Island Rating: How much does it matter?

[Fruitcup]

Hello animal crossers!
I was wondering how much you guys cared about the star rating of your island?
Personally my town will never be 5 stars because I only have 8 villagers and too many trees. I know you get the golden watering can diy with 5 stars but if you pick up a random one you get the nook mile achievement regardless so I don't really mind not having the diy of it because id much rather achieve the nook mile stuff than complete my diy list. Also, I like having each of my villagers be special with no repeat personalities and my house isn'y fully upgraded but idk if that matters.

 

[Your Local Wild Child]

The only other thing you’re missing out on is spawning lilies of the valley (which you can easily buy/get from others on this site) so it’s not necessary to have/maintain 5 stars unless you want that fancy title when you’re advertising your DA.

I myself have an island that will forever be 4 stars, since my theming is feral, overgrown forests. It doesn’t bother me and the flavor text fits my lore perfectly!

 

[saucySheep]

i don't care. i plan to get it to 5stars to get the golden can and hopefully a few lillies of the valley but other than that it doesn't matter

 

[Rika092]

Don't let a 5-star title dictates how you want to play your game! Of course it'd be nice to unlock this achievement, but I think it's perfectly fine to stay 4 stars if you are trying for a certain look on your island, as long as it makes YOU happy. Both the golden water can DIY recipe and the lilies of the valley can be easily purchased/traded on TBT so I wouldn't fret over missing out on that.

FYI - i'm in similar boat as you and i don't really care about 5-stars haha

 

[sleepydreepy]

I don't care about rating at all, and only wanted to get a 5 star at least one time to unlock the golden watering can recipe and spawn a few Lilly of the valleys. Now that I have more than enough of those, I am not actively trying to maintain a 5 star rating. Plus no one else besides you can see your rating (I think?) so I feel like its more of a personal preference whether you have a 5 star rating or not!

 

[twisty]

I wish I didn't care about the rating, but I want my lily of the valley spawns, darn it!

 

[Fruitcup]

Oh riight, I forgot about the lily of the valley, I already got some else where, I guess that's why I forgot to mention them lol

 

[dizzy bone]

I like that I have gotten it at some point, and I still have it, but it doesn't really matter that much to me. I actually rather have a 4-star island because I don't like lily of the valley spawning everywhere but for some reason I feel bad chucking them away So most of them live on my beach.

 

[maria110]

I like to get my islands to 5 stars to get the watering can and the lilies but after that, it matters less. I have one island with a white and green (and now red for Christmas) theme and on that island, I try to keep it 5 stars so the white lilies will keep sprouting up on the cliffs. I could buy them but with that island maintaining 5 stars isn't too hard because there's not that much room for more trees due to how the buildings are arranged.

For the other island I want trees, trees, and more trees so it fell back to 4 stars. I don't really like having lilies of the valley all over the place on that island. I do check with Isabelle once in awhile to see if it has fallen back to 3 stars but so far, that hasn't happened. Probably that's because there are enough buildings and things to keep it at 4 stars.

I read somewhere on this forum that the island rating helps with rare mushroom spawn, so I didn't want to let the rating go too low for mushroom season.

I don't understand why Isabelle is so against trees, although I have noticed that having more trees makes it more difficult to catch bugs that are on trees. I've startled and scared away numerous Atlas Moths since I can't see them as well as other tree bugs.

 

[Raz]

I just dislike the fact that having more than 200 trees prevents you from getting a 5 star rating. It discourages people from trying more natural layouts, like a deep forest.

 

[Matt0106]

Once I got the 5-star rating, I stopped caring. If I have it, great. But if I don't, meh. It's really not that important once you get the achievements you want. Just play how you want!

 

[JKDOS]

I keep my town at 5-star just for status and the feeling of accomplishment, though I'd probably be better off with 4-star, because then I could add more trees.

 

[Purities]

I'm not really fussed on island rating, the only time I have ever focused on it or paid it any attention was when I was trying to unlock terraforming for my island, since then I haven't checked it once. I'm really impatient when it comes to decorating so I often buy items or flowers, specifically Lily of the Valleys off of TBT or Nookazon. I understand wanting to have the title of five starts for a DA status type thing but I've never really been into DA

 

[Holla]

It's not really a big deal. 3 stars to unlock KK and terraforming is far more important. I have a 5 star island but I don't maintain that rating on purpose. If it ever drops I won't mind. Actually I'm slightly annoyed by the Lilly of the Valley that spawns randomly every few days. I already have enough of them for decorative purposes so any new ones I usually just dig up and sell or throw away.

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

Once I got the Golden Watering Can and some Lily-of-the-valleys, I stopped caring about the island rating. Like @dizzy bone, I found the Lily-of-the-valleys sprouting every week to spawn but felt bad about just trashing/selling them to the Nooklings but am too lazy to find folks who may want them. XD

I sort of understand the island rating calculation having a cap on the number of trees. My S/O's island has significantly more trees than mine because he had wanted to have a lot of fruit trees to sell to the Nooklings. Now, he only picks enough fruit to gift to his villagers; it was such a hassle to shake all the trees and pick up the fruits, even with two people. XD

 

[Katzenjammer]

I just did it so I could get my lily of the valley flowers and golden watering can, but after that my rating dropped again, but I don't care so it's ok

 

[grayacnh]

I got enough lillies of the valley and then stopped caring, I have my island how I like it! It's in progress so I don't bother checking the rating, but I probably will check it when I'm done designing everything!
I don't really like to use alot of fence and I know you need alot out for the rating, so who knows maybe with a completely done island I won't be 5*. But like I said, I don't mind what it is c:

 

[Nefarious]

Besides the Golden Watering Can DIY and Lily of the Vally spawns there’s nothing holding you back, so go crazy with the trees if you want to. Villagers will find their way out among the forests eventually haha.

 

[Raz]

I managed to get a 5 star rating and I think I still hold it (it's been a while since I checked). I've got many lilly of the valleys but I honestly don't care that much about them.

 

[jokk]

i cared about my rating when i started the game and i worked hard to get up to 5 stars. i tried to maintain 5 stars for while so i could collect some jacob's ladders, but now i don't really care. i really like the way the weeds look so i've let them grow in a bunch of places on the island