Newbie Guide

Here are the basics you'll need to know to get started in a handy FAQ Newbie guide!

Things to keep in mind:
 * Pets can't die. Hunger/happiness simply means they can be trained or not.
 * Training is optional past level 3 but is still a good idea due to contests. See Level Milestones for more.
 * Pets do not gain XP or level up from clicks.

When Does the Server Reset?
The server resets at midnight, EST. This refills your pets hunger and happiness and allows you to do all the quests again. You also get notifications of new babies right at midnight - but the actual server reset may take up to 15 mins, so be patient!

How do I make a pet?
Go to the Foundation Market to find brand new pets. Once you hit level 2 you can also buy pets from players. See Playing Tips to learn more!

How do I get my pets to grow?
Do Quests and and enter contests. (Training your pets first will help.) To do quests, pick a companion creature by going to your menagerie and clicking "Make Companion". (Double Heart icon in the menagerie and the pearl/clam icon on the pet page.) We advise that you split the quests among pets you want to level up, especially for Old man quests. Don't do Taskmaster quests at first because they don't give money, just stats, and they cost a lot of money.

Why can't I feed my pets?
Click the "feed" button on your pet's page. Pets can only be fed for free once per day. Come talk in Shoutbox so people will come feed/play with your pets, Post your pets here or in click exchanges like Hydra to get more people to come feed them.

You can also feed pets food. Check the food level before buying. The minimum level for your pet to be able to eat the food is (food level/2)-5

Example: level 15 food

15/2 = 7

7-5 = 2

Pet must be level 2 or more to eat it.

Also, yes you can feed high level pets low level food, but they will get next to nothing from it. Make sure that if you want to lower a high level pet's hunger that you give it high level food!

My pets are unhappy! Fix it!
Click the "play" and "cuddle" buttons on your pet's page. Or you can give them toy items, they work the same way food does. Watch your toy and pet levels!

Pets can only be loved on once per day. Come talk in Shoutbox so people will come feed/play with your pets, Post your pets here or in click exchanges like Hydra to get more people to come love them.

What does "Retire" do?
Retirement removes a creature from play, taking it's name, stats, training, and everything else along with it. Nobody will ever see, play with, or feed that pet again unless they have a Ribbon Account. Retiring a critter will also make you lose player exp if it was under level 10. Be careful!

If for some reason you don't want anyone to ever make a Pet named after your screen name, make that pet and retire it. Then nobody will ever use that name again! The pet won't really "die", it's just seen as "running off in the world, far from where any humans can ever find it without deep magic".

Retired pets can't be brought back for any reason. Accidental retirement? It's gone. Forget to use a Hazy Memory Tailsman on it first? The name (and pet it's on) are gone. Don't hit retire ever unless you're 100% sure you have done everything you wanted to do, stripped/changed it's name and are ready to have that pet never be seen or heard from again!

What does "Release" do? And what's this Forest thing?
Release sets a creature free into the forest. Released pets can be seen in the forest so you can check on them and know they're OK. The forest may become an adoption center, at random times, but it's rare and doesn't last long.

When a pet is released they lose their name. This means you don't need to use a Hazy Memory Talisman before setting them free! However, a released pet can not be brought back by any means (unless the forest becomes an adoption center) so please be 100% sure you have done everything you want to do with that pet before letting it go.

I bought a Birth Certificate or Account Ribbon? Why no bonus?
Birth Certificates are not pets, they are used to make pets! Go to your inventory and use the Birth certificate to create a new pet. For more details, try Birth Certificate.

Account ribbons must be used to get your Ribbon Account. Go to your inventory and look under "special" to find your ribbon. From there, click it to use it!

I can't post in forums and Log-in is acting all weird!
If you made an account before September 2012 and haven't logged in in awhile you might be hit by a bug that causes it to not let you log in, blank forums, and other weird log-in issues. This bug is caused by the fact the forums are now part of the main site and logging-in now uses different coding.

Don't panic! Contact Kristen and tell her you are having problems and that your account may need pruning. Your pets will be fine, it just removes the duplicate copy that caused the error so things will work nicely again. When you log back in again (after Kristen fixes you) you will see everything just as you left it plus new forum access!

The menagerie runs over on the green and images become un-clickable
If you got to the menagerie by clicking a name in the Shoutbox (SB), click the name in the SB. If the page loads so that the menagerie is overflowing, click it again. Then try it again. If you didn't get there from the SB, you may be stuck... report the bug to Kristen.

How do I post my pets?
Go to your pet's page. Click the signpost icon. See the area marked "BB code"? Click that to copy and paste it into the forums! For Hydra, just take the part that says http://www.celestialvale.com/critter=#### and use that instead.

How do I make my pets stronger?
Train them and do Quests. Keep doing this until your pets are too hungry/unhappy to train anymore. Then post your pets somewhere (or chatter in shoutbox for awhile, no posting there!) and go train some more!

Pets hunger/happiness seems to reset at midnight Eastern time. You can always come back to do more tomorrow.

How do I make money?
Click here to learn how to make money.

I want Premium stuff but don't have Money! What do I do?
Ahh, so you want some of the Premium Content from the Heart market? Actually, Celestial Vale is fairer than most sites as it is possible to get all premium content for free by collecting hearts! You get hearts at random by caring for other people's pets, so get out there and start clicking and someday you will be able to afford a Quilin, Kitsune, Peryton, or Basilisk too. You can also get hearts as contest rewards and by doing quests for the Old Master's Wife.