What would YOU like to see from the brand's new era?

[Nightingale]

So there's been an awful lot of excitement in Neopia lately. A new CEO in the office, NC UCs are just around the corner (...allegedly), whatever is going on with John Legend, and the evil of Neopets NFTS has finally been defeated. It's got me wondering: what would you like to see from this new era of Neopets?

The obvious one, and the one I think most people will suggest, are improvements to the site. I appreciate the 2FA they implemented a while back. I'm... not thrilled about this new homepage, or its lack of user-friendliness. I don't understand why there's a huge link to an app I'll never use and a conceptual... World of Neopia thing that's still in development next to the link to the main game. It seems like Neopets is still focusing on things that are extraneous to the website rather than putting in the additional manpower to focus solely on making the site itself good, when the site is kind of the crown jewel of the brand. I understand that they probably need these smaller revenue streams in order to keep themselves afloat right now, but as always, they risk getting mired in too many side properties while neglecting the main site, and I wish they would do less of that going forward.

One thing I've always wanted to see, even back when I was a little kid, was less of these app games and more merch. They seem to be leaning into that a bit more now, but personally, as a Toy Nerd I'd love to see Neopets dive into the realm of custom-order plushies, especially since customization itself has been pushed as "the point" of having a neopet for years now, whether it be via pet pages or the later wearables. Could you imagine how rad it would be if they partnered up with Build A Bear or something and enabled you to order a plushie of your on-site neopet? It would harken back to that old McDonald's promotion that was a highlight of my childhood. I think there would be plenty of demand for it, too - why own some ugly, randomized NFT image of a neopet when I could have a physical plushie of the actual neopet I worked hard to customize that I can cuddle and take cute pictures of at Starbucks? (I'm depressed and the world is burning to the ground - let me have this.) As a birthday gift to myself this year, I actually commissioned an artisan to make a plushie of my favourite neopet because TNT never released the species and colour as a plushie in any form - it's not even an unpopular species/colour; it just never got a plushie run. While I love and support artisan plushie makers, I think it would be a boon to Neopets' ailing franchise if they would just give us more options straight from the source - or heck, just hire the plushie makers! (Actually implementing this would probably be a nightmare though, given the vast scale of wearable items, not to mention UCs, etc., but one can dream...)

Beyond that, the idea of a cartoon got bandied about a couple years back and then died. That's something I would also like to see Neopets revive. I think the Neopets IP has huge potential because it's got years and years of interesting lore and worldbuilding to go off of and plenty of pre-established characters one could use for a show. The main issues would be coming up with a good story, writing and animating it well, and seeing the production through to completion. (They'd get bonus points in my book if they were able to tie the show in with a site plot somehow to rope viewers into on-site participation, or vice versa.) I see SO MUCH potential for this property from a worldbuilding standpoint and imo it's a shame the lore of Neopia hasn't really caught on outside of the website proper.

So yeah. Basically, I'd like to see something from Neopets that isn't just the usual offerings of 1,000 run-of-the-mill cheap mobile spin-off games. I'm hoping for more care and attention to be put into the main site, but also for more emphasis to be put on the pets themselves through merch sales. Our neopets, that we customized and made our own - and tying that back to the site. That, and showcasing the world of Neopia through mediums other than these app store games, to really draw audiences to the property for the worldbuilding and characters, things you don't really get to see while playing a simple match 3 game.

How about you? What are some things you would personally like to see from the Neopets IP that to date it hasn't delivered on? Or what's a niche idea you would like to see them execute in a perfect world?

[Dracarys]

A server upgrade. Less latency and timeouts. Seriously. I shouldn't be waiting 10 seconds for a page to load just to get a timeout sometimes. I do something else in another tab on a different website just to do something else while a page on neo loads up. More security....pretty basic stuff that comes along with running a website. There are some old pages that really need a revamp. I guess I just want them to clean up and polish the actual website. Then whatever they want to do regarding other games, giveaways, etc. is fine with me.

I'd love to see some of the old events come back. Aside from the much needed work on the website, what kept players around needs to come back. And yes, more attention paid to the neopets themselves would be great! I've really been liking the colors and outfits they've been making recently, so that's a plus.

[kittyray]

So, I personally think the TV show idea is a little weird, but I was trying to think about what media would be cool to see that they haven't done yet, and it suddenly popped into my head that print versions of the old plot comics could be fun?

[Godzilla]

I'd love if TNT could put old plot/contest prizes into the hidden tower to get some in circulation again.

Security/Lag issues - seriously seriously need a major fucking update. I'm tired of trying to edit petpages and waiting 1-3 minutes for it to load only to get 'connection was reset/page isn't responding' etc. Any other site I play works perfectly but Neo has its moments where it fucking chokes on its on air support.

[Erik.]

Three words:

Defenders of Neopia.

Also I wish they'd fix customisation/presets, make it so we can stack and layer things instead of the never-ending bugs and hassles with changing zones which constantly ruin my pets' looks.

And tbh it annoys me to no end how the brand keeps focusing on stupid things like a tv series, NFTs, butt-ugly hats and the empty meaningless gimmick "World of Neopia" instead of the obvious main selling point the frikkin SITE.

[Nightingale]

So, I personally think the TV show idea is a little weird, but I was trying to think about what media would be cool to see that they haven't done yet, and it suddenly popped into my head that print versions of the old plot comics could be fun?

Print comics would be great from a media preservation standpoint! I don't even know where to find the plot comics on the actual site, especially with all the recent changes. I appreciate JN's plot comic archive but it'd be nice if neo took more measures to preserve them so the fandom didn't have to.

[Sqork]

Would love it if they fixed neomail to show sent and read etc...

its the little things.

oh and keyquest. bring back keyquest.
that is all.

[kittyray]

Print comics would be great from a media preservation standpoint! I don't even know where to find the plot comics on the actual site, especially with all the recent changes. I appreciate JN's plot comic archive but it'd be nice if neo took more measures to preserve them so the fandom didn't have to.

For sure! Media preservation is so important, even the weird things you might not think will be!

kind of makes me wanna do an art project to print them all myself and practice (poorly) my extremely unused/mediocre bookbinding skills (word used loosely)


Staying on topic, definitely agree with the ideas above. I'm hoping the upcoming event that's "CC-like" will help reintroduce retired items, and a better mail system would be amazing!

[greyduck]

A cohesive website. It's in two different formats depending on the page you're looking at. Also I'm sick of their current brand being nostalgia instead of getting people hyped up about any possible future.

[Synthbass]

obligatory "key quest" because I haven't shut up about it since they took it away.

Otherwise? I want new avatars and QOL updates specifically to make the game less tedious. They're doing amazing with the latter by bringing support to the flash games, so I am already having a good sign of that.