had to laugh at your "dumb questions" tag. There are no dumb questions, only stupid answers. lol ;)

 

The AC has been going on for, well, 11 years now as indicated by the "XI". I won't bore you with the first couple ACs, things have changed immensely since then, especially Yooyuball. Which, is I think I remember it being explained kinda like a cross between Soccer (football), Lacrosse, and.. I think there was a 3rd too. But I can't recall what. lol But anyway, if you've taken some hiatuses, (like I have) you could certainly miss them.

 

So, Yooyuball is the main game. You can use the mouse or the keyboard. I prefer the keyboard. And you play. Each time you score, there's a little pause for pictures, or the fans not liking something, think of them like Cut-scenes in a video game. Even if you skip them, 8 seconds is ALWAYS taken off the clock. So the more goals you score, the faster the game goes. I think things get faster after you get 5 scores. And then harder, I forget when. But for certain after 10 or so goals.

There are several different Yooyus who act as the ball. Last year there was a pattern, Normal Yooyu, then special yooyu, then Normal, and then another random special one. I haven't done any practice games yet this year, but I'm assuming the same pattern will be kept.

 

The guide from TDN's coverage of the AC from Last year is still up. Here is the link.

http://www.thedailyneopets.com/altador-cup/index/

 

In case yooyuball isn't your strong suit, there are 3 support games you can play. As far as personal rank points go, these aren't worth as much as games of Yooyuball are.  So you need to play more to increase your rank. The upside? They're generally shorter in time.

 

Make some Noise is like the Neopets game, Tug-o-War. Slushie Slinger is kinda like Berry Bash.(Unless I'm confusing the names of mystery island games. lol) And Shootout Showdown you have to score against the Chia goalie, like a penalty kick in Soccer, you aim and press to shoot, when you think you can get the practice ball into the net. Slushie Slinger is probably the slowest of the support games.

I stick to yooyuball, but I've only made it to the All-Star rank once.

Yeah, the prizes for ACX were really terrible, imho. I wonder if it was because there were staff changes during the AC? I don't know, but anyway, not very good.  The Staff Tournament prizes were worse. Too bad because I did AWESOME in the staff tourney last year.

 

The staff tourney is cool. For I think it's 3, weeks? You create a yooyuball team from TNT's staff. It's kinda like fantasy football I guess. You pick staff, and then after a week, you check back. Depending on how the staff did in their AC games, you get scores for each staffer, and a total. You also get some NP based on how your TNT team performed! You then can change people out or keep your team the same for the next week. At the end, there is a Staff Tournament prize shop as well.

 

Now I HAVE downed last year's prizes, but that was a first that I saw them like that.  PREVIOUS years, had some REALLY good prizes!  I... just didn't have enough points to get them! LOL but seriously, AC 7 and 8, I believe, each had some nice weapons. One came with the Altador Cup Throwing Star, I think 8 gave us the wicked Stone Foam Finger. I think 9 gave us the AC team shields. Wearable or equipable for the battledome.

 

I have HOPE, that the prizes this year might be good again! Since Jumpstart has had a whole year.

 

Anyway, this could easily get longer, and I don't know all about the AC. So I'd recommend reading through that link I posted above. It should have the answers to most of your questions, if not, you can always post more questions. :)

 

As far as teams go, they're all pretty even. It basically comes down to if you have a preference. Like, I always play for Maraqua. I have a preference. I raise a peophin and really like the water element. So yeah. Kind of an easy choice. :D But really, your team doesn't dictate anything but whom you play for. It doesn't impact prizes, points, etc. So feel free to choose any team you wish. :)

 

Anyway, I hope this helps get you started! I forget when sign-ups end, but I think it might be May 31st. June 1st I think will be the first games beginning. So sign up soon! :)

 

Best of luck!

[jellysundae]

Nicole, I was in your shoes last year! I enjoyed the AC though, and I'm looking forward to this year's starting. You can learn to play Yooyuball against the practice team in the Colosseum, now. I'm just as bad at it as I was last year :laughingsmiley: If I score straight away I'm fine, but if the ball's taken from me I might as well forget it, lol. I don't even TRY if it's a Darigan yooyu, you'll see what I mean when you get one of those xD

 

Despite not being very good at it I got to Rank 5 last year, the team threads bring people together on here too. Good sense of camaraderie which is really nice. :D

[nicolelouise]

OK, so I had a read, I joined Shenkuu, I tried some practise games, and I just won my first game!  Woohoo!!  Very happy.  The first time I played I thought, "There isn't a snowball's hope in hell that I'm going to be able to contribute any points to my team", but I'm feeling better about it now.

 

Thanks for all the information!

[Aquamentis12]

Congrats on your first practice game win! I actually find the Practice Team a bit more difficult than the actual teams you play against. Good luck with Shenkuu in the AC! :D

[jellysundae]

Good team choice there, Nicole B) Gameplay can be a bit D:< inducing, can't it? :laughingsmiley: Glad you're getting a handle on it. :D

[nicolelouise]

Congrats on your first practice game win! I actually find the Practice Team a bit more difficult than the actual teams you play against. Good luck with Shenkuu in the AC! :D

That's good to hear!  I was worried that they were 'easing me into it' with the practice team and that competition play was going to be even harder. And thank you.  Good luck with Maraqua.

 

Good team choice there, Nicole b) Gameplay can be a bit D:< inducing, can't it? :laughingsmiley: Glad you're getting a handle on it. :D

Yeah, Shenkuu for the cup!!!!!!!  Tell me about it. They were moving so fast and to begin with I didn't realise I could move diagonally and it was taking me forever to get anywhere near the ball and of course, by then it had moved on.  I think I key-smashed a bit in frustration and went, "Hey!  I didn't know he could move like that!"

 

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[jellysundae]

I'm now going D:< all over again at the mere thought of playing with the keys, LOL! There's no WAY I'd be able to do that, I might as well give up and go home right now. xD

 

*pats mouse*

 

Though of course, using a mouse means I miss out on that guilty pleasure of key-smashing! :laughingsmiley: Gotta do a bit of that every now and again.  :shiftyeyes_anim:

 

Oh and Aquamentis12 is right about the practice team, they don't mess about.

[nicolelouise]

I'm now going D:< all over again at the mere thought of playing with the keys, LOL! There's no WAY I'd be able to do that, I might as well give up and go home right now. xD

 

*pats mouse*

 

Though of course, using a mouse means I miss out on that guilty pleasure of key-smashing! :laughingsmiley: Gotta do a bit of that every now and again.  :shiftyeyes_anim:

 

Oh and Aquamentis12 is right about the practice team, they don't mess about.

Well, the thing that I discovered to my frustration today when practising is that when I use the keyboard, I think I'm controlling a particular player but the computer has automatically shifted player for me to follow the gameplay, which can be very helpful but also very NOT!  But I don't think I'd be quick enough to do it myself by the mouse.  Unless I misunderstood the instructions I read and the computer still does it automatically...

[Aquamentis12]

Yeah, the computer tends to follow the yooyu as to which player on your team you'll have control of. So it can switch pretty fast and be a royal pain in the rear at times. At least that's what I observed when playing last year. If it helps. I believe pressing the Shift key will send everyone on your team back to their original positions, and then they move from there, but it CAN help to clear away other players from your team so only one is left fighting for the yooyu. :)

 

This part of the AC guide, the Yooyuball game guide, has a list of the commands, and it is indeed the shift key that sends your other players back to their positions.

http://www.thedailyneopets.com/altador-cup/yooyuball-guide/

 

Good luck! :)

[jellysundae]

I SO feel the collective pain with the automatic player switching, gosh do I! xD IF I'm remembering this correctly...you can switch between them yourself by left-clicking on the mouse to change to the player closest to the yooyu, who will then automatically grab at the ball.

 

But I'm too slow, so how it works for me is, it's already auto-switching while I'm clicking, so the change player/grab ball has already happened, so what my click actually does is just fling the ball away :grrr: :laughingsmiley:

 

This is why I do fine if I score straight away, but if I lose the ball I might as well give up and go home. xD I just spend the rest of the round fruitlessly chasing the yooyu around the stadium. :rolleyes_anim:

[Aquamentis12]

Jellysundae, I don't know what the shooting button is on the mouse, but for the keyboard controls, Space bar not only shoots, it also allows you to tackle, like in soccer/football. provided you're close enough to the yooyu it seems. So maybe if you use the button that you shoot with for the mouse near the yoouball when an opponent has it, that might work to tackle and steal the yooyu from them?

 

I hope it helps!

[jellysundae]

Jellysundae, I don't know what the shooting button is on the mouse, but for the keyboard controls, Space bar not only shoots, it also allows you to tackle, like in soccer/football. provided you're close enough to the yooyu it seems. So maybe if you use the button that you shoot with for the mouse near the yoouball when an opponent has it, that might work to tackle and steal the yooyu from them?

 

I hope it helps!

Yep, that's right, it's not often that I can successfully manage it though, lol. Again it's my sluggish reaction times, my brain just can't keep up with the fast action. Plus there's definitely a certain amount of stereotypical female gamer random keymash that goes on :shiftyeyes_anim:

 

But once in a while I DO manage to steal the yooyu, they probably steal it straight back, but that's totally beside the point. :laughingsmiley:

[sophioski2]

Hi guys,

 

I also had a question: is it the case that if you don't send the score, it won't count? So if you lose games you won't actually harm your team's overall ranking? I've not lost a game yet but I was wondering! Is that what people mean by cheating?

 

Cheers :D

[jellysundae]

Hi guys,

 

I also had a question: is it the case that if you don't send the score, it won't count? So if you lose games you won't actually harm your team's overall ranking? I've not lost a game yet but I was wondering! Is that what people mean by cheating?

 

Cheers :D

Yeah, you have to submit your score for it to count. I only ever send my score if I win.

[sophioski2]

Thanks @Jellysundae! *feels alleviation of pressure*
 
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[kayahtik]

I'm so sorry to hijack someone else's thread, but I have a couple of questions and this seems the most apt place to put them. I haven't been able to find any information on Neopets or TDN, which is surprising to me--if I missed it somewhere, please feel free to point it out!

 

Anyway, what I'm wondering is (1) what is the Insider Experience? I assume it's something to do with NC Mall items, as it costs NC, but can anyone give more detail? I'm trying to decide if I should pay for it or not. and (2) how exactly does one accumulate points to spend in the prize shop? Is that based on how many goals you scored? What level you achieved?

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but this is the first AC I've actually participated in, and I'm still learning~

[nicolelouise]

Yeah, the computer tends to follow the yooyu as to which player on your team you'll have control of. So it can switch pretty fast and be a royal pain in the rear at times. At least that's what I observed when playing last year. If it helps. I believe pressing the Shift key will send everyone on your team back to their original positions, and then they move from there, but it CAN help to clear away other players from your team so only one is left fighting for the yooyu. :)

 

This part of the AC guide, the Yooyuball game guide, has a list of the commands, and it is indeed the shift key that sends your other players back to their positions.

http://www.thedailyneopets.com/altador-cup/yooyuball-guide/

 

Good luck! :)

 

Thank you!  I just noticed there were replies in my thread.  Sorry.  I still haven't remembered, in the heat of the moment, to use the shift key yet.  It seems like it would be a useful thing, but it never occurs to me until after. 

 

I SO feel the collective pain with the automatic player switching, gosh do I! xD IF I'm remembering this correctly...you can switch between them yourself by left-clicking on the mouse to change to the player closest to the yooyu, who will then automatically grab at the ball.

 

But I'm too slow, so how it works for me is, it's already auto-switching while I'm clicking, so the change player/grab ball has already happened, so what my click actually does is just fling the ball away :grrr: :laughingsmiley:

 

This is why I do fine if I score straight away, but if I lose the ball I might as well give up and go home. xD I just spend the rest of the round fruitlessly chasing the yooyu around the stadium. :rolleyes_anim:

Precisely!  Well, not quite.  I've still not managed to learn to steal it but I do intercept passes sometimes or manage to get to the loose ball first.  But 85% of the time, fruitlessly chasing would be my experience.

 

I'm so sorry to hijack someone else's thread, but I have a couple of questions and this seems the most apt place to put them. I haven't been able to find any information on Neopets or TDN, which is surprising to me--if I missed it somewhere, please feel free to point it out!

 

Anyway, what I'm wondering is (1) what is the Insider Experience? I assume it's something to do with NC Mall items, as it costs NC, but can anyone give more detail? I'm trying to decide if I should pay for it or not. and (2) how exactly does one accumulate points to spend in the prize shop? Is that based on how many goals you scored? What level you achieved?

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but this is the first AC I've actually participated in, and I'm still learning~

Hey, hijack away!  I've no idea about the answers to these questions and tbh, I had no idea the first question was even a thing to be asked about.  I have no NC so I tend to just ignore anything to do with it unless there's a freebie!    But I'm also curious about the prize shop thing.