What's your experience with hunting villagers via islands?

[Matt0106]

Yesterday I had a pretty rough experience hunting for my dreamies (I found some good villagers but I didn't want them) and ended up with Olaf as a rando (definitely NOT a dreamie for me). Has anyone had a fantastic experience hunting for villagers? How many tickets did it take? Would you do it over just trading?

 

[Jam86]

this was the only time i'd ever gone island hopping with someone in mind
i spent over 100nmt trying to find judy and it took me hours and i had no luck and ended up just buying her for 25nmt + tia

i'm still bummed i had wasted so many but i'm glad i got her in the end ^-^

edit: i did actually have some pretty weird luck the other day, i went island hopping for someone random and i was telling my sister how nice it would be to have megan, and megan legit appeared on the 2nd island i went to

 

[Gingersnap]

Well, I spent about 25 and got Chief. 75 for Punchy...and then 3 for Marshal. After that I realized how tedious the process was and I just bought the last dreamies I needed since the entire process is draining.

 

[0orchid]

I haven't ever looked for a specific villager while island hopping but I just spent about 44 tickets trying to find Dom. During the process I turned down soo many cute villagers (Merengue, Julian, Lily, Erik, Whitney, Bunnie, Flurry, Punchy, Zucker.. a lot more but I forget them all..). A bit disappointed but now I've given up on finding him on an island and I'm planning on printing out some more tickets and choosing the first cute villager I find.

 

[Cancoon]

I think I was looking for Goldie when I went through 12 NMTs (I only ever really spent about 25-30 so far) and I skipped out on Dotty, guess who is on my looking for list right now -__-.
I ended up going home with Vivian... Who I no longer have lmao
Fantastic.

 

[Dwayne Johnson]

i've had the most success when i haven't had a single villager in mind, that's how i came across Audie and Tom

 

[brockbrock]

It took me a little over 500 tickets and almost an entire month of grinding hours every day to earn Nook Miles points until I found Raymond. During that time I found Tia, another dreamie, after about 80 tickets (from what I recall).I had generally terrible luck, seeing so many hippos, cows and rhinos compared to every other species (Bubbles 23 times plus a campsite visit).

I actually didn't find a single villager I wanted within a few tickets. Everyone I brought from an island other than Tia came after Raymond, so that was 500+ tickets. I did see some I really liked along the way, but I passed on them.

And, despite having now been to over 700 islands, I've still yet to see several villagers I wish I could meet. But that's how it goes!

 

[Mello]

When I first started the game, I saved up my tickets until I had a whopping 20 tickets. I felt so accomplished, even though in retrospect, that was actually nothing LOL.

Anyways, I took my hard-earned tickets and decided to island hop, and lo and behold I ran into my favorite smug, Marshal after just 3 visits.
I was super happy to meet Marshal so easily, but then after Marshal, I thought... I want to hunt more... I need to experience more of that thrill I just did again. I took my remaining 17 tickets, and started island hopping once again. After 10 trips, I encountered Bubbles 2 times and Harry 3 times, what are the odds, right? So naturally, I started to sweat a bit. I had an empty slot, but I only had 7 more tries. I set aside my worry though and I figured I had to press on, or face the horrors of a random move in. I just couldn't have that. I reluctantly hopped back on a plane and continued my hunt. After 5 more tickets and realizing I'd encountered nobody I liked, my worry turned into a more frantic panic. I was in a frenzy; I had no idea how this would end, and I regretted trying to push my luck. Despite this, I figured I was too far in now to stop, so I perservered and continued my hunt. On my second to last ticket I ran into some disgusting Gorrila, whom I didn't even bother to introduce myself to because I was terrified of him.

Final ticket... it all came down to this. I had nothing else, no act of recourse, no bells in my bag to buy more, nothing. I hopped on that final plane, hands over my eyes; the anticipation as I loaded onto the island was crippling. As I loaded in, I took a step off the dock and I noticed a silhoutte in the distance that was clearly a horse. "Could it really be...?" I wondered. Another step revealed his beautiful blue hue. It was... Julian. I almost dropped my switch, honestly. I think I was screaming. Shakily, I approached Julian, as he was another dreamie. I was so excited to have him.

 

[Arckaniel]

my 1st try on my 4th NMT I found Audie
then on my 2nd try on my 2nd NMT I found Chief
then on my 3rd try I used up 25 NMTs but found no one I like
I decided to just buy my last 2 villagers, one I got for 5 NMTs which is Lucky and the other I won for free which is Diana
It's all really based on luck and the power of RNG, sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not but that's the thrill on that I guess

 

[N a t]

Today I went looking for my first dreamy and got her early on. She's a pig though and my town was lacking it's first normal villager so that made every island give me a normal villager, and I don't know how common pigs are, but I got her in very few tickets.

 

[melodymaniac]

I've had an OK experience so far, I've gotten one of my dreamies in 5 NMT (Erik) and someone else's dreamy (Marina) in ~10 NMT. I guess you could say I'm really lucky haha.

 

[Matt0106]

I haven't ever looked for a specific villager while island hopping but I just spent about 44 tickets trying to find Dom. During the process I turned down soo many cute villagers (Merengue, Julian, Lily, Erik, Whitney, Bunnie, Flurry, Punchy, Zucker.. a lot more but I forget them all..). A bit disappointed but now I've given up on finding him on an island and I'm planning on printing out some more tickets and choosing the first cute villager I find.

You're lucky, I was looking for Julian

 

[marea]

I prefer isalnd hopping beacuse i want to make sure my villagers are 100% original. I heard stories about people paying for someone only to find them wearing weird custom designs and such, i also dont have an online membership yet. If i had amiibo, i would simply use that and save my nmt for when i need resources and such. I have had good and bad experience with the islands so far, but even finding only one of my dreamies makes me feel sooo lucky lol.

 

[Matt0106]

When I first started the game, I saved up my tickets until I had a whopping 20 tickets. I felt so accomplished, even though in retrospect, that was actually nothing LOL.

Anyways, I took my hard-earned tickets and decided to island hop, and lo and behold I ran into my favorite smug, Marshal after just 3 visits.
I was super happy to meet Marshal so easily, but then after Marshal, I thought... I want to hunt more... I need to experience more of that thrill I just did again. I took my remaining 17 tickets, and started island hopping once again. After 10 trips, I encountered Bubbles 2 times and Harry 3 times, what are the odds, right? So naturally, I started to sweat a bit. I had an empty slot, but I only had 7 more tries. I set aside my worry though and I figured I had to press on, or face the horrors of a random move in. I just couldn't have that. I reluctantly hopped back on a plane and continued my hunt. After 5 more tickets and realizing I'd encountered nobody I liked, my worry turned into a more frantic panic. I was in a frenzy; I had no idea how this would end, and I regretted trying to push my luck. Despite this, I figured I was too far in now to stop, so I perservered and continued my hunt. On my second to last ticket I ran into some disgusting Gorrila, whom I didn't even bother to introduce myself to because I was terrified of him.

Final ticket... it all came down to this. I had nothing else, no act of recourse, no bells in my bag to buy more, nothing. I hopped on that final plane, hands over my eyes; the anticipation as I loaded onto the island was crippling. As I loaded in, I took a step off the dock and I noticed a silhoutte in the distance that was clearly a horse. "Could it really be...?" I wondered. Another step revealed his beautiful blue hue. It was... Julian. I almost dropped my switch, honestly. I think I was screaming. Shakily, I approached Julian, as he was another dreamie. I was so excited to have him.

YA SEE, I did the exact same thing but with more tickets... only to never find Julian But that's honestly amazing, I'm glad you found him!

 

[Koala92]

I’m not proud. Between our two switches we’ve spent over 800 NMT, but we both have all our dreamies

 

[Matt0106]

this was the only time i'd ever gone island hopping with someone in mind
i spent over 100nmt trying to find judy and it took me hours and i had no luck and ended up just buying her for 25nmt + tia

i'm still bummed i had wasted so many but i'm glad i got her in the end ^-^

edit: i did actually have some pretty weird luck the other day, i went island hopping for someone random and i was telling my sister how nice it would be to have megan, and megan legit appeared on the 2nd island i went to

I was thinking of doing this in two weeks if I get my ping for a move (praying it will be Olaf), because I had like over 80 tickets and left disappointed. You did the right thing It gets very intense when you're down to your last tickets and don't find the one you want

 

[0orchid]

You're lucky, I was looking for Julian

I hope you find him, good luck!

 

[Mothership]

I usually don't have much luck finding villagers I want on Mystery Islands. But, on Mother's Day I decided take my character from my second, recently restarted, town on an adventure. Very first ticket was a very lucky one because I found Stitches Found no one else good on my other tickets that day, tho.

 

[avieators]

the only time i've found someone i wanted to keep forever was when i went hunting for lazy villagers and found sherb

 

[Rasha]

I went Island hopping for maybe 5 islands or so?
I found Savanna, Flora and Butch which I thought looked cute.

Hey Olaf is cute! Never seen him in game though