I feel like a really bad fan, but is there anyone else out there like me who hasn't actually accessed the site that much? Don't get me wrong, I love it. I thought the information was wonderful, I loved the quizzes and the illustrations are simply beautiful. But being a single mum with a toddler I don't have the time for potions or practising spells (or the patience) so now I'm really just hanging out until the release of CoS. I have been on again a couple of times just to check out the illustrations and have another read through the stuff.

However, I am worried about how the site will achieve it's objective of gaining new fanbases for the series. I imagine - now this of course is my opinion and I am sure many people will disagree - that the site will become boring for anyone other than diehard fans, and non-diehards who sign up come October will only have a quick browse and will have forgotten about it by the time the rest of the series is released.

I don't want people to take this post the wrong way and think I am disappointed in the site - because I am certainly not. I had figured from the start what the site would entail and knew that once I had got through the new information that I probably wouldn't spend hours on end there because the games don't interest me (which is clearly not the case with a lot of people :)) However, I am more wondering how successful the site will be with it's objective of reeling in new fans

Unless they add more to the site, specifically things to keep us busy between books, it is very likely that people are going to stick around. And after DH is released, what's to stop even a bunch of diehards from leaving. Long story short, they need more for us to do. I don't brew potions as often as I could but when I do I have to plan it out, because of the long brewing time. I would like to be able to do stuff on Pottermore without having to plan things in the real world around it (although Potions make a great short break from homework).

I completely agree, I feel exactly the same way. I was completely obsessed with it when I first got in, but once I got through the first book, I sort of lost interest. I don't really have time to log on and brew a potion for over an hour, so I haven't tried that part yet (also, if I end up planning my life around potion-brewing, all my friends will think me a total loser. Haha). And seeing as dueling is down, I haven't had a chance to try that either. So I'm fearful that once I get through all of the new material for the series, I'll no longer want to be involved as much in the website. And I consider myself a pretty die-hard fan, so I don't know how much interest the site is going to be able to maintain once they get through the series, unless they find other ways to keep everyone involved.

What if, at some point in undefined future when more books are added, we wish to re-live the whole experience? Will there be a "reset account" option, or will we be forced to delete the old and make a new one?

I do agree that there is little to do once you finish the book. I attempted potions frequently. They kept failing because of glitches... which I accepted due to this being beta testing. Now I do them when I feel like it. I do want to try dueling if they get it back. But, this won't be enough to bring me back indefinitely. They will probably bring the next books around faster than expected. Maybe these will add additional things to do. I think it is currently at a great starting point.

I don't think it's totally random, because there are consistently much fewer members of Slytherin than the other three houses. 500 more in Gryffindor, 900 more in Ravenclaw, and 1000 more in Hufflepuff. That's 2500 more (roughly) people distributed over the other 3 houses than Slytherin. If it were random, I'd expect less variation than that.

I'm really hoping they develop more activities, or put new stuff in the "moments" for you to find and collect -- right now all I'm doing is Potions (which I do love!), but the lengthy brewing times are a bit off-putting. Perhaps if duelling was up, but then I'm not much of a competitor that way, so I don't know if I'd bother with it. But yeah, they do need to amp it up some if they want people to keep coming after going through the chapters the first time.

SnapesUnderpants666? Really? :rotfl: :eeep:

There are portraits for Ginny, Percy, Draco, the Bloody Baron and Professors Flitwick and Quirrell in their respective character pages. They also show up on the overview, if you add them to your favorites.

There previously had been drawings for Dumbledore and Snape as well, but they've all be removed. No clue why.

If it were random, I'd be a Gryffindor, you'd be a Hufflepuff......etc.....

Start where the stir stick is, but use your mouse to follow the rim of the cauldron. The rim is a circle. Ignore the stick - it only goes backwards and forwards.

- leave your potion open on a tab while it brews, the chance of you losing it is smaller this way
- hold bottles by its neck (or top most part), this helps you control quantities and avoid spills
- make a physical book of potions and write down your recipes, this saves your time
- if the stirring isn't working, maybe you are stirring in the wrong direction (it happened to me)

Just make sure you use the on-screen counter for all the amounts required. Sometimes it is flakey about registering what you have done. Also, remember if you put too much in, or are running out of time...refresh. It will let you start over without blowing up a cauldron.

I remember when the HBP game for the Wii came out, and every time you would brew a new potion, they'd give you some sort of coaching beforehand on what the new techniques in this potion were and how to use them. Your ingredients and procedure were also to some degree labeled right in front of your eyes. I blew up a few potions from time to time, but that was usually because I wasn't fast enough or made some error, not because I had no clue what to do next. And when I did mess up, the game let me know and there was often some way to salvage it. You also had the Potions club in the greenhouse, where you could practice everything you'd brewed. I would like some of this to appear in the Pottermore potions section.

I especially think there really should be more practice potions available. I was only able to brew one potion for practice, so I was only able to figure out how to use and identify about four ingredients in the practice session (yes, there are pictures in the book, but they're tiny and it took actual looking to find them when I was under the time limit). The dried billywig stings, apart from having the most counter-intuitive name ever (how can something dry be liquid?) was a pain to effectively use. This wouldn't be such a problem if there'd been a way I could identify and use the ingredient without risking points each time I tried to use it. After a while, I could probably figure out a way, but it isn't worth -5 points for each attempt. I do know about reloading, but I think the game should be possible without resorting to that. Since there is one potion available for practice, I don't see why others can't be.

There's also apparently some force-field preventing you from passing anything in front of your cauldron. Clearly some meddling prankster with a thorough knowledge of warding spells is behind this, because air normally doesn't work that way. :rotfl:

I would very much like to be able to practice handling the ingredients before trying a potion for the first time. Those bottles are tricky and there are differences between them. And I would like to be able to have the book open while working to be able to identify ingredients, etc. It takes too much time switching back to the book.

Well I just spent practically my entire night brewing the Cure for Boils. I finally did it, only to receive 3 lousy house points. I still don't understand how some people are up to the thousands in points! Do they spend all day long endlessly brewing potions? Don't they run out of galleons after a while? Or is 400 galleons enough to brew hundreds of potions?

Also, does the type of cauldron you use make a difference? I bought a copper cauldron because it says it brews potions faster, but my potion still took 80 minutes to brew. Would it have taken longer on a pewter cauldron?

Cure for Boils is the only one I've managed so far. :lol: I use Pewter because I'm cheap, and it's still 80 minutes on that one. Interesting that it isn't faster on other cauldrons. Definitely going to keep my galleons, then.

Once upon a time - until a couple of days before I got into Pottermore - there was dueling. That's how people racked up all those points.

It takes shorter teams to heat the brass and copper cauldrons. It takes the same time to brew.

I wonder if it will be shorter brewing times with the more expensive cauldrons after the site opens in October. Definitely not worth the money now.

That's a possiblity. The Pottermore Insider said they'd be tweaking brewing times. So maybe the tweaks will come with the more expensive cauldrons.

But yeah... not worth the money now. Plus, I promptly blew up a copper cauldron on Cure for Boils because it heated too fast even on medium. :lol: I probably wouldn't blow it up now on that potion because I know a few more heating tricks, but I'm still a bit skittish over anything but my pewter cauldron at the moment.

I have had that frustration with sleeping draught, but I have also been able to complete it sometimes. For a while I thought I was in the dreaded potions loop, but maybe it was just because I was doing sleeping draught (or trying to) so much.

I used the document someone posted in the previous Pottermore that had all the potions on it, then split it up into a text doc for each potion. That way I can have the instructions available and not have to worry about Flash choking or something -- I just pull up my little text file.

It's also helpful because I can go over the instructions right before the time ends, so I know I need to immediately grab the horklump juice etc. etc.

Aaaaand I blew up another copper cauldron today. Herbicide Potion. I discovered that, even if you brew everything right, if you've been sloppy and spilled the Flobberworm Mucus and didn't pick it up, you're going to fail. So. Be neat!

What's the difference between the yellow button and the red button under the cauldron? I understand that the red button heats the cauldron up faster than the yellow one, but are there specific times to use each one?

I've used the yellow button to slow down the heating of the cauldron. By hitting it a lot, I find I can keep the temperature level, for at least a little while.

Interestingly, it depends on your machine. On my son's low-power netbook, the cauldron temperature can actually drop when using low heat. So while I use off and low heat to modulate the temperature, he has to use high and low heat to do the same.

This. When I use the orange heat, it makes the temperature drop, so generally I use red heat and off to control it. Only very occasionally will the orange heat increase my temperature.:shrug:

I also noticed it is very difficult to handle the bottles on the slower machines. They swing around and are generally out of control. On the faster machine they are not nearly as troublesome to work with.

Wow! This is really interesting... I use off and low heat as well because high heat is just too much. I only use that when I have to get the temp to the top range of the gauge and then I back off using off and low. Low heat always increases in temp for me, so I am always turning it off and on to keep the temp within range.

It is exactly the same way on my laptop. That is so interesting about the machine making a difference. I think it also makes a difference if you have other processes running in the background.

If you look at the Pottermetrics subthread (search for "Pottermetrics" in "Search this thread"), my most recent post there described a short series of trials in which creating extra Flash animation load caused the cauldron to slow down its rate of heating.

and tried it. I started sometimes purposely spilling a bottle so that I could control the heat easier. Then I read somewhere that someone blew a cauldron from spilling a bottle and not picking it up, so I stopped doing that. However, I don't know if that person was correct about what made their cauldron explode.

I accidentally dropped one of the Valerian sprigs on the counter one time when doing the Sleeping Draught, and it failed me. It told me I put the Valerian sprigs in the wrong container. So it does look like being messy can fail you. And that happened after I'd waited the 100 minutes. :grumble:

Regarding the heating, I've been able to get by fine with using the red button to heat up quickly, and then using the orange and off buttons to modulate the temperature.

Interesting. I dropped an entire bottle of mistletoe berries on the counter once after I'd gotten the proper measurement inside the cauldron, but I completed the potion and got the points. And when I say dropped, I mean, that the bottle was lying on its side while I finished the potion. :lol:

I was finishing up Herbicide and dropped the Flobberworm mucus. I was running out of time, so instead of picking it up and setting it upright, I waved my wand, and exploded the cauldron. So apparently Neatness Counts.

This seems to happen the most with the Sleeping Draught and lavender. I find that I have to wait a few seconds between dropping the lavender into the mortar and then wait again before I add the standard ingredient. I then have to grind the mixture well past the minimum line on the mortar or else it tells me I've added lavender to the wrong place :shrug:

Personally, I think they've miscalculated a bit when it comes to the average age of Pottermore users. There definitely has to be a way to conduct a proper conversation if adults are to be kept entertained - |your comment will appear soon" simply doesn't cut it. :lol:

Moderating input content is fine, but if it's taking too long there's no point in commenting (unless all they want is random "Wow! Pmore is SO cool!" quotes for the press releases :p) - and it WOULD save them the effort of making more interactive content to keep the clicks going.

Unlocking additional shops in Diagon Alley would help, too. If I enter the Apothecary once more, they'll roll out the red carpet for me. :grumble:

This is driving me mad. I have been trying to make the Sleeping Draught for the last few days and it NEVER works now!

I have just attempted one with the utmost care and precision. I made sure I ddin't spill ANYTHING, I waited a few seconds after adding each ingredient to make sure it registered even after the little number came up saying it had, I put every ingredient in the right place, I did everything PERFECTLY!
But still I get green fumes and "sorry, this potion was not brewed correctly because you put the standard_ingredient in the wrong container."
Give me strength! I did not! I made sure I did everything perfectly. :upset:

I feel like giving up with potions. Even when I do it right it's apparently wrong. And the brewing times are ridiculous, I don't have time to wait around for an hour and a half.

I have had the same problem as you with regard to Sleeping Draught and it saying I put something in the wrong container. I also had the problem of waiting 100 minutes only to be brought back to start over and never complete it. However, since the site came back up yesterday after being down a long time, I have made Sleeping Draught 2 times with no problems. I would recommend trying again now.

I'll have one more go in a minute, and i'll report back. However, something else has made me fume as well now. I had just finished waiting the 95 minutes for my herbicide, and when I did the second part I accidently added 3 of the mucus instead of two. I know, my fault this time, but it makes me mad that I get nothing for it. I just wasted 95 minutes for not even one point.
They should change it so that even though you get no points if you mess up on the first part of the potion, if you mess up the SECOND part you still get a point. If you get me.

Just tried Sleeping Draught again, and no luck. Did it perfectly, but apparently I put the lavender in the wrong container this time.

Guess I can't get those 11 points then. =[

If you make a mistake like adding too much mucus, just refresh the screen, and you can start it over without a penalty.;)

Just tried Sleeping Draught again, and no luck. Did it perfectly, but apparently I put the lavender in the wrong container this time.

Guess I can't get those 11 points then. =[

I totally agree that you should get at least a point for getting past the first stage properly. It is incredibly frustrating to waste so much time waiting only to fail in the end and not get anything at all. Especially when the time has run out because the site was down.

owl IronBellyDragon for a recommendation for this problem.

Thanks i'll try that.

I just did a Sleeping Draught again and it actually worked ... curious...

I just had it happen to me when working on the sleeping draught, that it told me I had put the lavender in the wrong container. I know I did not do that, but I think I accidentally bumped one of the sprigs against the cauldron before dropping it into the mortar. Maybe that made some of it go into the cauldron. I tried again making sure to lift all ingredients properly across the cauldron, and it worked fine.

I had the same issue with the same potion you had, tried it again, it told me to return in 95 or so minutes, and when I came back, it made me start over. I failed on purpose, to stay out of the potions loop. So I tried another potion, returned after 2 hours, and it wanted me to start over. I had to fail that one, as well. And I can brew 3 to 4 potions a day with no issues.

I was busy at the second part of the sleeping draught. Did everything as described, no glitch or whatsoever. Received the: congratulate page! Went back , only to see an owl telling me: sorry, sleeping draught failed to brew. You have not been awarded any housepoints. Come again? :hmm:

I brewed one incorrectly and it destroyed my cauldron. So, I got a new one and started over. Now, whenever I try to brew it gives me the standard wait 80 minutes...0% message...But then it doesn't take. The site takes me back to the Potions page and it's not brewing. I don't know why. It shows my cauldron available to use and when I went to it I was able to brew any potion ( and if my potion was brewing it should have shown up as 2% brewing or whatever and showed my cauldron in use). What's going on?

I`m in Diagon Alley, buying items of the shopping list. I followed the list, that anybody could see because all but the wand is crossed through. But if I look in my trunk, I have only 5 objects and exactly 5 books. My galleons budget is exactly as it should be after byuing all thats crossed out.
I waited a couple of days, nothing has changed. Anybody else with the same problem? I can`t continue because it says, I must buy everything of the list before I could buy something other.

Why does it not show up as brewing after I've completed the first phase? I've tried like 5 times now. So disappointed, Pottermore.

You will find your cauldron in the potions section later on. If everything on your list is crossed off, including the pet, there should be an arrow on the ground about half way down Diagon Alley pointing to the right. If you click on that, you get to the south side of DA, where you find Ollivanders.

Edit: Potions and spells are on the top of the screen, to the right of the Pottermore logo.

Yep! You're on track. :) Yep, Spells and Potions will be unlocked later. Also, all your cauldrons and ingredients are kept in the Potions sections too.