Pottermore, with SPOILERS

With just one chance left for early registration to Pottermore, and many group members already registered, it's time for a new thread. On this thread, those of us participating in the beta testing/early entry will be able to share our impressions of the site.

If you're part of the beta test group, feel free to post your username, let us know when you get your welcome letter and can enter the site, and anything else you want to share! I will add usernames to the index at the bottom of this post.

If you didn't get in via early registration, check this thread only if you want to know details about the site -- if you'd rather remain unspoiled until October, when the site opens to all, you probably shouldn't read beyond this post!

All right . . . let the magic being!

Index of LT members and their Pottermore usernames:

06nwingert - YewDraconis162
Alishamb08 - ScarletElm67
atlargeintheworld - StarFloo26
biblioholic29 - WillowSand47
BuffaloPhil - ErisedEcho96
carmenere - CloakAsh188
catbastet - SpiritRain85
compskibook - CastleHazel26
Espeon200 - PhoenixPotion15
foggidawn - HazelCat40
InfectiousOptimist - CharmVine187
jugglingpaynes - SnidgetPatronus33
katelisim - QuillStrike212
KayEluned - SparksFrog170
Kerian - RainMirror118
kirbyowns - OakGalleon7
kopal - NightAuror44
LadyN - Stormseer101
lilkim714 - SpellGlow28
littlegeek - RuneFrog42
Mandy2 - KnightCloak47
MrAndrew - CrimsonSickle26
MsDonna - MagicMahogany55
Octane - PatronusMirror29
Renald128 - MahoganyFlame88
SaraFleming - FlameWitch114
sarahy - MistCat146

I got in for early registration on Day 4! So excited to help!

My Username: ScarletElm67

Should I add an index of LT usernames/Pottermore usernames in the first post?

Mine is HazelCat40.

I'm WillowSand47

I have to say, I'm loving the Privet Drive background on the Welcome page. If that's an indication of what we have to look forward I can't wait for that email arrive!

#3 Yeah I think an index is a good idea, obviously we don't know yet how much we will be able to interact with each other, but it would be worth knowing if we bump into other LTers.

My username is ErisedEcho96.

My username is Knightcloak47

#4 I love it too!

Am I alone in signing on to pottermore even though I know nothing new will be there?

Hello people, isnt this exciting?! My user name is SparksFrog170

So I'm guessing we will be sorted into houses at the start, I will be so dissapointed if I don't get into the house I want (Ravenclaw!) but then I suppose if they let us choose more than half would be in Griffindor, which would be a bit daft.

My username is MahoganyFlame88. It would be great to interact with each other once we can enter the site :D!

#6: Nope.

Mandy and I were amused when we talked earlier that we have the same number at the end of our names. Must be our family number!

#10 -- I noticed that, too!

#8 -- From what I've read, it sounds like it will follow the storyline of the books, so it may not Sort us immediately. Like you, I'm really, really hoping to get into Ravenclaw. However, I'll be happy with whatever I get, since I'm just so pleased to be able to play!

Mine is SnidgetPatronus33, which cracks me up every time I say it.

My username is SpiritRain85. :)

My username is YewDraconis162

#12 -- I love it!

My username: QuillStrike212
I quite like it :)

I can't wait until the beta test/entry starts, I'm pretty excited to see what is going to go on in the website. I hope that we do get to go through the sorting hat part. But I still hope to be wither Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.

YAY! I got in! My user name is RuneFrog42

one email down, one to go. I'm CrimsonSickle26. It's like a popsicle of an unusual colour (PoUC). Or possibly death.

MsD is MagicMahogany55.

JP's patronis is a Snidget?

Woohoo! Now, if they would just start letting us in . . .

Mine is CastleHazel26! I can't wait. I hope I am in before school starts. I don't know how much time I will have once I start teaching fourth grade.

I can tell already I am going to keep thinking HazelCat is Cat :)

I wondered about that, when I picked it -- but I didn't really like any of the other choices. And I think people will get the two of us confused, since ours are somewhat similar!

It will add to the fun! I hope.

I have such high hopes for the whole thing. I hope it lives up to it! Lots of "hope."

#19: Snidgets are very secretive. And deadly. If you hear the call of the Snidget, you should run for your life.

*snidget!*

I really like my name SparksFrog170, I did have a choice of more lofty, mystical sounding names like SickleMoonstone and stuff like that but I like frogs :)

My username is OakGalleon7. I've logged back in a couple of times. Right now it's night time and there is a wizard in front of the drive.

I hope it lives up to my expectations too. I'm very excited to get to experience the books in a new way. I'm also looking forward to the sorting. This should be a much better gauge then what is out there already.

I'm also very glad that a lot of HE'ers were able to register early. We may not be in at the same time for this early access, but it will be neat to experience it somewhat together.

i already put this on the other thread, but im MistCat146!

I'm registered thanks to some help! My username's RainMirror118. :)

I'm so excited! I don't mind which house I'm put in so long as it isn't Slytherin. I wonder if September first will be the day we begin . . .

I hope i'm the only person sorted into Slytherin. We Slytherites don't like sharing.

If they do have the sorting, I hope I go into Gryffindor, I'll be sad if I go into Slytherin.

I really want to be in Ravenclaw, but failing that I think Slytherin would be my second choice. Gryffindor is just a bit obvious, and Hufflepuff, well I don't like to offend anyone but come on.... :P

Anyway as Harry Potter said to his son on platform 9 3/4 probably the bravest man he knew was in Slytherin house :D

#30: *squeal!* K, I'm so happy you got in! I'm loving all the names we got. I can't help thinking that the numbers after them must mean they aren't unique, but still, they are really interesting. And yes, I spend my spare time thinking up names. :o)

Yay, K is in!

I really dont care which house I'm sorted into. In a way, I'd almost like to be a Hufflepuff only because they are so maligned and I can be a kickass Hufflepuff like Cedric Diggory and confound everyone's expectations.

(Were there any other Hufflepuffs in the book? Ernie MacMillan? I don't remember.)

#36: Several. Ernie, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley

And it was never in the books, but JKR said in an interview that Nymphadora Tonks was a Hufflepuff.

#35 jp:
Thanks! I am, too, and of how many of us got in. I agree about the numbers and usernames. The numbers after my username for Pottermore amuse me because they're part of my DOB. As for the words, I love rain and a few of my favorite books have the word 'mirror' in the title. :)

#36 LG:
Glad you made it, too!

RE Hufflepuff:
I value loyalty, something I note more as a Hufflepuff trait, so it's one reason why I wouldn't mind being placed there. I'd forgotten about JKR mentioning Tonks having been in it.

Quizes usually place me in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff the most, with Ravenclaw being a result every so often.

Hufflepuff. It's where i go when things get rough.

Ooh, I'm Stormseer101!

#41 LadyN: Dramatic!!!!!!

Ha! I know!

Wow, that's 20 of us on my list!

Wow, can't believe so many of us got into the early registration. I hope they send out the welcome emails soon.

I just clicked over to Pottermore and the "sign in" button is gone, you're just taken to the screen we saw before July 31st. I wonder if the only way to "sign in" now is after you get your welcome email.

Hmm. . . .

I just went to the site, and got the "overwhelming demand" screen at first. It pretty quickly went to the old screen that Bib saw, but that definitely makes me think that stuff is happening!

I got the overwhelming demand screen at first too.

A friend just posted days to expect your welcome email on FB. I'm not sure where she got them yet, so all's unverified. But, I thought I'd share in case they're right.

Based on which day you found the Quill.
Day 1 Aug 8-14
Day 2 Aug 15-21
Day 3 Aug 22-28
Day 4 Aug 29-Sept 4
Day 5 Sept 5-11
Day 6 Sept 12-18
Day 7 Sept 19-25

I checked to see if that came from the official Pottermore blog, but I'm not seeing it there. It would be interesting to know where those dates came from.

Oh good, I thought it was me doing something wrong so that I couldn't sign in!

Ooh I should be in within the week if that's right! Will keep you all updated!

Foggi- I checked there first too. She doesn't remember exactly where she saw it, but she thinks it was Twitter, possibly the official blog. I'm not on Twitter--can't verify myself, I really don't need to be sucked into another social media site. Anyone on there that could verify?

The official twitter account is pretty closely tied to the official blog:
http://twitter.com/#!/pottermore

They haven't tweeted anything, as far as I can tell, since the magic quill challenge closed. I'm not a Twitter user, but I discovered that you can search the site even if you don't have an account.

Ah, well, we'll just take it as one of the many rumours of the internet.

Could be true . . . it seems like a long wait, though, for those people in the last three days. Then again, a million people is a lot to try and process through the site, and perhaps it will take them until the end of September. Wonder if they will have to stagger registrations when they open it up for everybody? Considering that it's still suffering from "overwhelming demand" due to whatever they did today, it seems likely!

I wonder if it is true? If the dates are true, that does seem like a long time to wait, but then again it may go by fast. I hope we hear something soon. I know it will be tough once school starts for me. Well I don't know, the first week of classes isn't so bad.

If that's true, I won't get in until the end of September. Might as well have waited for general registration.

Oops! I don't remember the username they gave me! I went back through my email and the email I got was just an "activate your account" email, and it doesn't say my username. Eek! I hope I didn't mess myself up and I did it all properly. I think I would be rather heartbroken if I didn't!

#59 - did you click on the link in the 'activate your account' email? If not, you won't be able to get in until general registration starts... sorry :-(

#59: I had forgotten mine as well. There was a link for "forgot username?" where I could submit my email and it sent me a message with my username.

If those dates are in fact true for getting the welcome email then I'm not getting in until the end of the month. :(

#61 Thank you! It's strange- now the "sign in" and "forgot username" links are gone!

I feel a little better now though, knowing that I'm not the only one who brain blipped and forgot. :)

#63 -- Yes, the sign-in button has disappeared. I'm thinking that's because they've started letting people in, so only those who have gotten their welcome email can sign in. Hopefully they will send you an email when your turn to enter comes, and then you will be able to use the "forgot username" function.

As for the date ranges, I was thinking about it, and I would be surprised if they actually know when they'll be letting everyone in. I mean, the idea of beta-testing is that they can tinker with it and fix problems as they arise -- so I imagine they will let in a wave of people, see what crops up, then let in some more. Hopefully, not too many issues will crop up!

Hmm now I am just annoyed that I didn't get in early. I signed up the day it opened but it was late in the day. Sigh.

Ok, I just got an e-mail from Pottermore and I jumped and screamed thinking it was the so anticipated welcome e-mail, but no, it's just to say that I was one of the lucky few who has been selected for an early access account and that we will be receiving the Welcome e-mail during the period between mid-August till the end of September...

#66 - exactly the same! I was so excited, now a bit deflated! Still, hopefully not long to wait!

#67: They are trying to give us a heart attack thinking we can now access Pottermore....hopefully as you say not to long to wait, Phil....

This is making things all the more confusing, for me. On the one hand, it sounds like katelism's dates may be correct *sigh* -- but on the other hand, it sounds like not all of us who did the magic quill challenge will get in early. Now I'm trying to figure out if I've been misunderstanding it the whole time, or what.

Well, keep us posted, Ron and Phil! Hopefully you will get your real welcome letters soon!

I agree with you, foggidawn. My son rec'd a congratulatory email today...............I did not. It says he'll rec. the welcome email between mid august and september and then be able to log in at pottermore at that time.

#70 -- Did you and your son register on the same day? I know Ron and Phil both registered on the first day, so I'm hoping that at least some of the rest of us who registered later will still get an email.

I got one for my nine year old, but none for me. 8-/ I registered her on the fifth day. Catbastet registered me on the fourth day. Cat hasn't checked her email yet.

My son registered on the 6th day, me, on the 7th.

*sigh*

I'm finding this a little irritating.

The following post has appeared on the official blog:

http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/08/magical-quill-challenge-clues-and.html

It doesn't help my confusion at all, though. It makes it sound like everyone who registered via the Magic Quill should be getting a "selected for early entry" email, whereas the wording in their emails (both the one they sent for account validation, and the one Ron and Phil and others have mentioned) makes it sound like only some of the people who registered via Magic Quill will get in.

I guess the only option is to wait.

To quote Inigo, "I hate waiting."

I've had that same question since the first email too...though after clicking on the link I felt like the language implied that I was in...it said to expect a welcome email at any rate. I'm just going to hope that they're not doing it by day but randomly selecting people to receive emails...1,000,000 is an awful lot to send out at once, or even in a day after all!

Did you guys just get these emails...I know I got a email when I found the magical quill about getting into it but I don't think I have received an email since about it.

#76 Rec'd it today, Alisha, at 12:20pm.

I hope we all get into the beta. . . and I really really hope I get in before school starts, otherwise I won't be able to spend as much time with it as possible.

#76: Received today at 12:32pm LT time, but it was for my younger daughter, not me. Cat didn't get one either. It says Congratulations! in the subject line. Message says she is selected for early entry into Pottermore. In contrast, my original email says "Your registration to Pottermore has begun" in the subject line and the email itself states the following:

A million registrants are going to be granted early entry into Pottermore to help give it the finishing touches, and the exciting news is that if you validate your account quickly, you could be one of the lucky few selected. Please be quick because places are going to be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis

Which is similar to Publisher's Clearinghouse telling me I may have already won a million dollars. I was delayed in doing the final registration step because Cat had left that for me to deal with. I don't know if Cat had responded to the email right away. I'll ask her. (Checked. She did.)

I got that email and I'm pretty sure that I did the registration as soon as I got it, because that's where you create your username correct? maybe I'll get my email tomorrow.

*bites nails* I"m pretty sure that I clicked the link. Where it says congratulations your account is activated. Gosh I don't remember. I'm pretty sure I did. I remember getting that email.

This is from the FAQs on the pottermore blog:

Once I’ve clicked on the link in my registration validation email, will I be able to access Pottermore?
We will not be enabling early access to the site straight away. Once The Magical Quill challenge is over we will begin to send Beta registrants Welcome emails as and when they will be able to have full access to the site. We won’t be able to let everyone into the Beta site at the same time, so you may have to wait a number of weeks for your Welcome email to arrive. However, if you have been successful in registering during The Magical Quill challenge, we can confirm you will gain access ahead of the site opening to all in October, so please be patient!

I added the italic emphasis, which certainly implies that we'll all get in eventually.

Thanks, Bib. That does sound reassuring. (I still hate waiting, though!)

Pottermore
Don't worry if you haven't received your email confirming early entry. There’s a million to send out so it may take a little time to arrive.

That was posted on twitter

Thanks Mands! The 47 family to the internets!!

hahahaha, 47 FAMILY!!!

Oh gosh that many, okay I don't feel so bad now, but still hate waiting. I have about 10-11 days until classes start..oi vey

I suppose it's for the best that the least patient member of our family got an email first. :o)
Still, I hope Cat gets something soon. I wanted her to register early because I knew she wouldn't have time to enjoy the site once classes start in September.

I got my email.

Woo hoo! I DID sign up properly! Just got my email!

"We’re really excited to confirm that you are one of the lucky people selected for early entry into Pottermore, ahead of when it is open-to-all in October, to help us add finishing touches!

We will activate your account between mid-August and the end of September, so keep checking your inbox for our Welcome email. When this arrives you will be able to enter Pottermore. In the meantime, you can check the Pottermore Insider for all the latest news, updates and announcements.

We look forward to welcoming you to Pottermore."

Too bad I still forget my username. Haha...

I just got mine too.

I got my email today as well. I DID do it right. The email was sent 2 hours ago EST. It says:

"We will activate your account between mid-August and the end of September, so keep checking your inbox for our Welcome email. When this arrives you will be able to enter Pottermore. In the meantime, you can check the Pottermore Insider for all the latest news, updates and announcements."

Got mine too!

Me too!
Though the end of September bit saddens me.

Yay I got my e-mail! I probably won't actually get onto Pottermore till more like September though because I didn't get the quill until the fourth day, oh well I don't mind just so long as I get in eventually :)

Mine came today, as well. Now we wait for welcome emails to start arriving. . . .

Got mine today too!

jealous! lol

#94 - KayEluned - I got in on the fourth day as well...yay us!

I agree I hope we can get in before the end of September, because that's pushing the October opening to all.

I likewise got my email today!

(Sorry for multiple messages. Tumble distracted me. She's not on my good list right now.)

Me, too!

It's like Early Reviewers all over again. Am I the only one who hasn't gotten an email?

I wouldn't sweat it Compski, I'm sure they still have more to go out. If I had a million emails to send out, I'd probably take at least 5 days to do it.

I got it! It was delivered by Errol and went a bit astray ;)

Pottermore doesn't like me. I signed up ages ago. Got a confirmation email. Now when I go back and try to find said email, it has apparated, or is hiding under an invisibility cloak.

#106 - did you check all folders, trash, saved mail?

I still don't have mine. *pout*

Oh, wait, I just got it. Yay!

#107 Yep! Checked every folder twice, checked my trash, checked everything. It was there, now it's gone, and since I haven't deleted anything since 2002, I know that isn't the problem.

#106 millhold:
Did you sign up sometime from July 31-August 6? That's when the magic quill contest took place. People who only signed up earlier won't get to register or access Pottermore until October.

#111 No, I signed up way before then.

#112 millhold:
Pottermore may contact you when it's time for general registration, then. I wouldn't worry, but you could always re-submit your e-mail address to Pottermore if you'd like.

millhold, I think they are only contacting the people who did the magic quill thingy the other week at the moment, but I imagine they will probably contact everyone else late September-early October as that is when it opens to the general public.

got mine! mid-aug to sept.

grrr... didn't get in soon enough, i got the answer for day four then forgot to enter it. i'm smart.

#115 - I think that's when I get to go as well mid August to Sept.

Latest Insider blog is up! Early access has begun, hopefully some of us will get in soon!

We’re excited to announce that early access to Pottermore has begun, so if you’re one of the million people who found The Magical Quill and registered for early access, please read the rest of this Insider post carefully.

The most important thing to know is that we need to stagger entry to the ‘Beta’ (early) version of Pottermore so we can properly collect all the feedback. To begin with, we’ll be inviting a very small number of people onto the website, so you may not receive your Welcome email straight away.

We’ll be sending those Welcome emails out over the coming weeks and, once yours arrives, you’ll be able to log in and start helping us develop the Pottermore experience.

As Pottermore Beta users, you’ll be exploring all the different elements of the site and, hopefully, sharing your thoughts with us along the way. How? By using the ‘Beta feedback’ button. You’ll find it located at the bottom right-hand corner of every page on the site, and this is what it looks like:

It’s important for us to know what you enjoy about the site, what you would like to see improved, and that you tell us about any parts you think aren’t working smoothly.

As well as the ‘Beta feedback’ button on the site itself, we’ll also send each Beta user a survey to complete, asking some detailed questions about the Pottermore website.

All this information will be collated and analysed to help make Pottermore as enjoyable, interesting and easy-to-use as possible.

A note on registering for October

Very soon, we’ll be opening Pottermore registration for October. This means:

- If you have submitted your email address to be notified when registration is open to all, then you’ll be hearing from us soon, and you'll be able to register for entry in October.

- If you asked to be notified when registration was open to all but also registered for Beta, then you may receive two emails from us. You do not have to register for October if you already have a validated early access (Beta) account. In other words, if you received a Beta ‘Congratulations!’ message then you can ignore the ‘Pottermore registration is now open’ email (although do feel free to forward it to your friends!).

We’ll be updating the Insider with all the latest Pottermore news and information, so please continue to visit the blog.

See you soon!

http://insider.pottermore.com/

Ooh, exciting!

Based on today, I have a feeling I'm going to be checking my email even more obsessively than normal until my welcome comes.

I'm excited!

#120: bib: I may or may not have my e-mail inbox open on a tab at all times....;)

So, just perusing the site, and had to reload because of overwhelming demand. Wondering if the first wave is in now.

Pottermore tweeted this morning that they actually just sent out the second wave of emails.

The suspense is killing me on the wait for the welcome emails! LOL
I can't wait to get in there.

I just realized that the "sign in" button is back, so I used it to have my username re-sent to me. Now I know who I am! (that sounded odd)

My username: CharmVine187

#126 -- Great! I have added you to the list.

Boy, I sure hope at least one of us gets in soon! Phil, Ron, you guys registered on the first day . . . any word yet?

#127: Nope, nothing...still waiting...and none of my friends who got in during the first day have received anything yet...

#127 - nothing for me either :-( Hopefully soon!

I do hope we all hear something soon. I haven't heard anything yet either.

I doubt they're going by day signed up. If I were them, I'd have created an algorithm to pull a certain amount of people from a variety of geographic regions in each batch. It would be hard to get that variety and have it "first come first served" because of the time ranges of the clues. That's just me, of course.

That's true, they are probably have a complex system that randomly selects the next batch of users to send the welcome emails to.

On a different note...the suspense is killing me. :) lol

OMG OMG OMG OMG I just got my email!!!!!

And I'm going out in about 5 minutes, grrrrr, just thought I'd let you all know!

Aaaaahhhh! So exciting! (And so frustrating for you, not being able to go on and play right now.) Have fun when you do get a chance to explore it!

#133 - Congratulations! I hope the rest of us will be able to follow in after you shortly! :) *goes to check email* :( darn nothing yet.

*checks email*
Nothing for me yet. Congrats BuffaloPhil!
Hope the rest of us get in soon!

Well, I've been on it finally for about an hour, and it's suddenly become unavailable (hope it's not over capacity while it's still in the early beta stage!) so I thought I'd come here and let you guys know a bit more about it!

***SPOILER ALERT!***

I have to be honest, I'm a little disappointed so far. That may just be because we've all built it up to be something utterly amazing, when in reality it was never really going to live up to expectations, or because I haven't got that far in.

I've gone through the first three chapters so far, and there's basically a short resume of each chapter, plus the odd extra little bit from JKR which is quite interesting, including small bits about each character and place in that chapter. Then there's items you can click on to pick up, although so far I haven't found a way of using these things, so that must be something I've not got to yet - probably once I get to Hogwarts! Only up to the hut on the rock so far.

Looks like there's plenty of chance to interact with friends although I don't know anyone else on there yet so can't really investigate that area of the site. I'm hoping that once I get back in I should be close to meeting Hagrid at which point hopefully it should start to pick up!

Will let you know more as I get further, although I will try and keep it reasonably vague so as not to spoil it too much!

Every time my cell phone makes my email notification sound a little part of me thinks "POTTERMORE!" I swear I've never gotten so many emails before.

#138: Yep, the same here...I tell my friends "Don't people know I'm expecting a very important e-mail from Pottermore and I get excited every time I get an e-mail?" :P

They just sent out another batch about 20 min. ago...anyone get lucky?

That's 4 batches in 10 days, though I have no idea how big a batch is.

Not me :(

I'm a little late, but I am SpellGlow28

Nope, not me either...but it sometimes it takes a while, the confirmation e-mail took some hours to get to my inbox....

I don't think I have gotten my email yet, *goes to check email real quick*

ETA: Nope no email yet.

Haven't gotten mine yet, poop.

Didn't I read somewhere the first batches were about 5,000 people? Out of the one million early enter candidates it only gives us a one-half of one percent chance each time of being in the batch.

well our odds will increase every time they send out a batch, but they are still very small odds at the moment.

That's right!

#146: I haven't seen anything that specific on their blog so I'd be curious as to where that number came from...

Bib: I can't find where I read that, so maybe it is wrong! I hope it is too conservative!

Just a quick update, I've got to Diagon Alley now, and my wand has chosen me!! It's Black Walnut with Unicorn core, ten and three-quarter inches, unyielding.

(I'm assuming that's unicorn HAIR core!)

Things seem to be looking up! Hope some more of you guys and girls get in soon, think it will be more fun with some friend interaction.

Sorry, by the way, I don't really know how much to post. Hoping to pique your interest yet avoid anything that will spoil your enjoyment once you do get in. Please tell me if you'd like to hear more, or less, or if I've got it about right!

I think you've got it about right...for me anyhow!

So far, so good, Phil. It helps to know!

about right for me, too!! Hope more get in soon!

#151 -- Love the detail about the wand!

ETA: If it's just saying "unicorn" instead of "unicorn hair" or "unicorn tail hair" or whatever, that might be something they need to correct. You might want to notify them about it, if you can.

BuffaloPhil, I love that you are posting about this as you go through, I like to know what I'm going to be getting into, and at the same time I envy you, because I'm not in there yet. I'm so excited to get in there.

**shakes with excitement**

Just right for me too. Can't wait. I want a wand!

I just hope I'm not sorted as a Slytherin. It's definitely "not me"! I'm too much of a pansy to survive on "the dark side".

How exactly are we sorted?

#159 -- I don't think Phil hasn't gotten to the Sorting ceremony yet, but from what J.K. Rowling said about the sorting, it sounds like it is pretty accurate and goes by a person's character (not just random selection).

another batch is being sent out!

That's just 24 hours, things are moving along now!

Two of my friends got theirs!! I'm hoping mine will be in the next batch! hopefully tomorrow!

Just got sorted!! I'm in Ravenclaw... probably right although would have preferred Gryffindor (obviously!)

Now attempting to brew my first potion! This is definitely improving all the time!

I JUST GOT MY WELCOME MAIL!!! WOOHOO!! I'm so excited!!

YAY!!! Congrats Ron!!!

Congratulations Renald!! What day did you get early registration?

Gosh I hope I get mine soon, I'm getting too excited!!

Thanks Mandy and Alisha!!!!

I registered on the first day! I'm guessing they are sending the welcome e-mails by the day you registered...

Then I probably have a good few weeks to wait then I was able to get registered on the 4th day.

Yay, Ron! And congratulations, Phil, on being sorted into Ravenclaw (my house of choice). :-)

Nice one Ron, see you in there soon then!

Thanks foggi, I'm wondering now if next time I re-read the books I'll find myself looking out for Ravenclaws and quietly rooting for them!

My wand is Alder with Unicorn core, eleven inches, surprisingly swishy

I wonder what kind of wand I'll get and what house I'll be placed in? Gosh you guys I'm so excited about this and hope that my welcome email comes soon, I bet Errol got lost with it...lol

I am in Gryffindor!! I don't have to change any of my wardrobe! I still get to use the amazing scarf littlegeek knit for me!! Woohoo!

Congrats, Ron!

So...I couldn't control myself and I finished the first book in one day (that's all that's available for now) I really loved it! And I'm glad I could do it while I was still on vacation!

ETA: I discovered I can add all of the people who could register for an early access account, even before they enter the site...let me know if you want me to add you ;)

Add me, of course!

I am so jealous of everyone who's gotten in already! I read this entire topic and I'm getting so nervous! I got the clue day 4 and went and registered. Immediately after I recieved the email, and right after I got it I made sure to register and confirm. But that's it. I haven't gotten a Congrats or a welcome email! Did all of you get a Congrats email after you confirmed your registration????

Since the page still has a sign in link, I tried to sign in and it told me that the validation was sucessful and that I would be one of the lucky few to enter before October!!!

My username is supposed to be FlameWitch114

If you reached the point where you received a username, I'm guessing you are in. Maybe your welcome went to a spam folder? Most of us are waiting for our invite into the beta site now. As far as I can tell, only Ron and Phil are actually in. :o)

And Ron, feel free to add cat and me!

Done! I wish everyone could enter now!

Ron, add me too!

Ron, you can add me

176: add me!!!

drink me!

Ron you can add me as well. I can't wait to get int there...

#178 - I got early registration on day 4 as well, and I'm still waiting on my welcome email, don't worry I'm getting a little nervous as well. I'm sure we will get in soon enough. Though the suspense is killing me, good thing I have school work and my book to work on while I wait.

Anyone and everyone is free to add me!

Add me! Please :) my name is SparksFrog170, fingers crossed I am going to get into Ravenclaw House, but I wouldn't mind being in Slytherin, it would give things a new slant ;)

They are sending out another batch today at 4:00 BST (just say the tweet on Twitter)

Also, for anyone in this thread, please feel free to add me once you get into the Pottermore site, I'm ScarletElm67

#176 - I'm jealous you've been able to do the whole thing, I've had such a busy week I've only been able to dip in a bit! Hopefully get some more done over the weekend though!

I'll also add you other guys and gals so will hopefully see more of you in there soon!

Add me! CastleHazel26!

What did the welcome email look like? Maybe I accidentally deleted it. I've looked in every single folder, spam, junk, trash, everything! Is it bad if I lost it? The suspense is killing me!!

#191 - That is a good question. I would assume it would say Welcome to Pottermore, or something along those lines, but you are right...the suspense is killing me too.

#191 - subject was 'Congratulations' and the body read :

"You have been selected for early entry into Pottermore!

We’re really excited to confirm that you are one of the lucky people selected for early entry into Pottermore, ahead of when it is open-to-all in October, to help us add finishing touches!

We will activate your account between mid-August and the end of September, so keep checking your inbox for our Welcome email. When this arrives you will be able to enter Pottermore. In the meantime, you can check the Pottermore Insider for all the latest news, updates and announcements.

We look forward to welcoming you to Pottermore."

The one that tells you you can actually access the site has the subject "Your Pottermore account is ready! Step this way...‏"

Well that sounds really familiar, maybe I recieved it and deleted it by accident? Crossing my fingers!

Thank you BuffaloPhil for saying that, I don't think I have received mine yet, but now I know what to look for

*checks email just in case*

.....nope nothing.

Everyone, feel free to add me as well :)

#196 - will add you when I get in there.

I would like to add everyone when I get in there, if that is okay with everyone of course.

I hope I get in soon, I'm so anxious about it.

Does anyone know how much time is in between each batch announcement? I was looking on insider.pottermore.com, but couldn't really tell. I know they said that each time the batches of people would be getting slightly bigger.

#197: I think it's every 24 hours, but only from Monday to Fridays...they haven't sent a batch since Friday 26th

Oh okay thanks Renald for the information, I hope I can get in this week.

How is the website so far, you like it?

#199: Yeah, it's really cool, I mean, it's pretty much what I expected, the artwork is amazing and you get more information from Jo herself.

#200 - Oh that's awesome! I can't wait to see it even more now...I can't wait to get my wand, and get sorted into my house at Hogwarts.

#197/198: They're not sending them out on a regular schedule -- and it may be a few days before they send out any more. Here's the pertinent quote from one of last week's Pottermore Insider posts:

Beta phases are fluid and it’s important to watch and see how a site reacts to increasing amounts of users and activity.

Every time more people are added to Pottermore, we take a pause and look at how the site is responding to see if everything is working as we expect it to and whether we need to make changes before we let more people into Pottermore.

We are planning on giving more people early access over the next week or so and then we will pause sending Welcome emails for a while so that we can see how things are going.

Unfortunately, we can’t create a schedule to share, as we need to respond to what we learn with each group of new users. That’s also why there are gaps between the batches of Welcome emails; it all depends on what we’re learning from those who are currently on the site.

http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/08/beta-testing-and-welcome-emails.html

Gotcha, thanks Foggi!

But man, I hope I can get into one of this week's batches. That would be awesome!

Today's a bank holiday in England, so I'd be surprised if they send any out today.

I haven't heard anything as of yet *goes to check email*

Nope no email yet.

They're sending out another one this morning. More than that, they've put up a few FAQs about the beta testing process that should be of interest to people here.

..still waiting for my welcome email ... :(

They haven't posted about sending out any new announcements over the past few days . . . maybe they will send out more soon.

Considering that Ron and Phil have gotten in, but nobody else from our group yet, I am thinking that the day one signed up must at least be one of the considerations for the order in which they send out the welcome emails. I don't think any of us got in on the second day, did we? That may be why we're experiencing a bit of a lull.

I got in on the 4th day. I hope we all get in soon.

ETA: Has anyone else gotten into Pottermore? (posted 9/5/2011)

ETA2: I noticed they posted another post saying that they sent out more welcome emails, so who got in, anyone?) (posted 9/6/2011)

Nothing yet. . . . I figure each batch they send out decreases the pool of people still waiting. They have to get to us eventually!

Hope they hurry. I'm beginning to lose interest. :(

Nope, no email yet :(
At this rate I won't be able to properly play on the site until Thanksgiving break :'(

I beginning to wonder the same thing, by the time we all get it it will be October and the official registration will be here for everyone then the website will overload.

Ok, I have a friend who registered on the third day and she already has been sorted, so I'm pretty sure the ones who registered on the fourth day are soon to come :D

Ooh, that's extra-good news for those of us who got the quill on the third day, right, Cat?

I hope so :(

I've been trying to keep myself busy so I don't think about it too much because I'm that excited.

I just with excitement when I see that they sent out more welcome emails.

i registered on the third day too but still havent got my letter......the welcome letters are not bieng sent in a definite order....its totally random.....

btw...my username is NightAuror44

#217 -- They may be considering other factors than the day you signed up, but I don't think it can be totally random. From this group, Ron and Phil registered on the first day, and they have gotten in, while none of the rest of us have. If it were completely random, some of the people here who registered on later days should have gotten in by now, statistically speaking.

I'll add your username to the list!

Nothing for me yet...

I'm starting to think it would have been better for my sanity if I had just waited for October...GOING CRAZY!

Discussed the situation with my son, who has done beta testing on some games online. He said if the site isn't working they might have to change when they open it to everyone. If it's not working, it's not working. That's why they test it before they completely open it.

One way or another, we will likely get in before the site goes public.

Here's the latest from the Pottermore blog, good news for all!

Last night, Thursday 8 September, at approximately 10:00pm (BST), we sent out some more Welcome emails.

The good news is that we no longer expect to pause sending these (as mentioned in our Beta testing and Welcome emails post). Instead, we plan to send emails out daily over the next two weeks. As always, there’s a chance that our plans may alter as we assess the site and how it is reacting to new users but we will update you if anything changes.

For those who will be joining Pottermore over the next two weeks, don’t forget to read our From duelling to potions post and check our Help page for answers to any other questions you have about the site.

That's great news that they are now doing daily emails out now,

*click click click checks email account click click click*

Darn nothing yet in my email, I agree with #221 I'm going crazy too, waiting to get into the site...but ecstatic that they will be sending out more emails on a daily basic unless something happens. I can almost see me logging into to the site and being able to go interact with stuff

I can't wait. Well I better get my paper done so I can get all the time in the world to play if I get my welcome email. :)

#222 -- This is true. Also, they never said when in October it will be open to the public . . . for all we know, they could be planning on opening it on Halloween.

SQUEEE!!! I'M IN! Just got my welcome email!

#226: We are now friends foggi!!! Woohoo!!! Congrats!!!

Got my wand! Ebony with unicorn core, ten inches, hard. I'm also loving that they included Ollivander's notes on the different types of cores and wand woods.

I love listening to everyone else who has gotten in. :) I registered on the fourth day, so if we're going by that, I'm hoping to get in soon.

I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler for everyone- but I'd love to hear more about how the wands are matched to you. Think it's random? I've heard that you are sorted into a house by personality (YAY), but does the same go for your wand?

I've been sorted into Ravenclaw! I'm so happy -- it's what I would have picked!

Now, if anybody feels that the answer to InfectiousOptimist's question in post #229 would constitute SPOILERS, don't read the rest of this post!

The wand matching sequence is much like a miniature version of the Sorting, actually. In both cases, you answer a series of questions, sometimes with just two possible answers, sometimes with several possible answers. In both cases, it seems like it would be pretty much impossible (at least on your first time through) to "force" a specific answer -- for example, in the Sorting ceremony, none of the questions have an obvious courage/intelligence/cunning/kindheartedness slant, like so many of the online quizzes of the past have had.

There were some questions in the Sorting where more than one answer seemed to apply to me; I'd be interested to see what my results would have been had I chosen differently. Perhaps, when Pottermore is open to all, I'll create another persona and go through it again.

Nothing for me yet. I started classes yesterday too. Seems I will be writing a minimum of 14 pages a week. . . does not bode well for Pottermore (or my ER books!) :(

Helpful hint, for those of you who will be getting in sooner or later: When you get to the point where you can brew potions, don't go crazy buying potion ingredients, as you may find some of them around the castle and grounds.

Now I really can't wait to get in there. What day did you get early registration Foggi, and Congratulation by the way (on getting in, the wand, and sorting)

*goes to check email*

#233 -- I registered on Day 3.

Okay, I am done with it for tonight. I stayed on so long because I was trying to brew a potion. Another helpful hint: if you are working on a potion, and you come back after letting it brew for 80 minutes as instructed, do not make the colossal mistake of hitting the "back" arrow. Just take my word for it. :-(

Foggi is our half-blood prince.

#234 - Sweet that means they are getting closer to day 4 people, which be me. The excitement grows.

Yep, seems like those of us who got in on day 4 should be getting in over the next few days (not sure if "every day" means weekends too). Oh, and I don't think I ever said that people should absolutely add me as a friend.

YAY!! maybe I'll get to play next weekend!!!!

#237 -- You can moderate your friend requests, as on FaceBook. It's not an automatic thing; I had to accept Ron and Phil's friend requests.

#239 - That's good to know, thanks for sharing.

YAAAAAAAY! I got my email, I'm in! Woohooo! (and by the way I registered on the 4th day). My name is SparksFrog170 see you all in there :D

Woo that means I'll be getting my soon! Thanks for the heads up!

I'M IN I'M IN!!!!

Yay! Congratulations! Gosh I hope I get my email soon.

AHHHHHHHH I just got mine!!!!

I haven't even entered yet. I just had to run in circles and do a happy dance first. I don't know what to do with myself.

I know what you mean I almost couldnt bring myself to go onto the site the anticipation was so unbearable! Had just had a snoop round the homepage, friended a couple of people to see how it worked and went and got my HPPS book and when I came back it said sorry the website is currently unavailable please try again later! it has been saying that for the past half hour! This will be the first thing I will give them feed back on, it needs not to crash so much it's really frustrating

Oh, hooray! The more, the merrier! I am working today (was off yesterday, which was fortunate, as I got to play around a good bit), but I'll be on again this evening.

#246 -- Oddly enough, I had problems with the site being slow/unavailable at this time (or a little earlier) yesterday. Maybe it's a peak time of day for them? Or maybe there are just a lot of new people all trying to enter at once. Hopefully they will iron out their problems soon.

#246- Instead of pulling my hair out, I'm laughing, because when I finally settled down and tried to log into the site, it told me it was unavailable too. I kind of thought, "Wow, that was anticlimactic".

I'm in too!

Wow that's great that everyone is getting in now.

*click click checks email click click*

Darn nothing yet :(

Woohoo!! See you guys in there!!

Just got my email and the website is down! Whyyyy can't it be up!!!

It's up!!

Yay! I'm in now! The website was down when I first checked, but now it's working!

ETA: Oops, it's gone again. I spoke too soon!

... But then I clicked refresh and it was back? Confusing. ;)

Mandy and I got our wands! Mandy's is Maple with Phoenix feather, 10 and 3/4" (flexible) and mine is Hazel with Unicorn, 11 and 1/4" (hard)

Due to overwhelming demand, you cannot access Pottermore right now.
Please be patient whilst we try to connect you.

This page will refresh in
15...14...13...
seconds

And it refreshes. And I still can't get in.
I suppose I can wait until October.

It sounds like they sent out a lot of welcome emails today -- I'll bet that's why the site is so overloaded.

I'm so glad more HEers are getting into the site! Congratulations to all who have been let in so far. I'm not in yet, but would love to see you all there. Feel free to add me. I'm RainMirror118.

I GOT MY EMAIL!

... no wait, that's an invitation to Cheeses of the World Club. Darn it.

still delicious though.

Ooooo! Where do I sign up for that email?

Just sorted into Gryffindor. Not my first choice, but like foggi, I hope to go back in with another email address in the future.

I'm hoping I get sorted either Gryffindor or Slytherin

As for my wand, I'll take whatever they give me.

But I have to get in there first.

I have just finished chapter 5 Daigon Alley, really good, unsurprisingly lots of stuff to do and see on this section! Frustrated that I can't actually read the books I've bought though. Don't really know what the etiquette is about friending LT people, not sure if I should just friend everyone I have ever spoken to (with the handy conversion table of names at the top of this thread) or if that would seem a bit over-familiar. I think by British is showing :) Anyway please feel free to friend me my username is SparksFrog170.
I am trying to do it really slowly and properly to make it last as long as possible!

*Possibly spoilerish?*
My pet is a common toad, because I'm deeply unfashionable, I've called him Aristotle in my head though there hasn't been a chance to name him properly yet. And my wand is chestnut, 10 inches, unicorn hair core, hard. I am very pleased with this, although according to Ollivander's extensive notes this means I am stubborn and set in my ways! thanks! ;)

It's possible that I've only got half of a brain, and that I'm entirely missing the point of pottermore! I haven't "explored" diagon alley because I haven't figure out how but...

*Spoiler-ish Alert*

Chapters 1-5 seemed to not be very interactive? I believe I collected a few items but that's about it.

BUT- the graphics are gorgeous!!

****Spoilers*****
#265 InfectiousOptimist - You're right the first few chapters aren't that interactive, just collecting the odd item and clicking on the right bit of picture to unlock new content from Jo but to be honest before Daigon Alley I don't see how interactive they could have been with Harry still firmly in the Muggle world. I'm sure it's going to get more and more interactive as we arrive in Hogwarts :)

That's so true, Kay! Thank you for the encouragement. Pottermore is down again right now, but I can't wait to get into my shopping experience in Daigon Alley, and have my first dose of wizardly fun. You're right; it's not as much fun being a muggle, so I'm sure there's not really much more they could do to liven up the first 5 chapters of the book. Thanks for renewing my sense of enthusiasm. :)

**Spoilers**

I agree, the first five chapters are not very interactive . . . and some of the later chapters also seem a little bit limited. Diagon Alley and the Sorting are the ones that have the most stuff to do -- otherwise, there are things you can collect throughout, and often little bits of information you can unlock, but not a lot to "do" in the sense of traditional gaming. I do hope they find ways to up the level of interaction eventually.

I would think that come chapters are going to be less interactive than others but the chapters with all the action will make up for it, I mean we will be able to go through all 7 books right?

#269 -- Eventually. Just the first one right now. I don't know what the timeline is for releasing the other books, but I imagine it will take a while for them to get each one up.

#270 - That's true. Right now I should just focus on getting into the site first.

*click click checks email click click*

Nope nothing yet, wait today is Sunday so they probably didn't send any out today. oi vey I'm confusing my days now.

So, you start out living with the Dursleys but you aren't Harry. You have a different name and you can get sorted into a different house (A Slytherin Harry?). It seems a bit limiting if they're following the book so closely.

Also, you don't need to put spoiler warnings in your posts in this thread given the title of the thread.

Just got my wand. :)

It's a:

HORNBEAM WITH UNICORN CORE, ELEVEN AND A HALF INCHES, SOLID

#272 -- True, about the spoiler warnings. I guess I figure some people who registered on days 5-7 but are not in yet may want to form their own opinions and first impressions.

As for your summary, there's an odd duality about it. You, the player, are not the Boy(/Girl?) Who Lived, or some kind of alternate Harry -- for much of the book, you are observing Harry's story. I think this is what makes interactions so limited for those first five chapters. About all you can do is pick up random things -- and though I've played my way through the first book (all that's available now), I have yet to figure out what you can do with those random things. Apparently, they just sit in your trunk, or you can send them to your friends. I grew up playing King's Quest and its ilk -- I'm used to picking up random objects, but I expect at least some of them to be significant later in the game!

At any rate, you observe Harry's story until Diagon Alley. At that point, you sort of gain your own identity -- you get to buy school supplies (mostly what's on your Hogwarts shopping list, but you do get to make some choices, including choosing what pet you get . . . though you don't get to interact in any way with the pet, really -- its picture is just used as your avatar in a few places). And you get to take a quiz to determine what sort of wand you will get. Later on, you get Sorted via a slightly longer/more involved quiz, and you get to read a Welcome letter from your house's prefect. From that point on, you get house points for collecting certain objects and doing various other actions.

After the Sorting, though, it's mostly back to observing, though there are a few more interactive points in the story. You learn to make potions, which you can then do at any point, and you learn to cast spells -- eventually you will be able to challenge other players to a Wizard's Duel, but this feature is temporarily disabled (I imagine it was either too buggy to be enjoyable, or too much for their servers to handle). You collect books mentioned in the story, but you can't read them or do anything useful with them, except for the ones you bought in Diagon Alley which tell you how to do your potions and spells. You also collect Chocolate Frog cards, but you only get to see the backs of the cards, and you can't read the text on them or anything. I'm really hoping they intend to change this in the full release.

Once you've gone through the story, you can go back to any point and look at it, collect items you might have missed the first time through, read about different characters, places, things, etc. in the sidebar, and so forth. The game is a series of mostly-still frames -- beautiful artwork, but it's often more like looking at a picture book than playing a game. You can also do the slightly more interactive things -- brewing potions, casting spells, shopping in Diagon Alley, checking on where your friends are in the game and what they are doing -- at any point. You earn house points for brewing potions (and, theoretically, for wizard duels), and there is a leaderboard where you can see where the houses stand (for the past few days, Slytherin and Ravenclaw have been neck-and-neck).

That's my long-winded summary. All in all, I'm not over-the-moon thrilled with Pottermore, but I think it's a pleasant diversion (rather than a big disappointment). I'm hoping they find ways to increase and improve the interaction, but all in all, for a free site, it's pretty amazing.

I got into Gryffindor...It gave me a choice at the end between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. It was an insanely tough choice. but I've always seen myself as a Gryffindor so in the end i went with it.

It gave you a choice, Mandy?! I haven't heard of that...how exciting. Great choice. :)

I was just sorted. I knew I would get Hufflepuff! I'm happy that my house suits me so well.

#275 -- Wow . . . it gave you a choice? Cool!

See, while I'm enjoying the interaction bits, I've been playing the Harry Potter video games for years, so I'm less concerned with the whole Hogwarts experience. For me, the best part is seeing the little feather that denotes new material from Jo, I get a thrill every time. The rest of it is gravy. (And the wand and sorting quizzes were a lot of fun.)

I think it is best if we do not see this site as a 'video game' but as a set of lovely illustrations to the book, a few little games and most importantly a vehicle for Jo to put all the extra Potterverse stuff she has written over the years on for us to read. I think they should have been less mysterious and more explanitory of this in the run up then people would not be expecting to play an actual Harry Potter video game and would not be feeling dissapointed.

Personally I am really enjoying it, a few annoying bits (chocolate frog cards, lack of music/sound effects) and glitches (crashing!) but then we are betaing it so the whole point is for us to tell them that so they can iron things out.

Just don't forget to keep pressing the beta button at the top to leave your feedback, I didn't spot it for ages and thought they were going to questionaire us at the end, so when I did spot it I had to go back betaing all the pages I'd already done!

Oh and Alishamb08 hope you get in soon, can't wait to see you there :)

#279 -- From what I remember, they were careful not to call it a game, but an "interactive experience" or something along those lines. Some people may have been expecting something more like a traditional video game, since that's going to be the frame of reference for a lot of people. I'm pleased with what it is, but I would like for it to be more of what it is . . . and I hope it will be, either with improvements they make while it's in Beta, or in future books.

#280: That's the other thing. We all know that the first book is the least plot driven of them and therefore likely to be the least interactive.

#279: I played through the whole thing first, now I plan to go back through and give beta feedback, leave comments and "favorite" the things I loved (like all the wand stuff!).

Foggi- I completely agree, I like the concept of what they've done a lot, but I think there is so much more they could do with it.

My email just arrived! (I got in on the fourth day)

Glad I've got today off, so I get to explore right away! My username is PatronusMirror29.

I was getting so confused having to learn another name for you all that still isn't your real names until I saw that you can give nicknames to your friends!! Now I know who you all are! Much less confusing for my brain!

#284 -- Yes! I was excited when I found that feature, too.

I finally got my welcome email but I have to wait to go on the site until I get home. I'm waiting for my next class to start at 3 pm so I have to wait until I get home. But I'm soooo excited that I finally got my welcome email.

YAY!

I must say this though, the welcome email is beautiful. I love how they made it look like a true acceptance letter like in the movies. That's awesome, though the wax seal on the envelope is purple instead of red, but it goes with the coloring of the website. That's so awesome!

Fee free to add me guys/gals....I'm the ScarletElm67
Hope to see you all there at some point.

HEEEE YAY!! *does happy dance*

ETA: So who has gotten in so far, and who can I add when I go on the site this afternoon?

I've been sorted into Ravenclaw!!! So pleased, it was my first choice. The sorting quiz was interesting, the best thing about it I thought was that each question could have anything from two to about six answers, unlike all other similar quizes I've done which always have four options making it very easy to guess what answers to give to get into a particular house.

My second choice of house would have been Slytherin, I hope some of the LT people end up in there so we can be friends :) Interestingly on the welcome letter to Ravenclaw house it makes a point of saying that the Slytherins are not all bad and we should try to get to know them. I am glad about that as I always felt if there was one criticism I could level at Saint Jo it was that she didn't have any of the Slytherin pupils break ranks and help Dumbledore's army, it would have been really interesting to see that.

Also, the welcome letter for Ravenclaw house was very interesting with lots of info, I'd love to read the welcome letters from the other houses if that doesn't break some sort of house secrecy :) If anyone felt up to re-producing them here I would be very, very grateful. Would anyone like me to post the Ravenclaw letter? I'd suggest a warning not to read them if you haven't been sorted yet as it would spoil it a bit.

Hey does anyone know who RookStar163 (good name!) or GlowQuill151 are? they have friend requested me and I was wondering if they were LTs, they're not on the list at the top of the post.

By the way BuffaloPhil have you noticed we seem to be the ONLY people who have toads? I do love being contrary :) Plus my Ravenclaw letter said our house was renowned for individuals, eccentrics and oddballs so I am quite pleased we are a tiny minority.

I have all the welcome messages but it's on the Facebook mail thingy and it's under maintenance right now, I will copy the messages and post them here Kay :P

I got my wand!

It's : Redwood with unicorn core, 12 1/4 inches, quite flexible.

I got sorted

I'm in: Ravenclaw

This is great. I wasn't expecting to be in Ravenclaw but I like it. I am having so much fun exploring the chapters, and finding things, and reading things. It's great.

Thanks Renald :)
Another LT in Ravenclaw! I suppose it's not surprising, see you in the common room Alisham08

Another mystery friend, does anyone know who FelicisSun129 is?

I got a mystery friend request as well, does anyone know

HowlFirebolt195 ?

Thanks KayEluned. I also noticed that it looks like Ravenclaw if winning for house cup so far. yay!

I'm in!!!

HeartOak198 anybody? I'm starting to think maybe people are just friended everyone they see on the comments boards, not sure I want to be friends with millions of random people! Just people I already know or who I properly get talking to on the comments threads really. Ah it's like facebook all over again :P

ErisedHallow95?

Interesting -- I haven't gotten any random friend requests. I imagine the ones you guys are getting are from people just friending everyone they see -- but I'm not sure why you are getting so many, Kay. Guess you're just popular! ;-)

Nothing for me yet. I don't really have much time though. How long do you have to be on between 'saves'? Can you be on for 5-10 minutes or must I devote more minutes each time I log on?

#300 -- There aren't "saves" as such -- it remembers your progress through the story without you having to manually choose to save it. And I think you can do at least most of the first four chapters in 5-10 minute intervals, if you want.

Gryffindor: Welcome message.

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Percy Weasley, and I’m delighted to welcome you to GRYFFINDOR HOUSE. Our emblem is the lion, the bravest of all creatures; our house colours are scarlet and gold, and our common room lies up in Gryffindor Tower.

This is, quite simply, the best house at Hogwarts. It’s where the bravest and boldest end up – for instance: Albus Dumbledore! Yes, Dumbledore himself, the greatest wizard of our time, was a Gryffindor! If that’s not enough for you, I don’t know what is.

I won’t keep you long, as all you need to do to find out more about your house is to follow Harry Potter and his friends as I lead them up to their dormitories. Enjoy your time at Hogwarts – but how could you fail to? You’ve become part of the best house in the school.

Ravenclaw: Welcome message.

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Robert Hilliard, and I’m delighted to welcome you to RAVENCLAW HOUSE. Our emblem is the eagle, which soars where others cannot climb; our house colours are blue and bronze, and our common room is found at the top of Ravenclaw Tower, behind a door with an enchanted knocker. The arched windows set into the walls of our circular common room look down at the school grounds: the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch and the Herbology gardens. No other house in the school has such stunning views.

Without wishing to boast, this is the house where the cleverest witches and wizards live. Our founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, prized learning above all else – and so do we. Unlike the other houses, who all have concealed entrances to their common rooms, we don’t need one. The door to our common room lies at the top of a tall, winding staircase. It has no handle, but an enchanted bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. When you rap on the door, this knocker will ask you a question, and if you can answer it correctly, you are allowed in. This simple barrier has kept out everyone but Ravenclaws for nearly a thousand years.

Some first-years are scared by having to answer the eagle’s questions, but don’t worry. Ravenclaws learn quickly, and you’ll soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. It’s not unusual to find twenty people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out the answer to the day’s question together. This is a great way to meet fellow Ravenclaws from other years, and to learn from them – although it is a bit annoying if you’ve forgotten your Quidditch robes and need to get in and out in a hurry. In fact, I’d advise you to triple-check your bag for everything you need before leaving Ravenclaw Tower.

Another cool thing about Ravenclaw is that our people are the most individual – some might even call them eccentrics. But geniuses are often out of step with ordinary folk, and unlike some other houses we could mention, we think you’ve got the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel. We aren’t put off by people who march to a different tune; on the contrary, we value them!

Speaking of eccentrics, you’ll like our Head of house, Professor Filius Flitwick. People often underestimate him, because he’s really tiny (we think he’s part elf, but we’ve never been rude enough to ask) and he’s got a squeaky voice, but he’s the best and most knowledgeable Charms master alive in the world today. His office door is always open to any Ravenclaw with a problem, and if you’re in a real state he’ll get out these delicious little cupcakes he keeps in a tin in his desk drawer and make them do a little dance for you. In fact, it’s worth pretending you’re in a real state just to see them jive.

Ravenclaw house has an illustrious history. Most of the greatest wizarding inventors and innovators were in our house, including Perpetua Fancourt, the inventor of the lunascope, Laverne de Montmorency, a great pioneer of love potions, and Ignatia Wildsmith, the inventor of Floo powder. Famous Ravenclaw Ministers for Magic include Millicent Bagnold, who was in power on the night that Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord’s curse, and defended the wizarding celebrations all over Britain with the words, ‘I assert our inalienable right to party'. There was also Minister Lorcan McLaird, who was a quite brilliant wizard, but preferred to communicate by puffing smoke out of the end of his wand. Well, I did say we produce eccentrics. In fact, we are also the house that gave the wizarding world Uric the Oddball, who used a jellyfish for a hat. He’s the punch line of a lot of wizarding jokes.

As for our relationship with the other three houses: well, you’ve probably heard about the Slytherins. They’re not all bad, but you’d do well to be on your guard until you know them well. They’ve got a long house tradition of doing whatever it takes to win – so watch out, especially in Quidditch matches and exams.

The Gryffindors are OK. If I had a criticism, I’d say Gryffindors tend to be show-offs. They’re also much less tolerant than we are of people who are different; in fact, they’ve been known to make jokes about Ravenclaws who have developed an interest in levitation, or the possible magical uses of troll bogies, or ovomancy, which (as you probably know) is a method of divination using eggs. Gryffindors haven’t got our intellectual curiosity, whereas we’ve got no problem if you want to spend your days and nights cracking eggs in a corner of the common room and writing down your predictions according to the way the yolks fall. In fact, you’ll probably find a few people to help you.

As for the Hufflepuffs, well, nobody could say they’re not nice people. In fact, they’re some of the nicest people in the school. Let’s just say you needn’t worry too much about them when it comes to competition at exam time.

I think that’s nearly everything. Oh yes, our house ghost is the Grey Lady. The rest of the school thinks she never speaks, but she’ll talk to Ravenclaws. She’s particularly useful if you’re lost, or you’ve mislaid something.

I’m sure you’ll have a good night. Our dormitories are in turrets off the main tower; our four-poster beds are covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns and the sound of the wind whistling around the windows is very relaxing.

And once again: well done on becoming a member of the cleverest, quirkiest and most interesting house at Hogwarts.

Hufflepuff: Welcome Message.

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gabriel Truman, and I’m delighted to welcome you to HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE. Our emblem is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated, because it lives quietly until attacked, but which, when provoked, can fight off animals much larger than itself, including wolves. Our house colours are yellow and black, and our common room lies one floor below the ground, on the same corridor as the kitchens.

Now, there are a few things you should know about Hufflepuff house. First of all, let’s deal with a perennial myth about the place, which is that we’re the least clever house. WRONG. Hufflepuff is certainly the least boastful house, but we’ve produced just as many brilliant witches and wizards as any other. Want proof? Look up Grogan Stump, one of the most popular Ministers for Magic of all time. He was a Hufflepuff – as were the successful Ministers Artemesia Lufkin and Dugald McPhail. Then there’s the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander; Bridget Wenlock, the famous thirteenth-century Arithmancer who first discovered the magical properties of the number seven, and Hengist of Woodcroft, who founded the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade, which lies very near Hogwarts School. Hufflepuffs all.

So, as you can see, we’ve produced more than our fair share of powerful, brilliant and daring witches and wizards, but, just because we don’t shout about it, we don’t get the credit we deserve. Ravenclaws, in particular, assume that any outstanding achiever must have come from their house. I got into big trouble during my third year for duelling a Ravenclaw prefect who insisted that Bridget Wenlock had come from his house, not mine. I should have got a week of detentions, but Professor Sprout let me off with a warning and a box of coconut ice.

Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal. We don’t shoot our mouths off, but cross us at your peril; like our emblem, the badger, we will protect ourselves, our friends and our families against all-comers. Nobody intimidates us.

However, it’s true that Hufflepuff is a bit lacking in one area. We’ve produced the fewest Dark wizards of any house in this school. Of course, you’d expect Slytherin to churn out evil-doers, seeing as they’ve never heard of fair play and prefer cheating over hard work any day, but even Gryffindor (the house we get on best with) has produced a few dodgy characters.

What else do you need to know? Oh yes, the entrance to the common room is concealed in a stack of large barrels in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor. Tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’, and the lid will swing open. We are the only house at Hogwarts that also has a repelling device for would-be intruders. If the wrong lid is tapped, or if the rhythm of the tapping is wrong, the illegal entrant is doused in vinegar.

You will hear other houses boast of their security arrangements, but it so happens that in more than a thousand years, the Hufflepuff common room and dormitories have never been seen by outsiders. Like badgers, we know exactly how to lie low – and how to defend ourselves.

Once you’ve opened the barrel, crawl inside and along the passageway behind it, and you will emerge into the cosiest common room of them all. It is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions.

There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room – one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Our overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and our dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should you have cold feet.

Our house ghost is the friendliest of them all: the Fat Friar. You’ll recognise him easily enough; he’s plump and wears monk’s robes, and he’s very helpful if you get lost or are in any kind of trouble.

I think that’s nearly everything. I must say, I hope some of you are good Quidditch players. Hufflepuff hasn’t done as well as I’d like in the Quidditch tournament lately.

You should sleep comfortably. We’re protected from storms and wind down in our dormitories; we never have the disturbed nights those in the towers sometimes experience.

And once again: congratulations on becoming a member of the friendliest, most decent and most tenacious house of them all.

New from J.K. Rowling: Hufflepuff's common room

The Hufflepuff common room is entered from the same corridor as the Hogwarts kitchens. Proceeding past the large still life that forms the entrance to the latter, a pile of large barrels is to be found stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right-hand side of the corridor. The barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, will open if tapped in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'.* As a security device to repel non-Hufflepuffs, tapping on the wrong barrel, or tapping the incorrect number of times, results in one of the other lids bursting off and drenching the interloper in vinegar.

A sloping, earthy passage inside the barrel travels upwards a little way until a cosy, round, low-ceilinged room is revealed, reminiscent of a badger's set. The room is decorated in the cheerful, bee-like colours of yellow and black, emphasised by the use of highly polished, honey-coloured wood for the tables and the round doors which lead to the boys' and girls' dormitories (furnished with comfortable wooden bedsteads, all covered in patchwork quilts).

A colourful profusion of plants and flowers seem to relish the atmosphere of the Hufflepuff common room: various cactii stand on wooden circular shelves (curved to fit the walls), many of them waving and dancing at passers-by, while copper-bottomed plant holders dangling amid the ceiling cause tendrils of ferns and ivies to brush your hair as you pass under them.

A portrait over the wooden mantelpiece (carved all over with decorative dancing badgers) shows Helga Hufflepuff, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School, toasting her students with a tiny, two-handled golden cup. Small, round windows just level with the ground at the foot of the castle show a pleasant view of rippling grass and dandelions, and, occasionally, passing feet. These low windows notwithstanding, the room feels perennially sunny.

* The complexity or otherwise of the entrance to the common rooms might be said to give a very rough idea of the intellectual reputation of each house: Hufflepuff has an unchanging portal and requires rhythmic tapping; Slytherin and Gryffindor have doorways that challenge the would-be entrant about equally, the former having an almost imperceptible hidden entrance and a varying password, the latter having a capricious guardian and frequently changing passwords. In keeping with its reputation as the house of the most agile minds at Hogwarts, the door to the Ravenclaw common room presents a fresh intellectual or philosophical challenge every time a person knocks on it.

Nevertheless, it ought not to be concluded from the above that Hufflepuffs are dimwits or duffers, though they have been cruelly caricatured that way on occasion. Several outstanding brains have emerged from Hufflepuff house over the centuries; these fine minds simply happened to be allied to outstanding qualities of patience, a strong work ethic and constancy, all traditional hallmarks of Hufflepuff House.

J.K. Rowling Thoughts on Hufflepuff’s common room:

When I first planned the series, I expected Harry to visit all four house common rooms during his time at Hogwarts. There came a point when I realised that there was never going to be a valid reason to enter the Hufflepuff room. Nevertheless, it is quite as real to me as the other three, and I always knew exactly where those Hufflepuffs were going when they headed off towards the kitchens after lessons.

Slytherin: Welcome Message.

Welcome message for Slytherins:

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gemma Farley, and I’m delighted to welcome you to SLYTHERIN HOUSE. Our emblem is the serpent, the wisest of creatures; our house colours are emerald green and silver, and our common room lies behind a concealed entrance down in the dungeons. As you’ll see, its windows look out into the depths of the Hogwarts lake. We often see the giant squid swooshing by – and sometimes more interesting creatures. We like to feel that our hangout has the aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck.

Now, there are a few things you should know about Slytherin – and a few you should forget.

Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths. You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that. Well, you don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent.

Here’s a little-known fact that the other three houses don’t bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth?

I didn’t think so.

But that’s enough about what we’re not. Let’s talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin.

We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, because of our Dark reputation, but you know what? It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side. Chuck out a few hints that you’ve got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your pencil case.

But we’re not bad people. We’re like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood.

For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you’ll be glad you’ve got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we’re concerned, once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours – one of the elite.

Because you know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? The seeds of greatness. You’ve been chosen by this house because you’ve got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. All right, you might see a couple of people hanging around the common room whom you might not think are destined for anything special. Well, keep that to yourself. If the Sorting Hat put them in here, there’s something great about them, and don’t you forget it.

And talking of people who aren’t destined for greatness, I haven’t mentioned the Gryffindors. Now, a lot of people say that Slytherins and Gryffindors represent two sides of the same coin. Personally, I think Gryffindors are nothing more than wannabe Slytherins. Mind you, some people say that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor prized the same kinds of students, so perhaps we are more similar than we like to think. But that doesn’t mean that we cosy up with Gryffindors. They like beating us only slightly less than we like beating them.

A few more things you might need to know: our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him he’ll sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don’t ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn’t like it.

The password to the common room changes every fortnight. Keep an eye on the noticeboard. Never bring anyone from another house into our common room or tell them our password. No outsider has entered it for more than seven centuries.

Well, I think that’s all for now. I’m sure you’ll like our dormitories. We sleep in ancient four-posters with green silk hangings, and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins cover the walls, and silver lanterns hang from the ceilings. You’ll sleep well; it’s very soothing, listening to the lake water lapping against the windows at night.

has anyone who found the Magic Quill on day 5 gotten their Welcome Email yet? i'm getting antsy! i feel like i'm going to get it any minute now and i'm going to be non-stop with work (wedding coordinating) and guests from tomorrow morning until Sunday evening. how will i ever keep my mind on delivering the perfect wedding for a couple when ALL I WANT IS TO GET ON POTTERMORE?

at least this thread is giving me a little hit of what i'm craving.

Thanks guys for all the usernames. I forgot to go on a couple days so I missed it and my sister wouldn't bother to remind me. But now, I can go on Pottermore and claim my victory over her! :)

Thank you Renald that's brilliant! I'm not surprised to see Gryffindor's letter was the shortest, there's not much more to say about it really if you've read the books. I love the sound of the Hufflepuff common room, it sounds like a hobbit hole! And I love the defence the Slytherins give for their house, I'm all for good inter-house relations so I'm pleased they are not going to be painted as the pantomine villans they can sometimes seem to be in the books, but then I suppose all the people who tell harry about Slytherin were in other houses (usually Gryffindor) so their oppinion is inevitably biased.

Like Kay, I love the description of the Hufflepuff common room, and the Slytherin welcome letter. Merlin! You know, it kind of makes sense. . . .

Thanks, Ron, for posting those!

thanks ron!

No problem foggi and Mandy! And Kay, I picture the Hufflepuff's common room like a hobbit hole too :D....

ETA: Mandy to the post, and btw we are in the same house woohoo!!! Go Gryffindors :D!

HELP!!
I'm stuck in the kitchen! Can't click on anything, can't zoom in ir out. CAn't skip to the next bit. STUCK!!

#309: Try reloading the website LadyN

#310 - Thanks Ron, I've tried that :-( will give it another go though! I can't find anywhere to contact for help with the problem. Hmmm.

#311: Sometimes it happens, a friend of mine said she couldn't find the shopping list on Diagon Alley one day and she entered the next day and it was just lying there....you can hit the beta feedback button on the lower right corner and check that that page isn't working for you

Ah!! Have tried again with chrome, and it's working now! Phew!

#313: Woohoo! Waiting for you to get sorted NOW, N! :D

Just doing my shopping!

My wand: LAUREL WITH PHOENIX FEATHER CORE, TEN AND THREE QUARTER INCHES, RIGID

I am pleased with the phoenix feather core :-)

I'm in.......................................HUFFLEPUFF!!

#317: Woohoo!!

LadyN I am going to sneak down to your common room and steal your patchwork quilt, vinegar or no vinegar!

319 - Gasp!!! We'll just see about that!!

RuneHeart164? I think from now on if I don't know the person from somewhere else, and they are not listed at the top of this thread I am not going to accept their friend request.

If anyone needs any potion ingrediants let me know, or if anyone fancies a duel :D I'm it finding very hard to talk to people on the comments boards, even the common room one, because of the high turnover of comments and things getting held up by the moderators, it's really frustrating.

Have you SEEN the price of unicorn horn?! That's the bloody reccesion for you!

Haha! Yes, the unicorn horn was exorbitant! Is dueling back up?

#324 re #322: Nope, no dueling yet....

#323: Yep, Unicorn's horn is WAY expensive...

I keep trying to duel, bib. I try everyday. I want to PLAY!!

I hope they bring back dueling soon, too!

I'm brewing as much as possible to help keep Ravenclaw's lead but unfortunatly real life keeps intruding on Pottermore and my biggest downfall is forgetting to go back when my potions have brewed : ( Oh well, when duelling comes back online I can try and earn some points there, you are all going down! (except the Ravenclaws obviously).

I've not done dueling yet I'm still figuring out spells and potions.

Feel free to send me stuff or ask for a duel...

I'm still not in yet. . .
Today would've been perfect too. Just got a stupid tooth pulled and have resolved myself not to do necessary things for the rest of the day.

Who else is in now? Send me friend requests please and thank you!

How does everyone like it so far? I can't wait for the rest of the books to be opened up.

still not in and starting to get frustrated. anyone else in from day 5 registration?

I was either day 4 or 5, don't remember which, but I'm not in yet. I guess it doesn't matter though, I don't have time to do it right now and probably won't until holiday break. . . if I'm lucky. But yeah, frustrated that I didn't get in when I had time. I wonder what day in October that it actually opens to the public?

and which october? there is one most years...

i was day 5, and so far not a sausage.

I hope you all get in soon! The Pottermore Insider says they're fixing some things, then will start sending out welcome emails again -- today, I hope!

Still waiting with fingers crossed for sometime this week. I was from day 6. Luckily I'm kept busy with work to distract me from checking my e-mail more than, oh, five times a day. ;)

When will they bring duelling back! I didn't get a chance to do it before it was down, just obsessively practicing casting spells in preparation

I'm still not in. Poop.

finally got in today! i'm StarFloo26.

does anyone know how to report problems other than just the Beta Feedback button? "Harry recieves a mysterious letter" page is sticking on me but i can't find a way to tell them that.

also, how frequent are these collectable items?

eta: my wand is Sycamore with a phoenix feather core (YAY!), 10 3/4 inches and quite bendy. from the wand explanations, i am QUITE pleased with that result.

eta2: i just got sorted into Gryffindor. silly though it may seem, this is not my first choice (I don't know whether I prefer Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff). mostly i'd rather have a different house because Gryffindor's are privy to the least amount of new material, and that is my main reason for getting on Pottermore. luckily, i'm not too upset about it.

I got my email, but I don't have time to play :(
I'll let you know when I get on.

I went through the whole thing!
Those of you already know this, but I'm in Hufflepuff! I can haz patchwork quilts!
My wand is Sapient Pear wood (Discworld, anyone?) and Unicorn core, ten inches, slightly springy. I read the descriptions for the wood and core of my wand, and have come to the conclusion that I can never be turned to the Dark Arts. ;)

I have to say the notes on wands doesn't paint me in a very good light. I'm Chestnut and unicorn hair, 10", hard (which sounds so wrong) which seems to mean I am stubborn and set in my ways. Oh well that's probably not that bad I suppose, at least it would be difficult for anyone to convince me to join the Dark Side :)

atlargeintheworld - Hello! I am going to friend request you, I'm SparksFrog170, feel free to deny me :) And don't worry about missing info, anything I find out as a Ravenclaw that isn't general knowledge I will share on here, as other people have done. Don't know if you noticed but a while back on this thread Ron kindly posted all the house welcome letter info for all the houses so we can all envy each other's common rooms.

I am also hoping there will be some sort of oppurtunity to air our criticisms of the site other than the Beta forms as they are very constricted in what you can say. I'm not sure if they are monitoring the comments boards for complaints and criticisms, but they really should be as there have been lots of issues raised there, mostly about how difficult it is to actually have a conversation on there!

342- I don't know, chestnut with the unicorn core that means you share traits with three heads of the Wizengamot, which is pretty cool! The thing about flexibility I think can be interpreted in different ways, hard for example could imply strength. The flexibilities and lengths seem more generalized, and of course, all of the information has to be put together to give a better idea of the overall qualities of the wand. :)

Kay, you are now officially my first friend!

yeah, i purposely skipped reading the welcome letters shared above because i wanted to be surprised when i finally got on, but i INSTANTLY went back and read them as soon as i was sorted. LOVED all the Hufflepuff stuff. after reading that, i probably feel the most personal connection to Hufflepuff so would have loved to have been sorted accordingly. not that being a Gryffindor is upsetting, just not where i thought i'd end up.

so far, i'm LOVING all the extra info and feeling a little overwhelmed by the rest. i am apparently not an adept at potionmaking OR spell casting, but i'm getting there.

for some reason i am stuck at the end of Chapter 9, in front of the locked door in the Forbidden Corridor. am i supposed to be doing something here to open the door?

I got in yesterday. I'm in Hufflepuff ("Wow! What a surprise!" she added, with a hint of sarcasm). I have an English oak wand with unicorn core, 11 1/4 inches (surprisingly swishy).

My youngest got in today. Also Hufflepuff (must be a family trait), but her wand is Ebony with dragon heart string. Must be from her father's side of the family...

Is there a ProphecyDawn51 around here? I got a friend request from them. Hello? I can't friend you unless I know who you are. You can PM me if you want. :o)

"ANOTHER Paynes? Right, i know just what to do with you. HUFFLEPUFF!"

atlargeintheworld: Yay! If you need any advice or potion ingredients just ask. To open the door on the Forbidden Corridor you have to cast the spell Alohamora, if you can touch type I would suggest using the keyboard rather than the mouse to cast spells, I find it much easier.

Where do you fine the information on your wand? I would like to see what mine says.

I have Redwood with unicorn core, 12 1/4 inches, quite flexible.

#348 by @KayEluned> that's what i guessed, but i can't figure out how to actually make it happen. i did the one practice spell but how do you cast in the actual moments?

I popped on for a break from my homework. Got my wand! Hawthorn with phoenix feather core, twelve and a quarter inches, slightly springy. No idea what that means yet, but I'll figure it out eventually.

#349 -- The details about wand woods and cores are in the special added info on the Ollivanders page.

#350 -- As I recall, the letters to cast the spell just appear in front of the door. I can't get in to Pottermore right now ("overwhelming demand") to see what I did to trigger it, but have you tried clicking around? Trying to zoom in with the arrow keys? Going back a screen and trying again? If they're not showing up for you, do the Beta feedback and click that the page is not loading properly for you.

Yeah, today must be very popular. I've been kicked off the site twice now (the last time while I was reading the wand descriptions) due to that overwhelming demand. Next time I go on, I will be leaving feedback about it.

Maybe this will be the week. Afterall, October's just 5 days away.

Weekends seem to be busier than weekdays, especially when new invites go out.

Well, I rec'd an email from Pottermore this morning. Problem is, I'm not sure if it's for me or my son. I wish I took the time to mention my name here so it would have been posted :( When I figure it out, I will post it.

Your username should have been on the welcome. Unless that's what you forgot? My welcome came a day before my youngest, same order that we registered. Maybe that will help you!

#349 by @Alishamb08> thanks for friending me over there!

eta: what is the first hanging sign in the menu? somehow i have unlocked all the others but not that one.

#358 -- I haven't unlocked that one, either. I'm hoping it's for Hogsmeade, when we get to that point.

Based on what jugglingpaynes said, this would be my son's account as I registered the next day. So perhaps mine will be coming shortly.

#359 by @foggidawn>

ohh! that would be cool.

finally got through the whole thing today (it took a lot longer than i imagined since the site kept crashing and becoming unavailable). went through really fast a second time to pick up anything i missed, which was lucky since a few pages hadn't worked for me before and they were working now!

i have to say that, for me, the whole thing was worth it just to read McGonagall's life story, to hear how Vernon and Petunia met and their falling out with the Potters, and all the other little goodies JKR shared. i won't be one of the users who rabidly brews potions (since apparently i am HORRIBLE at it) or fights duels, but i will remain a loyal Pottermore member just to read more background information!

#359: That would be nice. I was working under the assumption that that was where the promised ebooks, audiobooks, etc. will be.

#361: I feel the same. I'm more likely to do a little dueling against my fellow HEer's but I don't have the patience for potions!

I think I may go back through it again while simultaneously reading the book and see if the extra information is enriched or enriches the original at all.

#275 by @Mandy2> you must be one of the mysterious Hatstalls!

because i'm a tad OCD about making lists, i decided to list the Pottermore usernames alphabetically and list which house people are in, so you can see who's in your house and because i was curious which houses we, as LTers, represented the most.

CastleHazel26 (compskibook) Ravenclaw
CharmVine187 (InfectiousOptimist)
CloakAsh188 (Carmenere) Gryffindor
CrimsonSickle26 (MrAndrew)
ErisedEcho96 (BuffaloPhil) Ravenclaw
FlameWitch114 (SaraFleming)
FrogAsh177 (Carmenere's son)
HazelCat40 (foggidawn) Ravenclaw
KnightCloak47 (Mandy2) Gryffindor
MagicMahogany55 (MsDonna)
MahoganyFlame88 (Renald128) Gryffindor
MistCat146 (sarahy)
NightAuror44 (kopal)
OakGalleon7 (kirbyowns) Gryffindor
PatronusMirror29 (Octane) Slytherin
PhoenixPotion15 (Espeon200) Hufflepuff
QuillStirke212 (katelisim) Ravenclaw
RainMirror118 (Kerian) Hufflepuff
RuneFrog42 (littlegeek) Ravenclaw
ScarletElm67 (Alishamb08) Ravenclaw
SnidgetPatronus33 (jugglingpaynes) Hufflepuff
SparksFrog170 (KayEluned) Ravenclaw
SpellGlow28 (lilkim714)
SpiritRain85 (catbastet) Hufflepuff
StarFloo26 (atlargeintheworld) Gryffindor
Stormseer101 (LadyN) Hufflepuff
WillowSand47 (biblioholic29) Gryffindor
YewDraconis162 (06nwingert) Slytherin

Gryffindor: 6
Hufflepuff: 5
Ravenclaw: 7
Slytherin: 2

if anyone else is in but hasn't listed which house they are sorted into, please feel free to share and i'll add you to the list. foggi, feel free to steal this list for the first post if you want.

I got my email today! I know what I will be spending tonight doing when I get home!

I haven't been able to get on since yesterday. . . I think around 10pm I was kicked off. Darn overwhelming demand. I wanna get sorted :(

#364 - wow that was a good idea.

just made a request in RSI that Pottermore be added in the Also On section. feel free to drop by the thread and share your support (or disagree, if you like).

http://www.librarything.com/topic/124200

#364 -- You can note on your list that PhoenixPotion15 (Espeon200) is in Hufflepuff.

I may wait a while before "stealing" your list for the first post, since you're still gathering data about who's in what house.

That would make a pretty even spread between Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw! Of course, Cat wants to "collect friends from all the houses" so we are hoping MrA makes it into Slytherin (no pressure, MrA!)

I'm getting the Overwhelming Demand message an awful lot lately. I wonder if they are pushing their servers past the limit in order to get everyone in by the end of the month?

My son is surprised they are still going to open it to the public next week when they are still bringing in beta testers. I think we will see a lot of crashing if they open it on schedule.

I'm in! Or was. It's unavailable right now. I did manage to accept friend requests and give LTer nicknames, though. I have to be up really early tomorrow but don't imagine I'll sleep much.

I'm in Slytherin, you can add that to the list if you want.

So I got to JP in adding friends then got the support message. Still working on it.

kirby, I don't think it went through. I didn't get the friend request and I didn't see it when I went onto Pottermore just now. In fact, I just got knocked off when I tried to accept katelisim's friend request. *sigh*

I'm still getting 2 different support messages. I think getting on anymore than the whole 2 minutes I was on will be a no go tonight.

I've been kicked off several times but it seems like for only seconds each time.

Edited: I got your friend request, Kirby! :)

I stayed awake just long enough to get sorted by the sorting hat.

Wand: Hawthorn with unicorn core, 12 1/4", slightly yielding. I thought that was somewhat interesting.

House: Hufflepuff

Oh, and I got a cat! :) . . . Since in the books Hogwarts has lender-owls.

At last, I am in! I'm CloakAsh188. Well I can see what I'll be doing most of the day!

I'm Ravenclaw. Completely expected that.

got a new busy message today. it was the regular welcome screen, i clicked "sign in" and then got this:

Sign in to Pottermore

Due to high levels of demand, we are currently restricting access to Pottermore. Please come back and try again later.

i've been getting the red reboot page since last night, so i'm wondering what's different. i guess they've finally opened the flood gates to the 500,000 early registrants that HADN'T gotten in yet.

eta: from Pottermore Insider

Earlier today, we sent out the one-millionth Welcome email - which means that everyone who successfully registered for the Beta should now have access to Pottermore.

We’re expecting the site to be extremely busy over the next 24 hours as people log in and explore Pottermore for the first time. As such, you may have to wait to sign in but please keep trying if you aren't able to gain entry straight away.

i guess that answers that question then!

I finally got my email today, but it's too busy to let me in! I'll try after work. Perhaps the UK will be sleeping then.

I finally got my email, but it's too busy.

Finally got far enough to be sorted. I'm in Gryffindor!

YAY! Welcome Kirby!!!

I finally got in and went to my friend requests. Pottermore kicked me out. I logged back in and explored chapter 1 before Pottermore kicked me out again. I'm slightly annoyed. However, I got to read the bonus material from JKR on Privet Drive.

For those of you just getting in, and being frustrated about the number of times the site is busy or kicks you off . . . it hasn't been like that often. Right now, with the high volume of people getting in and trying to do stuff, it's overloading a lot. I think (hope!) that it will settle down in a few days. So, hang in there! I just didn't want you all to think it was like this all the time.

I finally got to explore--to a point. I got to Gringotts before the site kicked me off yet again. I want to offer some analysis:

I'm upset and disappointed. I was excited about Potermore during the announcement, but after playing it, those feelings are gone. Apart from the Vernon and Petunia backstory, none of the new content was worth it. I anticipated more (and better) content from JKR.

Sony should have thought through the process and used higher-grade servers. If we're having all of these problems now, I don't want to see what it's going to look like in a month when the general public signs up.

English grade: 4/10
OWL grade: D (dreadful)

#389: You haven't gotten to the really interesting extra content stuff yet. There's good stuff at Ollivanders though and then more once you get to school.

From a development standpoint, it has to be an interesting conundrum: do you get enough servers to easily handle the anticipated day-to-day demand on the site, or do you get enough servers to handle rare peak times (like a major sign-up push)? I'm not a site designer or developer or anything like it, but I've seen lots of cases where a site will be able to handle things fine, except when there's a major rush. A good example is the NaNoWriMo site, which gets a huge amount of traffic in late October, gets slammed the first day of November, has a busy month then (and slightly less busy months when they do other special events), but gets low traffic other times of the year. I know they often have site problems in late October and early November, despite bulking up servers, but usually by mid-November (when some participants have dropped out and the merely curious have wandered off), the site runs like a top. Much different from something like Facebook or LibraryThing, which probably get relatively constant amounts of traffic (though in the early days of LT, I know there were slow-downs and down time when LT got media attention and a bunch of people signed up at once).

I don't know what Pottermore's day-to-day demand will be like, but I'm sure they're hitting a peak right now. I'm guessing they'll hit another peak when they open to the public (though they may stagger entry then, as well -- who knows?). But after that, I imagine things will slow down. The people who just go through once for the additional information won't come back until the next book is available (which will cause another peak, I'm sure), and the site will be left to those who stick around to duel, make potions, etc.

#389 -- Bib's right; you haven't gotten to the really interesting stuff yet.

#389 by @06nwingert> although i've only been in since last Friday, the servers haven't USUALLY been all that busy. there were many times when i would be going to a new page and would get the busy page, but a quick refresh usually took care of it. the problem, which they should have anticipated, was that they let ~500,000 people in at once and it's all gone insane. obviously they can't handle the volume, but they better fix it fast because opening day in Oct will be insane.

to the rest, if you go in looking for something to "play" you probably will be disappointed. there isn't much to do in the way of games. which was a tad disappointing for me because the potential was there. lots of little games like you will see in the final chapters could have been peppered throughout. i would have liked to see the magic classes taken advantage of, even if it was just in the way of little quizzes and/or "homework." hopefully that is another thing they will be addressing with future books.

as the other have said, the extra content does get better (especially if you are a rabid McGonagall fan like myself) once you get into Hogwarts. i'm also assuming that JKR is holding plenty back for the subsequent books. that is my great hope.

hope you stick with it, that the servers get figured out, and that you enjoy it in the end.

#392 -- Actually the number of students (according to the count in the Great Hall) has gone up less than 100,000. It was around 475,000 before the final batch of emails went out, and is now at 536,165. Now, I don't know if that counts all active accounts, or just ones that have made it as far as Hogwarts. Still, I don't think that they sent out 500,000 invites in the past few days. (If you've seen an official statement to that effect, let me know!) I'm sure there will actually be many less than 1,000,000 beta testers because, though it was against the rules, I have heard of people who created more than one account, or created accounts to sell -- some of which got shut down by the Pottermore people, and some of which simply won't get used. Add to that all of the ones who entered incorrect email addresses, and the ones who signed up but now are for some reason too busy or unable to get online, and so forth.

Ravenclaw!

I've been kicked off a lot, but I'm not too upset. There's only been one time that I wasn't back on Pottermore within minutes. Also, I'm finding the site to be less busy at night.

I can think of a couple pages that I really wish had more done for them, but at the same time was so excited about other pages. I can't wait to see what it will be like once it's live, though do think I may wait a week then for traffic to slow down. While some of us waited so much to be let on Pottermore, a great deal of others are still waiting.

#393 by @foggidawn> this is all i've read, from Pottermore Insider:

Earlier today, we sent out the one-millionth Welcome email - which means that everyone who successfully registered for the Beta should now have access to Pottermore.

i was basing my estimates off the number of students listed, which, as you said, might not be a fair representation. so it must be anyone's guess at this point.

I have been trying for 2 days since I got my email and I can't get in at all. What's the secret?

#397 LG:
Is it the logging in that you're struggling with, or exploring more from that first page they lead you to? I couldn't figure it out past there at first. So long as you won't be too sleepy, I recommend 9pm onward in our time zone. It seems to have the least busy time for when I've tried getting into Pottermore so far. I hope you manage to soon!

#397 -- I agree with Kerian; if you're having trouble logging in because the site is busy, off-peak times are best. For instance, I just logged in without any trouble. Frequently refreshing the screen when you get an "overwhelming demand" message is the only other hint I have! If you're having trouble navigating around the site, there should be a bar at the bottom of the screen with arrows you can click on to move through the story.

After I got into a house I got a friend request from someone I didn't know. Are they in your house? Some people seem to make friend requests just because they are in the same house.

I got a friend request from a Gryffindor I don't know. (Not an LTer.) I'm wondering if they saw my name in one of the comment sections.

I really wish there was music.

I got to buy my owl (a tawney-- he needs a name) and my wand (redwood with unicorn core, 10 3/4 inches, hard) before the #@!&^ site kicked me off yet again.

Well, I feel extremely stupid because I FINALLY got in, but I can't seem to understand how you actually "collect" things. I have read through the various bits for the first three chapters, have rolled my mouse around the whole "rooms" but nothing is in my trunk. Can someone help a clueless old lady out?

LG, click on objects, particularly any that glow, as you move the mouse over the pages. Double clicking will let you view more objects, too, as it zooms in. Good luck! (And you aren't old! :)

Pottermore Insider has some important announcements this morning, including that they are extending the beta period. It's too long to copy and paste, but I highly recommend reading through it.

#406 by @littlegeek> there just isn't a lot to collect in the first couple of chapters. i can't get on to check right now, but i think there were just 2 or 3 things before you get to Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express.

Thanks, all. I managed to find 2 objects, plus the shopping list on my own, but they don't make it obvious.

I'll go back tonight and hopefully get sorted.

Finally got some money, so now Im going shopping!

Yay, I got sorted into Ravenclaw. Of course, I knew it all along. My wand is Larch with phoenix feather, 10 3/4 inches, slightly springy.

How is everyone earning so many house points? Brewing potions?

Yep, potions are the best way right now. However, at the moment, I don't like to chance it, with access being so tricky. I tried to brew one the other day, but couldn't get back in for the second half of the potion (after brewing it for 95 minutes!), so I'm holding off on that until things settle down again.

I suck at potions. I think because I just have my laptop with the track pad. Would be way easier with a mouse, but I don't want to sit at the desk.

/first world problems.

btw, are they gonna tell us when they're opening up CoS and/or the duel stuff?

#415 -- Even with the mouse, it's hard to control the stuff in jars and bottles!

#416 -- They haven't said anything about Chamber of Secrets yet. All they've said about the dueling is that they're working on it, and that it will be back some day.

I finally got it to work. I went from chapter 5 to the end today. News and commentary:

1. I was sorted into Syltherin. It was a shock because I've always seen myself as a Ravenclaw. I even tried tricking the Sorting Hat by picking all of the "intellectual" answers.

2. I enjoyed the backstory about McGonagall and Quirrell. Quirrell's was interesting because JKR said he was "partially a horcrux." That came up in the pre-book 7 debates. However, JKR has already said she isn't good with math, explaining the discrepancy between the lack of students in each year and the number of wizards. This means that the "original 40" didn't add anything to the conversation. Also, I was shocked at the ambiguity and vagueness regarding the Mirror of Erised post. Where is the backstory on Dean Thomas? Where's the information about the missing day? These are important in Sorcerer's Stone and should have been explained on Pottermore.

3. I'm going through it again just to collect a few more items and read a few more JKR posts, but I don't see a big return value in the site.

4. I still say that Sony had poor web development. The site is jerky and still has problems staying online.

5. I was excited for the ebooks in October, but Pottermore Insider said we'll have to wait until next year.

6. I would love more social networking integration. I use the Facebook feature, but I want to update Pottermore from Twitter as well.

English grade: 5/10
OWL grade: P (poor)
A slight improvement since my previous post, but not enough to keep me excited and interested in the long-term.

#416: In the press release they did when they announced Pottermore, they said that CoS was going to be released in early 2012.

Does anyone know who SilverRose131 is?

I don't, but s/he won the username lottery, that's for sure!

Sigh, still not a member.

I got to the end, and I really liked it. The best was the original content from Rowling, especially McGonnagal's backstory. I really liked collecting things, but I felt that sometimes it was like stealing. The artwork is amazing, and although I haven't completed a potion, it is easier with a mouse than with my trackpad. I had good luck staying on this morning, but I am kicked out now as the west coast wakes up, I guess. I am looking forward to Chamber of Secrets and dueling!

#423 by @compskibook> same here- McGonnagal's backstory was enough to keep me coming back, even if the rest of the site had been crap. can't wait to see what other goodies will be hidden in the other books.

I do like the backstory stuff. Spells are fun, but the potion brewing is way too hard! They give you only one to practice on, and it doesn't even include the trickiest thing - trying to manipulate a vial without spilling its contents everywhere!

#423 -- Oh, I felt the same way about collecting! Especially the galleon that comes out of a drawer in Gryffindor Tower.

anyone up for comparing trunk contents? i KNOW i've missed some things along the way, so i'd like to get a list of what to be on the look out for.

what i've got

objects: (17 not including purchases)
alarm clock
postcard from London
hammer and nails
sea shell
slimy weed
shopping list
vault key
Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans
Prefect badge
rememberall
golden snitch
Wizard's chess set
dragon egg
winged key
old cup
salt and pepper
rock cake
+ all the required purchases (scales, telescope, vials, etc)

chocolate frog cards: (9)
Dumbledore
Morgana
Paracelsus
Hengist of Woodcroft
Merlin
Rowena Ravenclaw
Cliodna
Salazar Slytherin
Godric Gryffindor
(i'm assuming that one of the 2 i'm missing is Helga Hufflepuff)

books: (14)
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration
A History of Magic
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
Magical Theory
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry
Notable Magic Names of Our Time
From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide
Modern Magical History
Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland
Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit
Important Modern Magical Discoveries
Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century
Hogwarts: A History

#427:

Objects - I have all of those, plus a candle.
Chocolate Frog cards - I have all 11. You're missing Circe and Helga Hufflepuff. The fact that there were 11, not 12, bugs me!
Books - I have all of those, plus Quidditch Through the Ages.

Wow, I need to go back and collect a few things!

#428 by @foggidawn> it bugs me as well that there aren't 12... ;)

#429 by @littlegeek> it took me 2 pass-throughs to find what i did, and now i'm gonna have to go through again to find 4 measly items! arggh.

I realised on 2nd pass that some of the JKR items I had read but not unlocked. Once you unlock stuff, other stuff to collect appears.

Weird, I now have 20 objects, 9 frog cards and 13 books. But after the first pass, I had 14 books. hmmm....still buggy, I'm thinking.

Did you know that if you really screw up a potion and you're not using the basic cauldron that your cauldron can explode as well as you losing house points?

Learning is FUN!

#427 atlargeintheworld:
I have the Circe and Helga Hufflepuff chocolate frog cards in addition to yours but am missing Rowena Ravenclaw's. As for books, I have yours, plus Quidditch Through the Ages.

I thought it odd that certain books, such as The Standard Book of Spells, Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, Curses and Counter Curses*, and Magical Drafts & Potions don't appear at all in your trunk, though they do appear in the sections for spell and potion books. When I first noticed them missing from the rest of my books I thought it was a glitch.

* This is a book I found versus bought.

#433 Espy:
It's good to see you on LT! How many cauldrons have you gone through? ;)

I just noticed under post #364 I'm listed twice but this is a misnomer. I'm CloakAsh and my son is FrogAsh. If you want to put (Carmenere's son) beside FrogAsh that's fine, but he's not an LTer.

I'm ready to be sorted but I'm waiting 5 minutes till FrogAsh gets home from school.

Gryffindor!

#435 -- I only see you listed once in post #1, though I do see both CloakAsh and FrogAsh in post #364.

Thanks it was actually in post #364 that I'm listed twice. I edited my message #435.

#435 by @Carmenere> that's so weird, since i was working off the list from the first post. i must have found it somewhere in the thread and not paid any attention... i corrected it.

Here's the compiled list of what you should be able to find (not including potion ingredients and/or galleons). This may not be a complete list, but it's everything that has been posted so far in the thread.

objects: (18 not including purchases)
alarm clock
postcard from London
hammer and nails
sea shell
slimy weed
shopping list
vault key
Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans
Prefect badge
rememberall
golden snitch
Wizard's chess set
dragon egg
winged key
old cup
salt and pepper
rock cake
candle
+ all the required purchases (scales, telescope, vials, etc)

chocolate frog cards: (11)
Dumbledore
Morgana
Paracelsus
Hengist of Woodcroft
Merlin
Rowena Ravenclaw
Cliodna
Salazar Slytherin
Godric Gryffindor
Helga Hufflepuff
Circe

books: (19)
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration‡
A History of Magic‡
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi‡
Magical Theory‡
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them‡
A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry
Notable Magic Names of Our Time
From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide
Modern Magical History
Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland
Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit
Important Modern Magical Discoveries
Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century
Hogwarts: A History
Quidditch Through the Ages
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1‡*
Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection‡*
Curses and Counter Curses*
Magical Drafts & Potions‡*

‡ these books are purchased rather than found
* these are not held in your trunk but rather under Spells and Potions

#434 - Just one, but it was the most expensive one to re-buy. No, my frustration now is that Pottermore keeps making me repeat the first stage of potion making.

I'm stuck on 9 chocolate frog cards. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong besides having given up on potions.

#442 -- The chocolate frog cards don't have anything to do with potions, so that shouldn't be a problem. Some of them are just fiendishly well-hidden.

I do the first part of the cure for boils, I let it brew, I come back a little less than 80 minutes, it keeps showing me the first page of directions, and then time runs out. How do I get to the second page?

444 I think it only brews for 3 minutes and then you have to do the rest.

On mine there is a 80 minute version, too. Maybe I should just try something else.

#445 -- The practice version only brews for three minutes, but the actual version (which you can get to from the Potions tab) brews for 80.

I had the problem where it sent me back to the first screen once, a few days ago. I just thought it was something I had done, but now I'm thinking they've done some sort of "fix" and created a bug. Hopefully they'll fix it soon!

#447 by @foggidawn> i had the same problem a few days ago as well. it's annoying that there isn't a way to REALLY report bugs. i mean, rating the page as bad in the feedback doesn't actually tell them that the stupid thing isn't working... hopefully they will figure it out.

Does anyone else find the potion-making REALLY annoying? I tend to only go online for a short while at a time, generally around 30 minutes, so I can't be doing with having to come back after exactly 80 minutes!

#449 -- I do think the brewing times are ridiculously long. I think, for the easier potions, they should have been shorter (15-30 minutes), and then when we get into harder potions in later years, they could take longer to brew.

I wonder . . . didn't Polyjuice Potion take a month to brew? Will they stick to that time frame, when we get to that point?

I also think the practice should include lifting and manipulating vials. It's almost impossible, but it's the one thing that isn't in the practice.

I am probably alone in this but I like how difficult brewing potions is, how easy it is to make mistakes and how the timing has to be exactly right, it makes it feel more like a challenge to me and more authentic.

#452 by @KayEluned> i don't get too upset when i fail at a potion because i did something wrong (although i agree with littlegeek that vials should have been on the practice as they are INSANE), but it's REALLY frustrating when you FINALLY do it right and Pottermore just looses it all together. and it would be nice if the times were a bit shorter, like 40-50 minutes instead of 80+.

Maybe it's done this way to prevent kids from wanting to make spells in real life. You know, if it takes so long, has to be exact, and any little mistake can blow up your cauldron, kids might think twice before brewing that wide awake potion in their room. :o)

Hang on. I have to go check...something.

*BOOM!!!*

There's an interesting review up at the Nerdist.

#455 Cool article, bib, thanks. It's pretty accurate, Id say.

I agreed with most of it, and a lot of it has been said here.

I have now made one of each kind of potion. Oddly, it was the herbicide that gave me the most trouble.

way to go foggi! i have yet to complete a single potion other than the practice one. apparently i can't leave the screen where it says i can leave and come back later or my potion goes into a vanishing cabinet somewhere... and even after i figured that out, i bungled the potion i'd waited 85 minutes for. but i won't give up. eventually i will get the hang of it. i must be related to Neville or Seamus.

me too foggi. took me forever to get Herbicide. I finally finished it yesterday and have also now completed all the potions.

The Pottermore blog has an interesting look at how some of the artwork was developed.

#461: Thanks for letting us know bib! That's really interesting

There's a Beta tester survey available now. Took about 10 minutes and goes fairly in depth. Everyone should click over and take it!

Does anyone know when they're going to bring back the Wizard's Duel and open CoS?

Not sure why there were so many questions about Sony. News flash -no one cares about your corporate tie-in or advertising!

Except for Sony, whom I assume asked for those questions to make sure they're getting their money's worth. Also, I have no idea when dueling will open, but CoS will come sometime in early-ish 2012.

#467 -- Interesting stuff. It's given me a greater appreciation for the crests that they have created. I like all of them, but I like Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff best.

They're extending Beta indefinitely. I've got mixed feelings on this. I feel bad for all the people who are waiting for registration to open for realsies, and I assume this is going to push back the release dates for the subsequent books. However, I'm glad they they're taking the time to make sure that its as good as it can be before opening it up to more people. I always thought their original timeline was a bit ambitious.

Hmm. I'm guessing this move is a response to the results of the recent survey? I wonder if they got a lot of negative feedback. I do feel badly for people who are waiting to enter.

It is a pain for everyone if things are delayed (for those waiting to get on and us waiting for the next book) but I think I would rather a delay, of a few months even, and a smoothly running experience with creases ironed out than an awkward clunky experience right now.

If it did have negative feedback, it would seem to be a good reason to keep it in beta. I myself have had little time to play with Pottermore since I got the welcome letter, so I didn't fill out a survey, so I'm not aware of any issues other than the lengthy process for potions and the difficulty with finding objects in some of the pictures (which might have been a glitch when I was playing).

They've started highlighting some of the uploaded fan art on Pottermore. It's generally not the kind of thing I'm interested in, but some of these are really impressive! I particularly like the pen and ink of the put-outer and the watercolor of baby Harry.

Okay, LT ate the post when I tried to link with HTML, let's see if this works: http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/11/pottermore-art-boy-who-lived.html

*can't wait to get in and envies all who could already have a go*

You know . . . after all of the initial excitment, anticipation, and frustration (with trying to register), I must admit that I haven't actually been on Pottermore in weeks . . . maybe a month. I was thinking the other day that I should go on and see if they made any changes. Has anyone here remained active on a regular basis? (If so, you must have quite the store of potions by now!)

I was one of the first here to get on to Pottermore, and I hate to say I got bored with it very quickly, probably less than a week! I felt a bit guilty about that since there were loads of others wishing they could get on... sorry guys & gals!

i agree. i pop over every 2 weeks or so to see if anything has changed and i check Insider about once a week for updates. there just isn't a TON to do to keep you going back, except potions (which i'm not good at and aren't THAT exciting) and dueling, which doesn't work. BUT i am sufficiently hooked that i will be back the MOMENT Chamber of Secrets is available. the bonus reading material is just awesome.

I feel the same, although I did like the potions, once you've done them there's not a lot of activity. I think the big problem is that it is almost impossible to have a conversation with anyone on there otherwise I'd be popping into the Ravenclaw common room for a chat all the time. Instead I'm just twiddling my thumbs waiting for mor original content (which I am really hoping will be released in print form at some point, if she's worried about being accused of 'milking it for money' she could always donate proceeds to charity like she did with the school books).

Same goes for me. Though I do still plan to go back through while reading the book, I'm mostly just waiting for Chamber of Secrets to open up. I've only really been in it for the extra content from the beginning, I could care less about potions and dueling, I've got the Lego Harry Potter games for that!

I keep wondering if I should continue this thread (see the blue link at the very bottom) but chances are once I did that then no one would add another post after that.

#480 -- I've thought the same thing. Maybe a good time to continue would be when they announce something new, like the end of Beta, or dueling being available, or when Chamber of Secrets goes live. That way there will be something to talk about on the new thread.

It's been unavailable for the last 2 days for updates...

I'll go back when they open the Chamber of Secrets or bring back the wizard duel.

Thwy're asking people to take a "reading survey". Not just for Beta users.

http://insider.pottermore.com/

Perhaps they are trying to get the Pottermore Shop online in time for Christmas shopping.

It's back up as of today. There's info on the blog as to what they've done this time.