2008 News Archives

    Your Membership for 2009:

Merry Christmas!

Thanks to Gimli-(V) for finding this picture on http://www.somethingawful.com/
Also enjoy these two new models:
Tolkien Site / Art:
    Cave of DeepGroover-(TV)
       "Knight Hospitaller" model
       "Spanish Knight" model

Meeting Transcript by Arien and Varda
Attending: (5)
    AriehnV (presiding for the first part), ArPharazonV, arwenv1, Eonwe Valar (presiding starting with Membership), fladrifv.
    Varda showed up after everyone else was afk or gone
Membership:
    Happy Birthday, Elatan!
Web:
    Poem:
       To My Mother by Luthien-(TV)
    Articles:
       Tolkien and the Two World Wars by Fingolfin-(TV)
       Rest of the articles are by Varda-(Valar):
       Eldacar of Gondor
       Tarcil
       Tarondor
       Valandur
       Elendur
       Earendur
Tolkien:
    Eonwe's Christmas story

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (9)
    Aerandir, AriehnV, ArPharazonV, arwenv1, Eonwe Valar, fladrifv, luthienathariel, Menelvagor Valar, Pallando Valar, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Membership:
    What would we like to do special for Christmas?
            Luthien offered to send a poem.
           Gamers in WoW and LotRO have special festivities including quests. In LotRO, we have a Yule tree quest prize in our kinhouse yard. Some members are also putting Yule trees in their personal yards.
    Fladrif hopes to be attending the meeting of the 21st from his homeland, near Ar-Pharazon and Luthien in the Netherlands. :)
    Ar-Pharazon should start vacation next week for the holidays, currently busy with university finals and end-of-the-year projects.
    Pallando recently moved rooms, so he's playing on his laptop. Bigger games will be later when his desktop can be set up.
Gaming:
    WoW:
        http://www.wowarmory.com/
            "The Armory is a vast searchable database of information for World of Warcraft - taken straight from the real servers and presented in a user-friendly interface. Since the Armory pulls its data from the actual game servers, it is the most comprehensive and up-to-date database on the characters, arena teams, guilds, and items of World of Warcraft in existence."
    LotRO:
        http://my.lotro.com/kinship-landroval-valar_guild/
        http://my.lotro.com/sapience/2008/12/10/mylotrocom-tips-for-kinships/
        http://my.lotro.com/faq/
Tolkien:
    Who and where were the Avari?

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (7)
    AriehnV, ArPharazonV, arwenv1, Eonwe Valar (presiding Tolkien), fladrifv, Menelvagor Valar, VardaValar1 (presiding business)
Web:
    Update of Isildur article. Suggestion during meeting that such updates should be mentioned in the News page.
Gaming:
    Much gaming in WoW and LotRO due to the latest expansions.
Tolkien:
    Discussion of rp

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.
Attending: (9)
    Ancbeard, AriehnV, ArPharazonV, arwenv1, Eonwe Valar, fladrifv, luthienathariel, pallandovalar/oessala/orodrethV, VardaValar1 (presiding).
Membership:
    New Full Member: Aredhel-(V)
Web:
    Stories: more letters in Jay of Lasgalen's "Letters from Elrohir" series.
Gaming
Tolkien:
    What is considered canon?
    Summary of early Sil
    Line of Kings (human)
After-meeting:
    Comments on AIM
    Unfinished YouTube presentation showing stars by Luthien-(TV)

    Today is WoW's 4th Anniversary, so everyone who plays WoW should log into their characters before this day is over according to their server's time. Check your in-game mail as well. Doing the former will get you a Feat of Strength, and doing the latter will get you a new pet.

Attending: (8)
    Ancbeard, AriehnV, ArPharazonV, arwenv1, fladrifv, luthienathariel, pallandovalar, VardaValar1 (presiding).
Membership:
    Eonwe was away with family during meeting time.
    Pallando is hoping to be able to start up his Eve Online account again next year if he can interest a few friends, but for now is currently saving money to make it home for Christmas.
Web:
    Stories:
      "The Legend of the Grey Riders" by Jay of Lasgalen.
Gaming:
    WoW: Today is World of WarCraft's fourth anniversary. Log in today for a new achievement check your mail for a new pet. People are busy with the new Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
    LotRO: Members are busy with the new LotRO expansion, server population has greatly increased.
Tolkien:
    Hearing stones, water.
    What shape are dwarf ears?

Attending: (10)
    Ancbeard, Ariehn, arwenv1, Eonwe Valar, fladrifv, luthienathariel, Menelvagor Valar, Pallando Valar, Valandile Valar, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Membership:
    Fangorn and Varda are home again, back with you on the computers.
    Ar-Pharazon is having problems with his router.
    Pallando now has internet and a computer in his room and was able to be with us at the meeting today.
    Beleg expects to return to LotRO either after Christmas or the New Year.
Tolkien:
    Compared Sauron and Eonwe's roles as right-hand men of their respective Valar. This is the first Tolkien topic to be added to the new unintendedly clean Tolkien Discussion in the forum.

Hello Everyone. I hope this letter finds everyone well and I know everyone is excited for the Minds of Moria launch soon. I know I havent been on much. Lots of things goin on here atm and I wont be getting Moria when its released. Looks like I'm goin to havwe to actually stop playing altogether for awhile unfortunatly. Hopefully maybe after xmas or beginning of the new year I will be able to get Moria and rejoin the game. This is not goodbye, just a see yall later :). lol. Anyways its been a blast and I will see yall all soon in the future. Take care all and have a happy holidays. Long live VALAR!!!!!!! lol.

Attending: (7)
    Aerandir V/mordacil, AriehnV, Bombur-(V)/MrMonkey2002Blah, fladrifv luthienathariel, Menelvagor Valar, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Membership:
    Eonwe was with his family at the movies, but left us a WoW report.
    Varda and Fangorn will be out of town from this coming Monday to probably Saturday, visiting family. Monday is Varda's birthday, 55.
Tolkien:
    Arien's topic: Nature of evil

In this run we took down Urro, a group of Morrovail, Helchgam, and Salvakh.
We intended a re-match with Azgoth after the masses of adds got us, but were all too sleepy.
Participants were Aeronwy (replaced Belegur when he went to bed), Ancbeard, Belegur, Fainan, Galadhalion, and Lhee.
The next day we ran Carn Dum again, some of the same people and some friends. At first it was Fainan and Lhee with friends led by Wulfhen. Then as the group started to break up, we added members Ancbeard, Fainan, Kalimacoin, and Lhee, helped by friends Lycius and Yula. We wiped out a lot of bosses including Azgoth and Avalgaith, and took home the Mirror of Mordirith, now in the Valar kinhouse.

This week Sauron, Eowyn, and Eonwë got together and ran two instances in Auchindoun: Auchenai Crypts and Sethekk Halls.
The trip through Auchenai Crypts went well and quickly with Sauron's Priest, Eonwë's Paladin and Eowyn's Warrior. The only rough spot came fighting Exarch Maladaar, but he only took two tries.
Sauron then switched to his Warlock and we ran Sethekk Halls, with Eonwë's Ret Paladin in the fray dealing damage and also working to keep everyone alive. It wasn't always a smooth fight, but we got through to the end. The biggest challenge was the final boss, and after seeing we could not yet take him 3-man, we called in a friend of Eonwë's to bring him down. He did go down, and both Eowyn and Eonwë completed Terrok's Legacy and got the Shadow Labyrinth key.
We had considered going into Shadow Labyrinth, but as most wanted to get some rest, we called it there.

Attending: (6)
    AriehnV, ArPharazonV, Eonwe Valar (presiding), fladrifv, GwaihirValar, luthienathariel
Gaming:
    WoW:
        End game fun for All Hallow's and the Zombie Invasion.
    LotRO:
       Halloween Carn Dum run, wearing costumes.
Tolkien topic:
    Fladrif's topic: the economies of Middle-earth.
After-meeting:
    List of requested articles for the Tolkien Encyclopedia is rather buried. Members requested that it be added to the frame menu as well.
    Request for other Valar to join in WarCraft 3 to play some of the Middle-earth gaming maps.

From: Ancbeard
Subject: Halloween Party in Carn Dum!
Friday, Oct 31st, at 9pm EDT I will be hosting a Carn dum run.
This run will focus mainly on deeds, with the Boss deed being foremost. This particular run will aim at Barashal (Primarily), Urro (Incidentally), and Helchgam (Possibly).
Your troll and orc deeds will advance as well. Hope to see you there!

Greetings all!

The Wrath of the Lich King Pre-Event has begun! The Scourge Invasion has started in earnest!

In this event, players are able to become zombies by:
1.) Eating bad grain found in Booty Bay and in Alliance and Horde Capitals.
2.) Being attacked by a zombie.
3.) Standing in a zombie's infectious cloud.
4.) Attacking a plagued critter in the cities.

This is a disease, so any player who can dispel (cleanse, purify, cure/abolish disease) diseases can remove it, or you can seek the healing of an Argent Healer found all over major cities.

If you attempt to remove the disease through effects such as Stoneform, Divine Shield, or Ice Block, however, you will instantly be converted into a zombie.

As a Zombie, you get the following perks:
1.) You are now a member of the Scourge faction, which includes many Undead across Azeroth, and perhaps some not-so-obivious members. Seek them out and tell us what you find!
2.) All members of the Scourge faction can communicate, whether or not they were Alliance or Horde "in life."
3.) Zombies are less powerful (at least right now) alone, but scary in numbers (as they typically are in modern zombie lore). However, they get a unique set of abilities.
4.) Zombies can pass the undead plague on to others, both players and NPCs, so you *could* convert a town if you were feeling evil enough and could survive the defenders.

The price of being a Zombie is:
1.) Your life slowly drains away, so you have to have something to attack constantly. Zombies have an ability to help them regenerate hp for a while though, but be careful. Once you die as a Zombie, you of course go back to being your normal character.
2.) No one who isn't Scourge likes you while you are a Zombie, so be prepared to be attacked by just about everyone.
3.) You're slow (You are a Zombie after all) so that people who want nothing to do with you can get away.
4.) If you keep your armor on while a zombie and you die to an NPC, you will still pay the durability penalty.

In this event, there will be people spreading the plague, and people curing the plague, though the latter will become harder as time goes by. There will be zombies attacking normal characters, and normal characters attacking zombies. None of these are considered by Blizzard to be griefing, so don't get too angry if it happens to you. It's exactly what should be going on during this event.

I've been inspired to write a story from the perspective of my Paladin Auros for this event. I've given it the title of the patch to reflect its connection: Echoes of Doom. My intention is to add to it as the event progresses. You get two parts since it started Wednesday and I didn't get the first part up Wednesday. You can find it here if you're interested:
http://valarguild.proboards22.com/index.cgi?board=WoWRP&action=display&thread=812

Since I am a Paladin and do generally enjoy the surrounding lore, and some of you are bound to be Zombies at some point, it's possible you'll find yourself at the wrong end of my exorcism whether intentionally or not (It's not all that easy to tell one Zombie from another, or a PC Zombie from an NPC Zombie), and I'm fully expecting to be surrounded by Zombies at some point, and perhaps absorbed into their ranks a few times if the numbers are great enough or the event progresses such that they become strong enough. In light of this, I'd like to say up front no hard feelings :}

Finally, just remember that this is a one-time event, and after Wrath of the Lich-King is released it will quite likely be done with. Whichever side of the giant zombie fight you find yourself on, please try to have fun. :}

On Thursday, October 23rd, starting at 5pm server time (EDT), Eonwë will be taking his level 70 Paladin Auros through the following list of dungeons to complete his achievements. All members with a character able to enter a dungeon on the list is welcome to join him in what dungeons they can visit, whether for quests or just to get a quick run.  Any dungeons not run on Thursday will spill over onto Friday.
 
Wailing Caverns
Shadowfang Keep
Blackfathom Deeps
Scarlet Monastary
Zul'Farrak
Dire Maul
Stratholme (Starting from the front gate and clearing the Scarlet Crusade side first)
 
To test the abilities of the new Calendar feature, I have created an event for that day on the calendar and sent a mass-invite to the Guild, so all you should need to do is accept or decline. Let me know how it goes.
 
For those wishing a more sporting chance for the inhabitants of these dungeons (and for other dungeons), runs can be arranged next week with my lower level characters of approximately appropriate level for the dungeons.
 
In addition, any members with characters of level 65 or above are welcome to meet Auros every weekday between the hours of 5pm and 7 pm server time from now until October 31st (the last day) for an attempt on the Headless Horseman, if we can get enough together to give him a go. Saturdays I will likely be unavailable, and Sunday's availability will be after meetings.

    Hey all. This Friday, Oct 17th, I'm going to start the first of three runs to Carn Dum. The main purpose of all three is to complete the 'Champions of Carn Dum' deed. This involves eventually defeating all of the bosses in the dungeon.
    This week, our main target will be Barashal. If we have time we'll also try for Urro and Helchgam, depending on if anyone needs them.
    Meet in Gath Forthnir at 9pm EDT.

Starts: noon EDT. (EST is one hour earlier)
Alan Lee chat session: 5:30pm to 6:30pm EDT.
End event: around 7:30pm EDT.

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Ancbeard will return to Sarnur Friday, Oct. 10 at 9pm EDT to enact vengeance for last time! Anyone who wishes to join him is welcome.

For Oct. 14:
    The Children of Húrin Paperback Release Party is an online event to celebrate the publication of The Children of Húrin Paperback Edition by Houghton Mifflin, the new book by J.R.R. Tolkien, first released on Tuesday 17th April 2007 in hardback edition.
    The event will take place online on October 14, 2008 and is being organized by TolkienLibrary.com and Houghton Mifflin.

To Valar Guild!
Ivory towers fading fast
Yet sunset's light doth last
For a glory-shining night
People come together
To conquer dark forever
And bask in morning's light
Eleven years a-tenure
T'honor Tolkien's treasure
And all that he did write.

From October 2-6, 2008, we're offering free LOTRO access to our former players, and +25% bonus experience gain for everyone who logs in and plays. Returning players are invited to patch up, jump in, and start playing on their old characters to get them ready for Moria!

Anc's Carn Dum Tower Prep Run

On Friday, September 12th I plan on leading a group into Carn Dum to retrieve the key necessary to open the shortcut to the tower. The main goal is to locate Azgoth and slay her. Anyone who wishes to join me may meet me at Gath Forthnir starting at 830pm EDT. I would like to move out by 9pm!
-Ancalagon

FINALLY the time has come, Darkfall is now accepting Beta Applications, for those of you that are interested here is the link to the site to sign up
http://www.darkfallonline.com/beta/
hope to see yall in there

I heard about this game (Lord of the Rings:Conquest) fairly recently, and thought now was a good time to mention it.
 
It's being developed by Pandemic Studios through EA's LotR license, which means they for to use alot of stuff from the movies as well, and is slated to come out by the end of the year.
It's not going to be canon, but may or may not be as bad as "The Third Age" (also by EA) in that respect. I can't comment on gameplay, as it's supposed to be similar to Star Wars:Battlefront (also developed by Pandemic), which I've never played.
There's going to be both good and evil campaigns, and mages as a playable class.
 
Web site is www.pandemicstudios.com/conquest/.
In an effort to find a press release of some sort, I dug out this interview from theonering.net:
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/08/28812-what-is-the-lord-of-the-rings-conquest-pandemic-studios-eric-%e2%80%9cgiz%e2%80%9d-gewirtz-tells-us-about-it/
 
Take care.
Eonwë

    Happy New Year!