Last night, Pulx streamed the Habbo2020 beta, and for most people, it was the first time they had seen Habbo2020 in action. There is a LOT going on in the new Habbo2020 and there is a lot we need to look at, specifically from an agency perspective. Sulake also joined the stream chat and answered questions that users were asking.  

Full disclaimer: I've been around Habbo for a while, I have seen it changed A LOT. Every time, players are incredibly negative and abusive about changes being made. Its natural to dislike change, but I very rarely have outright hated any changes Habb has made. I can usually see the positives and have tried to highlight some in this article. 

ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: This is still the BETA so there are a lot of things that may still change before launch. All of the stuff in this article is confirmed to be in Habbo2020 BETA but is NOT confirmed to be in Habbo2020 nessisarily when it launches

Trading
The good: The marketplace is sticking around!!
The bad: there is now no way of trading items for free, there will be a credits fee. 
The unknown: We know private marketplace based trading will be introduced, at the earliest, by Summer 2021, but we don't know if that will involve the ability to trade items for free to other players. We also noticed that there is a 'trading pass' that users can unlock, it is unclear if that unlocks your ability to unlock trading as a system or marketplace trading. 

​Groups
The good: They are keeping groups, and forums will be coming back but not at launch
The bad: You will no longer be able to change the badge design once the badge has been made.
The unknown: Habbo confirmed that group numbers will change, the number of people you can have in a group will depend on the levels each member of the group is, which brings me too...

​Gamification
The good: You can now level up your Habbo, get achievements and earn credits and duckets from achievements. Achievements seem to be based on how much furni you have, how many badges you have and what other achievements (like getting a trading pass) you have. 
The bad: Nothing really bad here! I like the idea of 
The unknown: I feel like Habbo in the past has implemented achievements and never really expanded it beyond launch. I'd love to see them do different quests and things to earn points and credits in future and not just stick to the same quests but expand it. 

Teleports
The good: You can now link teleports that are in the same room, and no longer need to trade teleports as a pair. 
The Bad: IDK Nothing bad here tbh I'm really excited for this feature, as you can tell from my horrific amount of unlinking teles I own and held onto: 

Profiles
The good: Profiles will be  clearer and list a users badges and groups, it will also show the users level and give people the ability to give out 'gems'
The bad: no online time, just that the person is 'online now' and the date of when they last logged on.
The unknown: Habbo has confirmed that they will be looking into adding an online time section on a users profile

Earnings
The good: Users will be able to earn credits and duckets by doing random stuff around the hotel, users HC pay day will be sent to their 'earnings' section. 
The bad: I don't think there is really anyting insanly bad about this, Habbo has said they will be able to give out MORE credits in this way so that users can 
The unknown: it will be interesting to see if this is taxed as well. Which brings me too...

Taxes
The good: Sorry there is never anything good about taxes!
The bad: Habbo will be taking more coins for you to do basic things like trading. It will cost to list items on the marketplace (whether you sell them or not) and if you aren't willing to spend 'real life' money, you will be taxed heavily if you are given or sold credits. 
The unknown: The Habbo community's reaction to the huge taxes was incredibly negative, I would not be suprised if Habbo decides to reduce taxes significantly before launch. 

Pets
The good: You will still have pets in the game, and i THINK there are new types of pets being introduced, I think i saw cows???
The meh?: You can now send your pets on perminent 'holidays' where you pay 5c to basically delete your pets, I think its great that we can delete pets,  but to pay for the privlage seems a bit much

General game changes
The good: You can now use your mouse wheel to scroll in and out!
The bad: a lot of items will not work at launch, such as dice and black holes. 
The unknown: a lot, we don't know how stable or quick the loading times will be, although I would expect and hope that it would be better and smoother than it is now!

Habbo is currently testing Habbo2020 - a new version of Habbo built from the ground up. But what is Habbo2020? Why in 2020? Why are people talking about it and what do we know? Why do people seem so angry about it? I'm going to try and answer some of those questions as part of a new HDA Blog series about Habbo 2020. This post will attempt to address and explain some of the basics. 

So what is Habbo2020?
Habbo 2020 is a rebuild of Habbo. Currently Habbo is built using Flash - an old system that has been around since basically the start of the internet. Habbo is now rebuilding using Unity. This should create a smoother experience - hopefully less lagg or technical problems, and will probably run a lot better on a variety of computers and internet connections. There will be a new *look* but the same pixel art seems to remain the same. It will mostly be the menus and other areas like the catalogue that we will see the most difference (aka the UI), like below, the current create a room menu is on the left, the possible new menu on the right (Not confirmed, may be photoshopped)

Why can't Habbo just leave it as is??
In 2017, Google announced they wil disable Flash in Google Chrome browsers by the end of 2020. It is now the end of 2020 and Habbo is leaving it to the last minute. They announced details back in June about Habbo 2020, and confirmed they were in fact working on an update to eliminate Flash. Basically, Flash is old news. There is much better ways of building apps and games like Habbo, and Flash is clunky, a security risk, can't work on mobile and only about 17 per cent of websites (in 2017) were even USING Flash. It is old, outdated and soon to be totally useless. On the 1st of Janurary 2021, Habbo will not work for the majority of internet users, Habbo has no choice but to migrate away from Flash.

Why did Habbo wait this long to move away from Flash?
I don't know, and I would love to know this, it seems very irrisponsible to leave it literally two months before Flash is shut off to start beta testing (which started last week). 

How is the beta testing going?
There have been some unconfirmed leaks (which I may go through in a future post) but for now all we know is that about 100 people were selected by Habbo to test and provide feedback in a sandbox environment. Those 100 people were selected because they had worked with Habbo previously. I would assume beta testing will be extended further

So what can we expect when Habbo2020 launches?
We don't really know yet, there have been plenty of rumours and speculation on twitter, discord and forums, but all we know for sure is what Habbo is releasing on their news page or their twitter page, which is light on a lot of specifics. We know there is a lot of fundemental changes taking place, not just how Habbo looks, but we know that basic functions like trading is changing. Whether these elements of Habbo are changing because Habbo/Sulake wanted these changes implemented (eg. for profit) or because they HAD to change them due to the limits of the unity engine they are migrating too is unclear. I suspect a combination of both. 

When is Habbo2020 starting?
Sometime in 2020! If it is delayed for any reason Haboos will lose access to Habbo after the 31st of December, so it would be very risky for Habbo to wait. It will have to happen in the next two months. 

What will it be like?
Well, we know that Habbo2020 will launch with limited features, most likely because they have run out of time and need to switch over before the end of 2020. We know that trading will change to a marketplace based trading system, and you will most likely not be able to trade with other individuals or trade privately when Habbo2020 launches. 

How can I prepare?
The HDA blog will try and collect and announce as many things as possible before it switches over, and hopefully Habbo will warn users about things that may impact their users, but be prepared for monumental changes coming to Habbo. Some things that have been confirmed or are persistant rumours include:

• Dimmers not working, at least in the early iteration of Habbo2020, if at all. Be prepared to change the look of your room, or sell off your dimmers now for a quick buck (not confirmed by Habbo, just rumours at this stage)
• HC Gifts will be removed (NOT HC Gift Boxes, as I originally thought! At this stage these will still work), if you have been planning to buy those weird HC mask things, do it now, as all those points will be removed in Habbo2020. - This has been confirmed officially by Habbo. Instead HC members will recieve a preset gift every month (Just like the really good old days!)
• You may have to pay for things that we didn't have to pay for before - like creating rooms or adding locks or passwords to rooms (this is just rumour at this stage and not confirmed!)
• Exchange tax increasing - this has already been implemented 
• There will be a change in how credits are managed on your account - referred to as vaults. This has been explained by Habbo here (but in my opinion, not very clearly!) When we get more information I will write a post about this issue on its own, but if you have been thinking of buying a rank, or supporting HDA via a donation or platinum membership, do so now as it may be heavily restricted after Habbo2020 is implemented for some time.

How can I keep up to date?
Follow @Habbo on twitter (and while you are there follow me @Like_Lanaa) and check the Habbo news section on Habbo dot com for regular updates. They are often clearing up particularly crazy rumours and denying or confirming information there regularly. Also, read the HDA Blog! We care about Habbo just as much as you do and we want YOU to be prepared for this change as much as we do. The HDA Blog will be working hard over the next few months to bring you as much news and information regarding Habbo 2020 as we can!

Please contact Vibrational for any questions you may have, or any rumours you hear, we may include it in future posts.

You get 24-hour butlers, a chauffeured car and $10k credit to use in the resort. And if you spend over 1 million dollars on casino you get one night for free there. ​

​Written by Fornitani / Lucas <3

Sitting at base and struggling to make conversation? We have you covered, enjoy these convo starters!

We have some doomed lovers in HDA, read below for the TEAAAA

But while your here, please send in confessions cause at this rate I'm running out FAST

https://www.tinyurl.com/hdaconfession
https://www.tinyurl.com/hdaconfession
https://www.tinyurl.com/hdaconfession
​
ONTO THE CONFESSIONS!

Part 3 - Finale

It has been an honour to write and experience your stories. I have appreciated all of them and have been humbled by this journey. These are the final stories of the strong.

Another member describes their life as one of stagnation. Due to the COVID pandemic, they have been unable to find employment. They also recently finished their second year at university. Prior to preventative measures enacted by their government, the member sold handmade resin jewellery and would draw anime illustrations for conventions as a way to make ends meet. Currently, they spend time with their partner and engage in video games as a way to pass time. They are most excited about upcoming video game releases and they are most dreading studies resuming in October. They wish everyone to be more friendly and open towards each other and believe the #reasons-why-im-depressed channel is a great tool that allows people to open up about their thoughts. 

A lot of motion is taking place in this member's life, that it was difficult for them to form words. They would like to make some changes but are feeling stuck, especially with COVID. Quarantine has been very stressful for them due to the change in routine so each day has been a new reason for getting out of bed.  They experience severe depression and PTSD, so everyday is a constant battle, where they feel as though they are moving the earth. They experienced a lot of trauma as a child, and was constantly in a dissociative state. They don’t have any memories of their childhood and just remember being on “auto-pilot” until Junior year of high school. They’re looking forward to marrying their fiance and starting a family. They look forward to earning a larger house with them in the countryside. Outside of HDA, they enjoy jogging with their dog, drawing, singing, dancing, and going on picnics with their fiance.

This member believes most members have already figured out what makes them tick. He or she wishes everyone to know that if they are feeling “down”, they would avoid others due to their wish not to upset anyone else. They agree they rarely open up and speak about what troubles them, but they would rather remain invulnerable, they are grateful their closest friends are able to see through those barriers this person builds. They are currently stressed due to examinations and the logistics of attending them due to COVID-19, they believe it just builds upon the other worries in their life. They are afraid they are disappointing others with their behavior or they are unable to show their worth. They have the “usual” anxiety and insecurity of not being able to live up to expectations of their parents, and they don’t want to let them down. ​

Thank you to HDA’s amazing members, without your contributions, I could not have done it. My goal, as stated before, was that we, as a community would show more empathy towards one another. If anyone here feels they have no one to turn to, I can assure you I will listen, and above all else, I will have some empathy. 

Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to the Blog Squad Team, without your contributions, this series wouldn’t have been possible.

At the end of this blog, there will be a form link for you to submit your answers to the activities, and at the end of the month, the top 3 responses with the most points shall be mentioned on the HDA Server! As this is currently in a trial period, there are no prizes as of now, however, if we see a positive number of responses, there will be prizes in the future! So make sure to send this blog to your friends ;)


Trick or Treat Word Search
Find and circle (or cross out) all of the Halloween words in the grid below using different coloured lines to indicate each word's placing.. Look in all directions, left, right, up, down, diagonal and backwards. ​

HDA Candy Hunt
Candy Apples have been dropped all over base, find as many as you can and circle each one! I wonder how many there are ;) Good Luck!!!. ​