Thought it would be fun to discuss.
I was dying to go Island hopping having only done it during the initial phase of the game when I was recruiting my first 10 villagers so was SUPER excited to finally get a natural move-out again.
However; I felt so utterly burned out towards the end that I'm not even sure if I'll attempt it again.
The first few Islands were fun and I made it a point to gather all the resources but by the 16th Island, hitting rocks was almost torturous. Also, I was so tired that I neglected to do all my usual Island chores and didn't even bother with a proper set-up for Reese and Cyrus' anniversary where we got to invite the different guests (I just mashed a bunch of furniture and villagers together which I low-key regret).
I had a long list of villagers I was open to inviting, too, but didn't come across a SINGLE one from my list - just shows how it's purely based on luck and that RNG can be cruel at times.
I finally settled on Tasha because she's cute and I was worried that I could end up with someone worse.
So the basic rundown is as follows:
the good
1. You could come across some nifty villagers you may not have otherwise encountered. Even if you don't end up inviting them, I think it's pretty neat.
2. You get to gather up a bunch of resources, furniture items from shaking trees as well as some Islands having DIY's over at the beach (I managed to get a few new ones).
3. The first few Islands are fun and it's a good break from the routine of daily chores.
the ugly
1. You could end up spending 100's of NMT's and not end up with your dreamie. Even if your villager list is quite open, you may still not run across the person on your list.
2. It's extremely grindy in the sense of harvesting resources. The first few Islands are fun but then it's just becomes annoying - like, I literally don't want to hit another rock for a few days.
3. The Dodo dialogue gets super repetitive FAST.
4. I got so burned out that I didn't even feel like completing my usual Island chores or talking to my villagers.
i don't really mind spending loads island hopping, i like the surprise and not knowing who will show up
if i'm looking for someone specific, i know i'll get them eventually so i find it fun and i get some good islands while i'm looking ☆
i do! it can be frustrating at times with seeing the same island layout and unwanted villagers over and over but i actually find it fun! i like the mystery of not knowing what type of island you’ll come across or what villager you’ll run into ;u;
No, I despise it. The first few trips are very fun, and much like you, I try to maximize the use of the trip by collecting resources. But after a while, it gets so tiring and repetitive.The most I have ever spent was only around 30 Nook Mile Tickets, but even then, I don't know how others can do more than that. I guess if you just enter the island, and see who's there, and just exit, I guess it's bearable. But it would bother me if I didn't collect resources since I always use them. I wish I had the patience and optimism to do it, but I know it would drain my energy too much.
Tbh I find it really fun! Maybe because I'm quite lucky with the villagers I encountered so far! So my very first island hopping I got Audie in my 4th NMT. Then on my second island hopping, I found Chief in my 2nd NMT. The third one however I spent 30NMT but I didn't find anyone I wanna take in, notable villagers tho include Octavian, Kyle & Zucker so I just end up looking for in the New Neighbour Network that day lol. 4th island hopping was when I'm cycling, I was just joking as I only have 6NMT with me at the time and was gonna adopt someone from another town but ended up not pushing thru because on my 5th NMT, I found Julian and I literally got speechless as it was totally unexpected, so I took him in as he was a smug dreamie of mine. Then in my very recent island hopping, also when I'm cycling, I found Judy on my 9th NMT! And because of my luck, I want to try and island hop again in hopes my luck will continue lol but I can't cycle right now as I have turnips with me on my beach lol so that'll have to wait for now...
Regarding to what I do on the mystery islands, on my very first island hopping I believe I gather every resources possible, but it got old and boring quite quickly so now I only shake the trees until I find the furniture, check for a diy bottle, and hit rocks hoping for those gold nuggets lol...
It was good at the beginning. Now I can't be bothered to spend an hour redeeming 100+ NMTs to MAYBE have a chance to get a villager I might have an eye on. I'd rather buy them on here or Nookazon and be done with it lol.
I used to find it quite fun but now it's become a huge chore, especially the annoying Dodo dialogue. Furthermore, I already have all my dream villagers so I think I wouldn't go island hopping much anymore unless I was super bored, or by some chance Nintendo added more house plots.
I hate island hopping, I find it extremely boring and not very rewarding. I have gone on maybe.. 40-50 island tours, and most of those were in the first week to get resources, and it was kind of addicting in the start since it was fresh and new.. but the first 3 villagers I picked up ended up being villagers I really liked, (Audie, Gayle, and Lucky!) so I eventually traded for the rest of my dreamies in the following 2 weeks, I never bothered island hopping for actual residents. I just find it very boring to clear the whole island, cut down trees, hitting rocks, etc etc at this point in my play through, and I never saw any rare islands either so it never gave me any satisfaction of spending tickets on lol. I am currently sitting on 3k NMTs and I sometimes think about island hopping just to see what happens, but I know its actually probably a waste of time, since there won't be a villager, and I don't even need materials anymore, so I'll continue to sit on miles/tickets :T
I will admit that having every amiibo completely sucks out the fun of it for me. but the actual idea of it is super fun and the few times I have done it, I've been very excited to see if I could find one of the 8 non-amiibo villagers! (I've actually come across Megan, Cyd and Dom now)
but I definitely would never actually collect the resources or honestly even look for the diy bottle. I am just way too lazy for that and the whole point of nmt tours for me is the villagers lol. plus even just mashing through Orville and Wilbur's dialogue is tiring enough. you're a trooper for even attempting to collect all the resources haha
i appreciate you sharing your experience island hopping, i feel like a lot of people share extraordinary rng luck island-hopping adventures, but not so much the other side.
i enjoy watching others villager hunt, whether they share the data in spreadsheets or just on a chill stream. but i still wouldn't like doing it myself, largely because of the repetitive dialogue trees at the airport and also because i just prefer to trade for the exact villagers i want.
I love island hopping for the same reason I love gacha games. It's so fun seeing all different villagers at every island and talking to some you might never see otherwise. And it feels like such a win when you hit on someone amazing.
I generally go with no expectations - I don't have any list of villagers I'm definitely on a hunt and take in anyone I run into that appeals to me and I could see myself interacting with a lot. Getting the furniture items is great - esp since Nook's absolutely refuses to carry anything I don't already have.
Granted, I've never gone 100s of tickets in one sitting so I can definitely see where that would get grindy and really annoying. I also don't farm resources. I'll smack maybe one or two rocks but my reason for going is seeing new villagers so for the most part I'll leave them alone.
Totally feel you on the dodo dialogue. They definitely could've made it a lot shorter/ less clunky. It would also really help if they could just take you from one island to another instead of back home and then to another island.
I do, it's a good way to make a lot of bells while hunting down villagers you can invite to your island. Last night I had a scorpion island that also had money rocks. Pretty neat. It can be frustrating, but you really shouldn't go into it looking for a singular villager. It drives you mad.
I LOVE island hopping! I love the feeling of anticipation that you get from it. Plus, if you have a lot of tickets, you can find some really great villagers!
At the beginning of the game, it was necessary, so I island-hopped for resources, and looked forward to finding new furniture and DIY recipes. Wilbur brought me to the bamboo island and the money rock island often. I never saw the hybrids, finned fish or scorpion island. I don't island-hop for resources anymore because I have more than I need in my storage.
Now, I will island-hop for villagers. Usually I find someone I want to invite after 10-12 islands. I found most of my villagers this way. If there's a specific villager I want, I would not island-hop. RNG hates me. So does the campsite method.
I do enjoy it a lot. I also go island hopping with no expectations and I timebox myself so I don't get burned out. I collect resources but I don't do it for every item and mostly for what I need the most of at the time.
I like island hopping, but it can get kind of boring when you see the same island or the same villager.
I always keep track when I'm island hopping for a villager so I know which villager, species and personality type I encountered.
I also check for the tree item and to see if there is a message in a bottle. Now that it's summer, I check for summer shells too.
i really like island hopping! i think it's so fun!! i just don't think i could go for more than like 50 island without getting bored/frustrated though. it's pretty ok for me though because i'm not picky about my villagers (as long as they're cute! most of my villagers are kinda temp anyway) and i'll pick up anyone i think is cute/suits my theme as long as i don't have too many of their personality type- so i end up finding someone within the first 30ish tickets anyway!
I like finding out what villagers are on the island. Don't like the random chance of finding the villagers I want since I'm very unlucky and running out of nmts suck.
I don't like using it as a method to find a specific villager but I think it's fine if you have no expectations and just want to meet random villagers. My first and probably last "island hop" experience was for Cyd and I gave up after 100ish tickets and thankfully was able to adopt him from a giveaway so that ended my torture. I understand that the game probably didn't intend for it to be a way to find a specific villager given how many there are in this game. I also do enjoy seeing all the possibilities of different villagers and even old ones from my past games! I just have a huge issue with how repetitive the villagers can get. In 100 tickets I found 20 repeats which seems really high? A few times even twice in a row and one time I got the same villager three times in a row. Maybe it's just bad luck but it's definitely frustrating even going in knowing the odds.
My island is heavily terraformed and it's hard to hunt for resources, so I always go on mystery tours to chop some wood or catch some fish and I enjoy the little getaway. I do actually really love the mystery island music as well... just not during a villager hunt, then it drives me mad.
