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Happy Father's Day!

20:35 EST launcher note (I noticed the note at 4:00pm EST, which might mean they have a clock problem):

The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, May 13, 2013 for the release of Update 11: Treachery of the White Hand. Maintenance will begin at 7:00AM Eastern US time (Click here for your local time) and is expected to take approximately 4 hours. Patch notes will be available during the downtime.


Patch Notes for Update 11.
Known Issues for Update 11. (For the Play button bug, change the language then back again. This tiny button is at the top to the right of the Support button.)
Article: Update 11 Housing foreclosures and escrows, handling the vacant house problem.
Article: Update 11: Volume III, Book 10 "Snows of Wildermore" quest notes. The 15 chapters begin where the last left off, at the crossing of the Entwash in the Sutcrofts. The Volume III Interlude is a series of optional quests to flesh out the story, unlocked as the character progresses through the required book.
Article :Update 11 Mounted Combat changes.

The Helm's Deep expansion comes out in the fall of this year. Features intended (copied from the announcement):

• Experience the Battle for Helm’s Deep – Fight to defend Helm’s Deep starting at level 10, as your character enlists as a soldier in the Battle of the Hornburg, the most massive conflict yet in The Lord of the Rings Online.  Earn rewards for your contribution to the war effort – win or lose, your aid makes a difference!
• Explore new landscapes across Western Rohan - Explore the Westemnet of Rohan and rally each of the five Ridings as Rohan returns to glory. Traverse the capital of Edoras, mysterious Dunharrow, and the fortress of the Hornburg, deep within Helm’s Deep.
• Advance from levels 85 to 95 - Experience 10 new levels, from 85 to 95, with new skills and completely updated class specializations. Both mounted and un-mounted combat will challenge you as you war against the evil of Saruman.
• Continue the Epic Story - Encounter beloved characters such as Aragorn, Éowyn, and Éomer. Restore King Théoden to his rightful lordship and defend the peoples of Rohan at Helm’s Deep.

Happy Mother's Day!

Scheduled Server Downtime: Monday, May 13, 2013
May 10, 2013 21:31 EST The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, May 13, 2013 for the release of Update 11: Treachery of the White Hand. Maintenance will begin at 7:00AM Eastern US time (Click here for your local time) and is expected to take approximately 4 hours. Patch notes will be available during the downtime.

    Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon the Golden and Varda
    Attending: (5)
        ArPharazonV, EonweValar, fladrifv, Indis-(V)/ karakedi25, VardaValar1 (presiding)
    Web:
       Links:
            "International Congress on Medieval Studies" May 9-12 in Michigan, USA.
            "The Tolkien Meta-FAQ"
    Gaming:
       SCBW
       SWTOR
       flashgaming
       SC2
       Chess
       WoW: Children's Week ends Monday at 2pm.  Darkmoon Faire upcoming. June will have the Midsummer Fire Festival.
       LotRO
    Tolkien:
       RP
       Tolkien topic: Illusion.
    After-meeting:
        RP

Meeting Transcript by the Fabulous Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (5)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar, farmermaggotv, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Gaming:
    SWTOR
    flashgaming
    D3
    WoW
    LotRO
Tolkien:
    RP
    Topic: What sort of economic system was in use in Middle-earth
    Topic on the Side: The Rangers and how they lived.
After-meeting:
    Phar finds an illustration for the concept of the Roman money chains, well, sort of.

Scheduled Server Downtime: 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) Monday, April 29.
The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, April 29th from 7:00 - 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) for an update to the game. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon! Patch notes will be available during the downtime.

The LOTRO Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for maintenance on Saturday, April 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT). The forums and wikis will remain up, but players may not be able to log in.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (8)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, AuSteinM-(T), EonweValar, fladrifv, Gilraen-(V)/Iryenth, GwaihirValar, VardaValar1 (presiding).
Web:
    Poetry and Art from Luthien-(T)
Gaming:
    SWTOR expansion "Rise of the Hutt Cartel".
    League of Legends tournament finals coming up.
    StarCraft 2
    WoW Children's Week starts next week.
    LotRO 6th anniversary
Tolkien:
    RP
    Tolkien discussion: Nienna, the Gray Lady. We always hear of her weeping. Yet she's a Valie. What is her main function to make her so highly placed amongst the Ainur?
After-meeting:
    Gaming, webwork
    Url found by Fladrif for amazing domino structures on YouTube. Some of them make something new after the fall.
    Fladrif's New Zealand photos went up and he had us look for the one plastic tree in Hobbiton.

Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, AuSteinM-(T), EonweValar (presiding), fladrifv, Nar-(V)/mcioutpost (had crashing problems).
    Varda showed up very late after the transcript time, home from traveling.
Web:
    Art by Luthien-(T)
    Forum changes
Gaming:
    SWTOR free to play. The Valar branch is on The Ebon Hawk server now, mostly playing Empire but Alliance has also shown up.
    WoW patch notes
    LotRO 6th anniversary Tuesday, April 16
    D3 patch notes
    Flashgaming: "Accelerator" and tip.
    Browser beta: "The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age"  website
    More WoW: Lothar server unlocked the final phase of Isle of Thunder Tuesday last wekk.
    More LotRO
Tolkien:
    Topic: Aragorn: How we saw him in the movies vs how we saw him in the source material.

April 29th is when Proboards version 5 is slated to go live. All boards will be upgraded (except those who asked to have it delayed, but that only delays to the end of the year). The new version requires a Global Account, so anyone trying to log in when v5 goes live will be prompted to upgrade/create a global account. At that point our login will be the e-mail connected to the account (and will no longer be shown on the profile to anyone, if it's not already set to hidden right now). You'll be able to access the forum/forum account for any Proboards forum you're a member of from this global account.

The explanation of v5 is on the Proboards blog, topmost item: http://www.proboards.com/blog/

-Eonwe

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (9)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, AuSteinM-(T), EonweValar (presiding), farmermaggotv, Gilraen-(V)/Iryenth, GwaihirValar, Indis-(V)/karakedi25, Varda
Membership News:
    Hamson-(V) is back and playing LotRO with a new computer.
    Farmer Maggot-(V) is back after being ill.
    AuSteinM-(T) is back.
Web:
    Stories by Jay of Lasgalen
Gaming:
    WoW
    LotRO
    SC2
    D3
Tolkien:
    RP
    Tolkien chat topic: How does Gandalf set up the adventures for the Hobbit?
    Tangent: What insrtruments did the dwarves play in the Hobbit book version?

Happy Easter!

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (5)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar (presiding), GwaihirValar, Varda
Web:
    Story: the cooking horror drabble series "His Mother's Recipe Book", by Jay of Lasgalen.
Gaming:
    WoW game events
    LotRO game events
    more
    SC2 players might want to get in a game soon for the "15 years of Starcraft" Feat of Strength.
         http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/9369230/Fifteen_Years_in_the_Koprulu_Sector-3_29_2013 for more info.
Tolkien:
    Hobbit DVD and Blu-ray.
    RP story on our forum.
    After the trivia game, the third part of the drabble cooking horror series: "His Mother's Recipe Book" went online "Misunderstanding".
    Trivia questions from LotR made up on the spot by members at the meeting:
        1. As the hobbits leave Bree towards Weathertop with Aragorn they have to cross an area .. what area and what does Sam think the inhabitants live by?
        2. What did Sam buy from a person who he would later throw an apple at?
        3. Identify the ultimate fate of every Maia we see in LotR.
        4. Quickbeam said he was called Quickbeam for being hasty at least two times before agreeing to attack Saruman so soon. What was one of them? (This question was corrected later by the asker, as only the first incident caused the nickname while other incidents merely added to the reason for the name.)
After-meeting:
    WoW Valar gamers met in Alliance and Horde. Varda's Horde guildmaster switched from tauren Gilbrennil to troll Elentariv.

"His Mother's Recipe Book" by Jay of Lasgalen.
    A cooking horror tale.
    "When Bilbo settled in Imladris in TA 3002 he brought a family heirloom with him – Belladonna’s recipe book. "
        Ch. 1 Jam Making (was "Making Jam"). Ailment: Headache.
        Ch. 2 Yule Pudding Ailment: Toothache
    This is a drabble series with more coming.The earlier "Making Jam" is now "Jam Making" used as the first chapter. "Yule Pudding" is new.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar (presiding), fladrifv, Indis-(V)/karakedi25, Varda (After-meeting)
Gaming:
    WoW
    LotRO
    SC2
    flashgaming
    Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft
Tolkien:
    Trivia questions from the Silmarillion made up on the spot by members at the meeting:
        1. What was the name of the father of Werewolves, and what was his role in the robbery of the Silmaril from Angband?
        2. A certain someone was brought to Nargothrond by a former inhabitant, and he played a prominant role in Nargothrond's fate. Who was the "someone" who was the "former inhabitant", and what role did he play in that kingdom's fate?
       3. Movie trivia on the side: What is the name of the town where Hobbiton is located that was used in the movies as a movie set?
After-meeting:
    Answer to the third question from the trivia is down in this section.
    Some of our Valarites joined the SC2 clan and group during the After-meeting..

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar (presiding), fladrifv, Indis-(V)/karakedi25, Varda
Membership:
    Varda's intermittent  internet connection is being repaired today, we hope.
    Hello to Turgon-(V), and thanks for the email!
    Arien is back from vacation.
Web:
    Two new stories this last week from Jay of Lasgalen.
Gaming:
    StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
    WoW
    flashgaming: Plants vs Zombies
    LotRO
Tolkien:
    Item: The first Hobbit movie comes out Tuesday on DVD.
    Chat topic: What are some of the non-human intelligent races that we meet in LotRO and what role did they play in the War of the Ring?
After-meeting:
    The Return of Fladrif-(V)!
    Joining into SC2 together without worry about which continent we're on (Fladrif joins during the After-meeting), plus the SC2 folk using the forum (under StarCraft series) now with a note about getting together to play.
    Proboards (our forum provider) will be upgrading everyone's account to global on April 29th. However, Proboards will not automatically upgrade all forum accounts to global accounts. We the forum-goers have to do that ourselves, each personally.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (7)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar (presiding), Gilraen-(V)/Iryenth, GwaihirValar, Indis-(V)/karakedi25, Ioreth-(V)/LizMarr
    After-After-meeting: Varda
Gaming:
    WoW
    LotRO, LotRO
    SC2, SC2
    GW2
Tolkien:
    Saruman: stalwart servant of the Valar who lost his way in Middle-earth, or compromised before he even got off the boat?
After-meeting:
    Tolkien chat on undead, wraiths.

Hail to the Valar Guild!
 
A couple of weeks ago, Blizzard released patch 2.0.4 for Starcraft 2, bridging Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. With this patch came certain new features for Starcraft 2, including support for Clans and Groups. As soon as I was able to last week, I created one of each for the Valar Guild. The information for each is as follows:

You may ask, "why both a Group and a Clan?" I gave this some thought before proceeding, and while either one could serve most of our potential needs, neither could serve all of them. A Group would provide us with a chat channel and a "near limitless" capacity for any member to be able to join us, but it would not give an outlet for our members to bear our emblems into the competitive arena if they wished to (I hearken back to the days when some of our members occupied spots on the D2 and Starcraft ladders). Likewise, a Clan could give us that, but it would cap at 50. That may sound like alot, but one never knows what the future may bring, for us or for these features. In addition, Blizzard intends to make available to all players the ability to choose the region one plays in: meaning, all members from around the world can join us on the "Americas" server, in our Group and Clan on Starcraft 2. If they ever brought Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 together, we might need all the extra space we can get :}
 
In the end, I decided the best option was to have a Group that all members could be a part of, and a Clan for those who also wish to bear our emblems into battle, climb the competitive ranks and make us look good :} Right now, all members are welcome to be part of both. If we hit the 50-player cap on the Clan, priority in the Clan will be given to the most active. (That only means someone will be dropped from the Clan if they are the least active/ inactive by a fair margin and someone much more active is eager for a spot). Assuming the "near limitless" cap on Groups stays in place, no one will be removed from the Group for any reason we don't already remove members (inactivity sweep, conduct, etc.).
 
Yes, this means that many/all of us will have both a Group window and a Clan window open. To top that off, we'll still have the friend channel, "Valar," where members looking to get their characters into the Clan and the Group should come, and where those looking to join the Valar Guild are encouraged to look for us. Thankfully, the windows are usually quite clear on which one is getting new text added :}
 
For the near future, the best way to get your character added to the Group and the Clan is to seek me (Eonwë) at the weekly Guild Meeting (You DO know when and where that is, right? No? :} Sunday 5pm US East Coast time, AIM, Channel Valar Guild Meetingplace). Since there can only be one Starcraft 2 "character" per copy, members are not required to use their Guild Names for their "character" name. However, all members are encouraged to ensure their name abides by our Rules and Code of Conduct (i.e., no inappropriate names; a good general guideline is: if you have to ask, it probably is) before requesting to join the Group or Clan.
 
For more info on Groups and Clans, see http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7747190 and http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7994698.
Anyone with questions, concerns, or comments on the Starcraft 2 organizations for the Valar Guild are welcome to direct them to me.
 
Take care all!
Eonwë

Miriel, Celeborn, Thranduil, Annil, Hurin and Irmo have been playing Guildwars 2 for a while now.  They are on the US server called Jade Quarry, having re-established their old DAOC guild name Wolves of Valinor there together with some friends from LOTRO and AION. They let you know – without in any way wanting to distract any member of the Valar Guild from their present games:
-    Guildwars 2 is genuinely free to play; meaning that none of us have seen any cause to pay for anything after buying the initial game; there is no need to buy things in a store to be able to compete;
-    Guildwars 2 is ideal for casual gamers: it allows for a hop-in and out style – for any time -, never requiring hours of (dungeon or raid) involvement. The game has some entirely new and different concepts to MMORPG’s: the content is dynamic and ever changing, grouping is both not needed (in the general world) and nice (dungeons and fractals require a group of 5), classes are self-supporting (every player is healer, support, tank and DPS all at once);
-    A Valar Guild branch can and will be installed (name: Valar Guild, tag VAL): it is possible and even advisable to be a member of multiple guilds. The branch can encompass players from Valar Guild from different servers and allows communication (messaging) between members across servers;  if you are already playing GW2 somewhere we could join forces!
-    It is possible to play as a guest on different servers. If you have a different home server it is possible to visit us (or any world) and play any PVE content.  It might be hard to join Jade Quarry at any time, because by chance the server we chose at beta turned out to become the leading server (despite the fact we are on it :P). But the populations fluctuate throughout the day.
-    World versus World (equaling the old Real vs Realm in DaoC) is a very nice feature, but not in any way obligatory. This means trying to take camps and keeps from other servers. It is very addictive….
If you are happy where you are, more power to you! If you seek something new, then you will be welcome to come and share the fun. More game info: GuildWars2.com
Contact Irmo for more information.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (5)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar, Ioreth-(V)/LizMarr, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Web:
    Art by DeepGroover-(T)
Gaming:
    Mass Effect 3
    StarCraft/BroodWar
    StarCraft 2 beta
    Rift
    World of WarCraft (WoW)
    Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO)
    StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm new trailer
Tolkien:
    In JRRT's books, he makes mention a number of times in often very strong plotlines concerning oaths. What such plotlines did he use, and what seemed to be his opinion about taking oaths? (We had fun with tangent lines from the topic.)
After-meeting:
    Time change next week, EST moves 1 hour forward.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar, GwaihirValar, Indis-(V)/karakedi25, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Gaming:
    SC2 beta
    SC/BW
    STO
    flashgames
    LotRO
    WoW
Tolkien:
    Trivia round

Feb 19, 2013 18:37 EST As a way of saying thank you for all of your patience, we will be offering a welcome back 100% bonus experience boost and a boost to lootbox drops from today until February 26th. So don't wait; walk the lands in Middle-earth today in search of adventure and treasure!

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (5)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar (presiding), GwaihirValar, Nar-(V)/mcioutpost
Membership:
    Varda arrived home late tonight after being out of town for the weekend.
Gaming:
    World of WarCraft
    Lord of the Rings Online (online again) Fornost walkthrough (use Next to get to the next wing's walkthrough, starting with Water)
    Clash of Dreadnaughts
    Star Trek Online
    StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
Tolkien:
    Trivia round

Feb 16, 2013 17:28 EST

Scheduled Maintenance: Thursday, February 14th
Feb 14, 2013 02:35 EST All Turbine Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for global maintenance from 6:00AM Eastern (-5 GMT) Thursday, February 14th until 6:00am Eastern Time (-5 GMT) Friday February 15th.

Anyone who's in the SC2 beta should make sure to join the channel Valar (reminding people a hundred thousand times that they should join channel Valar to meet other guildies isn't a bad thing, right? ;}) to get with other guildies who might also be in the beta, before it ends March 1st. Can't guarantee much gaming on my part, but they can help me test the Clan/Group stuff if I catch them.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar, GwaihirValar, Hamson-(V)/Hamson Gamgee, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Membership
Web:
    Link from Meriadoc-(V)
    Poetry by Pippin-(V)
Gaming:
    miscelllaneous
    WoW
    LotRO
       Fornost run requested Tuesday around 8pm EST for Beleg-(V)
Tolkien:
    Rotating quotes on the News page
    Troll travel
    Logistics for Aragorn's assault on the Black Gate
    Forum story aka RP.

Meeting Transcript by Ar-Pharazon and Varda
Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar, Gilraen-(V)/Iryenth, GwaihirValar, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Tolkien:
    Forum story aka RP discussion, post.