How do you feel about the TBT Currency and the impact with the ACNH game experience?

[AppleBitterCrumble]

I love tbt as currency!
I was never good with obtaining NMT or bells and since ive been an active member since 2013 ive been able to save up a ton of tbt to get things that would normally be hard to obtain or artwork for my signature/pfp

 

[kayleee]

I like using tbt as currency to buy in game stuff because I’m not really into buying forum collectibles, and I otherwise don’t have much of a use for it

 

[Rowlet28]

Using TBT for in game items is useful if you want a specific item but can't afford the high prices on discord or nookazon. I also love using it for art and collectibles. It encourages me to participate in discussions such as this one tbh.

 

[Griff]

I don't think tbt is finite. It's dependant to how proactive you are on this forum. it's alot easier for me earn 1 tbt as to 1 nmt. I earn tbt by posting and replying to thread. So I don't mind it.

Just to clarify, I said "The perspective seems to imply a small finite group of members of the forum . . . ." - Not that TBT is finite, BUT

I offer the viewpoint that TBT is finite. The opposite would imply there is an infinite amount of TBT, and this is simply not true. Considering infinity is a concept and not a number. (Please if someone has a math degree out there and I'm wrong, please correct me. My knowledge is a little rusty.)

Maybe there is only 10 Million TBT in existence on the forums. Maybe 2 Mil of that 10 Mil is on member profiles who have not been active in the last 6 months. Additionally, most members on this forum could be labeled as casual, new, not into the TBT collectibles, or do not spend the TBT they acquire (See below, Hsn97 qoute). Take away an additional 3 Mil, and that only leaves you with roughly 5 Mil TBT circulating on the forums in regards to trades. Not to mention any TBT spent on buying from the collectible shop, which goes back into the forum and not to another player. I could be wrong, but that effectively eliminates the TBT and prevents circulation back into the member population.

. . . . A lot of the shops run on TBT because many of us want to grind it out to make a cool collectible lineup, purely for fun.

. . . IMO NMT to TBT at a 1:1 rate is really crazy for players who are just playing ACNH and not focusing on TBT gaining. Like for instance, I'll probably get 6 or 7 TBT for this post... when I'd barely even be able to print out 7 NMTs in the time it takes me to type this.

The first statement, and I may be oversimplifying this, implies (A personal perspective) those who grind ACNH for TBT are simply playing ACNH for the positive experience of The bell tree forums. Not the other way around. Now I am not saying you are not able to enjoy playing ACNH the way you wish to.

I agree the rate is great for those looking for NMT. I do feel the bargaining power of NMT is far less then TBT though and people really only look for NMT to acquire villagers if they are hell bent on finding an original or a new villager (I.e. Raymond/Judy). Its the purchasing power of TBT which I feel drives a probable negative mindset in regards to transactions. The feeling of "I need TBT for (A), (B), or (C) - because most shops of quality (By positive and extremely active members), and can provide what you need in quantity, want TBT as payment.

I would be surprised to see any quality shop asking for IGB or NMT as payment. I am cautiously hopeful a future update will help NMTs become of more value.

I prefer having collectibles, and I need a ton of tbt to fund for the collectibles I'd like to get (pretty sure all my collectible wants at this point are like 2k tbt minimum, with some likely reaching beyond the 10k tbt range)

meanwhile, I just let rng give me new villagers, so I've no real need to hoard hundreds of thousands of nmt

so, at least personally speaking, the one I value more out of these options is clear as day

I'll refer to my above posted statement in response to BalloonFights quote.

I do not disagree with your last sentence. I find most people find more value in TBT then IGB/NMT, including myself. I am happy TBT allows me to acquire in game items relatively fast and effeciently. Having to substantially rely on TBT is the downside.

. . . . i don’t mind it as a currency, though - the majority of people wanting it can be frustrating, especially for new members, but earning it is easy as long as you’re active and it can help you in-game, too, since for example, 100 tbt is a lot easier to earn than a million bells or 100 nmts ;u;

I agree 100 TBT is a lot easier to earn then 100 NMT. I do not agree it is easier to earn then a million bells. One full inventory of turnips, at decent turnip prices on Turnip.Exchange, can net you more then a million bells. This takes far less time then 10+ thoughtful posts by members. BalloonFight commented

. . . . Like for instance, I'll probably get 6 or 7 TBT for this post...

As you stated, members have to be active to earn TBT just from posting. Not everyone is.

I have like once or twice. But not, I generally only ever use NMT or IGB. I can’t remember the last time I brought anything with TBT.

Would you say you have no particular opinion on the original question?

I voted "mildly positive" because I have no interest in collectibles at all. So, buying items with TBT is ideal because I can get things I want in exchange for getting rid of a currency I don't care much about! Plus, by posting regularly, it's fairly easy to accumulate.

That being said, I think that it's harder for people who don't enjoy chatting as much to be able to get into the TBT market since you earn TBT from posting. It prevents people who aren't very talkative, or who may be shy for whatever reason, from being able to participate in the market. Also, I am unsure as to the value of a currency which only really has value on one site (and for one purpose). From what I can tell, the collectibles market doesn't seem to be too big, so you're essentially relying on a small group of players who like collectibles who really want TBT, and the rest who only use TBT because it's wanted. If that collectible market goes away, so too does interest in TBT.

In terms of an overall game experience, focusing on raising TBT alone could be considered a detriment - in fact, we could even say it has no impact whatsoever on New Horizons gameplay, because it's strictly limited to this forum and this forum only. What happens if our forums shut down or collectibles are removed? What if you want to trade across multiple sites? Then you need multiple currencies to be able to participate everywhere. At least when NMT/IGB was the main currency of choice, it was something that could be readily used across websites, and it was a conversion rate that was fairly easy to understand. Using TBT requires having knowledge of yet another currency, and that might not be accessible for many people, especially new players.

Still, if you really have no use for TBT, at least some shops take IGB/NMT, and you can always purchase other currencies using TBT to trade on other sites and to make a good profit with, seeing as TBT are functionally useless. You can buy items for pretty much nothing, which is the main benefit of TBT for most folks I think.

I appreciate your thoughtful response to the question. I am still processing the last part of your statement. TBT is allowing people to experience ACNH positively. At some point (Undefined), I feel IGB/NMT is essentially of no value. The purpose of NMT is limited, and little effort is required to gain monumental amounts of IGB. IGB expenses can become moot, and seems trivial for someone (as an example) to charge 20 million bells for an in game item. I am not sure if others are offering the same in game services or products on other sites, charging only IGB or NMT. I imagine the only other reasonable transaction would be bartering items for items, and not using a currency.

As a newer, less active (and therefore poorer) member of this forum it can be frustrating to have so many shops only asking for tbt.

This is a prime example of why I asked the question!

Thank you for your response!

It isn't finite. You earn it just by being active and posting. I've always thought it was a good currency. I can spend it without losing anything in game. To people who don't care about collectibles on the forum, it is currency they can use that they wouldn't otherwise have use for and give it to people who do. I don't really see a downside except some stuff being overpriced but that's not unique to tbt as a currency.

Refer to my response to the first quote.

I do agree TBT is a great currency. Just not completely on board with TBT not having downsides

I am having mixed feelings with it, honestly.

I voted for "mild negative." Like everyone else, I don't mind it being the main trading currency. It's stable. It's not prone to abuses. You can easily earn by posting in this forum. However, it also discourages other forms of payment. I prefer diversity that allows trading to any form of currency.

Nowadays, I hardly see Bells being used. Nook Miles ticket still has some leftover value because of Raymond and Judy being exclusive. I do understand why some shops would prefer to receive that as payment because of the collectibles and other features.

Lastly, I know that having that currency encourages people to participate here and mingle. But not everyone likes to do that.

This helps elaborate the perspective I am trying to share!

I think it's great!

As @BalloonFight said above, it basically allows me to get stuff I value (artworks etc) in return for something I don't value (TBTs), without having to spend in-game currency which I also value and would rather hang on to.

Clearly there are some members who really want TBTs, so I'm happy to let them have as many as they want if they can help me with getting in-game items that I want.

I managed to finish my art gallery pretty much exclusively using TBTs that I earned naturally in the course of discussing the game on here. I'm not going to use them for anything else, so they may as well go to someone who wants them. If I had to part with NMTs or in-game bells, I might have struggled to justify the prices.

I am curious. What would you say is your threshold/limit in IGB or NMT to buy a piece of art? Not sure what TBT value you paid.

 

[MapleSilver]

I haven't spent TBT on in-game items since there's a few collectibles I still have my eye on. So it hasn't affected my experience at all.

 

[BalloonFight]

The first statement, and I may be oversimplifying this, implies (A personal perspective) those who grind ACNH for TBT are simply playing ACNH for the positive experience of The bell tree forums. Not the other way around. Now I am not saying you are not able to enjoy playing ACNH the way you wish to.

I agree the rate is great for those looking for NMT. I do feel the bargaining power of NMT is far less then TBT though and people really only look for NMT to acquire villagers if they are hell bent on finding an original or a new villager (I.e. Raymond/Judy). Its the purchasing power of TBT which I feel drives a probable negative mindset in regards to transactions. The feeling of "I need TBT for (A), (B), or (C) - because most shops of quality (By positive and extremely active members), and can provide what you need in quantity, want TBT as payment.

I would be surprised to see any quality shop asking for IGB or NMT as payment. I am cautiously hopeful a future update will help NMTs become of more value.

Honestly a decent chunk of why I'm still grinding ACNH quite a bit is due to TBT and collectibles and the awesome people I've met in the collectible discord. With quarantine, there was absolutely no way I was going to not time travel while playing ACNH. I've been waiting for the game for years and years, and isolation even further made it so TT'ing was drastically more fun.

We are now multiple months into the games life, and honestly IGB is pretty brain dead to get with turnips, and using twitter, or discord, or reddit to make 2 million bells within minutes (tip 2 NMTs, and gg easy IGB). NMT has dropped drastically due to multiple factors, of which the duplications glitches were the biggest role. But even without those, the prices of villagers and such have dropped a ton due to people already having them, and just less people playing in general it seems.

I feel shops ONLY taking IGB and NMT are often late starters to the game, and haven't been playing since launch. If you've been playing since launch, odds are you're set in both aspects. Likely you have your full villager want list already (which kills NMT value), or you've already done a huge portion of the game.

There's also literally a million other places to use IGB and NMT to purchase art, items, materials, etc aside from bell tree. TBT as a currency just gives people another option for literally free in game items or whatever just for hanging around the forums. Plus where else are there places where you can fully catalog the entire furniture set in the game, without spending 1000's of NMTs on?

I think this would be a different subject entirely though if the multiple duplication glitches never existed, and the economy of the game didn't get ruined multiple times over.

 

[Bcat]

I try to only use tbt for collectibles, since I kind of regret using tbt to pay off my mortgage in new leaf. Imo, using tbt to buy items makes it too easy and I prefer to earn things with only in-game methods.

No shame to those who use it though!

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I joined, and stayed on this website for two main reasons:

1) The review system

2) The currency

TBT is so useful! I really hated trading with IGB in New Leaf. It took forever and I was always worried about losing track of how many bells I had brought to someone's island town, or how many bells someone brought to mine. It's so convenient to be able to just send currency all in one go, and I don't even need my switch to do so. If I post regularly, I can get about 200-300 TBT in a couple weeks, and I get to be social while doing it.

I feel like TBT gives us a huge advantage over those who do not use, or even know of this website.

 

[DragonLatios]

I Rarely use the Site TBT If i understand it the site/form Bells right? I do not use it unless if i can get a Lot of in game bells if i need to buy a Tv or one of those high bell Nook items in nook shop right away. But i do Swap items with a friend on this site as we help each other catalog the time faster. The DIY and Celeste when we on the same time. She many hours head of me on the other side of the world so we try to find a hour to both get on and do a Celeste run before she had to go to bed.

 

[niko@kamogawa]

There's a possibility that Nook Miles tickets will see some value in the future.

It all depends if Nintendo wants to make it more "appealing." And besides, I know we have a lot of supply flying around because of exploits. However, we can't also deny the fact that some players may not even print tickets anymore. And also, I am expecting that the player population will dwindle over time as months go by due to waning interests in the game. (The supply won't last long.)

To help balance it out, Nintendo needs to do the following:

• Release a lot of new villagers who will soar in popularity like Raymond. Because we all know that he isn't obtainable via the Amiibo method. I know that there's this campsite "abuse" that players are using to get villagers. However, I would say that Amiibo plays a larger part of this. We have a lot of players who doesn't resort to time traveling. Certainly, there's a market.
• Improve mystery island tours. Nintendo can go crazy here. They can even put exclusive furniture and items only available through visiting these islands.
• Give players an option to visit a particular island and not leave it to luck. I do understand the direction they want. It's a "mystery" island after all. However, this is one of the main reasons why players didn't want to go island hopping.

Anyway, I am glad forum bells proved to become beneficial to everyone here. In fact, it's all because of the solid community behind it. Without them, it won't succeed. So I give a shoutout to those who are after the collectibles. It certainly made my experience a good one playing Animal Crossing.

 

[Tobyjgv]

(personally in my opinion) - i think TBT can both positively and negatively impact the experience, just in my opinion. for items, diy's, things you might need, it's great!! i think tbt is a great currency for trades and seems pretty fair! i personally don't like buying igb though, just because I feel like it takes a lot of the progression away, which some people may actually prefer!

 

[pawprints]

I've purchased items for both TBT, IGB, and NMT. I find that I'm more active on here if I want to buy something or if I'm starting up my town or island which goes hand in hand with TBT.

 

[TheodoreCottontail]

TBT has been useful to me because it's another option to commission someone for art instead of real life cash. I used TBT to get my signature & icon art.

I can see how all the TBT only shops would suck for a new forum member though.

 

[WaileaNoRei]

I feel like a lot of what there is to say has already been said but as a new member (joined in late May I think) I have not had a problem getting enough tbt to buy anything I want for my game. Admittedly, I am not big into trading and have only done so once, but looking at things like custom signatures, etc, it all is within my reach. I cannot yet buy collectibles, but I’m not sure if I want to yet, and in a way it kind of fits with the way people (or me at least) grow into forum membership. But I have not felt like I needed to ‘grind’ responses to build tbt, it builds naturally really fast as long as you are fairly active.

I think it’s really nice to have a unique currency for the forum, it was one of the draws for me. Trading using tbt felt less intimidating than having to bring along payment would have (because I was already nervous about making sure I followed all the rules and etiquette.

So, as I wrote I realized I like tbt even more than I thought!

 

[jazzygoat]

I really like TBT, as it lets me get in-game items easily and painlessly. It would take me a long time to earn the miles needed for 100 NMT, and even more time to redeem the miles in-game. I have used TBT to get recipes that I missed, like the cherry blossom recipes- I originally tried to go back to April to get them but it was so miserable, trying to pop balloons and just getting sky eggs most of the time. Gave up after 1 day wasted. Using TBT was so much easier. Plus they're easy to earn, as there's always a good conversation to join on this forum. I really like the TBT system (as a new member)!

 

[mayortiffany]

I appreciate your thoughtful response to the question. I am still processing the last part of your statement. TBT is allowing people to experience ACNH positively. At some point (Undefined), I feel IGB/NMT is essentially of no value. The purpose of NMT is limited, and little effort is required to gain monumental amounts of IGB. IGB expenses can become moot, and seems trivial for someone (as an example) to charge 20 million bells for an in game item. I am not sure if others are offering the same in game services or products on other sites, charging only IGB or NMT. I imagine the only other reasonable transaction would be bartering items for items, and not using a currency.

I get where you're coming from, in that inflated prices and the ease of getting IGB/NMT in the late game makes it feel like IGB/NMT isn't worth very much, especially when items in the game have a price ceiling that's far below millions of bells. However, with the game still evolving with new updates, I'm hesitant to say when IGB/NMT is going to get to the point where it loses all value. It's always possible that Nintendo will release new things to purchase with bells or NMT. TBT is mostly only used for collectibles here, and there doesn't seem to be a very large group of people who are interested in buying them. There is always the (slim) possibility that the collectors who are out there will purchase most things they want, and so the interest in TBT from them decreases.

Other sites do offer in-game services/products with IGB or NMT - though I'd say that the vast majority of people ask for NMT or item to item swaps. I've seen cataloguing events, flower watering services, de-weeding services, Celeste visits, and more. Nookazon has a bunch listed on their website. I find that prices are much higher for those services (and for items in general outside of our forum). So, even if the value of IGB/NMT is decreasing, if you do not value TBT very highly, you've got another currency at your disposal to trade with!

Because our forum is small when compared to some of the larger forums out there, you can't always find the items, services, or villagers you want. Plus, it's slower to communicate here than say, over Discord in one of the big trading Discords. In those cases, even if IGB/NMT is valued very lowly, trading TBT for those currencies for use elsewhere can be very useful.

Let's say you want Alice, but you haven't seen her for sale on the Villager Trading Plaza. You see a sale for her for 10-15 NMT on the Nookazon discord. If you buy NMT with TBT at a 1:1 ratio, you can buy her in a couple of posts! On the other hand, if you really want to buy her with TBT, even if the TBT price is cheaper, you'll have to wait in the hopes that someone will have her when you have an open plot and that you can coordinate with the seller a convenient time for the both of you.

Edit: I checked how many bells I earned off this post. Using the example of Alice, I could afford to buy her with just this one post!

 

[June]

Let's say you want Alice, but you haven't seen her for sale on the Villager Trading Plaza. You see a sale for her for 10-15 NMT on the Nookazon discord. If you buy NMT with TBT at a 1:1 ratio, you can buy her in a couple of posts! On the other hand, if you really want to buy her with TBT, even if the TBT price is cheaper, you'll have to wait in the hopes that someone will have her when you have an open plot and that you can coordinate with the seller a convenient time for the both of you.

exactly this! i like that i can make progress in the game or easily get nmt here with tbt to use on other places where there are more items to trade or villagers to adopt (though i only really use it to get like diys i need elsewhere easily).

i also don't have fun grinding for bells in-game so it's great that i can just buy off igb i need. that way i'm motivated to actually fix my island, would have probably not touched the game for a long time after starting otherwise u_u

 

[Barney]

I am curious. What would you say is your threshold/limit in IGB or NMT to buy a piece of art? Not sure what TBT value you paid.

I usually paid around 20-40 TBTs per artwork, depending on what it was.

I wouldn't spend NMTs or bells to the same extent, as I'd struggle to replace these so easily.

 

[Kattea]

I try to keep TBT and in game currency separate, only spending TBT on collectibles and in game currency on ACNH items. This helps prolong my gameplay, rather than essentially getting all the items/villagers I want for free. Plus I always love collecting pretty things. Some of the TBT shops our there are really tempting though..

 

[~Kilza~]

I definitely don't mind TBT as a currency. I don't really have any interest in collectibles, so I've been using it to get in-game items that are hard to obtain otherwise (namely flower/crown DIYs and Redd art) and it's worked out well for me in that regard, since it would've been a pain otherwise to try and get them using only NMT and IGB. Admittedly, it also does encourage me to try and post more to try and get more TBT, lol.