Hogwarts Live Blog

Welcome back HogwartsLive, I am deeply sorry that it took me all weekend to get it working again after the last crash, but I actually was not aware it had broken again until Sunday as I was away from my computer friday night and all of Saturday.

Suffusive to say there was another database crash and the backups would not restore cleanly, the backup files had a number of glitches in them and I had to restore it through a series of trial and error. I would attempt to restore, be told there was a problem on a particular line, then open up the backup file in an editor, fix the error on the line, save it, and try to restore it again. I then had to repeat this cycle over and over again until the database would cleanly restore.

I'm sorry again for the outage. I've also manually reinstalled the database engine in hopes that it will make the database server more stable as we've had 2 major crashes and a number of minor ones in the course of a week and a half.

There was a massive data crash through the weekend and into yesterday that significantly damaged the module user preferences table of the database, the problem goes back for weeks actually and the only way to safely get the lost data back is to backtrack the entire site back 2 weeks.

The table contained ancillary statistics such as alignment, pets (including phoenixes), horcruxes, and some simple stats and does not directly effect your VEs, levels, attack, defense, hitpoints, clans, dwellings, marriages, gold, or gems.

On a side note the table had become quite littered over the years and was the primary reason the site has been running as slow as it is, it was the primary reason that we were planning a data reset, in order to clean that messed up table once and for all and build anew.

As the loss of this data has resulted in a rather significant increase in server speed, AND does not hurt the core stats of any of our users, AND because recovering the data would require hurting the core stats of our users, we are not going to be recovering any this data. We apologize to those of you who were extra proud of those particular stats (particularly those of you who had managed to become either very good or very evil), but we are confident that it is in the best interest of the game and you to keep the game running fast so you can earn those stats back up again.

I have some changes I'll be adding to the live chat system in the next couple of weeks that should also add a significant speed increase to the site as a whole, so I hope to keep things running fast and smooth.

Again we are sorry for the inconvenience at the loss of the data, but we are committed to giving you a fast, enjoyable game.

Please do not ask any of the staff to restore any particular stat for you, they aren't hard to get back, and the journey is half the fun after all.

EDIT: Hp IS affected. It is reset after you ve. As of right now, there is nothing that can be done so you will have to buy it again from Cedrik in the Hogs Head Inn in Hogsmeade. Also affected are Squires (Knights/Warlords), Friends Lists, Player Kills and PvP options. As of right now, you do not have the option to turn PvP off so be sure to deposit your gold somewhere before you log out..or I will kill you and take it, haha. I have 26,000 PKs to get back :P

EDIT: There has been a change concerning hitpoints. Starting now, ANY extra permanent hp that you buy from Cedrik will be taken away after EVERY ve. If you choose to buy extra hp, it will stay with you until you reach level 15 and defeat Voldy, BUT as soon as you get to the New Day Page, it will be GONE. This is a permanent adjustment and will happen EVERY time you ve.

EDIT: The PvP opt out option has been reactivated although you will not be able to opt out until after your next ve.

We KNOW the server is slow. We KNOW there are a lot of new firsties. Without these new accounts, this site would DIE. I'm SURE all you older players don't want the site to die and the truth of the matter is, when registration was closed, the site was STILL slow. Not AS slow, I know, but STILL slow. When it was just you older players logging on, at the ABSOLUTE most, there were about 36 players logged in at one time. NOW, there is TWICE that and believe it or not, that's a GOOD thing. I'm very sorry you all seem SO inconvenienced that you can't log in when you want to and you actually have to wait, but guess what? THAT'S LIFE. Edmund and Danilo are trying to figure out what the problem is and until they do figure it out, this is the way it is. All of you coming on here making snide comments about the speed or rude comments concerning the firsties is NOT helping and is only causing ALL the Staff to get frustrated. Frustrated Staff means MORE warnings and MORE mutes. Consider that a warning.

Because the seventh and final Harry Potter book was just released, we know a lot of people will want to talk about it. As you can see from the previous MoTD, if you talk about the book or movie or any spoiler in a public chat, you will be muted and/or banned.

To avoid this, we have created a special place for people to talk freely about the books and movies without spoiling it for everyone else. It is called Ottery St. Catchpole, and you have the option to go to that village when you travel.

When you get there, there are two separate rooms for talking about the Order of the Phoenix movie or the Deathly Hallows book so you can safely go to this place without worrying about seeing something by accident, and everyone can get there. Have fun, and remember to keep spoilers to those chats ONLY.

We are counting down here in the US til Book 7 is finally released...and we all want to find out for ourselves what happens so here is your warning...

Do NOT come onto this site and reveal ANYTHING about Deathly Hallows. If you do, you will be PERM MUTED AND BANNED. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!!! The ONLY place to talk about the book is in OWLS and that is ONLY with people who WANT to know. ANY breaking of this rule will result in a BAN.

Edit: Players who think they are being funny by posting fake plot details or any other kind of spoiler about the book will suffer the same consequences and will be MUTED AND BANNED. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.

Buy your Book!
Beans per Ticket: 10
One winner will win a $20 Amazon.com gift Certificate which can be used to pay for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, due out this month! Already bought your book? Use your $20 on anything your heart desires at amazon.com
Raffle Runs From 2007-07-01 to 2007-07-18
There are 21 hours, 47 minutes and 27 seconds left to purchase tickets in this raffle.

For all the new players who may not know how the raffle works, this is what those Bertie Bott's beans are for that you have randomly been collecting while playing. Just go to Hogwarts or Hogsmeade (if you're thirdyear or higher) and click on Candy Raffle in the left sidebar. Then just enter the amount of beans you'd like to trade in for tickets.

Good Luck!

Everybody please thank Santa Edmund for his hard work..and welcome to the NEW SERVER!!!

Okay, here's the deal...

Not everyone will get to see the movie right away. I hope those of you who CAN see it right away, enjoy it :) HOWEVER...PLEASE do NOT come into chat and give anything away. Now granted, most of us have read the book and know what the plot is, everyone knows that movies differ from the books they are based on. Those of us who CANNOT see it right away do NOT want to see spoilers in chat. We would LOVE to hear if you LIKED it, but we do NOT want to hear scene details. If there is someone who DOES want to know, then that person can OWL you and ASK. Do NOT randomly owl people details from the movie. You WILL be MUTED AND BANNED. Do NOT talk about the movie in chat (other than yes you liked it, no you didn't) or you WILL BE MUTED AND BANNED.

***THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING***

If you DO want to be spoiled, you can always just listen to the podcast listed below and get all the spoilers you want, and free bertie botts beans to use on the candy raffles.

The Looking Glass Episode 2 is now up and ready for download and your listening pleasure, and this time the Wizards.FM Panel has reviewed "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ("but wait" you say, "Doesn't that movie not come out until Wednesday?") why you are right, it does, but Barbara (SerenityRose), Mike, and myself from the Wizards.FM panel got to see it on June 28th in Sacramento at an Advanced Screening.

We talk for an hour and 40 minutes about the latest installment of the Movie Series and we'd love for you to hear what we talked about.

Also, this special event was too big for one Alchemy Lab prize, so today we have two prizes for listening to the show. Listen to the show and follow the clues and get 5000 bertie botts every flavour beans.

Also, in the podcast I mention a way that you can get a bonus prize of even more beans, just see the movie for yourself and then return to the place where you find the portkey to answer a bonus question that can only be answered after seeing the movie AND listening to the podcast.

Enjoy your Alchemy Lab prizes but remember to act fast, on Wednesday when the movie comes out the first prize will drop from 5000 beans to 2000 beans, and the second prize will drop from 2000 beans to 1000 beans when the movie has been out for a week.

Also, if you are in, or can be in the San Francisco area on July 20th, be sure to join the Wizards.FM team at the Books Inc Laurel Village in San Francisco for a live recording of WizardCast. For more details visit wizards.fm.

And now without further ado, Download The Looking Glass - Episode 2 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix or if you want to get your chances of getting into the Alchemy Lab early in the future, Subscribe to Wizards.FM in iTunes or your favorite Podcast Feedreader.

As you all know, registration has been closed due to the instability of the server. However, Edmund has decided to tentatively open it!!

He is still unsure as to what the server will do under this new burden so we ask that those of you who already have an account (or 2 or 3 or 4...) NOT make a new one. We would like to allow some new players to join and too much activity will almost certainly cause the system to crash.

Thanks for your cooperation :)