June 12, 2016 Sunday Meeting
5pm
EST (UTC/GMT - 5)
AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace
Back to News
Transcript work by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.
Attending: (3)
Arien-(Valar)/Arien V,
Ar-Pharazon-(V)/arpharazonv, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
Web:
New art
Gaming
WoW movie review, relatively
spoiler-free.
Tolkien:
Topic: That feeling of being uplifted, of joy in
heroism. Do we feel that reading Tolkien?
After-meeting:
Ar-Pharazon: more gaming news including flashgaming reviews.
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Before-meeting
arpharazonv:
Aiya!
Varda Valar: Aiya Phar :-)
Varda Valar: First time and it worked!
arpharazonv: Yay!
Varda Valar: so that leaves us a good 15 minutes of free time. Enjoy!
arpharazonv: Now on the last stretch of blackfang claw farming, from
4000 to 5000 for the achievement.
Varda Valar: Lots of lightning, thunder, and rain here.
Varda Valar: You're getting there!
arpharazonv: Technically I'll still need about 2000 after this to buy
the remaining stuff, but at least the achievement will be done!
arpharazonv: We had some of that rain and thunder stuff earlier today.
arpharazonv: Just drizzling a bit now.
Varda Valar: Any sign of Arien or Fladrif?
Varda Valar: No one in LotRO
arpharazonv: Let's check!
arpharazonv: Arien poked. Fladrif offline for 3 days.
arpharazonv: Arien bit busy, but on her way.
Arien V: Aiya all :-)
Varda Valar: Aiya Arien :-)
arpharazonv: Aiya!
Arien V: we have a small rare rp event going on just now .. is it okay
if i just listen in and give my two cents a s i notice?
Varda Valar: Sure
Varda Valar: Thanks for coming :-)
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Varda Valar: Elen
sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Varda Valar: Membership:
Varda Valar: I'm hoping to be home fairly steadily for a while, but we
expect power outages for two days early in the week, for power
maintenance on transformes and cables.
Varda Valar: Glad they're being pro-active, with all the rain and
flooding around here. :-)
Varda Valar: Any other membership news?
arpharazonv: We had the water shut off here for a few hours for
maintenance on thursday.
arpharazonv: Strange world where you miss electricity more than you
miss water ;)
arpharazonv: Also, does me going to see the Warcraft movie count as
membership or gaming?
Varda Valar: That could be either. :-)
Varda Valar: I would miss water and sewer more than electricity on a
long outage, I think. We've adapted to lack of electricity from so many
experiences with it.
arpharazonv: Long term, sure. But up to a day or so...
arpharazonv: Especially if it's announced ahead of time.
Varda Valar: A few hours without water though, that would be ok. We
have some huge old water cooler jugs of water.
Varda Valar: True!
arpharazonv: Buckets, buckets everywhere.
Varda Valar: Good time for it, with all the rain for you and me. :-)
Varda
Valar: Web:
Varda Valar: We have new artwork up.
Arien V: is it mean for me to say that we had a lovely week with over
20 degrees here on Skye? it cooled down now tho :-)
Varda Valar: Not at all. It gives hope!
arpharazonv: It's been pretty warm here for most of the week.
Varda Valar: And yay for cool
arpharazonv: Started getting cooler yesterday.
Varda Valar: We had some really pretty days during the week, between
rain. Makes it all really green.
Varda Valar: Web:
Varda Valar: New art from the Bohemian Weasel-(T):
Varda Valar: "Fëanor
in the firelight" animated portrait of Fëanor,
new folder. Large file. Includes the rough sketch.
Varda Valar: New folder means we had a new subject under that person's
art.
Varda Valar: "The
Dark Elf, Eol". New
folder.
Varda Valar: "Battle
Under the Trees". Elves and orcs battle in the forest. A battling
archer elf and a fallen swordself. New
folder including progress and details. To be used as a trading card
for Perna Studios' Spellcasters II: Enchanted Realms.
Varda Valar: On that last, she just sent an extra email for our meeting
telling a bit more than what was on her site.
arpharazonv: A bit well dressed for combat, that archer.
Varda Valar: Hey, elves. :-)
Varda Valar: Here's what she said:
arpharazonv: Elves always gotta go in style.
Varda Valar: it was inspired by the idea of Lorien Elves coming
to the aid of their kin in Mirkwood when the latter were assailed by
Orcs towards the end of the War of the Ring.
Varda Valar: and in more good news, she added
Varda Valar: There's more Silmarillion and book-based stuff coming, and
it does feel exciting to be doing non-movie book work at last. :-D
arpharazonv: hah
Varda Valar: Here's the last item:
Varda Valar: "Eowyn
and Eomer at Meduseld" - saying goodbye to their Uncle
Théoden. A happy picture, in the Eowyn folder.
Includes progress, details in the folder.
Varda Valar: I like seeing her doing purely original work, rather than
trying to please the movie buffs only. :-)
Varda Valar: But the movies are great inspiration too.
Varda Valar: Did the Feanor image with the flickering firelight come up
for you ok?
arpharazonv: It did.
Arien V: very nice
arpharazonv: With animation and all.
Arien V: love it
Varda Valar: huzzah!
Varda Valar: She said the firelight could be from his forge or the
burning of Teleri ships
Varda Valar: I would add: depending on the time of day
Varda Valar: but that would be silly. ;-)
Varda Valar: I think she may be adding more to Eol's picture, but it
looks fine as is to me.
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Varda Valar: On to Gaming!
Varda Valar: LotRO:
Varda Valar: We have the Spring Festival going with new goodies as
we've come to expect for every festival, being spoiled.
Varda Valar: Since folks get to mention other Valarites who showed up
in their game last week, here's the ones in the kin in LotRO that
showed up:
Varda Valar: Ancalagon
Nimrodel
Eonwe
Lenwe
Fangorn
Dis
Gorlim
Gil-galad
Morwe
Marigold
Elladan
Goldilocks
Falco
Erkenbrand
Nar
Bregalad/Quickbeam
Varda
Varda Valar: I hadn't realized until checking just how many come in
over that length of time! Grats to all.
Arien V: Anc :-)
Varda Valar: Aye :-)
Arien V: glad to SEe he is still around
Varda Valar: Agreed. Mostly he plays other games now, but he pops in
now and again still. Very nice. :-)
arpharazonv: Good to know so many people are still active. I only see
about half a dozen members regularly these days :)
arpharazonv: I wonder where Menel's gone.
Varda Valar: *drags you to LotRO*
Varda Valar: We don't get any contact from him. Wish he'd say hi.
arpharazonv: I couldn't even justify getting Overwatch for what little
free time I have left, let alone a more expensive MMO ;)
Arien V: i see his account online now and again but i dont know whether
he still owns it
Varda Valar: Free to play version of LotRO is availalbe, but it makes
it grindy.
arpharazonv: Yeah, making things grindier on purpose is not a good
thing when what you lack is, mostly, time.
Varda Valar: Aye, you have enough games already, judging from your
report, too.
Varda Valar: It's a way of buying content without paying them money
arpharazonv: I like grinds. I'm grinding stuff *right now*, even. But I
need to be able to allocate time to it!
arpharazonv: 400 more claws ;)
Varda Valar: Lot of broke or out of work people appreciate it, as they
can do the whole game, not be stopped at some low level like, say, WoW.
Varda Valar: No worries. You really have enough games!
Varda Valar: WoW:
Varda Valar: Eonwe says he's seen Glorfindel and Elwing this past week,
even with his weird schedule. :-)
Varda Valar: From the Games
Site:
Varda Valar: Several new blogs have been put up this
week, starting with Toybox Tuesday: Pet Tricks.
Varda Valar: Next is a blog spotlighting two quest
lines: Welcome to the Machine: Surely You joust!
Varda Valar: For new players, there's several blogs:
Varda Valar: (Oh, and thanks to Fangorn for bringing a hot cup of
coffee! So kind!)
Varda Valar: Welcome to World of Warcraft—Basic Movement and Combat
arpharazonv: I never even knew that toy Cloud Ring existed. Will have
to buy it at some point!
Varda Valar: New Player Guide: Human Starting Zone- Elwynn Forest 1–5
Varda Valar: (Glad our news helped!)
Varda Valar: New Player Guide: Human Starting Zone- Elwynn Forest 5-10
Varda Valar: New to World of Warcraft? Welcome Home!
Varda Valar: StarCraft 2:
arpharazonv: No, I spotted that blog on the EU site earlier this week,
just saying ;)
Varda Valar: A new co-op mission is coming. See some
information on it in the blog Introducing The Vermillion Problem.
Varda Valar: Cool :-)
Varda Valar: Season 2 lock is coming soon.
Varda Valar: Heroes of the Storm:
Varda Valar: The first official ranked season is
coming. If you're interested in the competition, see who ranked in the pre-season.
Varda Valar: That's the news from the site.
arpharazonv: Also, Medivh patch I think?
Varda Valar: Please feel free to send in your group gaming reviews by
email to Eonwe. :-)
arpharazonv: for Heroes of the Storm.
Varda Valar: Thank you
arpharazonv: Or.. not yet. Just a livestream featuring him.
arpharazonv: He'll show up soon enough.
arpharazonv: No, Medivh was added last week's patch. So yeah, still!
arpharazonv: Correcting myself again, that was a PTR patch.
arpharazonv: Typical for Medivh. He's there and not there at the same
time?
arpharazonv: Never trust a wizard.
arpharazonv: This a good place to toss in a relatively spoilerfree movie review?
Varda Valar: Aye, go ahead
arpharazonv: Alright!
arpharazonv: Yesterday I went to see the Warcraft: The Beginning movie.
arpharazonv: Over 2 hours long, but not a dull moment.
Varda Valar: Did they manage to have a little characterization anyway?
arpharazonv: A little, yes. But it was not so much a personal drama as
a story-driven war story, as expected from a Warcraft movie.
arpharazonv: A handful of characters got good story and character
parts, mostly the named characters from Warcraft 1.
arpharazonv: But for a Warcraft-movie, I'd say it pretty much nailed
it. There are some bad reviews for too much action and strategy and not
enough character, with maybe a bit too much humor and cheesiness...
arpharazonv: but I'd say that's exactly what a Warcraft movie should be.
arpharazonv: War, and large battles, and smaller skirmishes, and some
great special effects for magic-use.
arpharazonv: Enough character development to push the plot forwards,
but never getting too deeply into it, and it pretty much hit all the
main canon points, though there were differences with the established
canon. A bit like LotR, perhaps ;)
arpharazonv: And there's a bunch of easter eggs for Warcraft and WoW
players too, which makes it very enjoyable for us :)
arpharazonv: Including someone getting polymorphed into a sheep, a
murloc during a nightscene... and keep your eyes open for a half-hidden
summoning stone, which really made me smile!
Varda Valar: Neat :-)
arpharazonv: Geography was taken nicely from the games as well.
Stormwind was accurately portrayed, including awkward gryphon alcove.
arpharazonv: So yeah, I liked it! Very much worth it. I'm not sure if
outsiders will enjoy it much, but for those who play WoW and/or are
familiar with the older games and settings, who appreciate the style of
the games and story, I definitely recommend going, and I will certainly
be purchasing the dvd in the future, hopefully extended edition.
arpharazonv: That'll be all for my review, I think I've got the main
things I wanted to talk about.
Varda Valar: Thanks. Now I want to go see it. :-)
arpharazonv: Oh, one more thing.
Varda Valar: ?
arpharazonv: The bit I wanted to say at the start but got sidetracked :)
arpharazonv: It was only offered in 3D around here, so 3D it was.
Arien V: i thought i heard a murloc when they road through Elwyn by
night *gg*
arpharazonv: Interesting experience, but it felt natural enough.
arpharazonv: Yep, that's the one, Arien :)
Arien V: they did such a great job with th movie
arpharazonv: Especially for a WoW player, 3D was a nice touch, like
you're back in the world ;)
arpharazonv: And it didn't really jump out of the screen much or make
me ill, so that's good too!
arpharazonv: Just a bit of weird overlay with the subtitles sometimes.
arpharazonv: But yeah, go see it if you want! It's certainly made me
interested again in the older lore.
arpharazonv: And that's it for me, personal gaming to follow later ;)
Varda Valar: Thank you, Phar :-)
Varda Valar: Any other comments, suggestions, kudos, complaints?
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Varda Valar: Tolkien!
Varda Valar: The artwork is interesting, as it shows how interesting
looking a "bad boy" like Feanor, Eol, or Sauron can be. And then the
startlinglyl uplifting feeling of seeing a hero happy or acting
heroically.
Varda Valar: At least that's how I felt looking at the latest crop of
mixed good guy and bad guy images today.
Varda Valar: That feeling of being uplifted, of joy
in heroism. Do we feel that reading Tolkien?
arpharazonv: There are some happy scenes, usually where Elves or
Hobbits are involved :)
arpharazonv: The uplifting feeling certainly happens in the Shire
chapters.
Varda Valar: The uplift can also come from the doing of a heroic deed,
so that's two types.
Varda Valar: Can we think of examples of any of those two types?
arpharazonv: I'm trying to think of a heroic moment that doesn't
immediately go "movie" in my head :)
Varda Valar: We also have the uplift of comraderie, kidding between
characters.
Varda Valar: heh - guess it's ok to use those, since that's the very
thing a ovie would need to pick.
arpharazonv: Legolas didn't solo a mumakil in the books, did he? ;)
Varda Valar: Not that we know of. The whole wipe-out of mumakil was
"off-screen'.
Varda Valar: Funny thing, is we don't know that he didn't.
arpharazonv: hehe
arpharazonv: Still not very uplifting if it's offscreen.
Varda Valar: Surprisingly large amount is offscreen, and really big
chunks are told in conversation to other characters, often so that it
is out of chronological order or in pieces.
arpharazonv: What about Frodo facing the Nazgul at the Ford? That's
heroic :)
Varda Valar: I agree.
arpharazonv: And Tom Bombadil is uplifting personified.
Varda Valar: All is gloom and doom, then he sings up a storm and saves
the day. :-)
arpharazonv: Indeed!
Varda Valar: Aragorn is practically uplift personified. Hope,
leadership, aid, healing.
arpharazonv: Oh yes. Healing powers help.
Varda Valar: His healing is even more of the hope idea, since it
directly counteracts the dread from the Black Breath of the worst
villains.
arpharazonv: Good point!
Varda Valar: Fangorn just mentioned one: Sam picking up Frodo when he
just couldn't move anymore.
Arien V: *well if i cant carry the ring , I can carry you!
arpharazonv: Literally uplifting, that one.
Arien V: that short moment when gollum had the ring .. even if it was
still on frodo's finger ... there was something like happiness for a
split second in his eyes in the movie
Arien V: at least i thought so . not very uplifting for us maybe .. but
for him
Varda Valar: True. He finally retrieved his Precious after such a long
time and so many trials.
Arien V: heroic .. in a twisted way yes
arpharazonv: The music helped with that one.
Varda Valar: How about when Eowyn and Faramir meet in the Houses of
Healing?
arpharazonv: Felt too much sadness in the background to be really
uplifting for me.
arpharazonv: But your mileage may vary :)
Varda Valar: They stop worrying so much about the scary stuff outside
Varda Valar: Suddenly it's importance takes a nosedive, at least for
them.
arpharazonv: A sort of escape, yes.
Varda Valar: Hey - it's looove. :-)
Varda Valar: Getting late. We can add more examples during
After-meeting as they strike us.
Varda Valar: *picks up a simple wooden gavel*
Varda Valar: *soft thunk*
arpharazonv: *ducks*
Varda Valar: Moss and vines begin growing in all directions starting
from where the hammer came down.
Varda Valar: *puts the hammer back carefully*
arpharazonv: Going to take a while to clean up that mess.
Varda Valar: *flowering bushes and trees start growing*
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Varda Valar: After-meeting!
Varda Valar: *moves the meeting area onto a handy cloud hanging off the
side of Taniquetil*
Varda Valar: Free chat!
Varda Valar: *eyes the algae greening the cloud*
arpharazonv: Such a nice green world.
Arien V: want some cleansing fire|?
Varda Valar: *air ferns float by in a breeze, seeking branches to light
on*
Varda Valar: Considering it. :-)
Arien V: *sends a spark in direction of gavel*#
arpharazonv: No need to set the gavel on fire.
Varda Valar: *the shelf lights on fire while the gavel is merely warm*
Varda Valar: Yavanna? Hey?
Varda Valar: Did she just giggle?
Varda Valar: *the cloud dumps water on the shelf*
Varda Valar: It's ok. We can work with a green cloud table.
arpharazonv: Shall I start personal gaming section?
Varda Valar: Whenever you're ready. ;-)
Varda Valar: :-)
arpharazonv: Right!
arpharazonv: For flashgaming, 3 games again.
arpharazonv: crossy_swipe http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/crossy_swipe
is a puzzle platformer where you have to twist and turn the map around
to reach the goal and, if possible, all 3 stars before you get there.
Can be difficult timing and planning.
arpharazonv: penguineering http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArcticArcade/penguineering
is a Lemmings-style game but with penguins. Place objects to guide the
penguins into the right direction, avoiding the obstacles.
arpharazonv: papas-taco-mia http://www.kongregate.com/games/FliplineStudios/papas-taco-mia
is the third game for this week. An older installment in the Papa Louie
restaurant management series, but one of the badges of the day in the
past week took me there, and I hadn't played it yet.
arpharazonv: Grill meat, throw seasoning on it, fulfill orders and get
money!
arpharazonv: Play until you've unlocked all the ingredients, or
employer ranks, or customers, or all the stars or badges.. or just
until you get bored with it ;)
arpharazonv: And if you like it, there are a ton more of those!
arpharazonv: Let's see, blizzard
gaming...
arpharazonv: Diablo 3: Even
when I had the time, I haven't really felt like playing. Should change
that if I want to get chapter 4 done at least, but.. still plenty of
time.
arpharazonv: Heroes of the Storm:
This anniversary xp bonus came at a good time, when many of my heroes
were approaching level 7. In the last week I've levelled Zagara,
Li-Ming, Diablo, Artanis, Tassadar, Raynor and Kharazim to level 7.
arpharazonv: Getting a new skin-palette, or whatever they're called,
for each of them, and some of them are quite nice looking.
arpharazonv: Others.. don't seem to fit as much, but I can always stick
with the original for those.
arpharazonv: Hearthstone: Had
some quests this week that let me play catch-up on some of the classes
who were behind in experience, which is good. That said, a few classes
are over halfway to the next level now, so progress is being made.
arpharazonv: A weird tavern brawl this week, where you picked your
class, but then got 4 random legendaries duplicated throughout your
deck, and some custom spells to make a certain one cheaper.
Arien V: hs is a weird game if you ask me anyway ^^#'
arpharazonv: hehe
arpharazonv: Anyway, the legendaries being pretty much random, except
you not being able to get legendaries that are for other classes but
your own (so only neutral or for your class), it comes down to a lot of
luck.
arpharazonv: But when you win, you tend to win very strongly :)
arpharazonv: Actually, I read it wrong. 7 random legendaries, but 4
copies of each. I guess I wasn't paying too much attention to how many
legendaries I saw :)
arpharazonv: WoW:
arpharazonv: Raiding didn't go so well. We've got a few more mythic
Blackrock Foundry fights under control, but we started a raidbreak and
of course in said raidbreak, there are people organizing (alt)raids
anyway. But they haven't been very successful so far.
arpharazonv: But I have been making progress in my other WoW projects!
arpharazonv: Gotten the troll levelled to 28 now, and almost have the
5000 blackfang claws needed for the achievement. A bit more archeology
on the side, as well.
arpharazonv: If I can keep a tempo like this up for a while, I should
actually be able to finish some of the stuff I wanted to finish before
the next expansion comes.
arpharazonv: Next week I should be able to get further into the
Brawler's Guild, as well!
arpharazonv: With the troll, I've finished Azshara (big zone, lots of
quests!) and entered Ashenvale.
arpharazonv: I like Ashenvale, even though playing Horde there is a bit
sad.
arpharazonv: Still, enjoying playing moonkin, anyway.
Arien V: mmh i know .. i played the zone also a long time ago#
Arien V: Anyway it is time for me to go to bed before our little
monster decides to invade our bedroom again:)
Arien V: Namarie for now :-)
arpharazonv: Cat?
arpharazonv: Namarie!
Varda Valar: namarie
Arien V: aye , Akira
arpharazonv: And my report's done too :)
Varda Valar: Good timing :-)
Arien V: Akira the Tortie Bengal
arpharazonv: :)
Arien V: https://www.facebook.com/akirathetortiebengal/?fref=ts
Arien V: :-)
Varda Valar: That's your cat's page?
Arien V: aye :-)
Arien V: Bruce writes it
arpharazonv: A facebook page for your pet. Right :) I don't even have
one for myself!
Varda Valar: Cool :-)
Varda Valar: Eowyn made one for her baby. Helps keep the pics together.
Arien V: indeed
Arien V: enjoy bowsing :-)
Arien V: Namarie for now :-)
Varda Valar: the joy of internet cat pics. Such a page could be more
popular than our own.
arpharazonv: Namarie Arien, when you read this!
Varda Valar: Cute. Sounds as if the cat itself is writing the lines.
arpharazonv: Cats are very popular online, that's true.
Varda Valar: Think I'll go see about supper. :-)
arpharazonv: enjoy!
Varda Valar: Namarie for now! Happy gaming
arpharazonv: saving and sending transcript
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