Pottermore Beta Review

I know I'm not the only Potterhead out there who was desperate for something Potter to cling to when the series ended, which is why Pottermore came just in time.

    What is Pottermore? It's a visual interactive guide to the books. You experience scenes with artwork and can zoom in and out of layers looking for clues and special content revealing facts and back stories JK Rowling didn't include in the books. It is very much like following Harry's footsteps as a separate student; you get your own wand and you get sorted and compete for your house while still experiencing things as Harry did. I guess it's kind of like being the invisible number four in the golden trio.
    Anyway back in July there was this contest that lasted for seven days. Every day at some ungodly time (if you weren't in the correct time zone) you had to solve a book based clue to find a magical quill. I was running out of time and not arriving at the right time to do this, and expressed my woe on Tumblr. Out of nowhere, a mysterious anon gave me information for a spare account. I still don't know who it was but I wish I could thank them again. A month later, I finally got my welcome email allowing me access. However, this was just as I'd arrived in Prescott, and so even though I'd waited a month I put it off for just a few more days (because friends and family are more important).
    Pottermore is lovely but lacking. Being the beta version it has many kinks and limitations. But the whole concept is so great you can't not enjoy it. I love love love the unlockable secrets, like how Vernon and Petunia met and married, how Professor McGonagall got to Hogwarts and the original forty names for all of the characters. There is no background music to any of the scenes yet (which would really pump up the magical feeling) and in some chapters there is little to nothing to do or collect. Each chapter only includes highlight scenes, so they go by fast. There are many locked locations taunting you; since only the first book is available to explore you can't access them.
    The very best parts are getting your wand and being sorted. You take two very specific quizzes designed by JK herself, and there are so many wand combinations each one really is unique. There is also a breakdown of the wand cores, length, and wood type; what they mean and how they apply to the owner.

Here's my wand. The core is unicorn hair. It generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. It is also the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. There are notes from Ollivander discussing lengths; longer wands aren't just drawn to taller wizards but to wizards with bigger personalities, so height doesn't really matter. There is a rather large list of wood types. "Dogwood wands are quirky and mischievous; they have playful natures and insist upon partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun. It would be quite wrong, however, to deduce from this that dogwood wands are not capable of serious magic when called upon to do so..."
I was really happy with this result, and shortly after I was in Hogwarts greeted by a video of JK basically saying "this is it!" I already had my heart set on a house and so the nerd in me was pretty much overjoyed when I landed in Ravenclaw.
When I first started reading it of course I wanted to be in Gryffindor, and of course I had all these notions about the houses and the kind of people in them. But after it was all said and done I felt like I would belong in Ravenclaw a whole lot more. They're quirky, thoughtful, clever etc and besides, JK herself thinks I belong there, too. Gryffindor is not just for the show offs and the brave, Slytherin is not just for the bad guys and Hufflepuff is not just for the losers who don't fit in to anything else. There's a lot more to each of them and I'm sure I could make a whole post about it but maybe later, that's not what this is about. 

Here is what your Gateway looks like. The color scheme is based on your house, and all of the little dangly things on top lead to different places, obviously. Here you can see where your friends are in the book and where you are on the path of the series. You have a profile, a page for your friends, a common room for your house, and you can also go to the Great Hall to check out who is ahead in house points.
Again, this is Beta, so there are many things you can't do yet, areas of the site being worked on, and kinks and glitches in the one of two activities to earn points: potion making. Good lord is this frustrating. I know a lot of people are having problems so I hope when it opens to the public in October that it improves. It was difficult to figure out at first but sometimes even when you know you did something right the whole cauldron will blow up in your face and you'll have to buy a new one (you start out with 500 galleons and can't get any more till the next book so this is bad). Potions have two steps and you generally have to literally wait more than an hour to complete the second step. What if you have to make a Polyjuice Potion? Shit takes over a month to brew in the book, just how accurate are we being here? This aspect needs a lot of adjustments.
    I have yet to experience wizard dueling yet because it's under construction, but I have been able to practice spells. Again, strange to figure out, but at least it gets easier once you do. It would be nice if I could experience this feature because I've just about run out of things to collect (which earns one house point) and I'm terrible at potions.
    I can't wait to see all the changes this site goes through. It's definitely off to a good start and people are taking earning house points really seriously. It seems Gryffindor and Hufflepuff got a little left behind, and now most of the competition is between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. I've been adding people I find via Tumblr, just for fun, and someone has already given me a gift! Potterheads are really nice, that's been a big lesson of mine, because if it weren't for a certain stranger I wouldn't be here in the first place.
   Things I think you should be able to do on Pottermore (but can't): 
   ΔName your owl, cat or toad and use them to send personal messages
   ΔLook for ingredients in the forest
   ΔEarn Galleons
   ΔPlay/support Quiddich
   ΔTake a quiz to enter the Room of Requirement to see what it would be for you
   ΔTake a quiz to discover what Amortentia would smell like to you
   ΔGo to Knockturn Alley
   ΔBecome an Animagus
   ΔPlay a game with Peeves
   ΔActually take the classes (maybe not necessarily daily, but weekly, with quizzes and interactions that decide whether or not you pass and earn points)