Autobuyers back in force?

[neobeth]

Quote "and creating a time limit until the next purchase might help."

There already is a 5 second wait, how long do you want the wait to be ?

[anjuna]

Five SECONDS?! Well no wonder! At the IGS it is a couple MINUTES. And that is most appropriate, in my opinion. I can still get a few decent things, and so does everyone else get a chance to grab the same!

EDIT: I even find that that couple of minutes gives me just enough time to price (refresh the regular wiz a few times) and stock and go back.

If I don't mind my saying it is efficiently ingenius and may solve many "problems" but people would have to restock differently, yes.

I don't have anything lingering that can be stolen by the pant devil, nor do I have to bury things in my SDB to retrieve later and I never have extra things lying around that "need to be put in my shop at some point" because I am "auto-buying" so fast (even if manually) I have too much.

Key words, too much, as in more than others and more than one can handle on ones own time. It seems unfair, unjust, and unholy! LOL

If, as in the IGS example, there is "mostly nothing usually there" then all of a sudden many unpredictable items restock in an uncertain order, one is encouraged to wait and come back sooner or later, rather than relying on cues like "I know when it is about to restock so I will sit and wait and refresh and grab all I can in the meantime" mentality. See what I mean?

Autobuyers might then finally be beaten. I don't see any other way really.

*Fearing wrath of so many, leaves the forum as gracefully as she can*
*Trips over herself on the way out*

[Huggles]

What I said about the lottery isn't hearsay because I had premium and I did win. I'm not sure how much more proof I can provide if that's not enough. Just take a look at the lottery on the site. Whenever it's won, the number of winners is posted alongside their share of the winnings. On 09/07/2006, for example, the jackpot was 1,983,800 million np. About 100 people each won 22,802 for guessing correctly. Usually only a handful of people, if any win, so for someone to win only say 400 np, around 5,000 people would have won too. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that's never happened.

The "lottery" premium players win comes in the form of a random event and does not require you to purchase a ticket, I don't even think you can come to think of it.

5 seconds is not ridiculously short because usually items sell out within that period of time. Seriously, it's a very rare occassion when you can restock something that'll give you more than 1-2k profit after your initial item. Because after that, when all the profitable items are gone, you'll have to wait for the next restock. The Igloo, which did restock at a regular time just like the other shops before the change, has a limit because there is no haggling and it'd be much easier to go back and grab 2 or 3 more items since almost everything there is profitable.

[shapu]

Five SECONDS?! Well no wonder! At the IGS it is a couple MINUTES. And that is most appropriate, in my opinion. I can still get a few decent things, and so does everyone else get a chance to grab the same!

Actually, that's not a good idea because it encourages people to play on multiple accounts.

I'm not convinced that there are any autobuyers left on neo, or at least not enough to make much of a dent. I've had some great shopping experiences today, and managed to snag 2 ubs, which I haven't done since 2003 or so.

[theonlysaneone]

Five SECONDS?! Well no wonder! At the IGS it is a couple MINUTES. And that is most appropriate, in my opinion. I can still get a few decent things, and so does everyone else get a chance to grab the same!

Actually, that's not a good idea because it encourages people to play on multiple accounts.

I'm not convinced that there are any autobuyers left on neo, or at least not enough to make much of a dent. I've had some great shopping experiences today, and managed to snag 2 ubs, which I haven't done since 2003 or so.

Well, if people are playing on multiple accounts, they can just be frozen. It still makes it harder for them.

[Seerow]

The Premium Lottery tickets we get are NOT the same as the normal Neopian Lottery tickets. I have never once, in my 65 mths on Neo, bought a lottery ticket. I "win" a Premium Lottery ticket every other day or so, and it usually amounts to 700nps and a 500np item. That's a rough average, but good enough. I've been Premium for over a year now, actually probably nearing a year and a half, and only three times have I won the "rare" items from my Premium REs. Premium RE do not affect the site, cause lets face it, 1200nps every other day is pathetic.

Premium also does not make you any luckier on the site. My luck on Neo has pretty much always sucked, with a few rare occasions spattered about throughout the years. It sucks to this day after joining Premium, and probably will for the rest of my Neo life. Belonging to Premium does not affect your in-game luck unless you have the Space Faerie Charm, and all that does is once a day randomly doubles your game payout.

The no banners thing can't be used as an excuss for a "faster Neo", because as someone mentioned earlier, you can block them using just about any browser out there.

Sorry for this majorly off topic rant. I'm just sick and tired of everyone looking down on Premium members for all the "perks" we get. Which, really, isn't that much for the $8 we pay a month.

Edit: I'll put my post slightly back on topic here. I HATE the new rs system. I can barely get anything, and nothing like I could before. I can make 10-15k profit in a day if I'm lucky and activly trying to rs, where as before I would commonly make over 100k a day.
The old system was actually fun. You were competing against a lot of other players for a handfull of good items, and you actually felt proud when you mananged to get one. At least I did. The new system is basically being in the right place at the right time (aka luck which I sorely lack).

The 5 second bane is good as it allows others a chance to get rare items and you can still go back and get decent items after your 5 seconds is up. It may not seem like a long time, but when you are rsing it seems to take forever.

[NeoPet_online]

The Premium Lottery tickets we get are NOT the same as the normal Neopian Lottery tickets. I have never once, in my 65 mths on Neo, bought a lottery ticket. I "win" a Premium Lottery ticket every other day or so, and it usually amounts to 700nps and a 500np item. That's a rough average, but good enough. I've been Premium for over a year now, actually probably nearing a year and a half, and only three times have I won the "rare" items from my Premium REs. Premium RE do not affect the site, cause lets face it, 1200nps every other day is pathetic.

Premium also does not make you any luckier on the site. My luck on Neo has pretty much always sucked, with a few rare occasions spattered about throughout the years. It sucks to this day after joining Premium, and probably will for the rest of my Neo life. Belonging to Premium does not affect your in-game luck unless you have the Space Faerie Charm, and all that does is once a day randomly doubles your game payout.

The no banners thing can't be used as an excuss for a "faster Neo", because as someone mentioned earlier, you can block them using just about any browser out there.

This si totally true, I mean I'm a premium user too, and my luck hasn't gotten any better.

[anjuna]

What I said about the lottery isn't hearsay because I had premium and I did win. I'm not sure how much more proof I can provide if that's not enough. Just take a look at the lottery on the site. Whenever it's won, the number of winners is posted alongside their share of the winnings. On 09/07/2006, for example, the jackpot was 1,983,800 million np. About 100 people each won 22,802 for guessing correctly. Usually only a handful of people, if any win, so for someone to win only say 400 np, around 5,000 people would have won too. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that's never happened.

The "lottery" premium players win comes in the form of a random event and does not require you to purchase a ticket, I don't even think you can come to think of it.

5 seconds is not ridiculously short because usually items sell out within that period of time. Seriously, it's a very rare occassion when you can restock something that'll give you more than 1-2k profit after your initial item. Because after that, when all the profitable items are gone, you'll have to wait for the next restock. The Igloo, which did restock at a regular time just like the other shops before the change, has a limit because there is no haggling and it'd be much easier to go back and grab 2 or 3 more items since almost everything there is profitable.

Okay, now I am confused. I never bought a lottery ticket either but I get them all the time from WoM. How does this "not prove" that Premium members are winning the lottery more often than the rest of us? Maybe I will check the winners list from now on and try to notice Premium names.

Let me say here, that I am not picking on Premium members and do not have a problem with Premium or the members! The fact that y'all feel you need to be so defensive about it though does scare me a little bit.

I think an IGS-like stocking system would be ideal. Sorry if a lot of people would hate it (most likely those that never restock at IGS and "assume" there is never anything there; rather than perching urself by ur mouse ready to hop on the next predictable usual restock of a regular shop).

I think 5 seconds is a ridiculously short amount of time for the same reason. Some people with dial up and slow computers take 30 seconds to load a page. So they just missed 6 restocks? This is considered "fair"?!

I get bored waiting at regular shops. Seems to me they are stocked most of the time with mediocre things, many even overpriced compared to Wiz. I don't know when they restock "good" things since I have never seen anything like a MP in the Magic Shop, for instance. How long do people wait? Then how can I be sure that in one refresh I didn't miss everything? To me it is quite frustrating, since during that time of waiting/wondering I can undoubtedly almost always grab a few things from the IGS just refreshing inbetween things I normally would do at my computer anyway.

And since when is simply buying items on any number of accounts a freezeable offense? I thought that was one of the few things one COULD do on a side account (plus guilds and galleries and such). To feed one's pets on a side account, freebies like Omelette are not allowed (nor the Soup Kitchen, I believe), so one must find a way of purchasing foods if there is not enough free food from the main account to transfer all around.

EDIT: I notice there is no list I can check for the lottery. Huggles, where do you find these statistics (only on the day of winning and that is random)? It further begs the question, if Premium members are handed a "fake" lottery ticket, what are you winning then? TNT very well could have gifted you any other RE that stated you won a few hundred Neopoints. I still believe it is the same Neopian Lottery we all play.

[Cranberry]

EDIT: I notice there is no list I can check for the lottery. Huggles, where do you find these statistics (only on the day of winning and that is random)? It further begs the question, if Premium members are handed a "fake" lottery ticket, what are you winning then? TNT very well could have gifted you any other RE that stated you won a few hundred Neopoints. I still believe it is the same Neopian Lottery we all play.

I think a premium member would know better than you whether or not it's the real lottery; don't you agree? It's not. My friend has premium and he gets the "lottery" events literally almost every day. It's just a few hundred NP and some random item. The message looks like this:

You bought a winning ticket in the Neopian Lottery! You won 600 NPs, and a random item. You also won a Yellow Kacheek Plushie.

and

You bought a winning ticket in the Neopian Lottery! You won 650 NPs, and a random item. You also won a Green Uni Plushie.

In contrast, my (non-premium) friend won the real neopian lottery the other day and didn't even notice until she saw the trophy in her lookup. She didn't get a message about it, and she didn't get a random item. You can read all about Premium and the SHH ("something has happened") events like that lotto one here.

I was also going to point out that "begging the question" refers to a specific logical fallacy and doesn't mean "raises the question," but the latter is becoming common usage and will probably end up being accepted eventually. Sometimes I hate the evolution of language.

[Huggles]

I notice there is no list I can check for the lottery. Huggles, where do you find these statistics (only on the day of winning and that is random)? It further begs the question, if Premium members are handed a "fake" lottery ticket, what are you winning then? TNT very well could have gifted you any other RE that stated you won a few hundred Neopoints. I still believe it is the same Neopian Lottery we all play.

Type lottery on the search bar, or in the games room, and scroll down. You can't miss it. Plus, you've already answered your own question, only with a false conclusion. TNT could have called it the Magical Left Sock Prize Giveway and the results would be the same. They are not one and the same. I don't know how to convince you outside of kidnapping a programmer and dragging them here.

I think 5 seconds is a ridiculously short amount of time for the same reason. Some people with dial up and slow computers take 30 seconds to load a page. So they just missed 6 restocks? This is considered "fair"?!

Have you ever restocked anywhere other than the igloo? Normal shops, up until now, had never worked that way. Shops had the potential to restock once every sixty seconds, although usually the time between restocks was 10 minutes or more. It was technically impossible for 6 restocks to happen within 30 seconds. To miss 6, at the very minimum you'd need 6 minutes. The problem dial up members have is that once something restocked, their machines would process their clicking— on the haggle page, the "okay" pop up, the accepted offer page— slower than those players with broadband. Trying to restock at the Igloo is actually more difficult than normal shops because it only takes two steps and a few microseconds is all you need to beat someone to an item. All this I know firsthand because I played Neo on dialup for almost five years and finally obtained cable access early this year.


The reason the other shops are mostly filled with junk all the time is because the official shops' prices are higher than those of the shop wizard. The Igloo is unique because virtually everything stocks for less than it's price on the wizard. This is why it's almost always empty. Aside from the odd broken toy sailboat or palm fan, you could let your cat paw at whatever it liked best on your screen and you'd profit. The only reason the other shops clear is because new members may try restocking without knowing what the items sell for on the wiz, or people eventually haggle down to a couple np less than the lowest wiz price.


When items restock in normal shops, the leftover stuff people haven't bought remains, and the new items—profitable or not—stock within half a second of each other. People buy the most profitable items, and leave the rest. Under the old system, where you knew precisely when items could restock, I've waited as many as 3 hours between restocks. Sometimes, the system gets broke an the shops don't restock for nearly a day.


The entire reason why people are more frustrated with this new system, regardless of whether they think it's good or bad in the end, is that you don't know when anything restocks. You basically have to sit and refresh at a single shop continuously and hope you don't blow your nose or sneeze when it finally does. Because of this, there's less competition and less people restocking at the same time. That's the only reason why people with slower connections are finding it easier. You couldn't singlehandedly wipe out an entire restock in a shop, excluding the ones that only stock one or two items at a time, even if there were no five second rule.

[anjuna]

Begs the question, raises the question. I really don't see much difference. A question remains, and as more people answer, I still can't help but suspect that the Lottery is indeed the same one, else TNT would have named the RE differently. And I have seen Leto's petpage more than 3 times now, read it in its entirety, before anyone pointed it out to me.

It really doesn't address any of my questions of these now mixed worlds of the new Premium and the old original site we all still play.

I have checked regular shops to stock at, and like I said only leave in impatience and disappointment since there is never anything there that can make me my preferred profit margin per item. I have never SEEN an MP in the Magic Shop in almost 2 years of playing all day every day!

Inbetween doing other things at my computer, I simply randomly refresh the IGS and oh maybe 3/5 times there is something there to grab. (Yay!)

I am not happy that people are upset at the new restocking system, but I see virtually no change in my ability to get a chance at anything "nice."

I think the point of this SHOULD be that people cannot predict what items restock when, but I am not convinced TNT has sorted this out yet either.

I think the same people that get all the goodies still do sit there at their mouses refreshing like mad until their hands go numb. Then they DO grab up all they can in the shortest amount of time, so few others have a chance. Five seconds is not NEARLY enough. The "ban" for buying any one item from any shop should be a MINUTE at minimum. Or perhaps a limit of MPs per person entirely? (More fair, in my opinion.) Maybe we should also ban haggling in general? Seems to work great at the IGS.

I've often agreed with you that when snatching things from the IGS one must be almost faster than those grabbing things from regular shops. But since I still have never seen an MP in the magic shop, so I don't think so.

The fact I can still ONLY get things from IGS consistently enough, irks me. On another note, on another recent thread some Premium members ARE claming "advantages" over playing on the free site (while some blame me for "starting nonsense rumors"). Those advantages come in the form of a faster site, therefore ability to restock items faster, and apparenlty this "fake" lottery that I do not believe is fake. I might ask the Editorial.

The "excuse" that it is "only a few hundred neopoints" is moot, since with so many Premium members having the "extra" luck to win it does seem to essentially take away from the luck of the average user winning it.

Huggles, you mention that most shops have mediocre things leftover because of what I suspected, but I have also sat at regular shops refreshing every few seconds and I never see anything "go" as fast as you say. They must go so fast they are "never there." This sucks to me!

There aren't enough MPs to go around for those of us that never get any.

[Huggles]

I don't know what else to say really. You don't seem to understand that there's much, much, more than one person going for the same profitable items in each shop. That people aren't grabbing two or three morphing potions each restock. That magic is one of the absolute worst places to restock because even people who don't normally restock are going there in hopes of getting a lucky break and restocking a rare morphing potion or transmog. That morphing potions in general very rare, and that most restockers aren't making 100k+ from each item they restock. Of course you're going to be frustrated if that's you're goal, compared to most people who make anywhere from 2-15k profit from each restock. You seem to think that everyone that restocks, but you, is making hundreds of thousands of np per day when that just is not true. You get one item per restock, maybe two if the potential profit is only 1-2k. That's it. Rare items stock infrequently and go quickly because they are rare and sought after.

I honestly don't understand how despite my and others firsthand experience with the lottery and in depth explanation of how it works, that you still refuse to believe anything we say despite having no evidence to support your own claim.

[Cranberry]

Begs the question, raises the question. I really don't see much difference.

I guess you didn't click that link I gave you, then. Or else you have no reading comprehension skills.

A question remains, and as more people answer, I still can't help but suspect that the Lottery is indeed the same one, else TNT would have named the RE differently.

...yeah, it's the reading comprehension thing.

I have checked regular shops to stock at, and like I said only leave in impatience and disappointment since there is never anything there that can make me my preferred profit margin per item. I have never SEEN an MP in the Magic Shop in almost 2 years of playing all day every day!

Join the club. Magic is one of the busiest shops. Say 10 items stock per rs (which is probably more than actually do) -- there are literally at least a couple hundred people going for them, and that's during a slow time of day. I've only seen a (very small) handful of big-ticket items in my almost 6 years of play (like you, I don't rs very often -- if you were spending hours rsing like the top people, you would spot more).

I think the same people that get all the goodies still do sit there at their mouses refreshing like mad until their hands go numb. Then they DO grab up all they can in the shortest amount of time, so few others have a chance.

Not how it works. No matter how fast your computer is, you cannot grab more than one, maybe two decent items during a restock (and you definitely won't get two good MPs, because those don't restock in big bunches). There are just too many people going for them. Even when I rs in a shop like Kayla's that's considered slow, I can only grab one item -- some other people will be there and snap up the others while I'm still haggling. And you have to remember that an item's rarity determines how often it stocks. A rarity 99 item will rarely restock, and only one of them will restock at a time -- and it'll be snapped up by one of those hundreds of people before you can blink. A rarity 65 item (for example) will rs a lot more frequently and more than one will stock at a time, and those are the ones you will see sitting longer in the shops.

On another note, on another recent thread some Premium members ARE claming "advantages" over playing on the free site (while some blame me for "starting nonsense rumors").

Well yes, obviously they are going to get some small advantages -- otherwise why would they pay real money for premium? But buying premium alone isn't going to make you a millionaire. And sure, premium people may have the site running faster because they have no ads, but anyone can download firefox and adblock and get the same effect for free. It's still hard work and a lot of playing that makes any Neopian rich.

The "excuse" that it is "only a few hundred neopoints" is moot, since with so many Premium members having the "extra" luck to win it does seem to essentially take away from the luck of the average user winning it.

For the last time, it is NOT THE SAME LOTTERY. It's just not. I do suggest you write the editorial... although the chance of getting your question answered is slim. But the normal neopian lottery just gives neopoints, not neopoints + a random item, and to win it you must either buy a ticket or have one given to you in a random event. These premium people are not buying tickets every day, and they are not getting that "a mysterious man hands you a lottery ticket" RE. They just get the SHH event I quoted. Basically, they won a lottery they were never actually entered in. It truly IS a fake lottery. The fact that it shares a name with the real, public Neopian Lottery is annoying... although you are the only one who really seems confused by it.

[Seerow]

The Premium Lottery tickets that Premium members get in their SHH ARE NOT THE SAME as the normal lottery. Again, IS NOT THE SAME. I really don't know how we are going to convience you of this fact, since you seem damned set in your way of thinking. But maybe repitation will help. IS NOT THE SAME LOTTERY. Now, recite that to yourself until you understand.

We do not get "unfair advantages due to a faster site." Anyone can download a adblock program for Firefox or tweak their IE to get rid of the banners. ANYONE can play Neo without ads, and thus have a faster loading site. Not rocket science there so I'm again not sure why you aren't understanding this.

The five second bane is perfectly fine. It may not seem like a lot, escpially to someone who has only ever rsed at the Igloo, but trust us, it is. It allows users to get one good item (if they are lucky/fast enough) then also perhaps one or two others worth a few thousand. One minute bane is just too long, you'd only be able to get one item a restock.

If you're only trying to restock at the Magic Shop for rare items, best of luck to ya. That is probably the busiest store of them all. Try one of the lesser shops, such as Faerie Furniture, if you ever want a prayer of seeing a rare item.

Now, one last time, repeat after me: The lottery Premium get is NOT THE SAME as the normal Neopian Lottery.

Wow...this came out rather bitter 0_o

[psyco_chick32]

I will give you proof that the Premium lottery is different from the regular.

I won the Premium lottery for 7/19/2006.


I recieved 550 np.


Go to this link: http://www.neopets.com/games/lottery.phtml

The winners for that day (found if you scroll down below where you buy the ticket) are: timenmick, somersetsy, sally131213, hugoleonel15, brandon221996, katu_fushigi, lacris_89, paparon1951, austinsnana1956, munkeybutt222, tanaya10672, kitland159, moertchen, daddys_gurl34822, maria_12_, loveya101__50, loveya101__50, melon9999751, ketisteric, mewe1234, strawberry_kiwi19, dblou, the_darkestangel, zebrazork, austinland, elfy777, cowgirl_747, danniejr, madisin199, c_obra, kb24formvp, jersey_girl47, wdiablo16, lesada, brian20001608, 14gun, kingzach1

My neopets name is the same there as it is here: psyco_chick32. My name is not in the previous list. Also, you'll note the share for that day was: 54,654. That is 54,104 less than I received.

Pick a name from the list and go to that person's lookup. For example, I chose kingzach1. He has a trophy that looks like this: on his lookup.

Now go to mylookup.

Do you see a trophy like that on my user lookup? I seriously hope not, because I have never bought a ticket for the real Neopian lottery.