Help with buying UCs...

[Goose]

I've never bought a UC before, so I'm more than a little worried. I don't have anything to trade/barter with besides y'know, actual money.

What do all these abbreviations on the posts mean? BN, WN, VWN, VVWN? What does tier9 mean? What are tiers? What is any of the abbreviations around here? Like, is there a guide I should read before I start purchasing if I start purchasing my dream pets? I try to get pets that don't have numbers or XX_edgelord_XX kind of format to them, something that might be an actual name.

[Aero]

BN - Badly named
WN - Well named
VWN - Very well named, and so on

Tiers were created as part of trading on the PC to value pets against each other. It used to be hosted on /~Efflie and then /~Delvac (and some pages before those), but I'd have to go look for the current page it lives on since Mike/shatterell, the previous owner, disabled his account recently. Edit: it's /~Danpo

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Hope that helps! People can give a lot of advice around here if you need it.

[Zapdos]

I've never bought a UC before, so I'm more than a little worried. I don't have anything to trade/barter with besides y'know, actual money.

What do all these abbreviations on the posts mean? BN, WN, VWN, VVWN? What does tier9 mean? What are tiers? What is any of the abbreviations around here? Like, is there a guide I should read before I start purchasing if I start purchasing my dream pets? I try to get pets that don't have numbers or XX_edgelord_XX kind of format to them, something that might be an actual name.

To add on to Aero, if you want names without that format, you generally want WN+ pets These are pets without numbers or underscores. VWN is generally regarded as 7L and under plus capped first letter, but it can vary from person to person, or so I've seen!

[Buizel]

To add on to the above posts, also be mindful of the terms "PC Known" and "PC Unknown". PC standing for Pound Chat and it usually signifies whether the UC for sale has been advertised/seen on the PC or not. Since you're a bit wary, I'd try to look for pets that are unknown and inquire on that before purchasing, if you do.

[Ice]

Minor but technical correction to Zapdos's post - per Danpo (which is pretty much universally respected and/or referenced by the PC) VWN is 8 or less letters.

v From Danpo v

VWN: Roughly 8 or so letters | Capitalized | Visually Appealing | Pronounceable
WN: 8+ Letters | Visually Appealing |Pronounceable
DN: Compound Names OR 1-2 Underscores OR 1 Number | Relatively Pronounceable
BN: More Than 1 Number OR 1-2 Underscores OR Unpronounceable
VBN: Multiple Numbers | Multiple Underscores OR Extremely Long | Visually Unappealing

Re:nothing to trade/barter for other than money - as Brittany mentioned, buying a PC known vs PC unknown pet is very important depending on who YOU are on Neo. If you never go on public sections like the NeoBoards or participate actively in guilds, you probably want a PC unknown pet. I.e. a pet that probably no one really knows exists and therefore will not be stalking to see when it changes hands etc. On the flip side, if you're someone that is easily recognized and people have looked at your accounts regularly, you don't want a PC unknown pet because chances are someone will go wtf where did this person materialize that pet from. That being said, along that vein if you are a well known player it'll be more important to "legitimize" your purchase in some way by faking a trade (ppl will go to different lengths to do this, either by doing a true 1:1 pet trade or a pet + USD trade to even out value, so it doesn't look like you are receiving a high value pet for "nothing.") or others will even go the "adopt/gift" route, if you feel particularly brazen or have a (could be fake lol!) long-standing "project page" for x pet. There are tons of ways to go about this and you just have to be smart and/or a bit crafty about it.

Last small aside tho - if you're moving BN low tier pets no one really cares in my opinion, so you can be a lot less strict when it comes to those. High tier, popular, RW/RN (real word like "Cat" or real name like "Megan") or <=4L pets will always have eyes on them, so be careful!

Oh also as a buyer be sure to do your due diligence as sometimes sellers will not disclose certain info if not asked/might just forget when they have tons of stock to manage; it's your money and the safety of your account on the line, so always make sure you're comfortable with what information you've been given when gauging if the purchase feels right to you.

[Ambient]

I would suggest some patience. I mean, TNT has announced that they will be releasing something that will allow you to get UC's legit in game. If you value your account and your money, maybe try holding out a bit and see what happens in the next few months. I 100% want to see my fellow clraik loves benefitting from selling their pets, but I also don't want to see people make silly mistakes and lose everything if they aren't prepared for the amount of work and careful planning that sometimes has to go into these kinds of things. Good luck and wish you all the best though either way!