It’s true. After six extra months of Beta testing, Pottermore opened this morning!!! And the response time on the site is great – even in dueling. So it seems the wait was well worth it.
So….
Welcome to Pottermore, Newbies!
(I’ve been waiting to say that for a looooooong time!)
A few brief tips to get you started:
First, take a look at the info from the Pottermore Insider so that you know what to expect once you register. And now, on to exploring the site…
Pottermore consists of a series of “moments” from the various chapters in the first book (PS/SS) – including additional information about characters and contexts.
Within the moments, you can collect items for your trunk and a few items that you’ll need in order to move on. But unless you do need to collect something in order to move on (such as your shopping list for Diagon Alley), it’s best to wait to collect items until after you’ve been sorted. (You get sorted, naturally, in the Sorting Hat chapter).
The reason to wait is that you get personal points and can contribute to House points only after you’ve been sorted, and you can always go back into previous scenes and collect items.
Items that can be collected or clicked on will have a little purple outline around them (just move your cursor around the screen to find them). You also have three levels of zoom that you can achieve by using the forward and back arrows on your keyboard. Items will usually be found at only one level of zoom. So you want to explore each scene from all three levels of zoom.
Another thing you’ll want to do is look in your left “Read About” sidebar to see if any content is highlighted by a feather… and then read all of the content that is. This is the new, exclusive JKR content! I’ll be back later with a list of some of my favorite exclusive content.
Most of the non-exclusive content can be skipped after you have read it over for the first time – particularly the content for minor characters. Most of this content repeats over and over again and doesn’t tell you anything you don’t already know if you have read the books. (How many times do you really need to click on Vincent Crabbe or Gregory Goyle?).
Here’s the post for my first look. At the time, Pottermore was silent. Thanks to many, many Beta comments, Pottermore does now have sound. :)
Well, that’s probably enough to get you started. Have fun exploring Pottermore!
And now… Let us know your Wand and your House!
Use the Comments thread below to let us know your House, your Wand, and (if you wish) your username and registration date. This way, Beta testers can meet newbies and newbies can meet Beta testers.
I’ll have more tips later and some analysis of exclusive Pottermore content. But for now, let’s just get those Comments started. I’ll go first. :)
Expecto Patronum! 
My wand is Maple with Unicorn Tail Hair core, 10 3/4 inches and slightly springy.
My House is Slytherin. I’m ambitious, but not cut-throat. I’m more interested in achieving greatness than in winning at any cost. And “Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness.”
I registered on July 31, 2011 – which puts me in the first day’s group of Beta testers to find the Magic Quill. I entered Pottermore a couple of weeks after the Beta test began.
I got a fir, phoenix core, 11 3/4, reasonably supple wand and also managed to have an interesting sorting. My Q’s were
1. What you like to be known as in history – wise, good, great, bold? – Great
2. Which instrument do you prefer – violin, piano, trumpet, drum? – Trumpet
3. Which would you rather be – envied, imitated, liked, trusted, feared, praised? – Trusted
4. Which would rather study – centaurs, goblins, merpeople, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, trolls? – Merpeople
5. While walking alone late at night you hear a peculiar cry which you can tell has a magical source. What would you do – approach with caution with one hand on your concealed wand, draw your wand and explore the area for the source, draw your wand and stand your ground, withdraw into the shadows and mentally review defensive spells? – draw your wand and stand your ground
6. Choose one – dawn, dusk. – Dusk
7. heads or tails – Heads
8. Which house would you rather be in – Hufflepuff or Slytherin – Slytherin.
Woot! I did the unthinkable. I confused the sorting hat into letting me choose my own house!!! Woot again!!!
so says BronzeStorm22302 *grins* see you in the common room!
Wow… and I can totally see the Hufflepuff and the Slytherin in those answers!
Congratulations on choosing wisely. :) And welcome to Slytherin!!!
I signed up to pottermore this moning and i’ve been waiting for my welcome email, any idea how long that could take?? Oh and love the article!! Im so excited for pottermore!!!
Hi there! I’m glad you love the article!
I don’t know how long exactly it will take, but I’d say it’s best just to be patient about the welcome email. On the first day of the Magic Quill contest (how we got into Beta), a lot of us waited the better part of a day for our letter. Today is a bit like that day, in that they are again dealing with very high volume. The volume problem is not only on their end (sending confirmations out) but also on the incoming mail servers’ end. They don’t want to overload Yahoo and Gmail and all the other services out there – which is what happened on the first day of the Magic Quill last July.
So basically, what they are promising is that they are working hard to process the welcomes but they are balancing that against how much volume the mail servers can handle and how much load the site can handle. They don’t want to increase the number of users too drastically all at once. So far, that approach has been working because the site has performed very well today.
Anyway, there are about 50,000 new people inside the Great Hall since this morning. That means that 50,000 new people have gotten in, bought their wand in Diagon Alley (Chapter 5), and gone through the Sorting Hat (Chapter 7). If 50,000 people have gotten into the Great Hall, then probably at least 75,000-100,000 confirmations have gone out. I’m not sure exactly what volume of registrations Pottermore is dealing with, but they say it is very high.
I hope this helps. Also, if you don’t get your welcome within 24 hours, check your spam filters. :)
BTW, this may sound like a super-dry analysis, but I’m super-excited too – just waiting for my husband’s welcome email!!! He registered this afternoon, and I can hardly wait for him to get in and get his wand and get sorted!
Hey, I’m RainWave, and just got sorted into Hufflepuff!! I’m over the moon!
My wand is Acacia, Dragon core, 13 inches, Brittle.
I registered on the 14th April, and got in on the 15th. (My email took 12 hours to come and came at Midnight GMT)
Congratulations! Glad you got in and are happy with your sorting!!! My husband’s email came about 10-12 hours after he registered, but he is waiting to enter Pottermore until after lunch today.
Enjoy Pottermore!
I am HowlJinx174, I registered on the 4th day of the Magical Quill challenge! I am very excited for all those how have now been admitted, so much fun!
My wand is Acacia, Phoenix Feather Core and 11 inches, quite flexible and I am a Hufflepuff!
Hi Crystal! It’s great to see Pottermore open to the public, isn’t it?