Pottermore!

[Miss Rosario]

Well, this is a surprise. I got sorted into Gryffindor. I was hoping for Ravenclaw, but ah well. *high-fives Lia*

My wand is Ebony with Unicorn core, eleven inches, unyielding.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Seriously, Miss R? Another Ebony wand with unicorn hair? This has to be a NarniaWeb thing! That makes four of us I think!

[IloveFauns]

Indeed me you, rose and menelve. And there is quit a largish list of woods on hp wiki and all are available on pottermore(i believe).

[Menelve]

The whole list of wand woods on Pottermore and their descriptions is very interesting. I am surprised that so many people are getting the same type of wand. But long live the ebony wandusers!

~Anna

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Well, I finished the Pottermore content tonight. I must say that for all of the hype I'd heard about this site I was immensely underwhelmed.

Perhaps the best content I found was the backstory on Professor McGonagall, which I found absolutely amusing! I also enjoyed the content on wand woods and wand cores very much. Of course, getting an official wand, and being sorted were both very exciting.

I found the interface to be very confusing, and it wasn't until tonight that I learned that you could "zoom in" by merely pushing the up arrow key. Until that, I was just clicking in random places trying to get the screen to zoom in. This led to MANY frustrations. A simple "user's guide" would have been very helpful.

I would LOVE to see more things added to the Pottermore shop. From what I've seen all of the wands are very similar in design, and therefore, I think it'd be nice if you could order your wand from them (rather than trying to make your own). I'd also like to see some stuff you can buy from your house (house scarves, banners, robes, etc....)

At any rate, I am looking forward to Chamber of Secrets. . . perhaps I'll enjoy it more now that I know what I'm in for.

Overall, I think that the online platform would have worked MUCH better as some sort of MMORPG or video game. . . but I digress.

[shastastwin]

DiGs, I have to agree. When the site was first announced, I imagined something like what was done for the book Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi. When you reached certain points in the book, you could hold the page up to your webcam and the book's website would give you information and a map of the journey so far based on the illustration you showed it. While not necessarily requiring a webcam, I figured Pottermore would be more like that, giving the reader a LOT more background information.

That said, getting the wand and House information was cool, and the background info on McGonagall and Olivander, not to mention the wand woods, cores, and lengths/flexibility information has been great. I also enjoyed reading the Dursleys' love story. I hope that CoS releases soon, because otherwise I think the site might die. It's just not interesting enough for me to keep going back.

A couple of links for everyone:
House Letters for all four Houses
Alivan's Wandmakers

The first is a group on Facebook that has Notes which include the text of the welcome letters for each House. This is where we learn that Merlin was a Slytherin (o_O) and I will never see Merlin the same again. THe second link is to Alivan's. They are a wandmaker's shop, but they also sell House memorabilia. I have a Ravenclaw House pin from there, and it's very good quality. I have yet to order a wand because they are a bit pricey but their wands are made of actual wood and most of the wands sold at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando that I've seen have been made of resin ( ).

[ChristProclamer]

Well, I'm a bit late about here, but I too have joined Pottermore. I'm only up to chapter 8, and taking it slow through the story.

My username is BladeRose9945, of Ravenclaw. I was sure I'd be in Slytherin, but Ravenclaw was always sort of my hoped-for house. And I got it!

Wand: Maple and Dragon heartstring, 12 and a half inches, surprisingly swishy. Getting my wand and exploring Diagon Alley were much more fun than I had expected.

Has anyone been able to figure out what the wand length means exactly? It was vaguely alluded to in the wand wood note that the longer the wand, the bigger or better the personality, but it wasn't really concrete about that. 12 inches seems to be the average length. And also, what does it mean that a wand is swishy or unyielding? Does that demonstrate the wandbearer's level of stubbornness/strength?

All in all, the site isn't a HUGE bunch of fun, but it is entertaining enough for me. I love getting to 'see' and interact with places like Diagon Alley. And not only because of what I'm finding (though the shopping and the extra information are great). It's because of what I haven't seen--All those locked buildings in Diagon Alley are intriguing...I wonder what year we get to go into Knockturn Alley? I also wonder how the game will change when we get to Deathly Hallows. Will we, the 'students' keep going to school, or will we go camping with the Trio?

Off to brew me some potions...

[Princess Anna]

My username is BladeRose9945, of Ravenclaw. I was sure I'd be in Slytherin, but Ravenclaw was always sort of my hoped-for house. And I got it!

Hello there, housemate!
I sent you a friend request, hope that's alright. Anyway, I think taking it slow is smart. Lots of us rushed through and are kind of bored at times. Stretch it out as long as you can bear to, is my advice. But dueling and potions are fun.

As for wands, I couldn't say. But it seems you have some pretty good guesses. Don't know what else to say right now, but I guess I'll see you in the common room! If you like, I could pm you some tips too.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Welcome to Ravenclaw, ChristProclaimer! I'm sure you'll fit in well with all of us.

I agree with you that the Diagon Alley section was perhaps the most fun part of the Pottermore experience thus far!

[daughter of the King]

I finally caved and signed up. Username is OwlWillow3691.

No idea how much time I'll spend with it, but I'm being a good little communications student and keeping up with the online trends so I suppose I could call it educational.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Welcome aboard Dot! I've sent you a friend request!

[Gymfan15]

Question for you all.

How much time do you have to spend/how long does it take to get to the point in the game where you get sorted? I don't read HP; only have a working knowledge of the stories but I'm curious to see what House I'd get into if I were into that sort of thing. Plus I know next to nothing about HP stuff so I wouldn't be able to subconsciously rig the quiz. But anyway, if it takes too long to get to that point or too much energy/whatever, I'm not going to bother.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Gymmie, with a fast internet connection and a lackluster approach, you could probably make it to the sorting ceremony in a half hour or so . And the questions on the quiz have absolutely nothing to do with Harry Potter. Somebody without the slightest working knowledge could take it just fine.

[daughter of the King]

*is a Ravenclaw* When I first started I really had no idea other than I was pretty sure I wouldn't wind up in Gryffindor. Then, while shopping in Diagon Alley, I got annoyed when the only books available to be purchased were the textbooks. That seemed to be a pretty strong indication.

My wand is maple with a unicorn core, 10 3/4 inches, rigid.

Potions are hard, and I can't seem to get the hang of spells, but other than that I am enjoying the new information. There was no where near enough history on the Wizarding World in the books (I should have known I was a 'Claw when I was reading! Silly me).

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Yay! I'm glad that we can still be friends fellow Ravenclaw! *bows humbly and shakes hand* I hope to see you around the common room!

[daughter of the King]

Something struck me as rather odd when practicing potions the other day: whatever happened to "There will be no foolish wand-waving in this class"?