I had rarely let villagers move onto my island randomly. As I have all of series 1-4 fully complete with amiibo cards, and have a majority of series 5 and WA, I can just move in almost anyone I want easily. If the next game utilizes amiibo functionality, expect me to do this again unless I get someone really good right away.
Only two random villagers have stayed on my game-release main island for over a few months. Patty (who's still here and I'm keeping) and Coco (moved out in May of this year). I wouldn't mind trying to go the random route again in the next game, but as mentioned previously, I have a sizable amiibo collection that will get utilized if needed.
As for campsite villagers, I only moved in the required first one (Ken), and have only talked to the rest if I decide to go visit. Since the 12th visitor or so, I've been "archiving" everyone that visits the campsite randomly, simply by screenshotting the Switch as I'm talking to them. That way, I see who visited on certain dates. As of this post, I've archived 77 such villagers.
Wahu is pretty much done villager-wise, and I don't plan on replacing anyone anytime soon.
Before I settle on my 10 villagers I just took in whoever I thought look interesting from the islands or campsite. I didn't like adopting villagers cause I like them to keep their original houses and I don't like the random custom design clothes on them.
most of my villagers right now are permies but i've left the 10th plot available for inviting a random villager! i like the randomness of the game so sometimes it's island hunting, getting the campsite villager to kick them out, or i just let it randomly fill up.
so far i like the villagers i've gotten so i'll continue to use that 10th plot to play with more villagers until i move in my last permie since it'll be an amiibo villager
Right at the start of the game I let a few plots fill up randomly. I refused to visit my friends island at this time because I didn't want anyone from her void and she was a little annoyed at me because she wanted to play together
Nowadays I get my villagers from mystery island tours. I selected both options for having a villager in mind but also not, I usually have a few people that I'm looking for but I also very often pick someone else. Island hopping can be a lot of work but it's something that I also find to be pretty fun!
I do have a few amiibo cards but I don't really use them for villagers for my island because I didn't really get the cards of my dreamies. The only villager I've invited via amiibo so far was Ètoile who lived on my island for several months but she's moved out since then.
i don't really like getting villagers from others honestly. no offense but i don't like that villagers talk about their old islands or island representatives, it's kind of weird to me unless they're a friend of mine.
i prefer finding the villagers i want on nook mile islands. there's something fun about hunting them down (of course i say that now that i haven't done so in like a year, i'm sure i'll go back to finding it painful at some point lol) and finally finding them. i don't mind getting villagers from my campsite but it's not as fun, plus the campsite games suck.
I prefer amiibo card invitations or mystery island tours! I know I bought a handful of villagers from people on tbt for New Leaf, but I actually don't think I've done it for New Horizons. My amiibo card collection is bigger than what it was during my NL era so if I ever felt the need to scam someone in I just went that route. However, I've also come to like mystery island tours! ^^ I haven't done one in a while and only have one or two villagers left I'd like to replace. I have certain villagers in mind and have their amiibo cards, but I'll definitely do some island hopping because there's a certain thrill and excitement I find to it (even though Orville yaps too much akfkdfk). I tend to get over it around 100 NMT or less though, so I guess we'll see how long it is beforeI run out of patience and scan someone in instead.
Mystery Island Tours (without a specific villager in mind)
Mystery Island Tours (hunting for a specific villager)
Invite campsite villagers (non-amiibo)
These are the options I selected. If I have numerous amount of NMT then I usually hunt for a specific villager. However, most of the time I usually just pick the villager I find to have the best design. I rarely get good campsite villagers, but when I do I try to kick out a villager who has been on my island for an extended period of time. I don't have anu amiibo cards so non-amiibo is the way I go.
I have amiibo cards but I much prefer to go hunting on mystery islands. the excitement of not knowing what villager would show up is fun to me, although sometimes it can get pretty tedious if the same villager (or villagers I don’t really care for) keep showing up. I sometimes have a villager in mind when I go hunting but if I end up seeing someone else who catches my fancy I will invite them instead. I also sometimes invite by campsite if it happens to be a villager I like to be on my island. when I get too lazy to do anything I will sometimes just let the plot fill itself with a random villager, the surprise can be nice.
I have a little collection of amiibo cards so if I want someone specific I can usually just invite them that way, but I like to shuffle through villagers every now and then by inviting them from the campsite or island hopping until I find someone neat. I've gotten some villagers I wound up loving by letting the plot fill randomly but I haven't done that in a while because I just know the next time I do I'll get Hippeux or something
