How do you know what to buy?

[Eeyore's Pal]

Another newbie question.
How do you know whether to buy one of the special items?
Clothing?
Furniture?
Or, when do you decide to buy extras for trade?

Now that DD and I have been playing for 12 days (!), we have saved up some credits.

So far we've only spent credits on clothes we wanted for ourselves or furnishings for our rooms.

What do we buy next?

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Always buy the weekend specials, always. Two of everything if you wish to keep 1 and trade 1 later. This is critical because later down the road these items will usually be in various degrees of demand and you can use them to either trade for something else you want or trade for something you missed. Ex. I used some of my extra hats from November 2005 in March 2006 to trade for stuff I had missed from that January-March. I hadn't been in game all that time because I was sick off and on and didn't feel like playing. So, either way, if you become a major trader or if you need stuff to fall back on for the times you do miss items, weekend specials (such as pins) will be helpful to you to an extent later on. Some get quite rare also; pins I bought in 2006: some go for quite a lot nowadays.

Otherwise, buy what you want even from the non-special sections because you never know when it might be yanked from the stores.

 

[redsfan]

Always buy the weekend specials, always. Two of everything if you wish to keep 1 and trade 1 later. This is critical because later down the road these items will usually be in various degrees of demand and you can use them to either trade for something else you want or trade for something you missed. Ex. I used some of my extra hats from November 2005 in March 2006 to trade for stuff I had missed from that January-March. I hadn't been in game all that time because I was sick off and on and didn't feel like playing. So, either way, if you become a major trader or if you need stuff to fall back on for the times you do miss items, weekend specials (such as pins) will be helpful to you to an extent later on. Some get quite rare also; pins I bought in 2006: some go for quite a lot nowadays.

Otherwise, buy what you want even from the non-special sections because you never know when it might be yanked from the stores.

First off: Welcome to VMK and especially welcome to the Dis VMK forum.

I totally agree with everything that SorcererDonald16 said except one thing. I would personally suggest buying at least 6 of every weekend special that comes out. One to keep and 5 to trade in the future or in your case 7, one for you and one for your daughter and still 5 for future trades. If you think that trading will be something you will really like about the game then I would recommend buying even more of the weekend specials. Personally I love trading so I try to buy to at least 25 of every weekend item that comes out. Not always successful at that but I try.

Hope this helps,
Redsfan

 

[SorcererDonald16]

I actually agree with you, redsfan, about the number of specials to buy. I was going on bare minimum of 1 to keep and 1 to trade per person.

Back in the old golden days of VMK in the summer of 2006 (let me get my cane out...) I bought about 14 of everything that came out. Sadly time does not afford me that luxury anymore, but I try to aim for around 5-6 of everything. Flopped on that big time during Christmas though; too much stuff for me to afford!

 

[aliceblue]

Just my two cents here.....

It takes a lot of time and effort to buy several of everything that comes out. If you want to do a lot of trading, that's fine. Personally, I haven't seen nearly as much demand for retired weekend specials as there used to be, and have adjusted my buying way down.

A lot of the regular stuff in the shops is amazing; quite different from the early days. If you'd like to try decorating some rooms or building rides, I would recommend buying items a little at a time to experiment with, then stock up on more as you get comfortable with them.

I've given up trying to outguess VMK as to what they're going to take away. Just buy what appeals to you and enjoy it.

Welcome to VMK!

 

[RachelNinja]

I suggest doing player quests (go to the Rooms search and type in "quest"). That's how I got the majority of my furniture (Philharmagic chairs, pirate thrones, etc) because it's more likely that a player will put in buyable prizes than rare (although I have gotten some rare from quests too!). That way you can save for weekend specials.

Sometimes on the trade boards, DISers sell buyables for less the price (sometimes half the price) of the store because they have too much. Then you can furniture in bulk. That way you can still save more credits since you're buying for both yourself and your daughter.

 

[aengus]

I think the buying plans are great, but they require you play the game long term to pan out. Of course if your in the market for Disney movies, then the movie rewards will give you a jump start.

 

[mtlhddoc2]

Well, all of the suggestions are well and good, for experienced players who can consistently bang out 4-5 thousand credits per day, but since you are new, I would simply try to acquire what you want at first while honing your skills at the games. Once you have found your best (or favorite) way to earn credits, decide what type of player(s) you want to be. Do you want to be collectors, traders, game/quest builders? Do you just want to hang out with people, or do you want to role play? And, what do you like? Do you like pins the best? or outfits? or Furniture? These are all important questions to ask yourself before buying things. Also, how much time do you plan to invest in the game? If you only plan an hour or two per week, buying several multiples of each item is probably not the best way to go.

 

[GoofyGeggy]

Well, all of the suggestions are well and good, for experienced players who can consistently bang out 4-5 thousand credits per day, but since you are new, I would simply try to acquire what you want at first while honing your skills at the games. Once you have found your best (or favorite) way to earn credits, decide what type of player(s) you want to be. Do you want to be collectors, traders, game/quest builders? Do you just want to hang out with people, or do you want to role play? And, what do you like? Do you like pins the best? or outfits? or Furniture? These are all important questions to ask yourself before buying things. Also, how much time do you plan to invest in the game? If you only plan an hour or two per week, buying several multiples of each item is probably not the best way to go.

These are wise words for someone just starting out.

When I started, my wife and I didn't really see the point to buying/having furniture or rooms. We liked pins and clothes and focused our efforts in obtaining those. Over the course of time, we started seeing the fun in having rooms and started to acquire any furniture we needed/wanted through trades and shops.

Of course, back in those days there were Host Quests (not Q-button quests) that usually had pretty rare or beta furniture in them. If you were able to win any of those, then the items you were hunting for became easily obtainable...but I digress...

 

[Goofy05]

Welcome to VMK! Doc's going to freak out on this, but I agree with him 100%! You've only been playing 12 days so the first thing you may want to do is become more familiar with VMK before jumping into buying things. Have you done all of the quests for Dive, Drive and Space yet? Have you found all 50 Hidden Mickeys? Those games will help you navigate the map and learn where all the rooms are. When I first started vmk, there weren't as many lands so navigation was much easier. I did the Hidden Mickey search and learned where the rooms were and how to find them using the map. I also did a lot of walking through all the rooms. Meet people, find friends who are willing to help you in the game. I think I built my first room nearly 6 months later, I was so busy meeting new people and learning the games I just didn't have time or credits for building.
As for shopping...buy what appeals to you best. Trading takes research and lots of credits. Again, when I was new, I only bought what I could afford, which wasn't much. As I gained more credits, I started buying pins and costumes in batches of 5. I now only buy 2 each of the pins, unless I really like the pin that week.
Best advice is just have fun! Find some Dis'ers to show you the ropes or explore on your own.

 

[goldengourd]

Welcome to VMK! I hope you and your DD really enjoy it as much as my dd and I do.
25 of each special item , that would sure be nice. But not that many of us have the credits to do that. As a starter, one for each of your characters and one or two to trade is not a bad start. I see you are a pin collector/trader, so I won't be surprised if you do get into liking trading on vmk eventually. But you don't want to completely deplete your credits, one never knows when VMK might put an expensive but cool item in the specials. Oh, and just so you know, the items that are in the special section right today have been there for quite awhile so are not generally what we are talking about. 12 days, hmm, okay so that does put you on when they had the Holiday decorations and gingerbread items in. That is more the type of specials we mean. Soon the gingerbread judging will be over and then the new theme will start, then there will be new items in the special sections of the stores.
I agree with the advice to do the Hidden Mickeys, and the Tomorrowland quests to get your dive/car/space pins. Get comfortable playing the mini games. Try out a few player made quests and games.
I'm goldengourd there too, and would love to get to know you in the game too, so say Hi if you see me.

 

[poohluv2u]

Well, all of the suggestions are well and good, for experienced players who can consistently bang out 4-5 thousand credits per day, but since you are new, I would simply try to acquire what you want at first while honing your skills at the games. Once you have found your best (or favorite) way to earn credits, decide what type of player(s) you want to be. Do you want to be collectors, traders, game/quest builders? Do you just want to hang out with people, or do you want to role play? And, what do you like? Do you like pins the best? or outfits? or Furniture? These are all important questions to ask yourself before buying things. Also, how much time do you plan to invest in the game? If you only plan an hour or two per week, buying several multiples of each item is probably not the best way to go.

Very wise words I found out after a few months that trading was not my *thing* but I do try to buy 2 or 3 of special items just in case a friend misses the opportunity to buy it. I also agree with Aliceblue, I just buy the things I really like and don't stress about the rest.

 

[VirtuallyMe]

All great advice here...

When I first started playing I could crash boats, collect my credits twice a day (dh and I used to help out making runs for each other depending on who could get on the earliest)- and we would hope to shop for things- I was so excited to get pirate furniture for free lol...

When my dd wanted buy stuff I would break it down in how many times she would have to crash boats on ned's dock lol and she would mark down and then go and buy the item. Now she is spoiled and her dad or I get everything for her and her brother.

Once I started playing games and building up my credits is when I started buying more things for trade. I always wanted to keep a few thousand in the bank at any time- but got in the habit of buying stuff for the kids and 5 extras. But then I ended up with tons of extras of things like pins and costumes- there are times when we would all go out and buy buy buy because the item can disappear quickly only to have some spend months in the specials sections. So those items tend to gather dust-

The problem is you never really know what will hang around and what will suddenly disappear. Now I usually try to get one for each character and 1 extra the first day I see something- and then decide later if I want more for building a room or for trading.

Soon as the Gingerbread competition dies out we should get our weekend quests back which is a great way to get some freebies from VMK- usually they have 2 or 3 a weekend during scheduled times -the quests are never that tough and my daughter can do her own even. And we get a few things we might save on having to buy that way.

Spend your time working on your ghost catching, firework popping, and/or ship sinking skills- and build up your credits. Then you don't really have to worry much. Try to get at least your daily credits (one run through of all the NPC's and both music mixes is 280 credits- a far cry from the 120 of the "old days") and if possible run through twice- you can collect NPC credits every 12 hours -so if you go at opening then you can go again that evening...

Have fun and enjoy your time. Make some friends- meet up with DIS people.

 

[seaturtledude]

Of course if your in the market for Disney movies, then the movie rewards will give you a jump start.

I agree