Valar Guild

July 10, 2016 Sunday Meeting

5pm EST (UTC/GMT - 5)
AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace

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Transcript work by
Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (5)
    Arien-(Valar)/Arien V, Ar-Pharazon-(V)/arpharazonv,  ElladanV, Lenwe-(V)/perseid28, VardaValar1 (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
    New game in beta mentioned: Riders of Icarus
Web:
Gaming
Tolkien:
      Topic: Bravery
After-meeting:
    Ar-Pharazon: more gaming news including flashgaming reviews.
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Before-meeting
Varda Valar: Aiya Phar :-)
arpharazonv: aiya!
Varda Valar: Sending invites
Arien V: aiya all :-)
Varda Valar: Aiya Sunshine :-)
Arien V: how are you? Are you and your family safe?
arpharazonv: Aiya!
Varda Valar: Aye
Arien V: Aiya Cala
Arien V: good to hear .. i was worried when i heard what happenened
Varda Valar: You mean in Dallas?
Arien V: yes
arpharazonv: You're in Austin, right?
Arien V: thats near isnt it?
Varda Valar: That's a good four hours from here. No, I'm just north of Houson.
arpharazonv: Ah, Houston, I knew it was one of the two ;)
Varda Valar: Austin is a long way from Dallas
arpharazonv: something with "ust" :P
Varda Valar: Eonwe lives in the Dallas area though
Varda Valar: But those towns are so large that something major can go down in one area and have zero effect on most ot the area
Varda Valar: Metropolises
Varda Valar: We do have family out that way but they report no problems
Varda Valar: Thanks for asking ;-)
arpharazonv: Hope Eonwe's alright, then!
Varda Valar: Aye
Arien V: what is he working as?
Varda Valar: That would be up to him to say
Arien V: ah right
Varda Valar: He's not a policeman, for those worrying
Varda Valar: Everyone ready for a meeting? :-)
Arien V: yeah sure :-)
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Varda Valar: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Varda Valar: Membership:
Varda Valar: Does anyone have any birthdays, sightings of fellow Valarites, or other fun membership news?
arpharazonv: Hmm, don't think so.
Varda Valar: Sauron, Fangorn, Bilbo and I are doing fine on this side of the screen. :-)
Varda Valar: Best of all, Sauron and a friend volunteered to make supper while I'm here.
Arien V: spotted Sauron this week once  in Eve online and thats kind of him :-D
Varda Valar: Nice!
Varda Valar: Any Fladrif sightings?
arpharazonv: bnet says no for 14 days.
Arien V: he might be travelling maybe?
Varda Valar: Sounds likely
ElladanV: Aiya
Varda Valar: Aiya Elladan :-)
Arien V: i ve seen Helm a few times online
arpharazonv: Aiya!
ElladanV: time to shower
ElladanV: haha
Arien V: Aiya Elladan:)
ElladanV: I'm here in spirit!
ElladanV: be back shortly
Varda Valar: Later then :-)
ElladanV: by the way.... a new game coming out
ElladanV: its open beta now. Riders of Icarus
ElladanV: :)
ElladanV: good times
Arien V: :-)
Varda Valar: Interesting name. Bird mites arise!
Varda Valar: Oh - got an email from Eonwe 11 hours ago, all was well then.
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Varda Valar: Web:
Varda Valar: Nothing new on the Tolkien Site at the moment, but
Varda Valar: the Bohemian Weasel says she's working on some more Silmarillion subjects :-)
arpharazonv: ah, fun
Varda Valar: We could use more poetry, stories, articles, art, or whatever tickles your fancy, oh transcript readers. Just toss an email to Varda! varda (dot) elentari (a t) g mail (do t) co m
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Varda Valar: Gaming:
Varda Valar: LotRO:
Varda Valar: Hobnangians weekend - chicken ball
Varda Valar: Most are working on their extra 15 levels of Legendary Item imbuement, featured instances, and going after armor and essences and essencd recipes.
Varda Valar: Aiye Lenwe :-)
perseid28: Aiya everyone :)
Varda Valar: Good to see you!
perseid28: a little late...just finished dinner
Varda Valar: mmm dinner
arpharazonv: Aiya!
Varda Valar: Hobbits everywhere forgive you and ask what's for dessert?
perseid28: homemade cherry pastry--come and help yourselves!
Arien V: pe and mushrooms :-D
Varda Valar: *stampede*
Arien V: pie even
arpharazonv: Mushrooms, eh.
arpharazonv: Is there a shortcut?
Arien V: *storms to Elladans*
Varda Valar: Also in LotRO, here's the list of who showed up this past week, most recent first, repeats not mentioned. :-)
Varda Valar:
Varda
Gorlim
Fangorn
Dis
Nar
Bregalad/Quickbeam
Marigold
Maedhros
Arien
Pippin
Gil-galad
Lenwe
Eonwe
Falco
Varda Valar: It was a pleasant surprise to see Maedhros back again. :-)
Arien V: ;D

Varda Valar: Ooops, Under Web news, forgot to mention that the new Thranduil pic is properly linked in, and that image collection is now linked to the Thranduil articles.

Arien V: i managed to reinstall LotO on the laptop after it wouldnt open at first as it didnt find some necessary files , but its up and running now :):) and as you see i got Aim on the laptop too
Varda Valar: Huzzah! Well done!
Varda Valar: and what a bother to not only install but have to reinstall. Huzzah for your persistance!
Varda Valar: Here's the Update 18.2 notes:
Varda Valar: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?641861-18-2-Release-Notes
Varda Valar: Sadly, Frelorn, our Community Manager on the forum for LotRO, was laid off.
Varda Valar: We wlecome the new CM, Cardovan. May he fare well!
Varda Valar: There's a rumor from Massively OP that Warner Brothers is turning Turbine into a mobile app studio, reason for downsizing.
Varda Valar: But LotRO and DDO will continue as before.
Varda Valar: Probably under Warner Brothers.
Varda Valar: Any other LotRO news?

Varda Valar: World of Warcraft:
Varda Valar: Another new comic was released this week: World of Warcraft: Legion #2—"Nightborne: Twilight of Suramar" .
Varda Valar: That might be of special interest to Phar. :-)
Varda Valar: Blizzard announces the pre-expansion patch is nearly here, and Warlords Season 3 PvP Ends July 19.
Varda Valar: Check out the Artifact and Class Hall Developer Q & A and look forward to next week's on quests and the pre-expansion event.
arpharazonv: Hmhm, it is! And I read it and I downloaded and I just happened to have read the bit about Suramar in the big Chronicle book earlier in the week.
Varda Valar: ahh cool
Varda Valar: Looking for some achievements to do? Check out the blog Achievement Hunting: Bling Yourself.
Varda Valar: That's all the WoW news. Anyone else have general WoW news?

Varda Valar: Diablo 3:
Varda Valar: Season 6 is ending soon.

Varda Valar: StarCraft 2:
Varda Valar: Out this week: a new Legacy of the Void Balance Update.

Varda Valar: Heroes of the Storm:
Varda Valar: New PTR patch notes were put up.
Varda Valar: /end Games Site news.

Varda Valar: StarCraft/BroodWar:
Varda Valar: Fangorn, Sauron, and myself had fun gaming together there, despite that it is no longer a supported game as of years ago. Gives hope for all other unsupported games.

arpharazonv: Oh, right, WoW, rumor is now that patch will go up 26th rather than 19th, because it's usually a week after the end of pvp season :)
Varda Valar: Sounds like the voices of experience.
Varda Valar: Any other general gaming news or sightings of fellow Valarites?

Varda Valar: Marvel Superheroes: Bilbo and Sauron have been gaming there together
Varda Valar: Any other comments, suggestions, gaming requests, etc?
Varda Valar: Then on to...
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Varda Valar: Tolkien!
Varda Valar: In JRRT's writings, how does he show bravery? Are there different forms? What are some examples?
arpharazonv: Merry and Pippin going to battle to contribute and save their friends, even though they were the smallest around in each case and not expected to actually be in the thick of it.
Arien V: Frodo going on his quest .. offering himself to "do it although i dont knoiw the way"
arpharazonv: Fredegar staying behind on his own to keep pursuers distracted for a bit.
Varda Valar: Aye
Varda Valar: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you'll be swept off to." - Bilbo
Varda Valar: And what pursuers! Fredegar was taking on the Nazgul. And he won!
Varda Valar: He slipped out the back and raised the horn call of Buckland.
Varda Valar: Any of the characters could have chosen to stay home, hoping others would step up. Or simply delay the time they had to face disaster.
Varda Valar: Bravery is a strength of the spirt. That's why the hobbits are so prominent in a story heavy on bravery, self-sacrifice, lack of putting oneself first as being heroic.
Varda Valar: The brave ones are putting themselves in harm's way to save others - save the Shire - for future generations.
arpharazonv: It also makes it the more impressive because they're not expected to, being smaller and having less experience with danger.
Varda Valar: Even the Rangers put themselves in danger that could freeze Butterbur's blood if he saw it, with no thanks except that they are doing the right thing for the future.
Varda Valar: Aye, Phar.
Varda Valar: Pretty much any of Thorin's Company or the Fellowship is smaller than a troll, for instance.
Varda Valar: Aragorn's little army goes up against the Black Gate despite having a smaller force than any that have gone against Mordor openly. Just a diversion that could all die for the Ringbearer.
Arien V: Lobelia standing up to Sharkys ruffians
Varda Valar: Aye
Varda Valar: Or Eowyn standing up to the Lord of the Nazgul
Varda Valar: Both are tiny in size and power compared to the foe
Varda Valar: Gandalf versus the Balrog looks more uneven than it is, but still...
arpharazonv: More to Gandalf than meets the eye.
Varda Valar: Saruman was the most powerful of the Istari, but he buckled in fear when he saw what he was up against. Tried to make his own rings and find the One Ring.
Varda Valar: Sam had more belief in the eventual triumph of what should be. And he worked to see it done.
arpharazonv: Saruman was just a pessimist ;)
Varda Valar: heh
Varda Valar: You have a point. He was defeated in spirit, lack of morale, without suffering much of anything physically.
Varda Valar: Hurin, saving the elves he cared about, guarding their escape, seeing all his fellow humans die around him, yet continuing to heap dead bodies of the enemy alone.
arpharazonv: Bilbo was brave when he went to face the big ol' scaly dragon on his own in the mountain.
Varda Valar: Luthien and Beren going against Sauron himself, to take a silmaril from his very crown.
arpharazonv: Finrod, saving Beren by going before his turn?
Varda Valar: Aye
Arien V: let me see ... what i can think of .. Amandil father of Elendil standing up and actively resisting the corrupt kings of Numenor , in fact all the faithful#
Varda Valar: They had to go up against their king, Sauron, and most of the people around them.
Varda Valar: The Teleri armed with only bows and light armor if any, defending their ships and themselves against the Noldor armies.
arpharazonv: For another type of bravery, what about Beren confronting his future father in law for the first time? :)
Arien V: i think maybe Tokien wants to show us that as long as there is true courage .. that is resistance against evil and corruption, even if it goes against the apparent majority, there is hope for our world.]
Arien V: I mean that a world isnt lost .. Middlearth, our world
Varda Valar: aye! Hope goes hand in hand with bravery. Not for the person pitting him or herself vs the evil, but for what he hopes.
Varda Valar: Thank you. that was the conclusion I was hoping for. :-)
Varda Valar: Shall we move on to other things now?
Varda Valar: *picks up a colorful gavel*
Varda Valar: *the gavel breaks into a mass of monarch butteflies that tackle the hammer pad on the table*
Varda Valar: *the pad giggles under the tickling and concedes*
Varda Valar: *the gavel reforms itself, satisfied, on the shelf*
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Varda Valar: After-meeting!
arpharazonv: That was.. almost creepy.
Varda Valar: Feel free to continue coming up with the massive number of examples of bravery and hope in Tolkien's works or anything else you want to chat about!
Varda Valar: hehe
Varda Valar: *I didn't know the gavel pad had its own reactions.*
arpharazonv: Pretty much that.
Varda Valar: That's one tough gavel pad.
Varda Valar: *gavel pad rolls onto its side, flexes, and rolls off the table*
Varda Valar: *It rolls off into the sunset, singing heroically.*
arpharazonv: Will it be back in time for next week? :)
Varda Valar: We shall see next week!
Arien V: i am off to the HebCelt festival this week from Thursday to Saturday, with Runrig, our long time favorite headlining on Saturday :-)
Arien V: but we will be back in time for the meeting
Varda Valar: With great stories to tell!
arpharazonv: Indeed, looking forward to hearing about it!
Arien V: looking forward to it :-)
Arien V: we ve got tickets for the mainstage on those three nights
Varda Valar: Huzzah!
Arien V: https://www.hebceltfest.com/festival/programme/
Arien V: There you can see who s playing then :-)
Varda Valar: Oh thank you :-)
Arien V: https://www.hebceltfest.com/festival/artists/hayseed_dixie.php  lol this looks fun
Varda Valar: Cool origin story
Varda Valar: The gang just called supper. :-)
Varda Valar: Happy After-meeting!
arpharazonv: Enjoy!
Varda Valar: /afk
arpharazonv: Shall I go gaming section yet?
Varda Valar: Smells so good
Varda Valar: Whenever you like
arpharazonv: Right, gathering up some flashgames for this week.
arpharazonv: i_am_the_ninja http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/i_am_the_ninja is the first game, a ninja platformer where you have to move through levels while avoiding deadly obstacles. 2 different modes, collect stars or try to be as fast as possible.
arpharazonv: There appears to be a bit of a savegame issue, but I don't know if that's just me, or just this particular site, or something.
arpharazonv: Might just be me, nothing in the comments..
arpharazonv: Weird. Anyway. Next game is a quite short point-and-click escape game at toon_escape_park http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/toon_escape_park
arpharazonv: Seems to be one in a series, so might check out others as well.
arpharazonv: kana-warrior http://www.kongregate.com/games/Tukkun/kana-warrior is the third, and a more interesting one. It teaches you a certain Japanese alphabet, where you have to shoot or type the right targets. Try scoring 100% on all levels, and you're bound to know more about writing in Hiragana :)

arpharazonv: Now, for Blizzard games!
arpharazonv: Diablo 3: Panicking a little, season over in a few weeks but I haven't even finished a set yet, let alone chapter 4 of the season journey for the first permanent reward. I've made a deal with someone I know from WoW that I'd get a boost next weekend if things still went badly, and I'll probably need it. Still, in the meantime I'll just trudge on, and have made a plan of what to do if I need to finish things in a hurry.
Varda Valar: Good luck!
arpharazonv: Hearthstone: Still pushing on, level 43 still very far away. This week's brawl was a bit difficult, make your own custom deck and the gimmick is that every turn you draw a card for that turn-number of mana, matching up with gaining 1 mana every turn.
arpharazonv: Decks made for that brawl pretty much have to focus on forcing the game to give you a specific card on one or more turns, by only putting 1 of that mana in your deck.
arpharazonv: With that element, though, you can still come up with a lot of variety :)
arpharazonv: Heroes of the Storm: Just playing some more games. Actually lost my first "vs AI" game this week, because of a few players totally ignoring the objectives, and quite essential objectives they were on that map. Oh well, the flawless record couldn't stand forever. I guess that pressure's off a bit now, I don't mind losing so much anymore :)
Varda Valar: heh
arpharazonv: Oncoming patch has me a bit worried for one of my favorite heroes, Zagara, who's getting rather completely reformed in talents. It'll be interesting to come up with a new spec.
arpharazonv: WoW: Bit of heroic raiding, standard routine stuff. I also tried finding a pug-raid for mythic Blackrock Foundry, since my own raidgroup has gone back to Hellfire Citadel mostly, and I do want some pieces left from the old one, most notably the tier shoulders (wings!)
arpharazonv: But it's not much use. Still a bit difficult for a pick up group, unless the group severely outgears the encounters, and for mythic foundry that's a bit tricky.
arpharazonv: Might still try in the coming weeks. But it's probably going to have to be farming the place when we're 10 levels higher in the next expansion.
arpharazonv: I got my horde troll to 32 this week, and finished the last grind for blackfang claws on my main character. This allowed me to buy a new cute pet, a sort of saber-tiger cub!
arpharazonv: Next project will be a pet-battle achievement where I have to win a bunch of trainer fights with a team containing a non-active elekk plushie, and the reward will also be a new pet. To that end I've already fought a few trainers in the Celestial Tournament, because they rotate every week and I need to fight all of them.
arpharazonv: And in the meantime I'm just watching the summaries of the different Legion Q&As as they come up, have already seen useful stuff for artifacts and professions. Want to make sure I know what I'm doing in the next expansion :)
arpharazonv: Next week's should be good too, with information on the pre-expansion events coming with the patch. They'll only be available for a limited time and I want to make sure I see as much of it as possible.
arpharazonv: And that's my news for this week!
Varda Valar: Thank you, Phar

Varda Valar: And thank you, Arien, for making that axe for Bregalad in LotRO just now. Although an ent...with an axe...?
Varda Valar: What's Middle-earth coming to?
arpharazonv: Better than a flamethrower.
Varda Valar: :-)
Arien V: hehe the other way round in fact ^^ he made an axe for me
arpharazonv: Wow, having amazing luck in Hearthstone. Between my wins last night and the 2 completely unexpected wins I needed for a quest today, I've gone straight from rank 20 to being 1 star away from rank 15 in a single winning streak.
Arien V: but just as strange eh?
Varda Valar: Grats :-)
arpharazonv: Even if my luck finally runs out, I'll at least have a rank 16 reward chest at the end of the month, which is an improvement over last ;)
Varda Valar: Yay
Arien V: there we gvo .. Arriehn , Wayfarer of the Planes, how does that sound :)?
Varda Valar: Like a far traveler :-)
Varda Valar: Grats!
arpharazonv: LotRO title?
arpharazonv: Grats!
Varda Valar: aye
Arien V: its for finishing the questlines in an a certain area
Arien V: Namarie all now :-)
arpharazonv: Namarie Arien!
Varda Valar: Namarie Arien
Varda Valar: She has to tend to the rising sun, no doubt.
arpharazonv: It's always dawn somewhere.
Varda Valar: Five of us currently in LotRO
arpharazonv: saving and sending transcript
Varda Valar: Thank you
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