Charity Corner - Living with Less

Siniri · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2019 4:20 am

I have 718 points carried over. I can't remember how many I actually had left because I used some.

Yeah, they messed up. I feel like JS just doesn't get the way the Neopets economy works. They're constantly messing things up (though old TNT did to some extent, too...). Giving rare items messed it up, giving free high-quality weapons for basically participation messed it up... Closing prize shops before announcing the specific date of closure. For every time they learn, they seem to make two new mistakes.

Blue · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2019 1:58 pm

Did the point values change yesterday/today?

On Wednesday, donating 10 Icy Snowballs yielded me 10 points. This morning, they yielded 60?

While it is going slightly faster, this process still takes way too long. It would be awesome if this could be in the "Quick Stock" as a way to donate to the CC.

It looks like I carried over 81 points from last year. It is likely everything that I earned.

Where/how do we check how many points we have earned so far this year?

Something Has Happened! wrote:

You are now eligible to use 'Charity Corner 2019' as an avatar on the NeoBoards!

Daze · **Posted:** Fri May 10, 2019 4:06 pm

Blue, the value counter is glitched (image that!!).

If you donate 10 of the same item, it only displays the amount for the 1st one.
When you donate at least 1 different item in the group, it displays the correct value.

To check your points earned, click on the orange button on the top right of machine.
~~It doesn't automatically refresh when you have donated, so to see the new amount, refresh page after donating.~~
Apparently TNT have fixed this issue, as my points are now updating with the donation.

I am at around 6500 points. I hope the improved version of this machine that TNT promise us will really make this process quicker. I have thousands of items I want to use.

Siniri · **Posted:** Sat May 11, 2019 2:43 pm

I'm at 2000. Plus the 700 carryover, it seems like I can get at least one of the boons, especially if it's vastly improved Monday. I find that I can watch a video, do a lesson on Duolingo*, or study for my personal training exam (using my flashcard app or watching a video) on my phone while donating on my computer and still mostly concentrate on my real activity, so it's not so bad.

*If you want to learn/refresh a language, I like the Duolingo app. If you don't already have it, I can give you a referral code to upgrade us both to Duolingo Plus for a week.

Edit: Up to 5k (+ the carryover). I should be able to make at least one of the boons. Hopefully they expedite it significantly. I'd love for them to use quickstock, especially since we're at risk of pant devil the way it is now. Also letting us hit "enter" instead of having to click "yes." And less delay while donating and waiting for the machine to reset after we've donated.

I'm nearly out of sticky snowballs, so donating will slow down for me soon.

Blue · **Posted:** Sat May 11, 2019 6:04 pm

Daze wrote:

To check your points earned, click on the orange button on the top right of machine.

Thanks Daze. That orange button is super obvious that it shows how much we have earned so far ... not.

I have a whopping 600 points donated this year. That means I earned 6 points per Icy Snowball, considering that I donated exactly 100 so far. If I really work up the desire, I'll look at the highest point value items and see if I can reach 1000 points for a decent boon. Perhaps not. Time will tell.

@Siniri - multitasking is a good idea, considering how long it takes to donate. Duolingo is great. Too bad I already have it, or I would take you up on your offer

Siniri · **Posted:** Mon May 13, 2019 2:06 am

Blue, here's a list sorted by price. But even easier is going through your SDB and looking for "very rare," "ultra rare," or "super rare" (6-8 points) under the items (use ctl-f "rare"). Check books (Wise Old King gives a lot), plushies (battling), sticky snowballs, magic (various healing potions)... Or just go through your SDB page by page.

As I go through JN's list, I'm searching my SDB for the broader category (so I gather all VR/UR "sword"s at once, for example, or all "plushie"s or "snow" - "cola" covers chocolate, too). If I have multiples, I assume it's not worth a lot, but I run a price check in JN for anything I'm not sure of (by searching for the same search term, R90-100, so I can easily price-check everything in that category at once). So far, I'm not donating my pirate krawk MPs (100k+ NP each) I won from the forgotten shore.

Finally, buy a sticky snowball and heal your pet at the healing springs every 30 minutes that you're on Neo (worth 8 points for 25 NP, vs. 6 points for 5 NP for icy - my time is worth the 20 NP to get 25% more CC points per donation).

Edit: I have enough for the bank boon. I have 637 icy snowballs to donate; once I've donated those, I'll need another 5548 points for the stock boon. I just might be able to get both after all. But then I'll never ever battle, and then I'll have no items to donate next year...

Edit: Finally having to go page by page. It's probably way more efficient (remember to start at the back so when you remove items, you don't have to recheck the same page). I have to decide whether it's worth using up my 23 elixirs of intellect. For now, I'm sidestepping them... And I have 2 cooling ointments (7500), a candy corn latte (10k), and scroll of freezing (19k), which is worth using to reach the stock boon if necessary...

Definitely way more efficient. Took less than 45 minutes to get through it all. I have 8646 points + 718 carryover + 212*6 + 637*6 = 14458 -> 3542 more points needed for bank + stock boon.

And then I'm stuck with 2- and 1- point items. That's a long haul. Well, I'm doing all the dailies and buying all the sticky snowballs I can over the next week! Hopefully that will help some.

Edit: So many RE's. Glad to get this one:

Quote:

What's this? It seems you've found a piece of the secret laboratory map!

It's a piece only worth 27k, and it's worth 8 CC points... We'll see if I need it.

Blue · **Posted:** Mon May 13, 2019 2:30 pm

Thanks Sinri, that is really helpful. Now I need to decide if it is worth shooting for 8k points between today and tomorrow (ends tomorrow IIRC).

I did have a bunch of the Tyrannian Goulash in my SDB. That will be a good start.

Siniri · **Posted:** Mon May 13, 2019 8:48 pm

No, no, we have another week, Blue! It ends on the 20th according to the first post. Don't do that to me! Sheesh.

I seriously think it's easiest to go page by page through the SDB ctl-F'ing "rare." And buying those sticky snowballs. I battled in the Underwater Arena today and didn't get a single VR/UR item. I thought it was better than the prehistoric one, but maybe not... I did get two red codestones - first time I've ever been mildly annoyed to get those! :lol:

I'm at 10,300-something (I guess 11k with carryover). I'm starting on my 600 icy snowballs (another 3.6k). The last 3k are going to be harder. Just trying to buy sticky snowballs as often as I can. At least I can sneak it in on my phone if I have WiFi.

Also, I'm seeing absolutely no improvement in the ease of donating yet. Hopefully they'll roll that out sooner than later...

Daze · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2019 11:53 am

The improved Charity Corner is live!

The upgraded declutter machine has a limit of 15 items and
when you click the basket you get taken to an Item Discard Checklist

To make it even faster:
Click on one box, then TAB, SPACE. Alternate between the 2 until you have to submit.
You can declutter straight away without going to Atsumi.

Siniri · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2019 1:02 pm

Hmm. Clicking the basket doesn't take me there. Thanks for the link and explanation, Daze!

Even faster faster: click "back" after hitting declutter, and the next fifteen items will be automatically selected for you!

Edit: I just donated 390 icy snowballs in less than five minutes! Including posting here and somewhere else!

Edit: And I emptied my SDB of the R102-179 items, too... Now I've got to look for 1- and 2- point items. I'm at 14,340 (15,058 with carryover). That means I need another 2942 for the bank and stock boons...

Blue · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2019 1:11 pm

Oh yes. Thanks Daze! I love this. Just like QuickStock. Now, I can Declutter without using a second browser. Old Opera 12 will not load the machine, but this works. YAY!

The back button trick does not appear to work on Opera 12. It does select the next 12, but the Declutter button cannot be clicked.

Still a million times better than before.

Siniri · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2019 2:09 pm

Maybe if you uncheck one and recheck it, the trick will work? Might still be faster...

Edit: I just discovered I have over 1000 bottled faeries, which will net me over 2k. I should be able to get both boons. How long will it take me to declutter them all?

Edit again: It was more like 1100-1200 bottled faeries, and it took less than 30 minutes, even while taking a couple of Duolingo lessons.

18132 points (18,850 with carryover)

Boom. Now what other perks might I like? Is it worth having to scrounge for them? Detailed analysis in spoiler.

Summary:
Spiked is worth 350k net (700k *2) for 1k CC points (2k for 2) if you're training with 2 reds = 350 NP/CC point
Stock perk is worth 1,325k NP net for 10k CC points = 132.5 NP/CC point
Bank perk is worth 700k NP net for 8k CC points (assuming 30M NP in bank) = 87.5 NP/CC point
Wheel perk is worth 5k net for 100 CC points, assuming you can spin a lot in one day (12x WoExcite, 15x WoMed, 1x WoMon extra) = 50 NP/CC point
Food Club Blimey perk is worth 100k NP net for 5k CC points (assuming betting 10k/bet) = 20 NP/CC point
Refreshed Quest is worth 0 NP net for 1k CC points = 0 NP/CC point (breaks even at 2 reds)
Cartographication perk is worth -3k NP net for 100 CC points = -30 NP/CC point (if you want to throw money away...)
Scratch card perk is also a net loss: -36k NP net for 1000 CC points = -.036 NP/CC point
Perk Me Up may be worth it if the exclusive item is a stamp or other collectible, especially if it's on an avatar page... but you would only have a 1/10 chance of getting the exclusive item, and what if there's a pool of items to get? Even if you bought 10 coupons, you'd only have a 2/3 chance of getting the item perk... Is it worth having extra points just in case there's something good here? Or waiting to spend some of your points, just to see?

*Note that the price of CC items is assumed to be 100 NP/2-CC-point item. Obviously some inflate more than others. The NP/CC point ratios are just to give you an idea of point efficiency; the price of items have already been subtracted to create the net results. Only boons I consider worth it are in the summary, sorted by point efficiency. Randomness has been accounted for using expected values and assumed (equal) probabilities.

Pickles · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2019 2:22 pm

I'm attempting to get to 10k at least, but I'm not sure it'll happen. I still have a ton of things that need to happen this week, and honestly, even with the new system, I'm not sure it's worth my time.

I'm not usually one to be bitter about things that happen on Neo, but I'm still reallllly sore about losing all the points from last year, because had I known how much to donate last year, I certainly wouldn't have emptied my SDB, and I would've had that 22k worth of points left to donate for this year. (And we're not even going to talk about all the time I spent last year on it or how much my hands ached after that much donating, either). The way TNT has decided to handle this really burns, and with all the demands on my time IRL, it's REALLY made me think about finally quitting.

Siniri · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2019 5:37 pm

I'm sorry, P. That really stinks. That's how I felt when they closed the AC prize shop with no warning one year.

I edited my last post with a detailed analysis of CC points. There are really only a handful of boons worth it, and they're sorted by value (with assumptions included where I remembered to do so).

I think I'll aim for 20k (okay, 19,282 points) for Spiked, bank, and stock perks. If I accidentally go over that, I'll spend the excess on the wheel perk. I'm tempted to go another 2k over just in case the item from Perk Me Up is a stamp... If it's not, I've got 20 wheel boons to do over the course of a year, but if it is, I've got a 1/10 chance of getting the stamp (and a coin flip of a chance of getting a decent boon).

We'll see how I feel after 20k.

Blue · **Posted:** Wed May 15, 2019 2:09 pm

Siniri wrote:

Maybe if you uncheck one and recheck it, the trick will work? Might still be faster...

Yep! This works well. Huge time saver! I was able to donate 160 items this morning in about 5 minutes

Already up to 3148 points. Now that this is reasonably doable, I will continue to do more.

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Charity Corner - Living with Less

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