Monday, September 5, 2011

Pottermore "Beta", Review

Today i got my email, that my account in Pottermore is now live for testing the new site. Totally got me excited and immediately get in to play. Here is a small review of the Beta site for those who didn't get access earlier and wondering what's is like.

(CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR HQ)
Harry Potter and Pottermore Publishing Rights © J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved

Small Overview: You follow each Harry Potter book chapter with 3-4 photos. In each photo you can read the most important parts of the books, additional info (new or old) on characters,places and objects and search into the image and collect things for your later journey. At the Diagon Aley you get money to spent on your new things and also getting a wand and then you are off to Hogwarts. In Hogwarts you can still follow the book stories and collect stuff but you can also start actually playing by attending classes, taking parts in duels with other people on Pottermore,etc out of the main story.

Harry learns he is a wizard

Diagon Aley!

My getaway where i see the progress of me and my friends in the books.

How my profile look. You can also see my wand up there and what i've done so far.


Things i like:
> The graphics are amazing. The fit and load perfectly at my computer and they are beautiful. For an online game-community so big as Pottermore and big they actually tried really hard to make it look good, except all the other things inside.
> Loved both the tests for the wand and which house i belong. The questions are so random, that there is no way you can find which answer get you where or make a connections between them and the houses. So you just have to answer the true and hope. You can not retake any of those tests. - I got into Ravenclaw
> The additional new stuff from Rowling are plain awesome! I don't really read the rest story since already know it, but the new stuff is a must. McGonagall's full back story is my favorite so far.
> The lessons are fantastic. I have only attend Potions and Spells so far. Potions were hard. I failed 4 times until i get it right! I was always doing something wrong with either the temperature or the time. Spells are easy for those who are used to write without watching their keyboard and have good synchronization. I like them!

Here is one of my fail attempts to make a potion! BOOM!

> The welcome message in Ravenclaw was so funny. I was giggling so much! Not gonna tell you what it says but it's not just the story of Ravenclaw but also some personal comments of our ghost.

What i didn't like
> There is no music or any kind of sounds during the whole thing.
> You can not PM or either chat in any way with your friends. You can leave comments at your house's common room, but they get posted either late or they need moderation. Plus it's not easy to find what you want with so many people talking.
> We all have the same avatars and can't choose our own.
> People totally unaware of games might have a problem getting use to the gameplay or how to navigate.
> If you live the page open long without doing nothing, you need to login again. Annoying!
> I want more things to buy! :P

So far so good. Can't remember something else right now and i haven't even finish the first book. My potion needed one hour to brew and i was afraid i would mess up! Also currently Slytherin is winning in points, but Ravenclaw is 2nd and close!!!

Total Points so far! We will get you Slytherin!


If anyone want to be friend with me, you can either add me ( PatronusDragon62 ) or leave your username in the comments here, twitter, facebook, etc ;) Hope i see more of you joining!

15 comments:

  1. Ravenclaw ftw!!! what you didnt like will probably be fixed when it is released. Remembers it a beta

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  2. Sounds great :) I still haven't received my email :(

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  3. I still haven't received my second letter, so it's really nice to be able to see these pictures even though it teases me even more... I identify myself as a Hufflepuff, so I REALLY hope that I get into Hufflepuff. I'll be so sad if I don't, though Ravenclaw is a great second option!!!! :)

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  4. Click the button that says stay signed in and you only have to sign in once a day. Also, you might want to take down the screen shots, Pottermore is getting really upset with people posting screen shots and they keep pointing to their terms of use where it says not to.
    Not trying to be rude, just trying to be helpful. A friend on mine posted some on his site and another friend told him that I didn't know till a few weeks ago.

    And I am SO glad my house is in first now Finally!

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  5. @Moirae: i did that but didn't last...which is weird :/
    Really? you think you can give me a link on those terms? And thanks a lot for ur info!

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  7. @Yiota: noooooooo don't trust Moirae, she is slytherin, it might be a trap XD

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  8. Yey for Ravenclaw! I haven't got my e-mail yet but I can't wait! I definitely want to get into Ravenclaw or Slytherin, really don't want Gryffindor or Hufflepuff... :(

    ComaCalm's Corner

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  9. So cool! Thank you for posting all this info. I'm really excited to try it out now.

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  10. I am really excited to be able to try this site out. Also of all the blogs I follow you are the only one who as posted any insider info about this, so thanks! I need October to be here so I can register!

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  11. Ah, this is SO great! I haven't seen a review of it yet and I thought there'd be loads up.

    *gets even more excited*

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  12. I definitely agree about the no music/sounds part! What is up with that? I think it would add such a layer to the site.

    What did you think of the Beta Feedback button? I don't like that there isn't space for written comments.

    I added you! We Ravenclaws have to stick together! (my username is SilverFang21)

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  13. Don't forget that it is a broser based game, music would make it much slower, so I guess they want to stabilize the game first and then try adding music. It is too early in the beta for them to make so heavy additions.

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  14. @Silvestro: lmao!

    @Eli: The feedback annoyed me. I wanted to write comments on some pages and i couldn't. I did write some at the end of some chapters but i can't say the questionnare was that helpful. And i added you ;)

    @Silvestro: i don't think it's easy. In less than 30 days the site will be officially open. And right now, they are giving access to new people every day.

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  15. @Yiota: yes in the final stage of beta testing phase there is a period called "stress testing period" in which they give access to many players and possibly they make some virtual players of their own just to test if the system can support that many users, and adding music is very easy in the aspect of codding, the only difficulty is the game speed and server load, but if they do it client sided they can avoid that.

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There is lot of spam lately at the posts, so for a while i will put up the comment moderation. Sorry for that, i really don't like it but i thought it might stop the spamming. It will be down soon enough! Thanks a lot :)