Pottermore: First Impressions
I told myself when my Pottermore owl arrived that I wouldn’t have time to explore the site until Sunday at the earliest. After weeks of waiting, my welcome letter chose the most inopportune time to show up. Pottermore would have to wait.
Of course, it didn’t work out that way, curiosity got the better of me, and I ended up on Pottermore yesterday. So much for that!
What do I think of the site so far? What are my first impressions of this highly anticipated venture? Here are a few things that immediately struck me:
1. Pottermore: Explore in Silence
I don’t know what I expected when I first signed on, but I’m positive it involved some kind of sound. The imagery is beautiful and there really should be something audible to go with it. Let’s hear the crickets chirping and owls hooting in the late night hours on Privet Drive. Gives us a chance to experience the noises of Diagon Alley. If they change anything from the beta phase to the public launch, I hope they add sound.
2. Pottermore: Just Click Everywhere
J.K. Rowling’s site has spoiled me. I’ve come to assume there are easter eggs hidden everywhere on Pottermore, even though the items you are meant to click are very easy to find. There’s no need to click every surface on the screen. There’s no point in double and triple checking to see if you missed something. If I had known that sooner, I would have saved my poor laptop some aggressive clicking.
3. Pottermore: Have the Book Handy
For some reason, I thought you were going to be able to read each book online in its entirety. While that would be exciting, it’s probably far too much to assume any publisher would freely post full manuscripts online. Instead, we are greeted with “just the basics”, assuming anyone exploring the site has already devoured the books years ago.
4. Pottermore: Nicknames Abound
I’ve taken on the daunting task of nicknaming all my “friends” who I recognize from this blog so I can keep everyone straight. This is proving way more complicated than I originally thought and it makes me a little itty teensy weensy bit annoyed with the lengths at which Pottermore is child protected. I completely understand the reasons behind the wizard names, the profile security, etc., but it sure does make it difficult to sort things.
5. Pottermore: I Want a Profile Picture, Too!
Of all the things to confuse me about Pottermore, I was befuddled by the fact that everyone else seemed to have a profile picture and I was left with the Pottermore logo. I spent way too much time on my profile trying to fix this. There had to be something I was missing! What was I doing wrong? This is a site for children; it really shouldn’t be confusing me this much. Eventually, I gave up, which is good since your profile picture is based on the pet you purchase at Diagon Alley. Since I didn’t have a pet yet – I wasn’t even a wizard yet – I was clicking around my profile in vain. Epic Pottermore fail.
6. Pottermore: Shop Till You Drop
I have no idea if the other Diagon Alley shops open during this book or if we have to wait until each shop is introduced throughout the series, but I am thrilled by the prospect of playing Supermarket Sweep down Diagon Alley. However, I’m aware of my tenuous financial situation in the wizarding world and curious how one earns additional galleons if one was to, for instance, buy everything in site. Right now, I only have the basics required for my first year at Hogwarts, but I have my eye on a few upgrades. I may end up blowing my fortune before my second year!
7. Pottermore: Let Me Read My School Books
If you’re traipsing around Pottermore, you probably enjoy reading. I know I do. So I was pretty disappointed when I realized you can’t actually read the school books you buy for Hogwarts. I’m not expecting J.K. to produce dozens of text books to entertain Pottermore fans, but a few pages here and there would be nice. I’d also like to be able to look at my Chocolate Frog Cards a little closer. If this is possible, I haven’t figured it out yet.
8. Pottermore: A Little More Interactivity Required
Maybe I’m asking Pottermore to be too much like a computer game, but it would be excellent if instead of randomly learning about characters as we progress through chapters, we could click on them in the scene and learn about them through conversation. Otherwise, I’m not really compelled to read the information I could find in the books.
9. Pottermore: I’m Becoming a Hoarder
What do I do with all this stuff in my trunk? I’m assuming a lot of this will come into play when I’m making potions, but there’s no way all of this will end up in a cauldron. My hope is that these items (the Prefect’s badge, the Hogwarts Express postcard) are necessary for other books. They could really complicate things by making them a requirement to advance through later chapters. Fail to collect something in Book 1? Sorry, you can’t make it through Book 4. This makes gifting your belongings a lot riskier, no? I don’t know about you, but I refuse to part with anything just yet.
10. Pottermore: Wildly Addicting
It’s an easy site to maneuver (once you realize you don’t have to click everything in site) and you are immediately rewarded for your efforts with beautiful pictures, new info, and thoughts from the author herself. For this reason, Pottermore is incredibly, ridiculously, shamelessly addicting. Even though I can’t imagine there’s much to do when you’re done exploring besides make potions, duel, and try to win the House Cup, I can see how this site can grow with each book into its own little online world.
At this point, I’ve shopped at Diagon Alley, purchased my pet, received my wand, and I’m just about to enter the Sorting. This is what I’ve been looking forward to, so I don’t want to rush it. Why wait so eagerly to get on the site if you’re going to fly through it in two days? There will be plenty to discuss leading up to the Sorting (I’m particularly interested in how my wand might indicate my ultimate Sorting fate) and I would like to continue with the re-read (Chapter 4 is just itching for some blog time). So stay tuned for all of that.
And let me know: What are your first impressions of Pottermore?
I’m so glad you’re finally on, Jess! And your comments directly reflect my own thoughts. I’ve heard so many people complaining about the lack of noise, I can’t imagine they won’t at least add that feature.
As to all the items in the trunk, I’m still pondering what we’ll do with them. I’m hoping that’s a feature to come as well.
If you want to have a cheat sheet for where to find all the free galleons lying about, I’ve got one on the Wiki. I’ll Tweet a link.
Also, I’m trying to collect all the Sorting Hat questions for the Wiki, if you have time (and now worries if you don’t) could you save your questions when you go through? Thanks!
Susan, if you’d like my sorting questions, I posted them here: http://expatronum.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/pottermore-a-first-look-around/#comment-1315
Ooops! Sorry… I just realized that I was rather vague in some of those. I can write them out for you in more detail if you’d like.
No, what you have is wonderful! And thanks for the link. I always summarize for the Wiki anyhow as I don’t want to infringe on JKR’s copyright. So thanks!
Good luck on your sorting, Jess. By the way, which wand did you get?
Having finally experienced the site myself, I agree with all of your points Jess. The best parts for me were finally getting a wand, being sorted, and finding out all of this new information.
I am especially happy to know I am not crazy; I am a Ravenclaw. (Although maybe I am a bit bonkers.)
Amazing stuff! I am not a young child but a very oldie child and I find this all fascinating! My owl hasn’t paid me a visit yet, but I am taking in all that you write about so I can learn how to get around this exciting adventure. You are all so amazing.
My first thoughts are quite a bit like yours. I’m also finding the whole friending and nicknaming process cumbersome. I sometimes can’t tell whether friend requests are coming randomly from House mates, whether they’re coming from my blog, whether they’re coming from my forum, or whether they’re just coming. I really wish there were more interactivity for adults because I’d just like to be able to ask: “Who are you?”
And you’re spot on about the sound.
As for clicking on everything in sight… don’t speak too soon! There are some items that do not show up on a first visit to a moment, and you actually have to go back for them if you want to get them. After you get sorted, you’ll probably want to get them.
I’ve also got a cheat sheet for something you’ll need after you’ve passed McGonnagall’s chess set.
Of course, it wasn’t a cheat sheet back when I wrote it, but that is how people are using it now. LOL.
Have fun! I’m looking forward to seeing the results for your sorting.
Hello,
The background color of a person’s avatar indicates their House. So we can kinda filter out random requests from other houses.
*puts on Slytherin airs*
I know I’m not friend-ing those Gryffindor show-offs.
I have been playing the relevant Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone soundtrack with each chapter from youtube.Made the whole experience that much better!
Jess, I’m excited for you! By the way, the things you collect for your trunk and for potions ingredients will regenerate when they are no longer in your trunk… i.e. when you give them to someone else or use them in a potion. You can go back to that “moment” where you originally collected it and it will be back. Makes the prospect of giving gifts more appealing, and also helps with the affordability of potion making and makes errors more affordable (especially the bezoar at 10 galleons a pop).
What pet did you purchase? Can you get Crookshanks or Scabbers or just normal mice, toads, etc?
Hey! Idea! You can’t get Nagini can you???
Actually, I hoped for slightly different House storylines, or more exploration/adventures/interactivity in the different/new characters/houses department. I certainly didn’t expect the chapter-by-chapter blow-by-blow account of the books, although maybe I should’ve. I pretty much ignored all the old material and went straight to the new stuff but there wasn’t as much as I thought. It would have been nice to have illustrations/interactivity of ALL the house common rooms, for example.
The quality of the visual are wonderful though and made up for everything. XD
I LOVE Pottermore, but some things are very well hidden – the only way I found them was by clicking everywhere. Like in the first chapter, I couldn’t find the thing to unlock the measurements. This is a great site that tells you what you are supposed to find, and where you can find them:
http://pottermore-guide.tumblr.com/post/9536620234
Isn’t it amazing that there aren’t any word games that we can play to earn points? My husband said they should have a crossword a week. The books have a million unusual words in them – should be easy. Whose idea was it, I wonder, to make “dueling” a way to earn points? Most of my friends are in their 40s or 50s, or they are busy students or teachers. I’m not going to put them on the spot by challenging them to a duel? What happened to the canon idea of “defense” only? And I so agree with you that there should be more Easter Eggs, or coins should reappear. Otherwise we are all broke until the next episode sometime next year. Ouch. We need some sweet moolah.
Oh, and I spent an hour yesterday nicknaming all my friends too. I’m keeping a list in MS-Word, too, and there are lists on several forums. But there are a few people who keep friending me from countries where I don’t know anyone. So the staff on Pottermore need to check on that because clearly some people are just trolling for friends.
Add me NimbusChestnut13
Loved this post!! I got in on day 5 and still haven’t gotten my email but hopefully it comes soon!!
Some things I like about Pottermore so far:
1. The images from each chapter.
2. The additional information from JKR about various people, places, etc.
3. Some faithful representations of concepts from the book in the website, like spells, potions, sorting, dueling, etc. I was particularly impressed with the accuracy and attention to detail from the puzzle in Chapter 16.
Some things I’d like improved (you mentioned some of these):
1. Sound would make the experience more realistic.
2. Being able to search, by name, a character/place/object/etc. As it is, you have to either “favourite” a character when you get to it, or navigate to a chapter that it’s in, in order to read the information about a character.
3. Being able to read a little content from books or chocolate frog cards.
I agree, I’d love a better way to find content and to be able to read the info on the cards in and something from the books.
-I completely agree about the music.
-I think my favorite part was Ollivanders – excellent questions and attention to detail with the descriptions of wand woods, cores, etc.
-However, I do have one question for folks who are already on:
I’m having a lot of trouble with the potions page – it alternates between being way too sensitive to my mouse (things go crazy when I pick them up, it picks up something next to where I’m clicking), or not sensitive enough (not recognizing that I’m trying desperately to pick up my wand with 10 seconds left…). I’m wondering if its just that I’m using a trackpad, and maybe it’s easier with a mouse? I don’t usually have this problem with other flash-based games. Thoughts?
By the way, I think I forgot to post on Jess’s earlier thread about names, I’m bludgerwillow86. Feel free to add me!
The potions page has a lot of bugs. The best thing to do is click BETA feedback and then disagree on “This page loads and works well on my screen”. That lets the developers know there another issue on the page.
Your problem is not one of the worst. Some potions simply disappear, while others have been known to fail despite people following the exact instructions on the page. Hopefully all issues will be solved soon. It has been slowly improving though, which is good news.
Probably the weakest part is waiting 80 minutes for the potions to brew. On a site for children?
The designers on the Pottermore Insider said they are going to adjust this for the release in October. They’ve gotten the message – no one has that kind of time to sit and stare at a screen. This isn’t Farmville
Thank God they plan to fix the brewing time!
The feedback system is kinda iffy though. I want to suggest that they indicate how much of a certain item — nevermind, some user interface suggestion and all I can do is click agree/disagree on their feedback form.
I’m seeing a lot of UX issues with the site and I really want to help but the feedback system… isn’t helpful at all.
I figured the logic here was to stop people just sitting and brewing 20 potions an hour (thus having a handful of especially keen potioneers dramatically affecting House Cup points).
It seems that duelling, when it existed, was a great way to rack up masses of points. Just look at those people on the leaderboard with thousands of points. o_O
I agree with your list, and a lot of my first impressions mirror yours. I don’t think there’s any way to read what’s on the chocolate frog cards, which is sad because I’d leave to read the little info we get when we find the card. I’m hoping they add sound too, the lack of it was slightly disappointing.
I agree with what you’ve said. I’m loving it so far. Anytime character background has been revealed (I’m not sure how far you are yet), I just eat it up. I do wish there were sound, and I’d like to read more, but hopefully that will come later, as things are fixed, etc.
Getting a wand (HORNBEAM WITH PHOENIX FEATHER CORE, TWELVE AND THREE QUARTER INCHES, PLIANT) was so much fun. I read the description for it, and it seems to fit me remarkably well. I love it!
Sorting was traumatic. I hadn’t really realized how much I had been looking forward to it until I got there. JK Rowling’s little video before it didn’t calm me down either. I got sorted into Slytherin, which shocked me endlessly. I nearly hyperventilated, but I am now happy to be a serpent.
So far the only things that make me really upset is how often the site is down, and I’d like dueling to be up soon. However, I know this is just part of working out the kinks. I’m just not a patient person.
1) I missed sound most especially in the “Hut on the Rock” sequence. Some thunder, surf noise, and howling wind would have been epic.
2) Black walnut, unicorn hair core, 10 inches, hard. I liked the description as well.
3) I nearly blew a gasket when I was sorted into Ravenclaw. Was CERTAIN I’d be Hufflepuff, or at least Gryffindor. But NOOOOoooohhh. I’ll probably get over it, though.
4) The site can’t seem to be operating during better than a 2-hour window, late at night (presumably after our friends across the pond have logged off and gone to bed
). I am sure they anticipated loads of hits on the site; I’m acutely aware this is the beta-testing of it; I remain slightly disappointed at the work I have to put in just to get on the site. *Sigh* With any luck, it’ll be better by next weekend.
I was extremely anxious as well before I was sorted, it was weird, almost cried when I was sorted into Gryffindor. Shocked was the after effect!
Regarding the site being down so much – I think it’s the recent influx of members that has caused that. It was fine for the first 2 weeks of my HP journey.
[also, Snakes Rule]
This is all very interesting to me, but I don’t think I am being “spoiled.”
My owl came to visit this morning & I opened the envelope after returning from shopping, I was totally immobilized when I read “Pottermore.” It was a big let down when I couldn’t enter due to construction. At least I’m almost through the door!
Do you have any hints for mastering Potions? I am only practicing to make Boil remedy and I keep running out of time. If this was my kitchen I would rearrange the utensils and the herbs. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!!
I hate to say it, but the potions mini-game in the Half-Blood Price videogame is far more fun and rewarding than potions in Pottermore. I went through the entire process of brewing the Antidote to Common Poisons only to learn I added the wrong amount of Mistletoe Berries. The potion was brewed wrong and I recieved no points for all my efforts.
I am totally addicted to Pottermore. BUT It is hugely frustrating doing the Potions – I am a failure at two attempts and lost House points. It’s almost easier to forgetaboutit and not do it, but that seems like, well, being a quitter!! I don’t know the game you are talking about but seriously, I don’t need more Potter stuff in my life right now, not that I don’t want it……..
I agree about the whole quitter thing; it is very likely I will try again at potions. Not right now however. As for the game I mentioned, I know you have no real interest in it, but I’ll share the information anyway. (Maybe it’s my inner Ravenclaw that insists upon it.)
The game was “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” as produced by EA games for videogame consoles and PCs. The potion section forced the player to add ingredients (sometimes after the items were shook), stir the mixture, and heat the cauldron all of which was done without a waiting period. At the end, you were awarded a score based on how well you performed the steps and not simply if you performed the tasks exactly as listed (assuming you remembered them). Additionally, if you messed up anywhere in the process, there was still a possibility of saving the potion before time ran out. It is a very enjoyable game (even if Order of the Phoenix was slightly better). Here is a link:
http://www.ea.com/harry-potter-half-blood-prince
I am curious to see how dueling goes and if I’m any better at that than I am in potions. Ultimately, I want to win more points for Ravenclaw instead of just sitting around, re-reading material, and finding friends.
Thanks for the reply. I’ll check out your link tomorrow & will let you know. Have you commented on Pottermore comparing the two ways of doing potions, the game vs Pottermore? would be good suggestion, IMO!
Good luck on the dueling, I’m afraid my reflexes are not as quick as I know most on the Pottermore so I’m really shaking but I’ll try!
I’m embarrassed to look at some of the scores in Gryffindor and see my puny number. So, I know what you’re talking about – oh, did you find a good system for “naming” friends?
The video with the best example for potions in that link I gave you should be the “making of” video. Half-Blood Prince definitely had the best mini-games in the series, but was not quite as good as Order of the Phoenix which had the best interactions and explorability. Ironically, each videogame by EA has its own little eccentricities; some which are good and others aren’t.
I did send a suggestion to Pottermore, but it was mostly about while I understood Snape was potions master I felt I should receive partial credit for my potion considering I had only one small mistake. I briefly mentioned that they should refer to EA’s Half-Blood Prince videogame for ideas on potion making, and then I ran out of space for my 500 characters maximum. I may send another suggestion, but this one I’ll try to be more specific and constructive. I should also tell them what I did like about potions.
I have come up with a method of naming the people I know on Pottermore and I have ideas for others I’m not friends with yet.
1. First Name + where I know them: our resident blogger I have as Jess LastMuggle
2. Matching First names have last intial: if I knew two people from my Ravenclaw group on facebook (John Smith and John Doe). They would becom John S RFB and John D RFB.
3. First Name incorporated in location title: if I were te befriend Mark from Mark Reads Harry Potter. His name would be Mark Reads
4. Identifying name + where I know them: if I know their user name, but not their real name it would be something like NoxRosie LastMuggle or Nox Rosie LM depending on if it would fit.
It would help if I actually logged in before I click “Post Comment.” You may use my method or any variation if you would like.
I vaguely looked at the game last night, will get more into in this morning. I’m not a gamer but thought it would be interesting to try the HP games you mentioned. Our grandson gave us a Wii and our granddaughter lives with us – she’s 10. She’s not on Pottermore but enjoys sharing with me, maybe she’ll be interested in joining in Oct. to join. She’ll play the HP games with me. I chuckled when you mentioned I might not check it out.
I was somewhat disappointed with Pottermore in general. The “graphics” were fabulous and interesting but need more interaction and some rooms were beautiful but boring. I can only imagine how most “pros” would find it very lacking. I felt some of the autobigraphical comments about several individual at each scene became redundant & waste of time. I realized they were showing who appeared in that scene but I did expect to read something new, and felt they should add something additional.
I was “moderated” twice for comments too. I was shocked!! I re-read the rules of the site but couldn’t figure out what I said! I do read comments for ideas. I understand they are moderating for any abuse, So short of saying great or cute, I’m keeping comments short.
While waiting for Book Two, I’ll practice the free practice curing boils again, I had to buy a new cauldron.
Thanks for sharing your process of nicknaming your friends. You’ve got quite a list!!! Appreciate all the suggestions. Does seem a slight let down now that’s I’ve finished and we have to wait for the next book. Hoping the real world of Pottermore will be more interactive.
[...] dark in my opinion, which makes it hard to find things or even to know what’s going on. In a Pottermore review on another nerdy blog, the author mentioned that Pottermore was quiet in the beta testing period. It is still in beta, [...]