Hogwarts Live Blog

Witchy and myself have hidden a Halloween present around the site. Its is something that you will be able to keep after the holiday. Although it can only be bought until Halloween and then it gets taken off the market..
Happy Hunting.

This is just a quick reminder, please note that all of your donator points will be completely refunded as unspent donator points (with a little extras) after the upcoming reset. Those of you who have a valid Email Address filled out under Preferences will receive instructions on how to claim/reserve your current (old) account (username & password) approximately two weeks before the release of the new version of Hogwarts Live. Old users who reserve their account using this method will receive some small bonuses. I will post a similar notice periodically and then more frequently as the reset date nears. One last change to note is that in order to create an account on the new version we will require you to first register an account on http://www.wizards.pro/user/register due to the fact that Wizards.pro's services - such as our forums on http://harrypotter.wizards.pro/forums - will be better integrated with HL. Your username and password should be the same on both sites. Edmund and I are still brainstorming ways to simplify the registration process, so this method is subject to change slightly. We will try keep everyone updated on the upcoming changes via WizardCast. Edmund will be doing the gist of the programming for this new version and it really is up to him to set a release date, stop asking it should be in Episode III of the podcast.

Again, I thank you all for your continued patience and support; I appreciate your dedication to the success of this community and hope to find all of you enjoying the game ten fold or even more after this upgrade takes place.

AuroraBorealis is the main player and staff liaison as well as head administrator, and WitchyWoman is the head of the staff. Meaning that AuroraBorealis has the final say on anything relating to the staff or players. This allows me to focus more on other aspects of the game instead of player affairs. In other words she would be like the High Inquisitor (except not as evil), and I would be the absent Headmaster.

When you owl Edmund and I with questions or suggestions you keep us from other more important development related work (especially Edmund). Please use the Petition for Help link only to report bugs, abuse, or other technical issues that cannot be resolved by asking other more experienced players in chat or by owl. Please post all suggestions at http://harrypotter.wizards.pro/forums/roleplaying/suggestions rather than cluttering staff inboxes, thanks!

The past few weeks we have had to deal with people who give their passwords out. I am going to tell you that you will not receive anything that has been lost because you have done so. It is very unwise to give your password out to begin with, as you are held responsible for anything done on your name. It is also a good idea to have you password be fairly long and contain both numbers and letters. Thank you.

Please avoid from questioning staff concerning the exact date of the reset. Edmund and I have been very busy as of late and still have not had time to consult about our plans for the reset. We will be postponing the release date in order to better test out the new version and ensure that everyone is happy with the new changes - or at least that they are enjoyable to our beta testers.

Once Edmund and I have had time to better elaborate on the details regarding the upcoming reset we will release a time frame of how long we think it will take for the new version to be thoroughly quality assured and completed. Further questions or comments concerning the reset will be ignored. Thank you all for your continued patience in this matter.

Ladies, Gentlemen, and invited transgendered guests, Edmund's Alchemy Lab in Devon is pleased to officially announce the release of the Live Chat Module!

Live chat has been a long time coming, it allows you to chat without having to refresh the page.

118 of you managed to find your way to my lab in Devon over the last few weeks and activate this module in Beta mode thanks to 4 clues hidden in WizardCast Episode #1

For those of you who couldn't get the episode, here were the clues (note don't bother trying them now, they no longer work, the portkey is no longer located in Trelawney's Orb):

1) Danilo lost his portkey, he asked people to consult a seer to see if the seer could help you find the portkey. -> Translation: The portkey was located at Trelawney's Orb.

2) Danilo's portkey could only be activated with a password. This password (given to you by Mike) was "Question" (without the quotes).

3) The portkey led to Devon, a place you can only reach by means of that portkey. In Devon was located Edmund's Alchemy Lab. My clue was that the item in my lab that you should ask for when you found my lab was "Live Chat".

4) In order to get the Live Chat, you needed one more password, my lovely wife SerenityRose gave the password in the podcast "Chatter" (again without the quotes).

This module, which I will explain briefly in Episode 2 of WizardCast, allows you to chat without refreshing, it greatly increases the speed of the chat in the site and reduces strain on the server while giving you a more dynamic interactive experience.

Many of you who have activated the Live Chat Module have noticed bugs here and there. I will note that while sometimes the four clues will give you a special bonus, when the clues lead to being a beta tester of a new feature you will get to try the feature before anyone else but in exchange I ask you to tell me if you find any bugs. Several of the beta testers of the live chat module did in fact inform me of bugs, which should for the most part be fixed now.

For those of you who did not get the WizardCast clues and use them, fear not, the clues just gave people an advanced sneak peak. All users now have the Live Chat system enabled on their accounts. If for whatever reason (most common reason being you are blind and are using a screen reader that is incompatible with the live chat) you wish to turn the Live Chat off on your account, simply go to your Preferences and turn it off. Chat will continue to work for you as it always has if you choose this option.

I hope all of you enjoyed WizardCast episode #1 and stay tuned for WizardCast episode #2 coming very soon. If you haven't already, be sure to scroll down here in the MoTD and find the link to subscribe to WizardCast via iTunes. As a special bonus to iTunes subscribers, WizardCast Episode 2 will be available to iTunes subscribers a whole 24 hours before showing up here in the MoTD.

Also be sure to check out The Official WizardCast Website for other nifty features, and be sure to take our listener survey, available on the official WizardCast website.

We will be recording the interview with Aurora the evening of Sept. 2nd. If you have any Questions for her you must get them to me Before 5pm CDT on Sept. 2nd.

Also, we are having problems with Skype, so please do not try to send in voicemails there, if you would like to send in a voicemail for the show (and please do), send it to GizmoProject username WizardCast, or call us at 1-206-600-6WIZ (1-206-600-6949), we'd love to hear you on the show.

Thank you,
Lady of Fantsay SerenityRose

Ok, I'm sure you are tired of hearing about WizardCast, the official podcast of Hogwarts Live, but I had to post this additional message. WizardCast has now been approved for placement in the iTunes music store, so if you have iTunes, you can now subscribe to WizardCast and automatically receive the new episodes of the Podcast as they are released. As a special treat to those who subscribe, we will from now on place new episodes up in iTunes at least 24 hours before we post a MoTD here, so if you want to have first crack at getting those clues and finding your way to my lab, subscribe via iTunes today.

Hello my fellow members of HogwartsLive, it is my great pleasure to announce the first episode of the official Podcast of Wizards.Pro and HogwartsLive.com, WizardCast Episode #1 Is here!

For those of you who don't know what a podcast is, it is an internet radio show. In the first episode of WizardCast we have an exclusive interview with the founder of HogwartsLive himself, Headmaster Danilo. We also have a detailed description of the upcoming Upgrades and reset, and the latest in Fantasy and Science Fiction news.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need an iPod or other portable MP3 player to listen to a podcast, all you need is a computer and a media player (Like Windows Media Player, Quicktime, iTunes, Winamp, or my personal favorite VLC).

In this podcast are hidden 4 secret clues, with these clues you will find yourself to a secret area of the game that cannot be reached without these clues. In this secret area you can find my Alchemy Lab and I have something very special for those of you who take note of all 4 clues.

To download Episode 1 of WizardCast, simply visit http://downloads.wizardcast.wizards.pro/
in your web browser. The podcast will begin downloading automatically.

As a special treat to all of you on HogwartsLive, it will be available to you via this link before it is available on the official WizardCast website.

So everyone get downloading and I hope to see you in my lab soon.

Enjoy the show!

Click here to play streaming version

Ok, once again, do not share the passwords or clues from the podcast with anyone, if they want the clues they need to listen to the podcast themselves. If it is found out that you have shared the passwords or clue, the prize you received from the clues will be taken away from you and you will also not be allowed to use the clues from the next episode either.

DO NOT SHARE THE PASSWORDS OR CLUES!