Neopets' Altador Cup V Adds Achievements, Increases Challenge

Neopets, a popular website where users can create or adopt virtual pets, continues the legacy of sportsmanship and friendly competition with the 5^th installment of the "Altador Cup" and the addition of new achievements which are unlocked by task completion. The Neopets land, Altador, and the "AC," resembles ancient greek or roman competitions, locations and fashions, making the AC V the perfect place to promote team selection, loyalty and unity. Unlike in many online games, Neopets and the AC allow users to influence the outcome of the competition; each day, players compete against each other by attempting to amass the most wins in each of the AC games.

This year, Neopetshas upped the ante with the addition of AC achievements. Jellyneo, one of the most popular fan-run information sites about everything Neopets related, has a wonderful guide to unlocking these achievements. Each completion awards the user with a prize, though Neopets fans are theorizing that higher amounts of completions will benefit the player at the end of AC V, when awarded points for spending on items in the AC shop. The most challenging achievement-and the only one to award a "wearable" prize-requires playing game "Make Some Noise" 500 times with a minimum score of 6500; as a long-time player, AC enthusiast and general Neopets game player I share the sentiments of many other site users: Are they kidding?

A "Staff Tournament" featuring The Neopets Team (TNT) employees is scheduled to begin the first round of predictions on June 10th; fans will then be able to fill brackets with their estimates as to which TNT staff member will win at the daily challenge. Like many TNT challenges, the AC V Staff Tournament promises prizes for participants, likely with better prizes or more points to spend awarded to the players with the most accurate guesses at winner placement.

In addition to accumulating points to spend in the shop at the end of AC V, players will likely be rewarded with a limited edition avatar and Neopets site theme, as they have for the last several years. Avatars, which are highly collectable within the Neopets community, are often a big enough lure to gain participants every year.

The Altador Cup is a great way to enjoy a higher sense of camaraderie with fellow Neopets players, complete with an AC V Neoboard-the Neopets on-site forums-and a feature to invite your Neofriends to join your selected Team. "Moltara," the newest land to be unveiled in the Neopets world, joined the roster to be the 18^th AC V Team; unfortunately, Moltara currently as the lowest standing among the Teams. You can check the standings of each AC V Team on the official standingsNeopets page. For the third year in a row, I am avidly supporting Team Maraqua-"We Are Maraqua!"

Previous winners of the Altador Cup were the Haunted Woods in AC 1, Darigan Citadel for AC II, Roo Island took AC III, and Krawk Island managed to win AC IV. Based on current standings, it appears that the Lost Desert Team will finish, provided their momentum continues, somewhere in the top three Teams. If any players care to join a Team with high odds-for shame!-I would recommend the Lost Desert crew.

If you have never tried out the addition that is Neopets, I highly recommend it; I have been active on the site off and on for over nine years, and the amount of games, competitions and social interactions available to players increases every year. If you are interested in testing the waters, AC V is a perfect time to start; come experience the Team loyalty and enthusiasm which fuels the competition every year. Click here to sign-up for Neopets and join this fabulous online community-which isn't limited to kids and teenagers, by any means.

Sources:
Neopets, "The Altador Cup"
JellyNeo, "Altador Cup V"