Your preferred method of obtaining new villagers?

[Kattea]

Purchase from other players? Mystery island hopping? Waiting for a random to move in?

I can see the appeal of mystery island hopping since you get to meet many new villagers that you might not have considered. Personally though, I like to save time and NMT by shopping on Nookazon since I've got really bad luck with RNG.

 

[Rosch]

Amibo is the most convenient. But of course you are limited to what you only have.

The next option I prefer are the mystery islands. It is random, but compared to the campsite, you can just keep randomizing the villagers immediately as long as you have tickets. Campsite is a lot of work even with TT.

 

[Clock]

Just island hopping instead, but i’m considering campsite method.

 

[NatsumiSummer]

Amibo is the most convenient. But of course you are limited to what you only have.

The next option I prefer are the mystery islands. It is random, but compared to the campsite, you can just keep randomizing the villagers immediately as long as you have tickets. Campsite is a lot of work even with TT.

I have to agree with you on this. I have been obtaining quite a few villagers via Amiibo, but once in a while I will like to test my luck with a Mystery Island. Sometimes I will have a villager visit twice, and then if someone wants to move out and I let them... then I might just wait for their plot to be vacant, go to a few islands, and if I don't find someone I like... then use the Amiibo card one last time to get the villager that I prepped before hand.

 

[Uffe]

If I don't have all the personalities, I go to the Mystery Islands and find the personality I need. Otherwise I just wait for villagers to visit the campsite and they can move in like that.

 

[Tileve]

Mystery islands! I love searching for a new villager. I have some amiibo if I need a specific type or want to kick out someone, but I prefer the luck of the islands. If I don't have any luck, I will check on the forum or with some Facebook groups.

 

[Fraggle]

Amiibo always if I have them. I have done mystery islands a few times with mixed success. Before I knew better I tried waiting until the next day to continue searching and got a random! Took me about 120 tickets and 5 hours work to find Judy which was rough. Next time I decided to try the campsite method for Raymond. Took longer as I had to move a smug out and a cranky and peppy in to get smugs coming to the campsite but 6 hours in boom! - free Raymond!

 

[Bk1234]

I prefer mystery island tours because I live that feeling of anticipation. However, I want to get the “full” experience, so I plan on adopting a villager soon, since I haven’t done that yet!

 

[Mattician]

I only invite from the campsite and go searching on mystery islands. The only time I get a random move in is when I don't find anyone on mystery islands that I like.
I don't use amiibo or buy/trade from other people.

I just like the excitement of not knowing who you'll see next. Whether you walk into the tent, or walk up the dock on a mystery island in anticipation, you're always hoping that this might be the time you find one of your dreamies.

Sure, it's frustrating trying to find exactly who you want. It could take a long time. But the feeling is amazing when you finally lay eyes on someone you've been looking for.
Happened to me today. Finally found Reneigh. She was in my campsite.

 

[marshallows]

old villagers through amiibo.
new villagers who made their first debut in this game through campsite.
mystery island hopping isn't for me personally bc it makes me really tired after about the first 10-20 lol. i prefer to take mystery islands when i need resources/fishing/catching bugs.

 

[Hobowire]

island hopping and praying.

 

[FishHead]

Amiibo or purchasing from other players. I don't have the patience nor enough nook miles to go on those mystery island trips.

 

[tajikey]

First 10 were randoms. Second 10 were Amiibo. Stitches and Molly moved out via thought bubbles, replaced with Angus and Tasha via mystery tours.

 

[Loriii]

Island hopping because it's fun and unpredictable, but if I don't see the villager I'm looking for and I really want them badly, I will use the campsite method. If the game still trolls me (bad RNG) to that point, I will find Raymond then sell him for tons of NMT so I could island hop again lol. Seriously, I might just get who I want using the campsite.

 

[Serabee]

Mystery islands! I mean, Amiibo would be ideal, but I only have so many (but, it's safe to safe, I will be keeping Dobie and Ursala on my island until the end of time- even if I have to keep adding "new" ones). So mystery island is my second favorite option. I hoard Nook Miles until a villager chooses to move (it's been taking so long lately, since there are specific villagers I want to move out, but only my favorites seem to ever consider it) and then just go island hopping until I find someone I like!

It's not as efficient as getting them from other people, but I actually enjoy it. Plus, it's the only time I use NMT, so I enjoy getting resources on the other islands. Last time I found shark island and got several hundred thousand Bells from it

 

[Mick]

I've had good experiences by watching the villager trade channel in the Nookazon discord. Villagers are offered at high frequencies there, most of them by players trying to get rich, but I did get both a Flora and a Roald just by watching the posts go by for a while. It does help that I am not too picky and will go for whoever seems nice at the time, finding a specific villager may be more difficult

That or the trading forums here, same system but at a slower pace

 

[BetsySundrop]

When a plot is open, I check here for available villagers. Otherwise mystery islands

 

[milktae]

Sometimes I island hop but i usually buy villagers or adopts them on here

 

[MegaRush]

When they enabled amiibo with the New Leaf update, I definitely loved having so much control over my villager population--but the obvious drawback is I'm limited to the cards that I have.

With New Horizons, I've had a lot more fun island-hopping for animals than I expected to. I still often go to my cards to pick from my favorites, but I've kind of reached a compromise situation because I really do like the anticipation of not knowing who will be on the island each time I go, and there are a lot of animals who get my attention much better when I see them up close.

So whenever someone moves out, I'll spend a while making a few trips to the islands and see if anyone "wows" me. If it doesn't happen, I make sure to have my own villager card ready to scan into the campsite. I invite them the 1st time on the day my mover says they want to move, the 2nd visit the next day when they're in boxes, and the 3rd time on the day the plot is open and if I didn't pick another animal.

I recently met Tasha on an island and I really liked her, so I invited her instead of the card I was going to use. I love having her right next door to me, and she has one of the coolest house interiors I've seen yet!

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

I've restricted myself to random move ins, and mystery tours. I do have the complete amiibo card collection but I want to play the game normally without any "cheats" for the first year. Plus I wanna have a chance at meeting new villagers I wouldn't have otherwise chosen. Like Egbert and Ken and Anabelle. I hated them in New Leaf without ever even meeting them but they were all random move ins in New Horizons and I love them now. Also I want to have a shot at getting all the new villagers so I can earn their photos, and they don't have amiibo. I don't wanna buy them from others because of a few reasons. Most people ask for too much, they aren't really guaranteed to be original, and (at least in New Leaf) they would probably always talk about their previous island and I just don't like it I guess. After a full year of playing though, I intend to use amiibo cards to get specific villagers. Not sure if I'll buy them off people by then though.