Planning for the next Charity Corner

[PaintBrushedDreams]

Hope this has not been posted already, looked through the post search and did not find anything.

Even though I have been on Neo for 14 years, this was my first Charity Corner and I loved it, but I was not very prepared since I had only heard of the CC a week before this years event happened, never even knew it was a thing until then. It seems like the CC has been revamped every time it has been done, and different items were asked for each time.

I am glad it is no longer the quest style like the first time, where you had to give certain items - prices must have skyrocketed on those items like crazy.

Also the first year there seems to have been a toy drive.

The second year seems to have been school supplies, books, and clothing.

And this year of course we had to donate: books, coffee & beverages, food, furniture & gardening, and gifts.

My question is: What do you think will be the next CC's items of choice?

I have considered hoarding r90+ items from each category on the site, but that would be a lot of things. It looks like books may be a common item to keep hoarding, since they were featured in two CC's. What will you start hoarding to prepare?

[pulpfreeoj]

Here's how I have been doing things since I came back to Neopets about 5 years ago:

1. Do dailies
2. Throw everything from them into my SDB and put any extra NP into the bank
3. ???
4. Profit 

Charity Corner has only exacerbated my hoarding tendencies. Granted, a lot of the items end up being r101 (which CC doesn't accept), but I end up with enough stuff that this CC I went through my WHOLE SDB and was able to donate around 300 times. 

So my answer is, "hoard everything."

[jellysundae]

I was thinking about making a topic about this, glad someone else was thinking it too! Wondering on what the categories for the next one will be was at the forefront of my mind. As you say, books looks like it's a given, but what else...

I'm considering the fact that the whole point of CC is to get rid of a big chunk of accumulated items from the server. During the last CC my previously unformed thoughts on this solidified; we tend to think it's all about us, lol, and why not? But I now don't think it is...yep, getting the ACTIVE players to get rid of a load of stuff out of their SDBs, and  to spend a lot of their NP is a big part of the intent here, but there's more to it than that.

I'm now convinced that the main aim is reducing the amount of stock in the shops of INACTIVE players. During this CC I did the same as during the last and checked a lot of the shops that I was buying from.

Any block of 20 offered by the shop wiz was really likely to net me a 100% result of the shops owner's activity being: Last Spotted: A long, long time ago

Because the amount of currently active accounts is going to be TINY compared to the amount of inactive, and the amount of stuff in the shops of those inactive accounts probably runs into the MILLIONS...If my figuring out is correct then CC is cleverer than we thought, because not only is it clearing items out of the system that would have sat there using up bandwidth forEVER otherwise, but the NP spent on them is removed from circulation too as it's going into an inactive shop till, so win/win!

So what for the next CC?

They need to take items gained from dailies into consideration every time, but they need some new categories each time too, because as a past CC reduces inactive's stock of certain items that's not going to build up to so much again, plus what's left in the inactive shops will be a much higher price - the price where the people during the past CC stopped buying because they weren't willing to pay that much - and, they need a viable storyline to explain the need for those items...

I said elsewhere that I hope they dream up a reason for Granny to want donations of weapons, because any BDer will have hoards of those, and a lot are r.90+, but what would Granny want with weapons?! But they could  be melted down and used for the construction of a bridge, or a ship, or a building...petpet supplies and grooming are two others that stand out to me as good options.

 

So there's my rambly thoughts! Next CC for me:

weapons

petpet supplies

grooming

books

food

If the weapons are smelted down to provide material for a building, then that's looking like some kind of petpet care and education centre, now THAT is something granny would get behind! You're welcome to use this idea TNT, lol.

 

To answer the original question, lol...I'm hoarding everything!! And trying hard to not be caught out by food that's r.101+ on the Money Tree!

[PaintBrushedDreams]

Consensus is to hoard it all!

I would love it if weapons and petpet supplies were to be chosen, I have way too many of those.

I really like your idea of the CC being a way to weed out items from inactive users shops. I personally thought it was just a way to get rid of junk items and lower the economy. There has been a crazy increase in the economy in these past few years, it is way easier to make 1m than it was even 5 years ago. So now that everybody has spent all of their money on CC it brings the economy down, especially when most people are now too broke to purchase then items people won from CC. Then again you still have all those people who made millions out of selling off their r90s. So maybe the economy is not as stable as I thought.

[I feel bad that my response is not as long as yours]

[jellysundae]

26 minutes ago, PaintBrushedDreams said:

[I feel bad that my response is not as long as yours]

I feel bad that mine WAS so long, so I guess that evens us out! xD

I'd LOVE to know if my theory about the workings of CC is anywhere near correct, but I don't suppose I'll ever find out. It must be achieving what TNT wants though or they'd not bother with it again, don't you think?

I'll admit that it's probably wishful thinking about weapons - but then again, I came up with a viable reason for their donation without too much brain-ache, so you never know - but I'm very hopeful for petpet supplies. Toys and plushies have GOT to be a category at some point too, surely.

[jaydeed]

They have plenty of shooter games zapping bugs and such so they could say there was an infestation of some sort at the center and Granny needed help exterminating them :-) And I guess they didn't mind having the Obeslisk war with full on fighting. It doesn't seem very Granny-like though so maybe it would be the same set-up as CC but a different name.

 

I had a wonderful time in each of them but this time I was super prepared. Hoarded, guessed food would be one of them, bought r90s in every category if I saw them over the year for a few nps....

 

 

[jellysundae]

22 minutes ago, jaydeed said:

They have plenty of shooter games zapping bugs and such so they could say there was an infestation of some sort at the center and Granny needed help exterminating them :-) And I guess they didn't mind having the Obeslisk war with full on fighting. It doesn't seem very Granny-like though so maybe it would be the same set-up as CC but a different name.

 

I had a wonderful time in each of them but this time I was super prepared. Hoarded, guessed food would be one of them, bought r90s in every category if I saw them over the year for a few nps....

 

 

Oh yes! An infestation of some kind would be an EXCELLENT excuse for weapons donation, good thinking!

This year I'm intent on not discarding anything that might become CC items, whether I'll venture into purchasing r.90 food remains to be seen. If the prices of BD foods drops to nothing then I probably will, because there's something super satisfying about buying up 1np items, lol. But as more people become wise about CC prep there might not be much of that about.

But simply discarding/donating nothing will serve me well. If I'd stuck with doing that for the whole time since the last CC I'd have had a LOT more stuff to donate. Also, if I'd stuck with feeding my pets with r.101 foods instead of BD prizes! And to not slack off with BDing, I got v.lazy about that last year.

And one thing this last CC taught me was that I LOVE the donation process, it's great fun! But once you need to start buying things it's a huge drag.

So yep, until the next CC...

[PaintBrushedDreams]

1 hour ago, jellysundae said:

I'll admit that it's probably wishful thinking about weapons - but then again, I came up with a viable reason for their donation without too much brain-ache, so you never know - but I'm very hopeful for petpet supplies. Toys and plushies have GOT to be a category at some point too, surely.

I guess Granny could just say she wants all the weapons out of Neopia to make it a safer place, sure Granny does not like us playing with weapons - too dangerous, go eat a piece of pie. ;)
- It'd be nice to get rid of some of those Icy Snowballs

Plushies and Toys may be a good idea, they have not been chosen since round one, so they might come of play again.

24 minutes ago, jaydeed said:

I had a wonderful time in each of them but this time I was super prepared. Hoarded, guessed food would be one of them, bought r90s in every category if I saw them over the year for a few nps....

I think this will be my new plan, my SDB will be so full >.< and I just cleaned it out. Wish we had two SDB, that'd be so helpful!

[Nielo]

1 hour ago, PaintBrushedDreams said:

I guess Granny could just say she wants all the weapons out of Neopia to make it a safer place, sure Granny does not like us playing with weapons - too dangerous, go eat a piece of pie. ;)
- It'd be nice to get rid of some of those Icy Snowballs

Plushies and Toys may be a good idea, they have not been chosen since round one, so they might come of play again.

I think this will be my new plan, my SDB will be so full >.< and I just cleaned it out. Wish we had two SDB, that'd be so helpful!

I was just about to say that it could easily be a kind of "hand in all your weapons to make Neopia a safer place" kind of CC next time. ;)

I always hoard everything. Personally, I don't mind my SDB being full, since it's all so neatly organised anyway (I mean, it only lists how many copies of an item you own, it's not like they're all listed separately), and there doesn't seem to be a limit to how much stuff you can carry. It's easy to search too. I wish my actual closet/desk/house was this organised/would make it as easy to store tons of stuff and find it again just as easily.

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, Nielo said:

I was just about to say that it could easily be a kind of "hand in all your weapons to make Neopia a safer place" kind of CC next time. ;)

Yeah I'd wondered about an amnesty. Ok, you guys have convinced me, there's PLENTY of reasons granny could ask for weapons, so if she DOESN'T ask for weapons next time around, I'm gonna be disappointed, lol!

What if she trolls us and wants healing potions and codestones?! D:< TNT would need to really have their cranky heads on to think THAT was a good idea though...surely they wouldn't...I feel like I'm putting ideas into their heads...

[suzanoberle]

Honestly, a lot of people are hoarding right now...so items normally a few NP are running around 1000.  I suggest a different strategy.

 I recommend NOT hoarding for a couple months, sell while prices are inflated.  Then start hoarding like crazy in about 6 months when no one is thinking about it and prices are back at a couple NP.  1000 NP for a "deserted desert scroll" is ridiculous; a few months ago it was 10 np. When it returns to 10 NP (or even if it only goes to 100 NP), use that 1000 and buy 10-100 of them.

[jellysundae]

58 minutes ago, suzanoberle said:

Honestly, a lot of people are hoarding right now...so items normally a few NP are running around 1000.  I suggest a different strategy.

 I recommend NOT hoarding for a couple months, sell while prices are inflated.  Then start hoarding like crazy in about 6 months when no one is thinking about it and prices are back at a couple NP.  1000 NP for a "deserted desert scroll" is ridiculous; a few months ago it was 10 np. When it returns to 10 NP (or even if it only goes to 100 NP), use that 1000 and buy 10-100 of them.

You speak sense...now I'm REALLY torn, lol!

TNT should totally have a pet economist on Neo, they'd learn some interesting stuff.

[nicolelouise]

I'm like the rest of you, learnt a lesson this time round and instead of making bulk donations to the money tree I'm doing it all individually so that I can check those rarity values.  My biggest issue was that I started chasing the rubbish avvie in earnest about two weeks before the CC was announced and I donated oodles of stuff to the money tree that I didn't think twice about because it was 'junk', only to find out later that some of that junk was r90+ stuff.  (Mourns all the Twirly Plants she got rid of.  So close to the event too!)  Actually, a lot of it turned out to be r90+. 

I, too, am mostly only getting rid of r101 stuff right now, although I slip up every now and then.  I just want the rubbish avvie to happen for me already!  In terms of what will be next, who knows?  It really could be any category they hit next (although I also thought about a weapons amnesty as a possibility for next time).

And I'm impressed with the theory, @jellysundae  It's not just about us, as you say.  It could very well be to help clear out some of those inactive shops.

Actually, wouldn't it just be too awful if we all focused on chucking out our 100+ items, and hoarding everything else, and then the charity corner next time round was to get rid of some of those 'special' items?

Edited February 19, 2017 by nicolelouise
More to say

[PaintBrushedDreams]

7 minutes ago, nicolelouise said:

I'm like the rest of you, learnt a lesson this time round and instead of making bulk donations to the money tree I'm doing it all individually so that I can check those rarity values.  My biggest issue was that I started chasing the rubbish avvie in earnest about two weeks before the CC was announced and I donated oodles of stuff to the money tree that I didn't think twice about because it was 'junk', only to find out later that some of that junk was r90+ stuff.  (Mourns all the Twirly Plants she got rid of.  So close to the event too!)  Actually, a lot of it turned out to be r90+. 

I know exactly how you feel. I cleaned out all the duplicates from my SDB literally hours before CC was announced. I put them all in my shop for like 1-10NP and by time I noticed that CC was happening, they were all gone. >.<

[nicolelouise]

3 minutes ago, PaintBrushedDreams said:

I know exactly how you feel. I cleaned out all the duplicates from my SDB literally hours before CC was announced. I put them all in my shop for like 1-10NP and by time I noticed that CC was happening, they were all gone. >.<

 

 

I was just about to re-edit my previous post because I'd just noticed in your very first post you said you heard about the event about a week before it happened.  Where/how did you hear about it?  (And don't tell me it was on the news page!  I'm so terribly bad about actually reading the news page in a timely fashion.)  I think, for me, even a week before the event would have been too late, as I'd mostly cleared my SDB by then and was just aggressively trying to get more items to donate to the money tree since the amount I did give wasn't enough for the avvie.  But two weeks before...well, that would have been a different story!

Oh, and that sucks!  What bad timing.

[PaintBrushedDreams]

7 minutes ago, nicolelouise said:

I was just about to re-edit my previous post because I'd just noticed in your very first post you said you heard about the event about a week before it happened.  Where/how did you hear about it?  (And don't tell me it was on the news page!  I'm so terribly bad about actually reading the news page in a timely fashion.)

Oh, I will edit that to make it more clear. I did not find out about this years CC a week before it happened. I found out about the CC in general a week before it happened, never knew it was a thing, missed the previous times. =(

[nicolelouise]

Just now, PaintBrushedDreams said:

Oh, I will edit that to make it more clear. I did not find out about this years CC a week before it happened. I found out about the CC in general a week before it happened, never knew it was a thing, missed the previous times. =(

 

Oh, Wow.  Now that actually was good timing.  In the sense that, if not for finding out that it was a thing a week before it happened, you might have missed this one too.

[PaintBrushedDreams]

Very true! I am glad I was able to participate. At least I found some r90+ items in my shed I had forgotten about.

[jellysundae]

35 minutes ago, nicolelouise said:

@jellysundae

Actually, wouldn't it just be too awful if we all focused on chucking out our 100+ items, and hoarding everything else, and then the charity corner next time round was to get rid of some of those 'special' items?

Oh nicole, you've touched my biggest fear there, LOL! I REALLY want to ditch all the r.101 clutter that I have, but part of me just KNOWS that if I do, some kind of use for them will appear!

[nicolelouise]

8 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

Oh nicole, you've touched my biggest fear there, LOL! I REALLY want to ditch all the r.101 clutter that I have, but part of me just KNOWS that if I do, some kind of use for them will appear!

 

Well, let me get this darn rubbish avvie sorted and I'll be with you, hoarding absolutely everything!

[hrtbrk]

No idea what the next one will be but a great tip is to basically shove anything that's "Very Rare" (means R90+) in to your SDB.

[midnight_spell360]

Well my problem is now gourmet food is over the top in pricing. Why isn't it coming down? 29k for Space Floss? (Glad I got it when I saw it at Kreludor Cafe for 12-15k) . Almost all 90r+ foods are starting at 30k and now very high. :(  Why does it have to stay this way? :( 

[nicolelouise]

To be fair, we are only a week or two out from the event, so maybe give it some more time? But then I wonder how much of a genuine scarcity of items there is now, or if it is still just opportunism dragging on longer than it should?

[jaydeed]

Definitely don't start buying yet; give it a few months. I've done three and learn something every time. Like

1. When it's not going on, unless you need the nps, don't sell any r90 for less than say 30k. That's what you'll get for them when CC comes around.

2. When CC starts, don't instantly begin donating; empty your shop of everything; fast! Then dump it all in your SDB and see what Granny wants. From memory you can probably think of some 1np R90s in the appropriate category; start buying! You will have them disappear from under you as other ppl do the same, but persist. Run around buying fast.

3. Donate and make sure you don't put any r90s in with an r80 lot. My daughter plays Neopets too and I turned around, saw her about to do it and shrieked with horror.

4. Don't forget to check closet/shed/what your pets are wearing/gallery too.

5. Keep track of what you get. I set up an excel spreadsheet and put every R90 I won onto it in alpha order with the price they were and what category and what I sold then for so i wouldn't lose them in my SDB. Sad to see them lose value, but that's how it goes. I could've made a lot selling my junk but chose to donate and for me it paid off, though it is a gamble.

[nicolelouise]

In terms of tracking what you get, I'm usually a spreadsheet person but I've never tracked what I won at the CC because I've never usually had that much stuff to give and I didn't do a lot of buying.  This year I was, once again, merrily not keeping track when someone else told me that they had set up a JN wishlist to track what they won.  So I did too, a private one.  I'm missing the first 90 or so items from it, but it was very satisfying to do, although possibly not of as much value as the spreadsheet @jaydeed is proposing.  But I did enjoy being able to see all the images of what I'd won with a glance.  Well, a glance and some scrolling!