How do you prefer to find new villagers?

[S.J.]

Most of my island residents are "permanent", so it's rare that I have the opportunity to move in new villagers. Even though I have amiibo cards, I realised I prefer the fun of meeting new residents through island tours! I tried letting plots be filled by Tom Nook, and that was fun for a time, but it felt less personal than meeting new villagers on island tours and finding the right "fit".

Do you like villager hunting or do you prefer the ease of amiibo cards? How do you feel about letting plots be filled randomly?

 

[nightglow]

I prefer getting villagers from the campsite without amiibo. I like the idea of random villagers visiting, even if I don't invite them to stay. Villager hunting on the DAL island feels tedious since they repeat in appearance in the same day. And you have a time limit before random fill in happens.
I am more open about random move ins now that we can decorate the villager's interior. That aspect alone can really help someone enjoy a villager they may not otherwise. You can give an "ugly" villager a neat place that still fits that villager and help you see that villager in a new perspective. I have felt this in the DLC of NH so far.
Infact, I was planning on having random move ins in the next ac game in my first play through (if I get the game) if they keep the feature of decorating the interior of your villager's house. I think it would give me more opportunities in finding hidden gems while not getting burnt out on potentially having a lot or all my villagers not being ones I know right away I like.

 

[azurill]

How I move in villagers depends on a few things . For my main island I haven’t been playing that island much because of lack of time so when I do I use Amiibo cards . Before I restarted my second island I went island hopping or used Amiibo cards when I didn’t have time to look for them. With my newly restarted second island I have villagers move in randomly or ask when villagers randomly appear at the campsite. It takes longer to see new villagers this way since i haven’t had many campers lately. I do like the surprise of who is going to show up and have had good luck finding villagers I hadn’t seen on my other islands.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Mostly through Amiibo invitation but occasionally via the Campsite if I get someone that I like. Only gotten an Islander from another player’s Island once and I had an empty lot since I had just reset my Island and I didn’t want any Islander that I absolutely hate moving in uninvited since that happens when a new lot is unoccupied after a couple of weeks. I had Prince move into a lot and I don’t like him and I wanted to get him to leave because he took the spot where I was going to have one of my favorites move in via Amiibo. I’ve found that using the Amiibo cards are the best way to make sure no one you don’t want can possibly move in uninvited.

 

[Rainbowhorn]

I kinda like the randomness aspect of the camp, is like opening a mistery capsule hehe

 

[Corrie]

Amiibo cards for sure. I just wish you only had to scan them in once but whatever. Random encounters are fun but usually they're villagers I don't like so it's nice to just have a town filled with villagers you like for once. Before the cards, I always had a handful I tried to get rid of lol.

 

[ConfusedDad]

my favorite villagers are all amiibos, but i certainly love the randomness of just villager hunting without anyone in mind. i dont have villagers who i just saw on mystery islands and decided i was going to take, though.

 

[Pyoopi]

I'm kind of what happens, happens because I lack the patience to hunt for specific villagers (although I do try). My main methods are randomness (fill in/campsite).
The other one is the standard mystery island hunting however I'm really weak and my limit is 10 tickets, lol. I don't collect amiibos either, but I do have some like Peewee's amiibo.

 

[moon_child]

I have all of my favorite villagers’ amiibos but honestly I have a love hate relationship with mystery island hopping. When I don’t do it for a long time I wanna do it again so bad. But when I’m doing it already I just wanna give up. Lol. I think that’s the “charm” of RNG.

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

I've always enjoyed the thrill of villager hunting, whether I was looking for a specific villager or not. I used to do it all the time and kept logs of what villagers I found. I mostly use amiibo cards though since they're more convenient, but villager hunting was always such a fun and exciting way to get villagers for me.
My only issues were that it was time-consuming and you could end up spending a lot of NMTs, not to mention that sometimes you have to decide whether to invite a villager you found or keep going for another. Like the time I found Kabuki and spent a while deciding whether I should get him or not. But I ended up not doing that and eventually stumbled on Mitzi on my 77th ticket. :]

 

[Halloqueen]

In my Animal Crossing games, I come up with a theme to base the town or island around and then choose villagers who specifically fit the theme. They are generally permanent, though sometimes I can get tired of someone in particular and decide to freshen things up by swapping someone else in; the ten villager limit tends to mean that there are some villagers who just don't make the cut, and sometimes new or returning villagers are introduced via updates or DLC, so these things happen.

In any case, since I know exactly who I want to have as residents and see all the other methods as wastes of time and in-game resources as a result, I simply scan their amiibo.

 

[Moonlight.]

I definitely prefer inviting villagers via amiibo cards, it's nice being able to just scan in a character you really want on your island. I do always check the campsite when there's a random villager though, it's exciting to see who it is (even though it's rare for it to be a villager I'd actually want lol)

I do enjoy villager hunting for a specific villager every now and again though, it can be fun as long as it doesn't take forever to find them tbh

 

[Paperboy012305]

I’m always going to hunt for villagers via mystery islands, it’s like shiny hunting with a satisfying result when you find a dream villager you want.

Even if I have almost all of my dream villagers by their amiibo cards, that won’t stop me from hunting them myself.

 

[AlyssaAC]

I don’t mind either adopting them from other people or hunting for them island hopping. Sometimes when I’m island hopping, I have a villager in mind or I just go with whoever I like and find.

 

[Croconaw]

I use Amiibo cards or find them via members on forums. Villager hunting is a waste of time for me because I know exactly who I want.

 

[FaeLeaf]

I really like the aspect of organically getting villagers via fill-in or the campsite (my personal favorite), but I'm such a control freak that I end up island hopping or using amiibo cards to get what I want.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Only when I get their photo I have to let them leave on their own or force them out via amiibo card.

 

[Pookabunny]

I like using amiibos and villager hunting for specific villagers! Having a villager I like come through a campsite is nice too

 

[dizzy bone]

My earliest villagers (and favourites) were through random plot move in at the start. I definitely did not have the patience for island hopping, although I did find Hamphrey through that, who I love. If I had more amiibo cards I would use those, but I only have the Welcome Amiibo and some random ones.

 

[Muna]

Most of my villagers are from island hopping without a specific villager in mind. I knew that I would get my dreamies sooner or later so I tried to be open minded, but it sometimes took over 100 flights to find someone good enough

When the Update 2.0 was out with the newest villagers I choose not to torture myself with looking only for those 3 of them that I wanted to meet, and went with amiibos. And I'm glad that I did.