Newbie Guide Part Five

The Newbie Guide consists of five parts:


 * Part One: The Newbie Guide Main Page
 * Part Two: Items & Money
 * Part Three: Pet Activities & Training your Pets
 * Part Four: Caring for pets
 * Part Five: Newbie FAQ

As PsyPets is a fairly complex game, we've compiled a list of questions frequently asked by newbies. Once you've been playing for a while, you'll want to explore and make your own discoveries, but until then, these answers should satisfy any questions you may have. If there is a question that isn't here but you think it should be, please don't hesitate to mail Rev.

Newbie DO's and DONT's
Things you should and should not do as a very newbie

Do...

 * Take all the items from your storage into your house and leave them there.
 * Feed your pet only when it says it's hungry, very hungry or starving.
 * Log in as often as you can in the first few days and pet your pet, until it feels comfortable and nuzzles you.
 * Save your money until you have enough monies to buy the License to Commerce.
 * Always leave some food in the house (preferably only full meals, and preferably food your pets like)
 * If you need to buy extra food, do not obtain snacks, instead try to find cheap (5) meals. Click on the food icon to open the encyclopedia and see what meal size the food is for your pet. Recommended cheap food items are Oranges, Prickly Greens, Jerky, Yam, Coconut Meat or Bananas.
 * Sell your higher level crafting and inventing materials (from the daily resources Debris, which you always should Search), such as metals, clay or glass. Your young pet is not skilled enough to make anything useful with those, and it is a good source for moneys.

Don't...

 * Feed the orange to your pet when you start out. Leave it in the house for when you are gone. (thanks to Vicious Ruff)
 * Buy snack size food or expensive stuff that sounds good to you.
 * Buy pretty and shiny things until you have enough spare moneys (more than 1000)
 * Adopt a new pet until you have enough extra moneys (more than 1000)
 * Adopt a high level pet. These are often put into the shelter because they are unskilled at any particular task, or simply eat too much or demand too many items. It's nearly impossible to quickly retrain a high level pet into a different skill, so you may end up with a pet that turns your two 250 a piece clay into Ornate Vases which you can only sell for 10. You will have a better and more defined pet if you adopt a level 1 pet and raise it on your own. (thanks to Vicious Ruff)
 * Sign up your pets for park events until you have enough extra moneys.
 * Buy expensive tools or equipment until you can afford it.

Basic FAQ

 * Q. What on earth am I getting myself into!? What IS PsyPets?

A. Psypets is a virtual pet site based off Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. See here for a more in-depth description of the psychology behind PsyPets, and how that hierarchy pertains to how you deal with your pets.


 * Q. What are the specific parts of Maslow's hierarchy that I have to worry about?

A. The parts that PsyPets uses are food, safety, love, and esteem, in order beginning with the most basic. If the most basic needs are not met, then the higher-level needs will not increase. For example, if your pet is fed but not feeling safe, he or she will not be able to gain any love or esteem points until safety is increased.


 * Q. How do I meet my pets' needs?

A. Food is met by feeding your pets any edible items. You can buy food from the Flea Market or the Grocery Store, or your pet may gather, hunt, or defeat for it as one of their hourly actions. Safety is met by having pillows or furniture in your home and by petting your pet. Love is met by petting your pet, playing with your pet, and feeding him or her homemade foods. Esteem is met by brushing your pet, playing with your pet, feeding your pet food made by other users (such as items you can find in the Flea Market), and by having esteem increasing items in your home, such as figurines and paintings.


 * Q. How do I make money so that I can meet my pets' needs, enter them in events, and spoil them?

A. Every 24 hours you can receive 54, a 12-hour food box and Debris as part of your Daily Allowance. You can either keep the food and resources you get from the food box and Debris, or you can sell them back to the game for money until you earn enough to purchase the Licence to Commerce for 538. Once you've bought the Licence to Commerce, you will be able to operate a store and do deals with the Pawn Shop, which generally allows you to sell back items that you earn or your pets collect for far greater prices than the game sellback price.


 * Q. How do I acquire more pets?

A. The only ways to acquire more pets are to adopt them through the Pet Shelter, or to have your pet give birth to one. The Pet Shelter very rarely has pets, with the implementation of pregnancies, but if you're lucky enough to find one there, you can buy one for 383. With birthing, your pet will be pregnant for a month, although you will only see that he or she (yes, males can get pregnant too) is pregnant after a month. During pregnancy, pets generally eat more, have their stats go down faster, and are less active, so if you aren't prepared to check up on them regularly and deal with the pitfalls of pregnancy, it is better to spay or neuter your pet, which is a free service. Keep in mind that spaying and neutering causes a temporary decrease in your pet's stats. The baby will be a random breed and have random stats, so it's truly a surprise!


 * Q. Why did my pet suddenly stop doing things?

A. Pets are less likely to be successful at certain actions when the gods are not happy, but will not actually be able to do anything if the house is at 100% capacity. When your house is entirely full, it's time to either upgrade your house size, or move items to storage so that your pets will once again be able to complete their actions. It is also possible that you will notice your pets attempting to build add-ons more often than they normally would, or significantly more than other actions.


 * Q. Do my pets need more materials so they can finish what they've started?

A. No. Once a pet has begun a project, all of the resources that need to be used have already been accounted for. After that, it's simply a matter of your pet deciding whether or not to work on the project until it is complete. 

Leveling Up

 * Q. What is leveling up? How do I level up my pets?

A. See here.


 * Q. What are the different specialties a pet can have?

A. See here and here.


 * Q. How do I know how to level up a pet?

A. See here for a list of some of the questions you may get for a level up question, and how the answers could affect your pets. You can choose whichever answer you like, as none are negative answers, and by doing so, you will further develop your pet's skills and personality! Choose the answers you think most suit your pet.

Communication

 * Q. What are the different methods of communication on PsyPets?

A. You can communicate on PsyPets by Psymail, which is the in-game mailing system located at the post office and is available to all residents, and the Plaza, which is a multitude of different forums where everyone can talk as a community.


 * Q. How do I format my messages?

A. PsyPets markup has a complete list of ways to format your messages, including basic formatting through size and color, as well as adding links, images, and much more. Emoticons shows you a list of available emoticons on Psypets.


 * Q. Y r peepl yelin @ me!?!??!!1111?!1312/2u5o32u0

A. That would be because you are talking like a complete n00b, which is a negative term, as opposed to a newb, which simply means "new, inexperienced person". When communicating with others on PsyPets, please be sure to use proper spelling and grammar, as it makes the experience far more pleasant for everyone. Also, if you come in talking like that, people will instantly become irritated with you, which is not a good thing when you're new and still looking for advice.


 * Q. What are the standard rules for PsyPets communication?

A. PsyPets doesn't have any set rules, and celebrates free speech - within reason. You will have to agree with the Plaza agreement before you can post, ensuring that you understand the basic rules. The unwritten rules on PsyPets also include using proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure, not spamming, not begging, and not acting like an arrogant diva. Essentially, be friendly and coherent, and you will be embraced! 

Your Account

 * Q. I forgot my password! Help!

A. Please click on the 'Reset my Password' link. This resets your password to a computer generated one, and you can change it afterwards. Please be reminded that you need an actual e-mail address, for your e-mail to be sent.


 * Q. My account was hacked!

A. It is extremely unlike that your account was hacked, unless you've given out your login name and password. If you've done that, it's entirely your fault that your account has been hacked. However, as stated above, this is unlikely, and chances are that you've simply forgotten your password. To do that, reset your password by following the directions in the above question. If you haven't supplied a valid e-mail address, or the e-mail address was actually changed, then you will probably have to begin a new account.


 * I left for a few days and I'm not so sure if my pets would still be alive.

A. Click on the retroactive vacation link so that the game will think you were in vacation mode during the time you last logged out and now.