So what am I looking for? Simple. I'm asking you to let me know
what
online games you currently play and would like to be able to find
other
people to game with. If you have a particular name(s) you would
like
members to find you under, please include that name(s). Please
send
this information to me by September 30th to be included on the
Games
Site.
On the gaming front, there's been plenty of things going on.
In
WoW, patch 5.4 has just launched, supposed to
be
the last major patch of the expansion and giving the raid
containing
the expansion's Big Bad. There's also the Timeless Isle, having
some
interesting quests and a means to catch up mains or alts who
haven't
been kept up to speed with the patches. As always, our Guild
Branch is
on Lothar (Alliance, US servers) for members wishing to join
us
there. Interested parties can contact me.
LotRO has a new expansion coming up: Helm's Deep.
To
keep us busy in the meantime, there's the Bounder's Bounty event.
Each
server is tasked with collecting enough Bounders Tokens (gathered
from
creatures out in the field during the normal course of gaming, or
from
festival quests during the currently running Farmer's Faire) to
unlock
a vendor that will allow players to purchase some useful and
unique items (including a mount). The Bounder's Bounty goes away
when
Helm's Deep launches. Our Guild Branch is on Landroval if you wish
to
join the fun in LotRO. Contact Varda for more info.
StarCraft 2's expansion, Heart of the Swarm,
launched
earlier this year, and let us for the first time on the new
Battle.net
organize as groups. It introduced two separate kinds of
organizations:
Clans (limited size, for those who are more competitive
minded, as
they're slated to have ladders and such for them eventually) and
Groups
(for a focus more on the social aspect, with a larger size limit).
We
have one of each on the Americas region. All members are welcome
to
join our Group, aptly named "Valar Guild" so they can keep in
touch
with other members. For those interested in also bearing our
banner
honorably and courteously in the more competitive
realm (remember
our Rules and Code of Conduct? [
http://valarguild.org/varda/guild/RulesCoC.htm]
:}), our Clan is Valar, with Valar as our tag. Members interested
in
joining the Group, or both the Group and the Clan can contact me.
Since players can join multiple groups, but only one clan,
members
playing StarCraft 2 are encouraged to at least join the Group
:}
Diablo 3's expansion was just announced recently:
Reaper of Souls. The expansion will introduce a new act, a new
class
(the Crusader), and plenty of changes.
Of course, gaming isn't the only thing open to Valar Guild members
:}
For those who like to research, or are interested in a particular
subject, Varda maintains the
Valar
Guild
Tolkien Encyclopedia. Contributions from members are always
welcome, and there's always plenty to contribute. Just make sure
to
cite your sources in your articles and papers before sending them
to
Varda. :} For our creative types, we also accept
members' original Tolkien-inspired artwork, stories, and
poetry to
be posted to our Tolkien Site. E-mail Varda for more information
on
what our Tolkien Site has available and is looking for.
We continue to have our weekly meeting in AIM every Sunday at 5pm
US
East Coast Time. All members are welcome to join us. We have
a
business section first, sharing info on what's going on in the
Guild,
then move into Tolkien chat/trivia/word games. Our meeting channel
is
"Valar Guild Meetingplace". If you need an invitation, you can
send
Varda a message on AIM at VardaValar1.
Our forum is also available for members. Making sure you've set up
an
account on our
Forum
would be a good idea. Don't forget to set your display name
as
your Guild Name so we all know who you are :} Feel free to
discuss
the games we play (boards exist for most of the ones we know of
that we
play :}), discuss Tolkien, or say hi in the Greetings subboard of
the
Community board and let us know you're there :}
Varda is our general contact for everything concerning the Valar
Guild,
so if you have something and aren't sure who to contact,
she's
your Valië :}
varda.elentari (AT) gmail.com
Let us not forget that the
Valar
Guild's
16th Anniversary is just around the corner on October 4th!
To celebrate, we will be holding our annual chat marathon in the
meeting channel from the Sunday before to the Sunday after the
anniversary. All members are welcome to come in, help us keep the
channel open, reminisce about joining and the fun you've had, chat
with
other members you may not get a chance to meet in-game, etc. :}
Members
are also welcome to send in contributions to the website to help
celebrate :} Articles, stories, art, poetry, game reviews are all
welcome :} Keep an eye on the News and the Forum for celebration
plans
for our guild branches, and feel free to contact Varda if you
would
like to make celebration suggestions!
Before we close, here are a few useful links for you all :}
Our main link:
http://valarguild.org
Our Guild News Page:
http://valarguild.org/varda/guild/news.html
Our Games Site:
www.valarguild.org/eonwe
Our Tolkien Site:
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/frames/Tsitefrms.htm
Our Forum:
http://valarguild.proboards.com/
So don't forget:
1.) Get your gaming info in by September 30th!
2.) Group up! Have fun! Get together with other members in games
you
enjoy!
3.) Visit the News Page! Visit the Forum! Stay involved!
4.) Read more Tolkien! Or at least read! :}
Take care all and Happy
16th
Anniversary!
Eonwë-(Valar)