Faune's 2024 Highs and Lows The high is an easy one, I met so many wonderful people this year! For the first time in probably my whole almost 18 years on Subeta I really put myself out there and started getting social. I created the Weekly Pet Prompts group (now called Pet Enthusiasts), took up responsibility for the Pet Spotlight and TC Support board, joined Kindred Spirits, and made a point of interacting via forum and comment far more often that before. Opening myself up was the best choice I could have made. I've had many moments this year of being totally floored by the generosity of others and of having my hope replenished just by witnessing the compassion and kindness of so many people on Subeta. I've felt so seen, and have been gifted the opportunity to (and joy of) lift others up in turn. I've found a lot of encouragement and inspiration thanks to the community I've started to find here, and I can truly say it has improved my mental and emotional health. And to be honest, you don't even have to chat to find examples of the goodness this community holds! But, the friendships you make by doing so are pretty dang great. I also got super re-inspired and (semi) motivated lol in regards to my pets. After adopting and working on a lot of pets in 2020, I had a huge lull where I meandered about and didn't do a ton. This year has had a LOT of new ideas, new pets, and new progress.

Lows are harder (thankfully)! It's actually kinda silly, but the thing that really comes to mind is the open wound (oh the dramatics) of narrowly missing an opportunity to get one of my - if not my - most coveted CWs (the absolutely adorable and perfect Cuddly Lamb Plush Knit). I'm gonna be sore about that one for a good while lol.

Faune's 2025 Goals & "Excited For"s I think most of my goals revolve around my pets. I'd like to get as many of them truly "complete" (character, story, art and/or overlay, custom profile, minion, TC) as possible. In particular I've set the goal to get my entire group of Nature Spirits completed in 2025! I'd also love to finish shaping out the larger world and plot of my World of Magic pets. That's a doozie but I'm hyped about the potentials there. I'm also working towards getting everyone to the highest level job at Gentech (save a few who have themed jobs) and I've been dipping my toe in battling with Nevertheless so I think I'd like to get her up 1 or 2 tiers since I've never done that before!

Definitely focusing on not just maintaining but increasing community connection! I'd love to have even more friends join in all the awesome goodness of the groups I love, and hope I can spread some smiles and encouragement throughout 2025. This community is so lovely, I hope to give back and least what it has given to me. <3 ATM I need to save for some pet goals and the Pet Sprint prizes, but I'd like to establish the habit of birthday and new user gifting in 2025.

I think I'm "excited for" the same things I have goals for. I'm excited to continue chatting with awesome people and even hopefully making more friends! I'm excited for doing right by my pets and crushing some creativity! I'm excited for the opportunity to bring joy and hope I honor that opportunity! And I'm excited and hopeful that we'll see Subeta grow and thrive in 2025.

- I'm not 100% sure if this fits best in "general" or "chit-chat". I did my best to look at the current topics in each and went with general since this is a subeta specific community conversation. My apologies if that's the wrong answer lol.

Wonderful post ! I loved reading about your experiences, goals, highs and lows 😊 I could totally relate to a lot of your comments…becoming more active and putting myself out there was very hard but the payoff was huge. I’m grateful every day I made the decision to start playing Subeta again and to reach out to others. It was a very difficult year for me but having this community to turn to was lifesaving honestly. The people in this community are some of the most generous, kind, and compassionate people I know and they’ve been an inspiration! I’m inspired and striving to model that in rl too. It’s still hard to reach out to people but the friendships I made here have lifted me up in a very dark time in my life and I hope and pray I can do the same for others ♥️ Joining a couple of forums, friending people, participating in giveaways and challenges have all been highlights for me this year. The lows here on Subeta are few and far between thankfully!! The rl lows have been huge but I’m working through them and I’m in a much better place this New Year’s Eve.

I would love to say I have goals and I’m focused on this or that…but I enjoy it all and my focus is like a dog seeing a squirrel lol I love the holidays, would love to learn how to make CWs (any suggestions on where to start would be much appreciated), enjoy playing in my wardrobe, quests, games…the ones I can play on my iPad… I’m a hoarder and have a huge vault that might explode if I don’t clean it, I’ve been slowly sorting through it 🥴 My pets - I’ve named some after my grandchildren and my rl dogs so I think of them as having the personalities of those they are named after weird-maybe I’m working on getting them all the best jobs, but I don’t battle much. Something to focus on but man some of those weapons are wickedly expensive! I enjoy working on achievements too *** squirrel ***

I’m excited to continue my journey here on Subeta, to nurture the friendships I’ve made and make new friends and connections. I hope to see the site grow and I want to pay forward all the love and joy that has been shared with me on here.

I finished profile layouts for all but one of my pets this year, complete with custom overlays uploaded to the site. It took saving for them but I was so happy whenever I would uploaded one and got to see it on the training and main pet pages! Dalice did a beautiful job with all of them and they play a key role in fleshing out the characters. I did a freebie art thread for a bit and hit my personal goal of drawing for everyone that posted! It had been a long time since I had drawn for people on Subeta so it felt really good. Last but not least I met some really sweet people on here and keep up with them. While that sounds simple to a lot of people probably, I tend to keep to myself so it was a big change for me.

The lows would probably be me missing out on chunks of the year and certain holidays. I just didn't have the energy to play.

My goals for 2025 are to get stories written for all my pets, finish treasure chests, clean up the wishlist by buying sub 1 million items, and lastly save enough to spend 100 mil on trees next Luminaire. I'm between paying for the stories or trying to write more of them myself. So far I've only written Luther's and it was tough for me, but maybe it'll be a good idea to challenge myself with the others. I already challenged myself quite a bit when editing their profiles and it was so worth it. I think being more social would be good too but that'll come naturally as I'm feeling it.

I hope that 2025 will be another great year for me on Subeta. It's always fun to have this escape from the real world where I have the space and funds to collect cute and funny items. Plus I love being surrounded by the different forms of creativity!

Happy New Year!

I am so sorry that this past year has brought you so many heavy, dark times out there in the real world. I pray 2025 brings you much more light and rest than last year did. I'm so glad you found uplifting and encouraging communities here! It's so lovely to think that there's a small bubble on the internet where we can lean into being creative, having fun, and making friends in a safe and happy environment. Double yay for Kindred Spirits, I'm glad we met!

Hahaha, I get that! Hmm, I wish I had the artistic talent to make pet art and CWs. Unfortunately I don't, so I don't have a lot of insight into what programs are helpful. But you could probably pop into the Custom Clothing forum and ask for recommendations!

Maybe you can sort the vault items and if there are things you really like and want to keep you can use galleries (which can be organized with categories)? That way you still have all the pretties you really like, but it's not so chaotic lol. I feel you on this though! I'm working on going through my vault and my gallery and actually getting all the items I've hoarded into pet TCs (finally).

Not weird at all! I have some pets that are tributes to / named for irl loves. Booped is a tribute to my animal companions (though I need to update and add Quenya), Remiel is a tribute to the love of my life Juneau, Steadfast is a tribute to the other love of my life Johnny, Queso is probably going to be a similar pet to Steadfast, and then Peridot is a character who will have their own actual story and their personality is based on my husband. Ohhh achievements! I forget about them but that's probably fun because you have a list of goals to continually work towards!

Love this.

Daaaaang that's impressive! Congratulations on being so productive with all of the profiles and overlays! I know how much work that can be. I love that you are able to see them around the site and feel that extra joy knowing that's YOUR character / pet and how much work went into them. Like a reminder of what you've accomplished and a celebration of your creativity wrapped together!

Very jealous of those with artistic talent / skills, something maybe I'll develop as best I can this coming year! We'll see, I don't want to put too many actual "goals" on myself. If I'm unrealistic I'll just set myself up to fail lol. It's so nice of you to gift art to others, I know there's time and labor that goes into every piece. And I'm glad it also served to bring you joy and help you feel accomplished and proud of what you are capable of! Dang have I realized this year how important that is.

I'm so glad you stepped out and started to socialize too! I think everyone has some lulls as far as site activity, but it is a bummer to miss out on events for sure. What did you miss out on last year? Are there items from certain event currency shops you're really wanting? Maybe I can help! Or at least hopefully you'll be able to be onsite this year for those events!

Ohhhh writing the stories, I LOVE writing and yet somehow still find it so hard to get my pet stories done. x.x I've been writing pet stories for though and it's actually been helpful to my own personal creativity, so hopefully as I continue to work on stories for others I will continue to find the inspiration, motivation, and discipline for my own pets! Here's to a 2025 where we both get so many stories and TCs completed!

Hahaha I totally forgot about my goals to clear my WL (thankfully I try to keep it small, though "small" is relative and still like idk 500 items? ahaha).

Forgive me if I'm forgetting, but if you haven't checked out the Pet Enthusiasts Group (formerly Weekly Pet Prompts) you absolutely should! We're in the middle of our Winter Pet Progress Sprint and will probably have at least one more this coming year. But in general there's just a lot of open chatting, fun prompts, and most importantly a lot of encouraging and inspiring when it comes to working on pets!

Yes to this, 100%

What were your Subeta-specific highs and lows of 2024? I experienced a lot of (random) acts of kindness throughout the year. And this was perhaps my favorite Lumi ever. My sister recently guided me through making a discord account and adding channels.

I used to have a few good conversation friendships on subeta; but many friends moved on from the site. It's been years since I've held long conversations with others online. So that's something I'd like to work on: participating & reaching out more.

What are you excited for in the coming year? I'd just like to go with the flow and try to cultivate more peace by taking care of myself. I want to prioritize being outside in nature more.

Do you have any site-related goals for the new year? I'd like to do a little work here and there on pets (especially Stormy). It would also be nice to improve/get back into drawing pets.

I'm really glad you found your new place here. My husband and I move every couple years IRL. It's been hard making new friends and being away from family. I'm trying to appreciate that Subeta is a good place for community.

I've also been wondering, is there a way to track friends' birthdays on the site other than asking or looking at your dashboard each day and checking?

Aww thank you! The overlays were a goal I didn't know I had until I started getting them. I really do love seeing them around. It's such a unique function that I haven't seen on other sites but it really is worth it. I remember the first time I saw Mementos on my profile, I felt so happy!

Wishing you luck! Art is all about practice, which is another reason why I love doing freebies. The requests are all so different potentially so there's always something new to try and draw. I totally understand holding back on the number of goals though. That's why I tried to vary my goals so that I can use different skills on all of them and not burn out halfway through the year.

To be honest I'm not exactly sure which events I missed, just that a bunch of items appeared on site that I don't recall seeing before haha! That's so sweet of you to offer, thank you! I'm hoping to just hunker down and participate when I can this year, especially for the big ones like Survival and Luminaire.

That's so cool to hear that you write your stories AND stories for other people! I think it can be hard to do your own stories because they're so personal, or you have to make sure you're not repeating concepts and the like.

I'll definitely check the group out! I've peeked in before but felt shy. Maybe this'll be my year to join in. :3

What were your Subeta-specific highs and lows of 2024?

Difficult for me to remember an entire year off the top of my head nowadays ^^; but I looked through some notes. My main battle pet Sungod hit T11 and earned his first Psycho Smasher scroll in 2024. I created Mistral, still really proud of his name. Also created Pareidolia, more Yaherras for me is always a plus.

And of course, probably the biggest highlight, joining the Pet Enthusiasts group :D I really like my pets, but have always been slow about doing anything with them because eh, who else but me cares? But even if none of my pets ever get so much as another like, it's been very uplifting to just have someplace to talk about them. And that, in turn, has helped me actually put legs on the ideas in my head.

Not just on Subeta, either; the motivation's slowly but surely carrying over into other fandoms too. I now keep a sketchbook in my car and a notepad at my desk, just in case I get some downtime and can write or sketch something. Just this past New Year's Eve I had to close at work, which normally would be cause for griping. But because it was so quiet, I was able to make great progress on a character's story, and even solve a few minor problems about it that had been bothering me. The night actually flew by!

Lows? Honestly, probably the only thing that barely qualifies was that Sungod wasn't able to earn a Shriek of Despair scroll drop this year. (A kind person sent me one, so it's all good.)

What are you excited for in the coming year?

I want to keep this creative streak going!! I want to finally get all these ideas out of my head that have been trapped in there for years. I don't know if anything will come of it at all, but even not knowing is kind of exciting XD

Do you have any site-related goals for the new year?

In addition to the Sprint goals (which I finally added to my Notepad widget so I have a constant reminder to work on them), I still have some battle-related goals I want to reach. Missed the special Friday the 13th Carepier last year, so I'll try to catch it this year. Sungod should be better prepared for it by then, too. Want to get them to tier 12, and read more books to get that AP up.

There's still a few pets I want to make as soon as I come up with a name and character idea for them. Glacier Yaherra, Storm Irion, and Reborn Celinox. The first two, I've got the potions and everything else ready to go, again, partly thanks to some kind folks here. Just need that elusive compelling idea! XD

, I'm so proud of you for putting yourself out there (that is hard, I know, makes me nervous too!) Thank you for all you do!

I feel you a bit, many of my friends moved on from this site too. Was kind of lonely here for a while. But, glad I decided to pick myself up and try again. Agree that being in nature, even just for a little bit, helps your mood and your brain a great deal. Good luck with your goals =)

Yeah, it's definitely hard to put yourself out there especially being introverted; but I know I'm not alone. Thank you for your support. Keeping a notepad and sketchbook nearby is a great idea! That's also cool that you create new pets based on color/species. I do the opposite: I start with the theme then have to go searching for the color/species.

I completely relate to the acts of kindness experienced. It's so encouraging (as far as view of the world, esp. atm).

Beautiful intentions <3 Being outside is incredibly helpful for me as well (and scientifically speaking it's good for us as a species lol). Thankfully my pups and job help me to get outside more, as long as I take the opportunities (which I try to do these days). I've gotten better at going outside with everyone vs just letting them out, and will sometimes sit outside with my laptop to write work emails and such. I'd like to start "hiking" again or at least get back to visiting local parks, though with the heat here it can be brutal to do so after Feb.

Ohh, I don't know of a way to track them but that would be really helpful! I wonder if that's something that could be optionally displayed on a user profile in the info section, maybe month / day but not year? Or something that could be displayed (optionally) on a friend's list? ATM all I can think of is gradually creating a list yourself but that's not great for planning ahead, and you can miss it for sure if you happen to not login on a given day.

Thank you for the wishes of luck, I'll need them xD Ohhh, what you said about the freebies resonates! Writing for others really helps me to practice creativity and I tend to gather inspiration as I go from seeing all these characters and concepts that didn't come from my mind and then needing to write for them. Totally parallels! Do you have any recommendations for beginner drawing (both on paper and on computer)?

Ahaha I feel that. I don't know what day it is half the time, so remembering details of a whole year is not gonna happen.

Oh dang, congratulations on Sungod's development, that has to take a lot of time and resources to make happen! And on Mistral and Pareidolia, you know I love a good name and a good yaherra lol.

sobs in happy Hearing that means the WORLD to me, I am so glad you found so much inspiration and encouragement. I'm so grateful for you and everyone in our little group, it's been a highlight for me both specifically on Subeta but also in life as a whole.

Not me reading your goals and getting the image in my head of you being held upside down and shaken and then a ton of ideas fall out of your head like stuff out of pockets in a cartoon ahahaha

Thank you <3

I recommend finding a subject you're very interested in! Most of my advances in drawing come from periods where I'm fascinated with something like an oc I've made or an existing character and I try my best to learn how to draw them. I end up drawing them so much that it becomes natural and I learn new skills in the process that can apply to other things. I don't go for 1:1 accuracy but give myself some leeway so that it doesn't become too much of a chore, especially in the beginning. I think keeping art fun is what fosters improvement!

Also having expectations helps too. I don't want to draw realistic people, so I don't get hard on myself for not drawing realistically. A lot of people will tell you to learn anatomy first though, so it can vary.

Thank you for the advice! I have a lot of characters I need to develop this year so I think that will be something I will feel inspired by and fascinated with!

A good starting point for sure, and I'm sure it will lead me in the right direction.

Yes, nature is so good for you! I live in TX, so I understand the heat. I'm trying to appreciate nature while it's cooler. Because 6-8 months of the year feels like summer, and I just cannot lol.

Thanks for making the Birthday suggestion board. :)