The plot was primarily about puzzle-solving. Unlike the Maraquan war plot, I don't think these points had anything to do with how many times you clobbered stuff in the Battledome. (I suspect they didn't have anything to do with how many blocks you moved, either...let alone how many pieces of furniture you moved, agh!)

Also, TNT apparently doesn't want to make any more wars that give people with strong pets the advantage when it comes to points; that's why the "ranks" were instituted in the first place. The days of taking potshots at the bad guys are over, I'm afraid.

(Summer, SOME people are buying up the rings now, while they're not activated; they're gambling that the rings will be awesome BD items and go up dramatically in price. That's the most likely thing to happen IMO, but they could just be defensive items and almost useless. Or they could be awesome defensive items, or mediocre offensive items. Who knows?)

EDIT: Wyndriel, I'm not an expert, but as far as I know, the books are almost guaranteed to go up in value, and will increase more, the more you wait....on the down side, it could require patience to get the best price.