November 7, 2024
The November 2024 AMA took place at 5pm NST on Thursday, November 7, 2024.
The AMA was first announced on October 24, about thirteen days in advance.
This AMA was dubbed "25th Anniversary Special" and featured Neopets CEO Dom Law as usual.
It also featured a Neopets Trivia Game Show: Neocash Knockout, with contestants macosten of Jellyneo, Missy of Neopets Nation, and TheAmandaFiles of YouTube fame. It also included discussion with Aesop to chat about the history of Neopets and reflect on the past year. TNT Luna returned as host for the sixth consecutive month.
Questions could be submitted in advance on TNT Luna's Neoboard in Site Events. You could submit your own question, as well as copy as many questions submitted by others as you wished.
How to Watch
The AMA was simulcasted on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter/X, Twitch, and Instagram. It remains available for viewing on the first three of these platforms:
Rare Item Code
TNT announced in advance that "there be a universal item code redeemable at Grundo's warehouse." The code was revealed as BIRTHDAYBASH near the end of the livestream, redeemable at Grundo Warehouse until November 9th at 5pm NST.
November 2024 Live AMA Code Item
Merch Giveaway
TNT announced that they will be giving away prizes during the livestream. The details of the giveaway were revealed during the livestream, and involved commenting in the live chat with the correct answers to some silhouetted images. TNT monitored the chat to choose the winners.
Recap
Questions for Aesop
Luna started by bringing out Aesop, Narrative and Creative Director of Neopets.
How did you choose your TNT alias?
- Grew up reading Aesop's fables, connected with these teaching stories "often involving animals."
- Reminds him of Neopets due to the "animal-driven storytelling" and "it's a place that fostered a lot of growth."
As a player, what would you says is your earliest Neopets memory?
- Getting a Happy Meal toy plushie, likely a Shoyru or Scorchio.
- Finding the Gallery of Evil
McDonald's Plushies »
What do you think are some of the most notable events that shaped Neopets?
Neopian Events »
What is one of the first things that you ever worked on here?
- As an intern, on his first day worked on a Gelert Day outfit: Wasteland Gelert.
- Helped out the Content team with new items, and helped with day to day contests and spotlights: Neopian Times, Storytelling, Poetry, Customisation, User Lookup, Gallery, Better Than You.
- And then eventually got to help with some "narrative stuff".
After working with Neopets for almost five years, what would you say is your favourite thing that you've worked on so far?
Trick-or-Treat Poems »
What was it like to work at Neopets in-person?
- Background: he flew to LA from the East Coast for his dream job internship in February 2020 before switching to remote work about a month later.
- Previously worked independently or with tiny teams in marketing offices, just focused on writing.
- Worked alongside TNT Scrappy and Gutterfoot who helped him find footing in video games.
- "It was really a special place." Wild office, very surreal, was startled by the Lord Kass costume several times at night.
The countdown for the 25th anniversary has been sort of wild, so if you were to narrow it down to this past year, what stands out the most to you?
- SDCC speaking with fans, and seeing fan art across different socials.
- "The community really feels alive again", growing both online and at in-person events, in a way it hasn't been in years.
One of the most remarkable things from this year is the plot, and with The Void Within plot going on pause, how do you feel about that?
- "It's not ideal." Made adjustments and cuts to the story and games for the rollout, but still "we might have overestimated what we could do."
- Returning to shorter chapter release schedule as originally planned based on feedback.
- Need more time to implement changes from other feedback, and it aligned well with holidays timing to take a breather and make tweaks.
People have been worried about the pacing of the plot in addition to overall how the plot might change, and what are some adjustments you are making on this feedback?
- Chapters will come out faster. The don't want it to end any later than originally planned.
- Not shortening the story, just increasing the cadence of releases.
- Trying to shift more resources to work on it, including Design team to revamp what a typical plot week looks like.
People seem to be worried about the increased Battledome drops going away and codestones are slowly inflating again, wondering if you have any insight on this?
- Added more Codestones to Quest Log yesterday [increased rate of occurrence.]
- Plans to increase Codestone drop rates at the Battledome.
There is a new The Void Within logo—what is [it] about and give us some teasers for what we can expect for Episode 2?
- The Void Within: Lost in the Dark will have more focus on puzzles, more games, more Battledome opponents, and new items through the comics, Battledome Opponents, and in the prize shop.
- "This break will last a few months," returning in Q1 of 2025.
Final thoughts?
- Not making it to the LA Birthday Party but another TNT staffer may be there.
Luna then led a giveaway. Viewers could comment the correct answer the chat. The first spotted correct answerer was given a prize. The challenge and answer were:
Kacheek
The winner was nervousneuron on YouTube. They won a The Void Within Baseball Cap.
Neocash Knockout
Luna then started the gameshow. She began with introducing each of the contestants.
Amanda aka theamandafiles
Introduction?
- "I make weird bad YouTube videos mainly about like Neopets, Animal Crossing."
What was Kass right about?
- "King Skarl needs to be humbled." He should be held accountable for what he did.
- Kass needs to be redeemed—the worst things he did was while being corrupted by The Three.
Zac aka macosten
Introduction?
- It's pronounced "Mac OS Ten".
- Is hosting a 25th Anniversary party.
What was your earliest Neopets memory?
Missy
Introduction?
- Australian. Made Neopets Nation with friend, Arden.
- Started playing as a kid pet trading and customising. Now "I don't know what I do" but loves being an ambassador.
If you had to get rid of an entire Neopets species, which would it be and why?
- Chias, so everyone can have the avatar.
Game rules
There's a board in the style of Jeopardy with three categories, each with five questions in increasing Neocash amounts with corresponding difficulty. Contestants will buzz in
with their Furby sound after the question is read—first to buzz in answers. A correct answer earns the NC value and picks the next question. There are no penalties for incorrect answers. A final round will begin after the board is cleared with one question in a mystery category. Players will wager NC and each answer. The player with the highest total at the end wins.
Some questions were written by Jellyneo's own Herdy and TNT Meow.
macosten won.
Luna then led another giveaway. Viewers could comment the correct answer the chat. The first spotted correct answerer was given a prize. The challenge and answer were:
Bruce Forcyth
The winner was pr3scriptions on Twitch. They won a pack of four 25th Anniversary Magnets.
AMA with TNT Dom
Luna then transitioned to AMA questions for TNT Dom.
How have you been feeling about this 25th anniversary? I know we have a roadmap to share. What's the vibe?
- Very exciting, "humbling to see how excited the community is for the events." The 25th anniversary is a big milestone.
- Lots of security upgrades and infrastructure upgrades in the past year. Had challenges with quickly delivering feature upgrades and quality of life (QOL) improvements.
- Upcoming sprints will make it easier to see revival on the classic site.
- Continue sending feedback, they're listening.
Can you share with us a sneak peek of what is happening for the 25th Anniversary?
- A lot of new things: avatars, Battledome items, random stat boosts, stamp.
- Giveaways on social media and in-person birthday bashes.
- The 25th Anniversary colour for Neopets and Petpets will be released on 11/15, along with 25th Anniversary Nostalgic Pet Styles.
Why are we putting more effort into other Neopets games like the apps instead of focusing on site?
- They have a three-pillar strategy:
- 60-70% of effort is on the classic site.
- Apps, licensing and merchandise are important for investors to see, and help build the brand.
- New Neopets experiences to acquire new players and get back lapsed players.
- 65% of userbase is in the US, so merch partners need to be comfortable with US and Canada before expanding globally.
- Trying to expand offering via Neopets Merch Shop, although international shipping can be prohibitive.
Why haven't we seen more improvement to the classic website?
- Investing more in classic site and have delivered better upgrades so it's less laggy, loads faster.
- Working on security and infrastructure upgrades and fixing the tech stack before adding new improvements has taken longer than originally envisioned.
- Next few months include QOL improvements that will be more visible to players.
TNT seems focused on generating revenue instead of creating a better product and improving gameplay, why is that?
- Thanks to the community have been experiencing growth in MAU (monthly active users) and revenue—close to 350k MAU and 10% are Premium members and/or Neocash purchasers.
- Has been a "loss-making effort". Still in survival mode trying to revive the brand.
- Want to get to sustainable mode to generate more revenue to reinvest in the site and grow the team.
- With a better foundation they hope to break even soon, and switch efforts to producing more content.
Users completed the Faerie Festival and still cannot click on Fyora to receive the prizes, trophy or avatar. Will this be fixed?
- States it was fixed already.
- AMA questions help bring up issues like this to be identified and fixed, but also still submit tickets for on-site issues.
Faerie Festival 2024 Coverage »
Will these plot issues be addressed? Namely: Inflation in Tea Time with Tavi; Voidworks achievement not being obtainable, Voidworks requiring a 24 hour cooldown to play?
- Check the expanded FAQ for changes.
- The pause will allow them to work on things like this and incorporate feedback.
- Misspoke that the option to reroll Tavi's requested item was live [it wasn't, but did go live just before 11AM on November 8. The Voidworks changes did go live on the afternoon of November 7.]
Tea Time With Tavi Guide » Voidworks Guide »
Can you please address and fix the high score table glitch that is preventing users from achieving game-related trophies and avatars due to foreign language filters wrongly flagging their username?
- The team has started looking into this.
- If this applies to you, submit a ticket again with subject "High Score Table Glitch".
- They need more info to investigate, haven't found the cause.
Many players have had pets at the maximum Strength and Defence boosts for years. Currently the boosts cap out at 750. Do you have any plans to add more boosts?
- Plan has been to make Battledome improvements alongside the plot.
- Have plans to increase this in the future.
- More fixes and changes will happen with Seasons 2 and 3 of the plot.
Battledome Boost Charts »
With the release of the new book, any chance we could get Sabre-X fixed so he can be unlocked in the the Battledome? He is currently broken.
- Not sure why it was turned off. Need to evaluate what would change and what would need to be done to reactivate.
- [They need to make sure turning it on won't break other things.]
What happened to the fan art programme? Is it cancelled?
- Not cancelled, it's important for them and they want to do right by the artist community.
- Delayed slightly but on track for release before the holiday season.
Are there intentions to fix the interpolation/compression issues on the new pet styles (e.g. newly-released Spooky and Prismatic styles) as well as wearables?
- Pet images were poorly compressed, they tried to fix that and it caused this other issue.
- They will fix blurry pets, their old image uploading process in the backend caused it.
- Hope it's a once and for all solution.
Are there any updates on the purge since it was originally announced to start in October?
- Started work on fixing data tables and things not related to pet or account names.
- Purge is delayed until "probably Q1". They need to make sure it runs smoothly without site interruptions.
- Still working on designing the mechanics of how it should work based on account age, "lower value accounts" that "lapsed users won't even care to come back to claim."
The Bloat B Gone was removed from the Daily Quest prize pool enough though in the editorial it said it would would be permanently added. When will it be added back?
- Already added it back in on November 1st, as per the Editorial.
Quest Log Daily Prize Pool »
Why were prizes removed from the Caption Contest? All other creative contests winners win a random prize from the creative contest prize pool. Until several months ago, the Caption Contest winners did as well. Was this an error and will prizes be returning to the Caption Contest?
- These avatars and prizes were awarded manually in the past. They automated it and it didn't work as intended, wasn't intentional.
- Will stay this way for now but they'll look into to it and in the future "the prizes should come back."
Caption Contest Guide » Creative Contest Prizes Guide »
Are there plans for avatars that are currently broken such as Bilge Dice, Tooth Faerie (RE), AAA's Revenge, and/or are there plans to bring back retired avatars? Can you re-release retired avatars through something like a retired avatar capsule Neopoint sink?
- Interesting idea, will share with the team about possible NP sink.
- Again for REs need to look into if they can be enabled without affecting something else on the site.
- These game avs are and will remain off because of illegitimate access until they can be protected and made fair.
When will we see more old stamp [pages] completed?
- Not complex but takes multiple team leads to coordinate.
- The work isn't just making new stamps, but also designing and making sure avatars are ready for them.
- Will keep the pages missing only a few stamps in mind to complete first.
Stamp Collecting Guide »
Final Thoughts?
- "Thank you all for supporting us all along."
- Excited to celebrate the 25th Anniversary with the community.
Luna then led the final giveaway. Viewers could comment the correct answer the chat. The first spotted correct answerer was given a prize. The challenge and answer were:
Doglefox
The winner was Zak Candler on YouTube. They won a Blind Box Plushie.
Luna stated these plushies are coming "super early next month and for sure before the end of the year."
This page was written by Quail and last updated on November 8, 2024.
