News, Week Five {Three and Four Skipped}

Hey guys! So I have been busy this beginning-of-the-year, but I'm back this time, hopefully for good. Yay! On to the news.

Owls are finally here! As per a normal new animal, they are members only and can be bought in the diamond shop for ten diamonds! From what I have seen with them they are really cool. The dance is fun, with a twist. Although their play action gets me a bit... dizzy. (Buh dum chh)

Jammers have voted, they've polled, and their vote was... Pizza Parlor! I currently have my own made, although honestly I voted for the art supplies, as did most of my friends. Art for the win! Thankfully, they bring all of them in, they just do it according to number of votes. For instance, if the art supplies have placed second, then art supplies will be coming into stores soon, and then whatever the other choice was.

As AJ has told us, February 10th is Safer Internet Day. For AJ this basically means you can take a poll on common sense and get twenty-five gems for getting them all right. And although I say common sense, I get the feeling some of you will be still be getting answers wrong. Also there are useless banners that barely anyone ever reads about being safe on the internet. (Because they totally help people.)

Special Delivery, the new AJ adventure, appeared a week and one day ago. According to Animal Jam, we've already "delivered over 65,000,000 valentines! GREAT JOB!" Yes, because we care. Thankfully, the adventure itself is actually pretty fun. It's one of the easiest "mazes" out of all three that have appeared so far, with three sets of letter deliveries, each one giving you a larger amount. There is only one group hop, and the prize is some item that is basically useless. I got a crazy hair... Twice. As for the prizes, only members can get a rare, and only on the last bunch, and it's always something pink and purple. (Conveniently, my two least favorite colors. Yay.)

Breaking off from this week's news and back into last week's news, there is a new den! It's rather big, and is for sale in the Diamond Shop for seven diamonds. It's called Greely's Hideout, and it's based on the volcano from the adventure Greely's Inferno. In some areas in it you can get the lava effect, where a circle of red surrounds you. This is the third den to have done something like that; first it was the Gingerbread House, and then it was the Snow Fort. Now, it's Greely's Hideout. Also, there's a special section for eagles that has a view of Jamaa Township in the distance. It's like a large ledge near the top of the den.

Happy Jamming,
~Raven

Reviews For The Holidays

Hey guys! Don't forget to check the post below if you haven't read it yet- I made it too long so I had to split it into this one and the one below.

So, the holidays are over. Some people are celebrating this, others are groaning to be back in school, and still others just don't care. But on Animal Jam, I'm pretty sure everyone is sad that the daily gifts are over. Instead, the spin is back! Personally, I prefer this because I get gems, and I didn't really like most of the gifts.

Diamonds Galore! For members, Christmas was a time of not just gifts, but diamonds. Yay! Personally, I spent them on all the Christmas Diamond items before they were gone, but some went to my animals collection. However, some of you may have saved all of them for some unknown use later.

Speaking of the Christmas gifts, we also got several den and clothing items. Now, this may just be my opinion, but I do not think most of the gifts were very good. I do, however, particularly enjoy the Hot Cocoa Set, the Poofy Rug, and the Candy Cane Socks.

The store items are nice, and more are popping up every day, although I get the feeling they will soon start to go on sale and then- poof! Gone until next year.

That's about it, so for one last time,
Happy Holidays!
~Raven
P.S. I thought I had posted this but apparently it never ended up getting up, so here it is now.

The Holidays

Hey guys! Ok, so basically this Christmas- and New Year's- I was super busy in the beginning and I didn't really have a lot of time to post. As for the second week of my break, I don't really have an excuse. I guess I was just being lazy. So, as the Aj [Un]Official's Official End To The Holiday (heh, try saying that five times fast) I'll be posting the last parts of the gifts and giving a total review of the holiday season at Animal Jam.

Christmas Gifts for all! The last time I made a gift section, we stopped at the twelfth. So, the thirteenth is where we start up again today! Side Note: I misplaced the Diamonds sheet, so that will be left unrecorded. Also, I skipped some because I sold them and I was using my inventory to put this together, sorry.
December 13th- Holiday Bells
December 14th- Icicle Horn
December 15th- Holiday Express
December 16th- Jamaaliday Mat
December 17th- Elf Shoes
December 18th- Bag Of Gifts
December 19th- Gingerbread Top Hat
December 20th- Gingerbread Wings
December 21st- Hot Cocoa Set
December 22nd- Giant Ornament
December 23rd- North Pole
December 24th- Ice Cave
December 25th- Poofy Rug
December 26th- Snowman Fridge
December 30th- Giant Snow Globe
December 31st- Icicle Lights

Well, that was longer than I expected. So, instead of making a super long post, I'll condense it into two posts. So the review will be above!

Happy Late New Year,
~Raven

News, Week Two {Christmas Time and Stuff to Rhyme}

Hey guys! It's December 19, and I'm sorry I haven't really posted. Exam week sucks. Anyway, last day of school before the holidays and I have some free time in class, so here we are. I can't do the Christmas section until I get home because the gifts and diamond days are all in notes on my own comptuer. I will edit it soon!

So, a new update. It's pretty small, but enough so that we can talk about it.
Pet foxes are back! Everyone be happy, you can now buy them for- you guessed it- diamonds. Joy to the world! Now we all have to wait three weeks to get a pointless decoration called a pet. I think they're cute and all, but I wish they played a bigger role; all they are for is standing there. Maybe Animal Jam could make them bigger, like actual pets, and you could take them for walks and feed and water them? I don't know; the point is, I find it pointless.

They made a post about the Adventure, Jamaaliday Rescue. Guess it wasn't good enough that they advertised it in that random pop-up thing that appears every now and then on your screen. Anyway, have fun doing basically nothing for 15 minutes.

They also made a half-page post about the Jamaaliday items in the store and the stuff you can get by logging in every day. As if I totally didn't know that I got items when I logged in for 19 days this month.

The New Year's Party is coming! One of the few things I'm excited about in today's post, it's going to be filled with cool items and old stuff that was sold throughout the year. Don't forget to buy those items while they're still here- they might not come back.

Anyone noticed that the Snow Forts are back? Yay, we get to freeze ourselves in a high tower and live in the snow. I guess we're now Elsa?

Only Six Days Until Christmas!
~Raven
P.S. Sorry about the somewhat sarcastic post; for the last day of school before the holidays it has been pretty stressful.

A Nice Look

Hey guys! So ignoring the Christmas section today because I'm just doing a quick extra post.

Anybody noticed the new look at the log in screen? It's a bit more sleek, and the animation has gotten progressively better as the years pass. I honestly like this look a lot, although there's definitely something homey about the beta's log in screen.

Maybe it's just me, but seeing this new change has made me a bit nostalgic. I always loved the beta look, but the log in was especially cool. It seemed more... Earthy, homey and sweet. I'm not really sure how to describe it to those who didn't participate during beta testing.

Anyway, I just wanted to give that a quick mention.

Happy Holidays!
~Raven
P.S. Sorry, I made this Saturday, but didn't post it even though I thought I did.

Jamaaliday Rescue {Phantoms and Presents and Deer, Oh My!}

Hey guys! December 12th, and we've got two days of presents to catch up on.

December 11th- Snowflake Decorations

December 12th- Snowflake Balloon and One Diamond.

Remember, the diamond gift is for Members Only. (Which really bugs me, but I'm probably one fo the few members that really cares. :I )

Also, 13 days until Christmas!

So, there's a new adventure called Jamaaliday Rescue. You can access it through the Parties tab, although as far as I've seen there aren't any portals to it in the various worlds. 

Basically, the phantoms have once again caused destruction, and stolen the presents that the Reindeer were going to deliver for the holidays. (Because, due to the various religions that would object, they can't put Santa Claus in there). Just like the Corn Maze adventure, you have to work your way through the ice labyrinth and get to the center, the Headquarters for the Reindeer. The difference is that instead of finding keys, you pick up presents that lie every couple inches on the screen, and can be picked up the same way you pick of the 25 gem bag you get from "capturing" a phantom. (Ha, euphemisms.) You have four different levels you can reach, organized by the amount of presents you collect. 

The last level is 450 presents, but since you've already collected 300 from the last level, you only have 150 presents left to get. Considering the huge amount of presents throughout the entire adventure, it's actually not that hard and only takes about 15-20 minutes to complete the entire thing. Which, by the way, is much more reasonable than the Corn Maze adventure, which took 45 minutes-1 hour.

Although this adventure does not get you any gems, it gets you plenty of objects, and even some rare items that we've never experienced as a RIM. (I got a Rare Old Blanket, a Rare Deer Fur, and a Rare Striped Scarf. Only the Blanket was one of the nonmember gifts.) Speaking of, you can technically get two gifts for each level of presents you complete, but there's a catch; you have to be a member. This seems just a little unfair; I know that Animal Jam needs the money us members pay to keep running, we saw that first-hand just after beta days ended, but even so, this seems a bit much. Maybe allow nonmembers to get the extra gifts while collecting presents, but for the treasure chest in the centre have an extra gift for members only? (Which it already has, but I mean to keep that one and take the rest out.) 

So, anyway, it's a pretty fun adventure. I got plenty of den items to decorate my den all Christmasy- or Jamaaliday-y if you wanna try that, too- and got three new clothing items that are rare. Woo! 

Bundle up, it's finally getting cold,

~Raven

Scamming

Hey guys! December 10th, and two days of gifts since we last saw each other.

December 9th- Cookie Table and One Diamond

December 10th- Jamaaliday Bells and One Diamond

So many of us have been scammed, and, as you know, that includes me. I know how it feels to have been robbed of your rares, and I never want it to happen again. So that's why I'm posting this today; I want to make sure none of you feel that way. Today we'll be talking about scamming, and the different ways to pull it off. 

The most popular way is to go out to Jamaa Township, tell everyone you're having a rares giveaway using everything on your trade, and then, once you go back to your den, take everything off the trade and put something useless on. After you've done this, you ask them to trade you and you will decline, and the best trade wins. This is what happened to me, back when it was new and no one knew it was a scam. The best way to not get scammed from this is to tell everyone it's a scam and then leave. Don't stay- if no one believes you the first time they won't believe you any other times, either. Trust me.

Another scam is the pity scam. Jammers will go out into the Township and (normally) lie down on the ground. They will pretend to be sad, and when someone takes the bait and asks them what's wrong, they'll tell their prey that they were hacked, or scammed. After a lot of conversation, or sometimes only a little, they will try to get their prey to pity them so much that they send them their own rares to make up for it. The best way to avoid this scam is to just not talk to those people who say they got scammed. Even if they did get scammed, it was probably their fault. They fell for it, and weren't watching, just like I wasn't.

Another one, one that doesn't seem to work very well is the 'Send Me Gifts, It's My Birthday' scam. They try to get people to send them gifts based on the premise that it's the day they were born, even though the people they're asking barely even know them. 

One of the biggest, simplest scam I've seen just exploded recently in popularity for scammers. This scam is simple but effective- not only does it draw pity upon the person, but it incites a willingness to give, as almost all of us have some feelings of charity. This scam is the one asking for clothes/den items, because they are poor. The only fault with this is that it's really quite easy to just go to the Arcade and earn some money, or get the app AJ Jump and earn gems that way. There are plenty of games to get gems from, so if you don't like one game, you can try another. Best way to avoid being scammed this way? Literally avoid them.

Now that we've gotten through the main ones, there's just one left, although you don't really see it much anymore. It still comes in variations of this one, but this is the original scam. (It isn't used much anymore due to people being not that stupid and figuring it out.) It was a scam that asked people to send them rares or even just normal items, and they would either A.) Send it back or B.) Send them a new one. It was basically telling them 'Trust me, it's just a game. You give me your unwanted rares, and I'll give you one you want' except for the fact that they were lying. Best way to avoid it? Ignore their Jam-A-Grams and leave the Township, or whatever world you're in, because normally these scammers are the more persistent ones.

So, if you ever see a scammer, don't hesitate to block and report them. I know a lot of people think that reporting someone doesn't actually do much, but I did a little experiment not to long ago using an extra account. I walked into a room and pulled my extra account in a couple minutes later. As soon as he came in, I yelled 'Report ------ he's a scanner!' Less than a minute later, the account got logged out, and when I tried to log back in, it said I was suspended. So, yes, reporting does do something. Just a quick heads up to help you. But, really, the best thing to do is ignore them. Don't talk to them, don't associate with them, and definitely don't buddy them. It'll end off the worse for you, even if they don't get your items.

Keep yourself alert!

~Raven