Anything I should be doing?

[katineko]

Hello,

I am bit overwhelmed over the decision on what to do to my island, and how to prepare for the update.
Do I necessarily have to flatten my island? What benefits are there in doing so? Do I need to be at a certain point in the game? I kind of don't want to collect everything like finish my museum etc. before the update. It feels like I would be rushing. I may prepare for Halloween. But, are there some things that you guys suggest, or recommendations? I would also love to hear what others have done in preparation. Pictures would be neat as well!
By the way, should I go ahead and update to the current latest version? I haven't played in awhile!
Thank you for your input

 

[JellyBeans]

the beauty of animal crossing is there is never any certain point that you 'should' be at in order to experience something! first off i would recommend updating to the latest version, purely because it just means you're up to date on any small fixes and things like that. as for flattening your island, it's entirely up to you! some people are choosing to do so now because the update has given them a new burst of inspiration to play and redecorate, especially since we're getting new furniture and crops, and flattening the island means you can start from scratch and build up a new island as you desire without having to entirely reset. on the other hand, you may prefer to keep your island as it is and just make space for any new crops, or pick and choose little items to redecorate - or just leave it entirely! preparing for halloween would definitely be a nice use of your time, it's something to do that keeps you occupied without being a full island commitment. and then finally the museum - the update does not by any means have to be a deadline for you to complete stuff by! my museum is far from being finished but that's okay, i'm just working on it slowly over time. animal crossing is designed to be played at your own pace so there's no point rushing through something if you don't want to.
personally, in order to prepare for the update i've just been building my island up a little bit because i finally got some motivation to play after months of leaving my island untouched post resetting! i'm also grinding out bells because i am very much lacking in those, plus trying to build up some more nook miles because a lot of the new items we're getting in the update will require me spending large amounts of miles. hopefully this isn't too much of a ramble lmao, point is just have fun with what you're doing and don't stress too much!

 

[Wickel]

Oh my gosh NO NO NO you don't necessarily need to flatten your island. In fact I would very strongly advice AGAINST it. It is really overwhelming to start building everything up from scratch and chances are you'll feel burnt out and might even restart your whole island experience because you don't know what to do anymore. There's really nothing you need to prepare for, no reason the finish the museum. Just keep playing your game normally..

The reason people are "preparing" their islands for the new update is just because they're excited and want to have a certain spot for (for example) the new vegetables, or want to decorate their dock so it suits Kapp'n. But there's nothing you need to do, and certainly no reason to play the game differently than normal.

We don't know if we need to be at specific points in game to unlock certain abilities yet, but I assume if you have your Town Hall and Nook's upgrade built than you're good to go.

Personally I took the opportunity to move my Nook's to a different spot and built a foresty-community garden around it, with a bunch of empty plots waiting for the new crops. I haven't done much else in preparation. But placing Halloween decorations everywhere is of course always fun.

 

[nightglow]

I regretted flattening my island when I did so. I found it harder to make natural looking rivers when I did that instead of bit by bit editing what I had. Some people prefer rivers that look like man made canals though so I guess it depends what you are wanting to go for and what you like. I would just start at a location and edit it and go out from there bit by bit personally.

 

[Holla]

I have never flattened my island. It works great for some but not everyone. I preferred to work with my "natural" island and make small changes as needed like making certain cliffs smaller/larger, making one section of the river go more north and changing pond locations as just a few examples.

 

[KimvW]

I do not think there is anything you really need to do before the update. I only cleared a spot for the new crops, for the rest I left everything as is. I think it will take me quite some time to collect all the new furniture.

If you are low on bells or nook miles, you could spend some time earning those.

 

[Khaelis]

There's no wrong thing you can do. It really just depends what you're up to doing.

Do I necessarily have to flatten my island?

You don't have to if you don't want to. But, if you want to, go ahead! Nothing wrong with doing so.

What benefits are there in doing so?

This is all opinions in the end, but if you can think of a few pros without many cons, that's beneficial, right?

Do I need to be at a certain point in the game?

Realistically, you'd just want every major 'unlock' just to be safe if they're a 'prerequisite' to unlocking new content;
- Resident Services Building
- Able Sisters
- Museum (with art exhibit unlocked)
- Nook's Cranny's upgraded
- Island Designer unlocked (with all additional Nook Miles add-ons purchased)
- Make sure you have access to Harv's Island
- Make sure you have all permanent unlocks purchased from the Nook Stop (inventory, hairs, reactions, etc)

As well as these if you want to over prepare a bit;
- Making sure you have ample Nook Miles as it appears you need about 17,000 Nook Miles to unlock all new permanent additions, but I'd aim for at least 30,000 to be safe and for any additional purchases you'd want for any new items they're adding.
- Making sure you have ample Bells to purchase the additional Storage space expansions. It would be safe to assume that they will be at least as expensive as the first one, being 500,000 Bells. Additionally, make sure you have ample Bells to unlock the RV Shops on Harv's Island. There appears to be seven total, and each one's likely going to set you back a bit of Bells.

 

[Pig-Pen]

Do whatever makes you happy! I'm constantly building and tearing down, rinse and repeat, that's what gets my goat, so to speak. lol

 

[kayleee]

Like others have said, I definitely wouldn’t completely flatten my island if I were you - instead, maybe just clear out certain areas in preparation for things, like a spot for a farm to grow crops, or spaces where you plan to utilize new furniture. Flattening completely can be really overwhelming and kind of ruin the fun/relaxing vibe of the game (at least, that is my experience with it). I’ve done a few things to my island in preparation for the update but for most areas I’m waiting to see what the update has to offer and then will hopefully gain some inspiration to start redoing areas.

 

[Etown20]

I would say don't worry about doing anything beforehand.

I think there's going to be a desire to want to experience everything from the update immediately, but it's important to remember this is the last update. There's probably not more coming after this, so there shouldn't be a rush to get everything done or experience everything immediately. I would advise going at your own pace and doing whatever you find most enjoyable.

 

[Fey]

You literally don’t need to do anything. Honestly, I think most people just like “preparing” because it gives them something to do while they wait for the update. Most content will be easily accessible if you’ve played even just a few weeks (or days!) in the game.

The only thing I can think of is making some money to unlock the new shops on Harv’s Island, and saving up Nook Miles to use on the new Kapp’n tours. You can just go at a leisure pace though—personally, I think taking it slow is much nicer, because it’ll make the content last much longer.

For context, when the game first came out I rushed some things in order to keep up with other players, but ended up really regretting it.

 

[miraxe]

For the most part, I am keeping everything as is.

The changes I'm making are:

• Keeping crafting materials instead of selling them.
• Harvesting pumpkins instead of leaving them on my island as just decoration.

Otherwise, everything is the same as usual for me. Animal Crossing is a bit more personal in what's the "right" thing to do than other games since there's no correct or incorrect way to play. I know some people who have been unhappy with their islands for some time and are taking this chance to flatten and restart without restarting and some who actually are restarting. I plan to keep my gates open for TBT members while I'm at work for anyone who needs shops to visit, and I'm sure many others will do the same. Do what makes you comfortable.

 

[Monokuma73]

By the way, should I go ahead and update to the current latest version? I haven't played in awhile!
Thank you for your input

It's quite obvious for me... but for some reason you may want not to update... but why?

I am bit overwhelmed over the decision on what to do to my island, and how to prepare for the update.

One universal advice: wait till the day of update, and play the way you like.

Do I necessarily have to flatten my island? What benefits are there in doing so? Do I need to be at a certain point in the game? I kind of don't want to collect everything like finish my museum etc. before the update. It feels like I would be rushing. I may prepare for Halloween. But, are there some things that you guys suggest, or recommendations? I would also love to hear what others have done in preparation. Pictures would be neat as well!

There's no proper / wrong way you playing - do this as you want to. There's no goal needs to be completed prior the update. You may be a first-day-player, and start your game 4th of November and still will be fine.

 

[DJStarstryker]

I'm not resetting or flattening. Resetting makes you lose progress of your catalog and your DIYs (I'm getting close to complete... at least what exists pre-2.0), but it also makes you lose progress of your museum (100% complete for me). Flattening doesn't make you lose progress, but if you're happy with what you have you don't need to do that. There's things I'm not quite happy with, but those things have nothing to do with terraforming. It's just decorating. 2.0 will actually help me with that by giving me more options.

Just because there's a lot of people resetting or flattening right now doesn't mean you need to do so.

 

[EtchaSketch]

Oh my gosh NO NO NO you don't necessarily need to flatten your island. In fact I would very strongly advice AGAINST it. It is really overwhelming to start building everything up from scratch and chances are you'll feel burnt out and might even restart your whole island experience because you don't know what to do anymore. There's really nothing you need to prepare for, no reason the finish the museum. Just keep playing your game normally..

I second this. I flattened my whole island and would just run around it in circles for months not being able to decide what to do. I finally had to restart and now I’m happy again! So I strongly advise against flattening your island as well.

 

[Regalli]

I restarted for Welcome Amiibo in New Leaf and very much regretted it - losing the progress on my museum in particular was disheartening, and my town tree never got as big as it did from my original playthrough.

 

[Romaki]

I wouldn't flatten the entire island, I would work section by section.

 

[Bugs]

The only preparation I've been doing is throwing away overgrown flowers and griding for Nook miles