Do you buy items/bells/diys/etc. or do you progress your island organically?

[cosravet]

Originally I had wanted to progress naturally, but the yearning for certain items and the frustration of not finding them was too much, especially in regards to buyable items. Nook's shop just has such a lottery system, and I've awful luck with the RNGs. I ended up buying everything I needed. But I try and not buy materials, if I can help it.

 

[Bluebellie]

I try to get the DIY myself, however if I’m missing one and really want it, I definetly go out and search for it. I also trade for everything else. I trade for items, bells, and anything that’s trade-able. I don’t regret a thing either. I like how my island is processing.

 

[Roxxy]

At the beginning I definitely progressed organically. It was so slow but to be honest I was scared of trading (I was also scared of posting or even being seen )

I made bells with turnips but my internet was slow and the whole queueing and cutscenes and being disconnected was very frustrating Most of my bells were made through selling fishbait as it was hard to make but valuable as a lot of people had more bells than time I guess.

I have only bought one diy which I was massively overcharged for (because I asked ) I met my first amazing friend Becky and got to catalogue anything I wanted free My love for the game was greatly enhanced by all the cool stuff I got from @Hobowire a true legend

It’s the community here that is so special. All I hope is that I have given back all the kindness I have been given. Sorry for essay, I am not quite so scared now

 

[Raven_]

I am about 4 months in on my current island now and my house is almost fully payed off, I only need one more expansion. I trade and host a lot so naturally I also got a lot of bells that way which I am fine with. I like diving, catching fish and bugs but if I have to do it just to earn more bells it's not that much fun for me. The same with diys and my items, if I wouldn't have traded that much there's no way I would have progressed like I did My nintendo online subscription is also going to run out soon so I am planning to buy another 1 year subscription.. trading is a big part of animal crossing for me

 

[NeighborNoon]

For the first month-and-a-half I played self-sufficiently, but I will and do trade for things now.

Things I'd Buy/Trade: IGB, NMT, villagers, furniture color variants, non-native fruits
Things I'd Prefer to Collect Myself: DIY, villager photos, museum collectibles, seasonal items, hybrid flowers

Anecdotally--I played New Leaf totally offline, and I had no friends to play with, so my progress in that game was faltering and slow--after playing off and on for 3-4 years I was almost finished expanding my house, had all the shops, but had only done like 1 public works project because I could never get the suggestions I wanted and they were expensive. I either forgot about or had no idea about most of the game mechanics until I started looking things up. I found this site about a year ago looking for some items and traded with someone for them--they gave me a bunch of IGB gratis and it was more than I had ever possessed in the game at one time. I think I actually cried.

So in New Horizons, I got through the initial 'story' portion by myself, as it feels more in the spirit of things, but when I ran out of storage space and couldn't keep up with the house payments anymore I bought IGB. I spend a lot of money on clothes~ but other than that, it lets me put down infrastructure and move houses without tremendous financial angst. Grinding for money isn't fun for me, and I know it doesn't matter but I feel kinda bad selling my island critters off for profit. I'm not in a hurry to get my 'dreamies' but I'll look for them through New Neighbor Network or island hopping if a spot opens up. I'm content to wait on catalog variants for now, but if I get desperate for a specific thing I'll trade for it without too much guilt. The other stuff feels like 'post-game' if that makes sense--completing the museum, getting all the hybrids, and collecting and crafting and cataloguing everything.

 

[MapleSilver]

I've mostly been getting stuff myself, though I'll definitely start trading with other people when I have more of an idea of what I want my island to be. Doesn't make sense waiting a year for some furniture to stock when I can just get it from someone on here. I prefer not to buy Bells though.

 

[lemoncrossing]

I definitely buy things wherever I can, since the biggest draw of the game for me is the customization factor. I love feeling free to do whatever I want and however I want, so for me it was the best option to buy all the DIYs through this forum and Nookazon. Admittedly, I was able to collect most of them on my own, but I think I purchased maybe 250-300 of all the DIYs available. Same thing with Redd's art-- I like strolling through the museum and looking at each painting/reading the little blurbs about them, so collecting all the art through online trading was a must-do for me.

I also have 6 player houses (I plan on having all 8 eventually), so I often need a lot of furniture to decorate the rooms with. Since I don't like time travelling to different seasons/events, I will sometimes buy furniture that I wouldn't be able to obtain otherwise (mainly the wedding and birthday sets). Collecting is kind of a nightmare for me sometimes-- places like this site make it easier for me to do what I enjoy in the game, which is decorating rooms and making cute outdoor areas. I've been actively trading on here and Nookazon since the game's release, and I still haven't gotten bored of it! It's actually kind of fun to haggle and strike deals with people on trading websites.

 

[tiffanistarr]

I think it greatly depends on how someone plays the game. I love decorating and was surprised at how much I loved terraforming, so for me it's all about getting to the 3 stars and then i usually trade for bells to pay stuff off and utilize turnips and turnip profit sites. I was able to pay off loans super quickly and amass my bells so now I don't have to worry about that kinda stuff.

 

[Emmsey]

I’ve got two islands so can happily experience both sides of things. All bells, DIYs and art has come naturally on my main island. But on the 2nd island to fast track things I’ve bought recipes and items I’ve wanted for different designs I wanted to achieve. The Redd thing is the hardest thing to not source elsewhere, my mum has an island and has no issue with me sourcing from shops or trades on bell tree but for me I see that as the biggest no no! Not sure why just how I play!

 

[-Lumi-]

I'll buy items, DIYs, and even bells from the forum when I really need them!

My approach to it is that I'll try and get special event items on my own first but if I'm really struggling and it's not fun anymore, I'll buy what I'm after if I really want it. For the most part I've been pretty good for finding the seasonal DIYs I really want but it hasn't been perfect. There's still a couple cherry blossoms DIYs I'm missing that I didn't catch last year but I got the main ones I wanted, so I didn't turn to the forums. It's the same with the mush, festive, and other sets too. If there's something I really want though I'll either buy the DIY or item itself (I got a maple leaf pochette from someone on here and some wedding day items), and then try again for the rest next year. That makes it the most fun for me.

In terms of items from Nooks I basically have to buy them. There are certain sets I want that my Nooks just doesn't carry the colour I want or it'll take me way too long to find because it stocks 3 items a day. It can be fun to slowly build up a room or area of town but again, once it goes from fun to frustrating I turn to the forums and just buy what I'm after.

I think I've bought bells twice now? I don't remember buying them the first time but I feel like I've seen a previous DM of mine where I bought some. I find bells a lot harder to save in this game for whatever reason. Even when I was actively trying to make bells via fruit, fish, and bugs I found it tricky. I'm not sure if it's a mix of the poor interest rate, items seemingly costing more, and I think a big chunk of my bells went to rearranging some buildings. I was content to mull away at my loans slowly but I was running out of storage space, lol. And that was getting frustrating for me so I decided to just buy some bells and pay off my house so that I could enjoy the game more.

 

[k e r f u f f l e]

Nope. No shame towards anyone who does progress in their game like this, but it's not my thing.

I never purchased Nintendo Online, and my island got to a five-star through organic effort!

 

[princess.looking.for.frog]

I bought 12 million bells a while back, and have already spent over half of it or so. I did buy a few nooks items that I don’t have on my nook stop because obviously that was the only way for me to get them! I also bought a few things that you can get from nooks cranny and diys that I missed out on. Also, never bought materials. Though overall, I didn’t buy too much as I rather earn it all as the game progresses.

 

[HappyTails]

I've bought bells, NMT and DIYs in the past but now I'm just earning everything on my own. Unless it's was the two fruits that I didn't have (native, sister or fruit from in game mom) that I did buy on here, everything on my current island is everything I've earned myself (the bells, the DIYs, the furniture) I've earned. It's taking a long time to get stuff done but it's fun.

I learned a while back that (just me personally) buying stuff like money and items ruined the game for me because I don't feel like I truly earned anything and having a bunch of money and being able to pay off everything like *snaps fingers* that, just feels too rushed. I've restarted a many towns and islands because of this but now I'm three weeks into my new island I just NOW unlocked terraforming and it took me 2 1/2 weeks just to get to 9 villagers.

 

[VelveteenCat]

I have very specific tastes and only like items in specific colors, so I bought/ traded for those variants and also DIYs I just couldn't seem to get; otherwise my island would probably be pretty empty. I remember how frustrated I was about the stuff my Nook's offered before I found out about online trading and being able to actually get the things I want makes the game way more enjoyable for me. Next to my villagers the decoration aspect is the main thing that keeps me drawn to AC and if I were stuck with what I found in my game, I would quickly lose interest.
I never bought bells or materials though since these are things anyone can obtain within their own game.

 

[Bluelady]

I do a mixture of in-game luck, time traveling heavily, and trading. In my opinion, I think that this game was designed to be more trade friendly. Almost every order-able item in this game has a wide range of colors to choose from. The fact that you're locked to one set color of that item can make decorating difficult. Sure, you can get different variations from villagers or balloons but that method relies on luck and lots of patience. I don't have time for that.

I would be much happier decorating a room or section of my island the way that I want it, while I still have interest in this game. I don't want to settle or worse, leave a project unfinished because I'm missing several items.

 

[Fye]

I'd say I kept it organic for the first month or so while I was focused on finding my dreamies but after that I started trading for DIYs here to finish that collection, and later started trading item and nook miles item variants. I think if it was possible to have all the variants of each item on our island I wouldn't have to trade as much as I do but between my nook's throwing mainly pink and white furniture my way and wanting to have the same furniture in different colors so I can use the set multiple times without it looking repetitive, trading with others is a necessity for me.

 

[SoftCrowbar]

It’s a mix for me! I started out organically and did two islands organically, but my third one (I reset it again because I was unhappy lol) I got frustrated and ended up purchasing some materials and DIYs. Other than that, I’m trying to play as organically as I can. At least, until I get frustrated that I have like nothing in my Nook’s Shopping so I’ll probably end up buying a cataloging thing or something.

 

[Cloudandshade]

I've never really traded, apart from sending a few things back and forth with irl friends back when they were still playing. I've always been satisfied to be 'self-sufficient' or whatever, but now that a year has passed I'm starting to accept that there are some items that will just NEVER appear in my store for some reason, so I am tempted. I'm kind of scared of it if I'm honest, you hear so many horror stories, and I don't know any of the etiquette

 

[Furrton]

Collecting the DIYs is a pain in butt after getting hundreds of the same ones. I traded/bought. Using NMT to find villagers was pretty neat and I wound up with some neat villagers that way even if they weren't my favorites. Collecting new variations of items is nearly impossible without trading. So I'm on Team Moderation.

 

[Kirbyz]

i personally buy them on here, of course whatever i can get on my own, but if im need of it and i honestly don’t feel like taking the time to get it, i buy it off someone on here. i’d probably die without these forums as my main source of gathering items/diys/nmt. me being impatient as i am, never wants to take the time to collect everything slowly. everyone on here sells stuff for ridiculously good prices, and counting in the time and effort id have to put in just for one item, where i can just buy it off someone on here for a couple tbt bells, id rather buy it off here. in the end it’s supporting the people on here as well who are looking to gain tbt, both sides with benefit and be content. but that’s just me being lazy lmao