I've been trying to get a good half of my villagers to move out so I can go island hopping again for fresh blood, but I haven't had a villager 'thought bubble' at me in close to four days now, and I interact with the villagers frequently. I vaguely recall there was a method in NL to force trigger villagers wanting to talk to you and I was wondering if there's a way to do that in NH as well.
I don't have any amiibo cards and can't force villagers out that way, so I'm looking for alternatives.
I am also a bit curious, as I have met villagers several times with thought bubbles, but each time I then approached them, they would just give me a present instead, making me a bit nervous if I did something wrong and they are moving now; They did not.
Only twice has it triggered the question of moving. So the thought bubbles are not always only an indication of them wanting to move.
Also interested. For me so far, it seems super random and sporadic. Sadly, rare, too. I just make sure I talk to everyone daily so no one gets sent into ignore mode and can't ask to move..
In New Leaf, the game picked someone to move out every 3 days or so, and the villager, provided you haven't ignored them for too many days, will run up to you (ping), and tell you their moving plans.
If you have 10 villagers, you'll just have to play daily and wait for it to come up.
Bob had a thought bubble the other day and it almost sent me into SHOCK sdlfkjsdf but he just gave me a present! I was so paranoid because I didn't realize that they could have the thought bubble for something other than moving!
I don't think there's anything to trigger it unfortunately. No real proven method for cycling or anything. One villager I didn't like decided he wanted to move. I hadn't talked to him more than like, once, and then a week later he had the thought bubble. Maybe don't talk to them for a while? Though I've read people saying otherwise and to actually bug them. I'm not sure who's right at this point. I think that time will tell as we figure out the game more, but it can definitely be frustrating for those like me who kept building house plots for an amiibo character but people kept moving into them after one day since the amiibo thingie takes three days now :,).
It really is stressful with the thought bubbles. They can be a "I wanna move", but also a "Have a present!". Julia had one and I almost died, but it was just a present.
Also the fact that apparently the 10th spot in your village doesn't seem to stay empty until you invite something. Makes trading and timing the move more stressful;