Pottermore

[SgtAngua_CW]

Hi everyone,

I'm now on Pottermore! YAY!!!

I'm MoonstoneAsh24717, if you want to add me.

Sadly not a Gryffindor, but I am a Hufflepuff with JJ and Evil Ash

[count_libido]

What exactly are you meant to do on that website?

[jumpin' jellybean]

There's a few things.

I think the appeal for most of us was finding out what wand we'd get and what house we'd be sorted into. I imagine a lot of people will leave it at that, which, fair play!

You can "explore" the books - only Philosopher is up so far; from the detail and art involved, I imagine it'll take a while for each new book to be released. Each chapter contains three little triple layered scenes. You can read more about characters, objects, animals etc. in most of these. Some of it is just wiki-style entries (and only containing info from the first book to avoid spoilers), but there are also new articles and snippets of info from JKR. I've found those really interesting.

You can also collect galleons, potion ingredients, books and random objects.

You can learn spells and make potions too, which is quite fun, BUT REALLY HARD! Considering the main demographic is probably kids, I've no idea how they're managing it. You can duel other players to gain points for your house.

That's really it. I think if your Potter love is on the OMGILOVEIT side, it's really enjoyable, for a time. There's not really a lot to do with your friends once you add them. Once you've completed the book, you can go back (some of the collectables respawn), but I think that'll lose its appeal quickly.

It is gorgeous. I'm really glad I signed up, the sheer squee factor makes up for the limited content so far. As the books are released it'll be denser and more engaging, I think. If you're only a casual fan, it's probably not worth it.

[count_libido]

Ah gotcha. i thought it was just a place to buy e-books and audio books and maybe read some extra content. I guess for us casual Harry Potter readers, the wands and the sorting would be the most interesting parts.

[jumpin' jellybean]

Yeah, and honestly, do it.

It's not just a random thing, there are little personality tests to determine your wand and house. Once you get your wand, you see a rather beautiful picture of it, and there are lengthy articles from Ollivander explaining the character traits to which each type of wood/core/length/flexibility is attracted, and their strengths and weaknesses. That's really kinda cool.

They're not just the same set of questions for each person either. After I did mine, Mr M signed up and I watched him do his tests. A substantial amount of his questions were different from mine.

Once you get sorted, you get a message explaining the traits your house represents, as well as a little of its history. You get your password and a detailed description of your common room and dormitories. I was sorted into Hufflepuff, and as that house is never visited in the books, it was really exciting and interesting!

[Veela Magnet]

See, my level of Potter love is most certainly of the OMGILOVEIT level :P

But since the site entered its Beta stage, I completely lost interest in it; I signed up and everything, but never ever heard back from it -- maybe I did it too early or something, but after hearing just how fiddly it all is, I was gonna give it a wide berth until the digital dust settled and they'd ironed out all the bugs (of which I'd heard there were tons)

[evil ash]

I've really enjoyed it so far, there is so much new stuff to read! It took me a while to get to Hogwarts and get sorted due to exploring but it is a lot of fun. Casting spells is quite hard and i still can't get the hang of the potions yet but i'll get there i'm sure. I'm JinxWizard25703 if anyone wants to add me if they haven't already

[fainiel]

I've been on since the Beta testing began in August and I have to admit that once I had been sorted and worked my way through the first book I started to lose interest. The potion making never worked properly either, I hope they've fixed that by now.

Anyway, I am a proud Ravenclaw and my username is SeerStone135. Add me if you like!

[Romana Hunt]

I joined on Saturday too, along with everyone else My name is MistPhoenix8245 and my house? I don't know, I'm only onto Chapter 3 - the start of it - so I haven't even been in Diagon Alley yet, I've read everything there is to read so far so that's probably why I'm taking so long, that and clicking to see what I can collect. I'm enjoying it so far, nice distraction from Twitter and Facebook

[Bigsmak]

I've signed up today..

Waiting on my e-mail from them