Valar Guild

June 9, 2013 Sunday Meeting

5pm EDT (UTC - 5)
AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace

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Transcript work by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (7)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, EonweValar (presiding), fladrifv, Gilraen-(V)/Iryenth, Menelvagor Valar, VardaValar1

Before-meeting
Meeting begins

Membership:
Web:
Gaming:

Tolkien:
    Forum trivia over LotR for prizes upcoming.
    Chat topic: Non-humanoid intelligences: what kinds and why were they there?
After-meeting:
    AIM between meetings
    MLP Guidebook
    Unofficial rumored new launcher for Blizzard games.
    Blizzard housing rumors and speculation

Before-meeting
You have just entered room "valarguildmeetingplace."
AriehnV has entered the room.
ArPharazonV: Aiya Arien!
AriehnV: Ai
AriehnV: ya Phara :-)
VardaValar1 has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Arien and Ar-Pharazon :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
VardaValar1: Still a little time left.
AriehnV: aiya :-)
Eonwe Valar has entered the room.
Eonwe Valar: Heya.
ArPharazonV: Aiya
VardaValar1: Aiya!
Iryenth has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Just looking over the gaming news you sent before starting. : )
VardaValar1: Aiya Eonwe and Gilraen : )
Iryenth: Aiya
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
fladrifv has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Fladrif :-)
fladrifv: Aiya
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
VardaValar1: Sticking Eonwe with the "gavel" one last time before his "vacation". Then you're all stuck with me again.
Eonwe Valar: Let's go ahead and begin the meeting.
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Eonwe Valar: Elen Sila Lumenn Omentielvo!
Eonwe Valar: Membership:
Eonwe Valar: This is my last meeting for a while, unfortunately. Hopefully I will be able to attend meetings once more soon.
AriehnV: awqww :-((
Eonwe Valar: I hope you all will have many wonderful Tolkien chats without me :}
Eonwe Valar: That way I can at least read them, hehe.
ArPharazonV: We'll send many transcripts your way!
VardaValar1: They'll be on the News for you. : )
Eonwe Valar: Thanks :}
Eonwe Valar: Any other Membership news?
VardaValar1: Aye
VardaValar1: For this week, happy birthdays go out to Ancalagon (whose been back on addictive LotRO lately) on June 6, and today for Earendil and Scatha. : )
ArPharazonV: Congrats!
VardaValar1: Sauron's car is back in operating order again, beware! : )
Eonwe Valar: :}
VardaValar1: That's it from me.
Menelvagor Valar has entered the room.
Menelvagor Valar: Aiya!
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
VardaValar1: Egad! Aiya Menel : )
Menelvagor Valar: It's been a while!
Eonwe Valar: Heya Menel :}
AriehnV: hello stranger :-)
VardaValar1: Glad you could make it. : )
VardaValar1: We're in the Membership section now, well-timed.
Eonwe Valar: Good to see Membership News, if you have any? :}
Eonwe Valar: *Good to see you :} We're in Membership News, if you have any?
Eonwe Valar: COmputer ate half my sentence, heh.
Menelvagor Valar: Not unless having a girlfriend for the past 2 months count :-)
Eonwe Valar: Hehe, congrats :}
VardaValar1: You bet. :-) Grats!
ArPharazonV: Grats! So that's where you've been.
Menelvagor Valar: That, and my weekly sunday evening game nights.
Menelvagor Valar: Reason we're home early tonight is that we're both pretty tired and have an early morning.
AriehnV: what game night is this?
Menelvagor Valar: board games.
Eonwe Valar: Well, glad you could make it tonight :}
Eonwe Valar: Any other Membership news?
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Eonwe Valar: Web:
Eonwe Valar: While I'm not able to to update the Games Site directly, Varda is helping me by uploading the necessary files. Thank you Varda :}
VardaValar1: My pleasure
VardaValar1: Speaking of which, the latest update is online.
AriehnV: very nice
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/gaming
Eonwe Valar: In other web news, it doesn't look like Proboards has got to us for updating to v5 yet, hehe. Makes me wonder how many boards they still have to update :}
VardaValar1: Nothing new on the Tolkien Site. Feel free to send in your stuff when you're ready, folks. : )
ArPharazonV: Easy way to check if you know any other proboards forums of varying starting letters :-)
VardaValar1: We could especially use Hobbit-related stuff.
VardaValar1: Here's the site for Proboards: http://www.proboards.com/
Eonwe Valar: Make sure to get Tolkien stories, art, poetry, and articles in to Varda. We've got plenty of room for them :}
Eonwe Valar: And since we need Hobbit-related stuff, you know where to start :}
Eonwe Valar: Now is that Hobbit the book, or Hobbit the race, to clarify? Or both?
VardaValar1: Hobbit the book
VardaValar1: That can include Hobbits the race, aye. : )
Eonwe Valar: Thanks :}
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Eonwe Valar: Gaming:
Eonwe Valar: WoW:
Eonwe Valar: Coming with patch 5.4 is another feature from Blizzard with potential: flexible raids. Short version: same looting setup as LFR, loot level between LFR and normal, will scale for any group between 10 and 25 people (inclusive).
Eonwe Valar: They're still finalizing the details, but you can see the basics at: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/10175200/A_Raid_for_All_Seasons_Flexible_Raid_Preview-6_6_2013

Eonwe Valar: LotRO:
VardaValar1: An interesting spot to check for LotRO players is the Dev (Developer) diaries, explaining what they're doing:
VardaValar1: http://archive.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries
VardaValar1: Another is the Featured Articles:
VardaValar1: http://archive.lotro.com/gameinfo/feature-articles
VardaValar1: The Spring festival is over and we're back to working on our characters.
VardaValar1: Anyone else have any LotRO news?
Eonwe Valar: I popped into LotRO a little this week... :}
VardaValar1: yay! : )
Eonwe Valar: I'm done at Parth Galen, got sent back to Langold to quest there. I got a quest to fight a Warband, but I couldn't seem to find it so I assume I have to have a combat mount to be able to do that.
AriehnV: dont you have one yet?
VardaValar1: The Warbands get killed a lot, have to wait for the respawn.
Eonwe Valar: Not yet, no. I'm not spending all that much time in LotRO so I haven't completed the epic quest part that gives me one yet.
Eonwe Valar: Ah ok, so I don't need to have the combat mount then?
VardaValar1: It's better, but not required. You might want help though, so give us a holler.
VardaValar1: I'm assuming you need Cinder, and he can be killed on foot, but he does have friends, as most do.
VardaValar1: *deletes the excess commas*
Eonwe Valar: That's the one, aye. Didn't see him.
VardaValar1: He gets killed a lot. Wait for the repop. They show on your map with a special icon, and you can see it moving. They have routes they take.
Eonwe Valar: OK, thanks. Now I know :}
VardaValar1: My pleasure.

Eonwe Valar: Diablo 3:
Eonwe Valar: Looks like they've finally made it clear that D3 is coming to the XBox 360 as well as the PS3, for those wanting it on a console.
Eonwe Valar: Release date is September 3rd.
Eonwe Valar: Any other Gaming News?

ArPharazonV: More flashgaming here, among several others I'm currently hurting my brain with an image puzzle game at http://www.kongregate.com/games/MoonberryStudios/picma-squared

ArPharazonV: Also, happy to say, today in WoW I got myself a leatherworking pattern from the Firelands raid that I've been after for over a year, which means that all my weekly visits have finally paid off ;-)
VardaValar1: Grats!
ArPharazonV: Thanks!
ArPharazonV: So I've been in a bit of a happy mood the rest of the day *grin*
Eonwe Valar: Congrats :}

ArPharazonV: And for more flashgames, an interesting platformer which has you unlocking a high variety of characters, based on a time management series of games from the same maker.
ArPharazonV: http://www.kongregate.com/games/FliplineStudios/papa-louie-2-when-burgers-attack
ArPharazonV: And that's it for me.

AriehnV: i ve been re- digging in Rift a bit
AriehnV: and quite some fun .. i love that cleric - mage .. tank specked healing mail wearing caster hehe
AriehnV: just what we need in wow *nod\*
Eonwe Valar: hehe
VardaValar1: *cough* paladin
AriehnV: also took part for the first time in a major event .. which involved a competitive resource gathering with the other faction
ArPharazonV: mail-wearing, Varda... so more like the mythical shaman tank :-)
AriehnV: was quite interesting . unfortunately they - the defiants won - but we wre only three gathering were doing good for that
VardaValar1: (not plate, okies)

AriehnV: but else i was mainly on wow and having fun in rp :-) got the second mage to 90 and thats about it :-)

Menelvagor Valar: Me and my girlfriend are jetting off to bed.
Menelvagor Valar: Namarie everyone.
ArPharazonV: Namarie
AriehnV: Namarie have fun
Menelvagor Valar: Was good being here again :-)
AriehnV: good to see you again :-)
Eonwe Valar: Sleep well.Menel. Don't forget to look at the RP :}
ArPharazonV: and have fun with your gaming nights :-)
Menelvagor Valar has left the room.
VardaValar1: Good night :-)
Eonwe Valar: Any other gaming news before we move to Tolkien?
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Eonwe Valar: Tolkien:
Eonwe Valar: I'm making my intentions know that soon(TM), I will be posting a Tolkien trivia to the Forum.
VardaValar1: Open-book?
Eonwe Valar: There will be prizes for members with characters in the LotRO and WoW guild branches.
Eonwe Valar: No, closed-book.
Eonwe Valar: Would be too easy otherwise :}
ArPharazonV: How can you check? :-)
AriehnV: nice
Eonwe Valar: I expect that as members of the Valar Guild, everyone has enough honor to be honest and not use the books :}
Eonwe Valar: If this weren't prizes involved, I might say open-book was fine.
VardaValar1: Good point
Eonwe Valar: However, I *will* say that there is time before I put up the questions to brush up on your Tolkien.
VardaValar1: Valar Honor ineligilble?
Eonwe Valar: TBD on that, Varda.
Eonwe Valar: I'll give the final word when I put up the questions.
VardaValar1: okie dokie
Eonwe Valar: Like my last Tolkien Trivia, there will be an overall ranking, then one for each branch where prizes can be collected.
Eonwe Valar: As I said, members collecting prizes will have to have a character in the guild branch for which they are collecting prizes.
ArPharazonV: But others can still participate for the fun of it?
Eonwe Valar: Members will also be replying to the trivia via the Forum, so members will need to have signed up on the Forum using their Valar Guild Name.
Eonwe Valar: Aye, anyone can participate Phar, so feel free to do so.
Eonwe Valar: The Overall ranking will cover 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for any Guild Member who participates.
Eonwe Valar: Members placing in the top 3 in multiple guild branches will only be able to collect prizes in one guild branch.
Eonwe Valar: Prizes will be announced with the questions :}
ArPharazonV: So they can choose? :-)
Iryenth has left the room.
Iryenth has entered the room.
Eonwe Valar: Aye, they can choose which guild branch they want rewards from.
Eonwe Valar: So if they get first in WoW and 3rd in LotRO, they might want what I offer for WoW 1st prize more than what I offer for LotRO 3rd prize :}
VardaValar1: WoW Alliance and Horde branches? : )
Eonwe Valar: Hmm....
VardaValar1: Maybe I can help with Horde side prizes. : )
Eonwe Valar: Well, given what I plan to offer as prizes, they'll be useful to and usable by both Alliance and Horde characters.
Eonwe Valar: Except for part of the 1st place prize which I can't replicate on Uldaman.
Eonwe Valar: OK, let me number the rules to make sure I hit everything.
Eonwe Valar: 1.) The trivia contest is open to all Valar Guild Members, but prizes will only be awarded to those with a character in the guild branches for which there are prizes.
Eonwe Valar: 2.) The trivia is closed-book (of course). If you're going to brush up on your Tolkien, do it now.
Eonwe Valar: Once the questions are posted, books are closed and you need to use your memory.
Eonwe Valar: 3.) There will be an Overall placing for all members, plus guild branch placing to determine prizes. Members can only collect prizes in one guild branch.
Eonwe Valar: 4.) Members will need to respond to the trivia via PM to me on the forum, which means you need to actually have a forum account set up and be using your Guild Name as your display name.
Eonwe Valar: 5.) Members will have ONE WEEK to respond. No more.
Eonwe Valar: That's why I'm mentioning it now. I want everyone to know ahead of time so they can be prepared to answer them as soon as I post them.
Eonwe Valar: Any other questions?
Eonwe Valar: Valar Honor eligibility to claim prizes TBD, but any Maia or Member is eligible for prizes as per our standard trivia rules.
Eonwe Valar: *eligible based on the factors as outlined in 1-6.
VardaValar1: (TBD=to be determined)
Eonwe Valar: Thanks Varda :}
ArPharazonV: Ah, thought it was to be decided.
Eonwe Valar: Same idea :}
VardaValar1: same thing, aye
Eonwe Valar: I suppose a kin mail in LotRO will need to go out on this... :}
Eonwe Valar: And to re-iterate, prizes will be announced with the questions, just to tantalize you all a little longer :}

Eonwe Valar: If there are no other questions on the Trivia, Varda has a Tolkien topic, so I will yield her the floor :}
VardaValar1: Non-humanoid intelligences: what kinds and why were they there?
VardaValar1: All sapient beings could have looked humanoid, yet some were not.
ArPharazonV: Hmm. Do Ents count as humanoid?
VardaValar1: They looked more like trees in the books. Recognizable tree species.
VardaValar1: (We may need a week just to make sure everyone can get on the forum! Start trying early! If you have trouble with the password and it keeps giving curly letters, leave the forum and come back to it.)
ArPharazonV: In the movie they looked human-shaped, at least. Head, four limbs, supporting structure.
VardaValar1: Why would Ents have been created as an intelligent species on Middle-earth?
Eonwe Valar: The thrush in the Hobbit, if I recall, seemed to be intelligent enough.
ArPharazonV: Eagles, dragons.
VardaValar1: For all we know, they may have used roots thrashing around to walk. Movies tend to be same same on stuff.
VardaValar1: Raven
Eonwe Valar: Ents were the Shepherds of the Trees. They were there to give form to Yavanna's desire to protect the fauna of the world.
ArPharazonV: Fauna or Flora?
VardaValar1: Can it talk? It counts. : )
VardaValar1: Flora in Yavanna's case. Pardon.
VardaValar1: She wanted protection from the builders especially, since they would cut down her trees to make things.
VardaValar1: Apparently if it wasn't too horrible, it was allowed. Saruman went overboard.
Eonwe Valar: Er, flora, pardon.
Eonwe Valar: The fauna (animals, aka Kelvar) could run at least, the flora (plant, aka Olvar) could not.
VardaValar1: Some thrushes and ravens talked and had loyalties. We don't know if this was true of all of them or just some families.
ArPharazonV: Well, some trees ended up walking, under the Ents :-)
Eonwe Valar: Aye. When done for by the "good people" of Arda, trees would be chopped down, but not without respect or need and not wantonly. Saruman was just clearcutting, not even using the wood.
Eonwe Valar: *When done by
VardaValar1: He used some of it, but wasted an awful lot of the wood.
VardaValar1: The Entwives had already been run off. Maybe part of what he was doing was trying to run off the Ents as well?
Eonwe Valar: Either way he wasn't expecting what happened, hehe.
ArPharazonV: Ents never run.
VardaValar1: If they had nothing to shepherd in the area, they might look for a new home.
VardaValar1: Agreed, the ents would not run
Eonwe Valar: That's possible, aye.
VardaValar1: Phar mentioned Eagles. Definitely non-humanoid.
VardaValar1: What was their purpose?
Eonwe Valar: Although, they were already drawing in because their forest had been shrinking since the First Age, so they may have still decided they had to fight for what they had left.
ArPharazonV: Ents do not run. At most, they'll move slowly but determinedly in the right direction.
ArPharazonV: Running would be.. hasty.
Eonwe Valar: Hehe.
Eonwe Valar: Re: Eagles, aye they were intelligent.
ArPharazonV: Their purpose would be to watch over Middle-Earth for Manwe, and occasionally help out if so inclined.
VardaValar1: Aye on the hasty. : )
VardaValar1: True, they had free will, not slaves of Manwe, but his helpers.
VardaValar1: How about the dragons that Phar mentioned?
Eonwe Valar: They certainly had the malevolent will on Morgoth in them.
Eonwe Valar: They seemed to have powers beyond a simple beast, even an intelligent one.
VardaValar1: Very intelligent, but working for Morgoth's purposes.
ArPharazonV: And later their own, or so it seems.
VardaValar1: Unnatural - built up from other things at the order of Morgoth.
VardaValar1: Yet their purposes were used by Morgoth and Sauron to work for them. Their nature was known and manipulated.
VardaValar1: One wonders how much free will they had.
Eonwe Valar: Well, Morgoth Glaurung, Ancalagon etc. served. Smaug might've served Sauron eventually, as Sauron extended his hand and brought all of Morgoth's creatures under his dominion.
VardaValar1: All the evil things were beginning to wake and were being brought under Sauron one way or another. With the Ring, what free will they might have enjoyed could have been lost?
Eonwe Valar: Bringing a tribe of orcs under one's control is probably a little easier than bringing a dragon under your control.
ArPharazonV: If a few orcs in a tribe dissent, you've got the rest of the tribe to watch over them.
ArPharazonV: If the dragon dissents...
Eonwe Valar: Well, Ring or not, Sauron was Morgoth's representative in Arda. That gave him legitimacy.
VardaValar1: The dragon may find that his thoughts are no longer his own. There were fewer of them to watch.
Eonwe Valar: Shelob was the spawn of Ungoliant, who served no one but herself, so it's no surprise Sauron couldn't just bring her under his sway. Still, he used her to what usefulness she provided.
ArPharazonV: Spiders would be another candidate for this topic, yes.
VardaValar1: Aye
Eonwe Valar: Afk one moment please, pardon.
VardaValar1: There were more drakes than dragons, might have been in groups.
VardaValar1: Spiders, aye.
VardaValar1: Sauron really knew how to make use of evil creatures.
VardaValar1: Shelob was conveniently located for him, so he was willing to let her have an occasional orc for lunch. She made a powerful guard worth more than many orcs.
VardaValar1: The spiders in Mirkwood could talk and do teamwork. Shelob didn't seem much into teamwork, except with her Sneak aka Gollum.
Eonwe Valar: back.
VardaValar1: Would we consider Turin's talking sword to be intelligent? Gurthang reforged to Anglachel.
VardaValar1: Welcome back : )
Eonwe Valar: Thanks :}
VardaValar1: er, reverse that.
Eonwe Valar: I'm not so sure I would consider that an intelligence, no.
ArPharazonV: It seemed sentient, anyway.
Eonwe Valar: It had Eol's malicious will on it.
AriehnV: his soul was bound to it
VardaValar1: Anglachel reforged to Gurthang. It did talk, picked up Eol's malevolence, held loyalty to Beleg and wanted vengeance for him
VardaValar1: so maybe it was more a bit of left-over Eol than the sword?
Eonwe Valar: Well, it had Eol's malevolence from its forging.
ArPharazonV: So maybe, in a way, Eol spoke through the sword.
Eonwe Valar: Eol forged it from some meteoritic iron.
AriehnV: it had a bit of Eol in it
VardaValar1: Melian warned Beleg that it held malice
AriehnV: so basically if it was meteor it came out of the void
VardaValar1: Interesting - the void
AriehnV: and was ruled by whom again :-)?
ArPharazonV: Or perhaps elsewhere in Ea among Varda's stars.
VardaValar1: Anguriel was its twin from the same stone. Not aware of its talking. It was stolen from Eol by his son, Maeglin. Anyone else remember?
Eonwe Valar: Well, it came from Ekkaia, not the Void.
Eonwe Valar: Ekkaia would be space.
Eonwe Valar: Anguirel we did not hear anything from, no.
VardaValar1: Starstone is what the meteoric iron is called. Means it held power. Eol used the stone and shaped the power.
AriehnV: heh ok i had just a thought if it came out of the void .. and Melkor was cast into tthe void didnt he
AriehnV: or rather wasnt he
AriehnV: so maybe if Morgoth was cast into the void .. and the rock came from there
AriehnV: it had a trace of Morgoths evil or taint onit
AriehnV: sorry on it
Eonwe Valar: Starstone? I don't recall that part.
ArPharazonV: At this time Morgoth was not cast into the void yet.
VardaValar1: Another name for meteoric iron is starstone.
ArPharazonV: If it truly is Starstone, that implies that it's made, somehow, from a fragment of Varda's own stars, that came down to earth.
Eonwe Valar: Ah, so not specifically in the Sil, ok.
Eonwe Valar: Well, it wouldn't have to literally be "star stone" to be called "starstone."
Eonwe Valar: it came out of the sky, stars are in the sky, meteorites are called shooting stars, it was burning brightly as it fell to the ground, etc. So with a limited understand of astronomy, there you go :}
VardaValar1: Being meteoric iron does mean it came from space. A meteor tends to be called a fallen star. Morgoth is a fallen Vala, so it does track a bit like Arien suggested.
Eonwe Valar: *The observer having
ArPharazonV: I recall something about Morgoth moving through Ea/Ekkaia before coming down to Arda where the other Valar were already busy. Might have been Morgoth's Ring.
VardaValar1: The Sil mentions that Morgoth was outside Arda while the other Valar were working and came back after they had a lot built.
ArPharazonV: So what was he doing up there, hmm?
ArPharazonV: Making meteors?
AriehnV: *throws rock at Ar Pharazon .. he is mine ! grrr"
ArPharazonV: What?
AriehnV: that was Morgoth .. didnt you hear :-) ?
ArPharazonV: ah :-)
ArPharazonV: Throwing meteors at Arda. I can see it happening.
AriehnV: it is an amusing thought
ArPharazonV: Good thing Manwe made a good atmosphere that burns up most of the meteors.
VardaValar1: shiny
fladrifv has left the room.
Eonwe Valar: "Then Beleg chose Anglachel; and that was a sword of great worth, and it was so named because it was made of iron that fell from heaven as a blazing star; it would cleave all earth-delved iron." - Of Turin Turambar, the Silmarillion
Eonwe Valar: Also of note:
Eonwe Valar: "...Melian looked at the blade, and she said: ' There is malice in this sword. The dark heart of the smith still dwells in it. It will not love the hand it serves; neither will it abide with you long.'"
AriehnV: there is still the question why the will of the maker was bound to the iron
AriehnV: so i wonder if he had been noble and good
AriehnV: would the sword have been even more powerful or just a tool against really evil enemies?
Eonwe Valar: It goes with the theme that you put something of yourself into your creations.
ArPharazonV: Putting their own personality in their works seems to have been something the bad guys tended to do, not the good guys.
VardaValar1: They lost their power that way. It was a desire to control what they made.
AriehnV: so yes i remember .. Sauron put a big part of his power into the ring
AriehnV: the one ring
VardaValar1: Aye
Eonwe Valar: Consider also the Two Trees and the Silmarils. Two works so great their creators were certain they could not repeat the process.
VardaValar1: and the ships of the Teleri
Eonwe Valar: Aye.
AriehnV: i know the feeling .. sometimes you create something .. a poem , a story or a song you are really happy with and dont want to write another one because you think anything that follows can only be worse
Eonwe Valar: So yeah, I wouldn't go so far as to compare Anglachel to the Sauron's Ring, but when something is created, the will of the maker does tend to rest on the creation.
VardaValar1: A process that can be done on a smaller to a larger scale.
Eonwe Valar: He gave the sword to Thingol grudgingly as payment to live in Nan Elmoth. Had he done so more freely, perhaps the situation with the sword may have been different.
VardaValar1: Possibly
ArPharazonV: He grudgingly gave away the sword, and part of his personality in it... no wonder the sword didn't really feel like staying loyal to the Doriath elves.
VardaValar1: Yet it seemed to develop a liking for Beleg.
AriehnV: hmm can it develop that if it has not a personality of his own?
AriehnV: which would speak for a kind of intelligence
VardaValar1: Good question
ArPharazonV: I think it's mostly a piece of Eol that's inside it, though I don't know how that works with an indivisable feä.
Eonwe Valar: I'd have to look more into HoME on the subject to form a stronger opinion. I recall coming across somewhere Tolkien was speaking about it, but don't have it right in front of me right now.
VardaValar1: uh oh. A trivia question!
Eonwe Valar: :}
AriehnV: to bed or not to bed .. that is here the question
ArPharazonV: Hmm, yes. About the trivia. If you're looking in Tolkien's books for something else, and just *happen* to come across the answer to one of your trivia...
VardaValar1: Aye, that worried me too.
Eonwe Valar: Hmm, maybe I could throw in a bonus question with more difficulty/complexity, hehe. "Do not tempt me! For through me it would wield a power far greater and more terrible!" :}
VardaValar1: Just give the books a rest for a week?
VardaValar1: hehehe
ArPharazonV: Probably best, Varda :-)
AriehnV: hehe
Eonwe Valar: Answer questions, then pick up the books. Once you submit the answers, there are no retries, so you're safe to pick up the books again.
VardaValar1: Then go /smackhead or /facepalm
ArPharazonV: /facewall
AriehnV: /banghead
VardaValar1: /desktop
ArPharazonV: /book-defenestration
AriehnV: /throwscreen
VardaValar1: lol Phar!
VardaValar1: out the window it goes : )
AriehnV: the sanity aye :-)
Eonwe Valar: Shall we bang the gavel and call Aftermeeting? It seems we're at that point :}
Eonwe Valar: For the record, this trivia will be only over Lord of the Rings.
VardaValar1: and it'll be in about a week or two
AriehnV: cool :-)
AriehnV: I look forward to it
Eonwe Valar: That's why I said "soon" at the beginning, so you know you need to study now if you're going to do it, but don't count on having too long.
ArPharazonV: Hmm. 2 weeks to reread all of lotr while remembering every detail.
AriehnV: and its bedtime for me getting else mouthfreeze from yawning ;-)
ArPharazonV: Smells like a challenge.
VardaValar1: Luckily we're done. : )
AriehnV: *mmh maybe new version of Frostjaw .. mubmles*
VardaValar1: just refresher. We've all read it.
AriehnV: mumbles even .. typing goes down the pit as well grin
VardaValar1: ^^
AriehnV: Namarie all
ArPharazonV: Namarie!
Eonwe Valar: Don't count on those two weeks, hehe. If you're going to re-read or even just browse through for a refresher, do it soon.
AriehnV has left the room.
Eonwe Valar: Sleep well Arien :}
VardaValar1: Namarie Arien :-)
Eonwe Valar: Ok, let's bang the gavel.
Eonwe Valar: *Raises gavel in the air*
VardaValar1: *backs off*
Eonwe Valar: *Bang*
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Eonwe Valar: Aftermeeting:
ArPharazonV: *table breaks*
Eonwe Valar: Thank you all for coming :}
VardaValar1: *holds down the reverberating star stone*
VardaValar1: Thank you for running the meeting. : )
ArPharazonV: And we hope to see you again soon!
Eonwe Valar: I hope I will be able to attend meeting again soon.
Eonwe Valar: *meetings
ArPharazonV: If I get in.. like.. 1 or 2 hours early, will you be there?
Eonwe Valar: In the meantime, I will still be available via the Forum, e-mail, every now and then in games, and hopefully in AIM every so often.
VardaValar1: Maybe we can have some early chats :-)
Eonwe Valar: In AIM? I can try to be.
Eonwe Valar: It's too early to tell right now.
Eonwe Valar: More likely I'd be in for a bit after 1am my time.
VardaValar1: CDT
VardaValar1: which right now is nearly 7pm
ArPharazonV: So.. that'd be 6 hours later.
ArPharazonV: In other words, 8 in the morning for me.
ArPharazonV: Hyeah.... don't count on me being there ;-)
VardaValar1: We're not : )
Eonwe Valar: :}
VardaValar1: I'm trying to be in AIM more at odd hours, may catch you. : )
Eonwe Valar: I hope we'll all cross paths every now and then :}

ArPharazonV: Mwuha, just bought the official MLP guidebook. 256 pages, with trivia, sketches, map, quotes from developers, all in a neat hardcover shaped to appear like one of the pivotal books of the actual show.
Eonwe Valar: hehe
VardaValar1: o wow
VardaValar1: Sounds like a fun book. :-)
ArPharazonV: Indeed!
ArPharazonV: http://www.derpyhoovesnews.com/review-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-the-official-guidebook-by-brandon-t-snider/ have a review!
ArPharazonV: Was happily surprised to find it on the Dutch media site I usually order my books (and some games) from.
VardaValar1: Thanks : )

Eonwe Valar: Oh, now that I'm thinking about it, one second. I'm going to dig up something from gaming for a bit of After-meeting back-and-forth.
VardaValar1: Handy, Phar
Eonwe Valar: This is something that isn't official yet, so I didn't mention it in Gaming, but it's interesting:
Eonwe Valar: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/3267-Battle-net-Desktop-Client
VardaValar1: The unofficial rumor
ArPharazonV: Interesting.
VardaValar1: Replacement for the launcher. I trust the authenticator still works with it.
ArPharazonV: The launcher doesn't use the authenticator, that's the login screen.
ArPharazonV: The launcher is the thing you get updates with.
Eonwe Valar: Aye, third image in the first set shows a place for an authenticator code.
ArPharazonV: I think.
VardaValar1: okie dokie
Eonwe Valar: The launcher itself doesn't use an authenticator, no.
Eonwe Valar: But this is going to be offering more than the launcher, similar to old bnet 1.0 from my understanding, so having the authenticator would be handy.
Eonwe Valar: I like the potential of finally being able to communicate cross-Blizzard-game like back in old bnet.
Eonwe Valar: Well, right now it's saying "battle.net friends" but regular channel integration would seem to be a logical step.
ArPharazonV: You'd keep that thing open while playing the game, then, unlike the current launchers.
Eonwe Valar: It says "This replaces the launcher for all Blizzard games" so as I'm understanding it right now, this could also be an integrated launcher for all Blizzard games.
VardaValar1: Hope they can keep it from dragging down the computer too much
ArPharazonV: Seems like a custom interface for all games that you can also use to communicate.
ArPharazonV: Has potential.
VardaValar1: Maybe they looked up the old b.net coding. ;-)
Eonwe Valar: hehe
Eonwe Valar: Check out the images under the "Launcher" heading. Left side seems to be a menu for starting the associated games.
VardaValar1: Lots of avatars
Eonwe Valar: If they can keep it generally light-weight, perhaps it could have a unified chatroom structure that can be tapped into to route chat into a chat window from Battle.net, like how you can set up a new window for different kinds of chat in WoW now.
VardaValar1: Hope not too heavy on the marketing
Eonwe Valar: Probably not any heavier than SC2 does now, or old bnet did back in the day.
Eonwe Valar: We'll get all that info about 50% of character transfers, Wings of Liberty on sale for half off, and all that kind of stuff. We'll probably not get Coca Cola and Pepsi adds, hehe (unless they're teaming up with them for some promo like what they did with Mountain Dew a couple of years ago.)
VardaValar1: At least that wasn't too bad, creative even.
ArPharazonV: Heh, might get a unique pet out of it ;-)
Eonwe Valar: Hehe.
Eonwe Valar: If you scroll down to the Client Strings, there are some interesting ones in there.
Eonwe Valar: "Creating new friend request for ..." battletags, e-mails, and ids. Not sure if I should speculate yet that the "id" would be the game-specific id, i.e. I'm EonweValar for my SC2 name.
ArPharazonV: Calaron *everywhere*.
ArPharazonV: Anything about it working across continents?
Eonwe Valar: Starcraft 2 would at least.
Eonwe Valar: And D3.
Eonwe Valar: If you were logged in for "The Americas" I assume that would work, but it's probably too early for a full understanding.
Eonwe Valar: The second image in the first set of images seems to imply you log into a region.
ArPharazonV: Hmm.
Eonwe Valar: I think this has alot of potential.
VardaValar1: Would be nice if it could
ArPharazonV: Yup, it looks promising.
Eonwe Valar: Imagine if WoW removed region-specificity like LotRO did....
Eonwe Valar: Well, not quite like I suppose.
ArPharazonV: I'd probably toss a few alts on Lothar and Uldaman ;-)
Eonwe Valar: Basically Turbine took over the European servers previously maintained by Codemasters.
Eonwe Valar: But being able to get to "The Americas" for our European guys and join us on Lothar would be the right step :}
ArPharazonV: y'know, show off all my mounts and pets to you...
VardaValar1: That did cause some problems in LotRO. Not enough help for the European players, I fear. Needed a night shift. I'm sure they could have found people willing.
VardaValar1: That would be fun to see, Phar :-)
Eonwe Valar: If you could do that :} I think your accounts themselves would be region-specific like in D3 and SC2 :}
ArPharazonV: I'd probably come to Uldaman. My horde alts on other servers are low, but if I could come into a community I already know, I might log em more often.
ArPharazonV: Hmm, yes, perhaps!
VardaValar1: We have very few people on WoW now, and Horde has the least.
VardaValar1: You'd be most welcome though :-)
Eonwe Valar: Aye :}
Eonwe Valar: Bofur still pops in, I've seen Eowyn has popped in, I pop in when I get the chance, and I feel like I'm missing someone who also pops in.
Eonwe Valar: Even with only that many, Heroic scenarios can be done.
VardaValar1: Nob
Eonwe Valar: Aye, Not pops in too. Sorry Nob, if you're reading this:}
Eonwe Valar: Not =a Nob
Eonwe Valar: *minus the "a"
ArPharazonV: I'll be able to hobnob with Nob!
Eonwe Valar: :}
VardaValar1: Right!
Eonwe Valar: Glorfindel I think has been in.
VardaValar1: Elwing and I are on right now
VardaValar1: Elwing is on a lot, both Horde and Alliance
Eonwe Valar: We have enough across our various schedules for at least heroic scenarios at any given 3-person crossing.
Eonwe Valar: Plus plenty of dailies to do if we want to group up for them when we cross and have the time for dailies.
Eonwe Valar: A chunk of it is hectic schedules. If I were on a schedule more conducive to it I'd be there on Friday nights trying to get people into either Heroic dungeons or Heroic scenarios.
Eonwe Valar: Friday is still an official run day though, so even if I'm not there, people should know they can come in, grab whoever they see on, and find something to do :}
Eonwe Valar: That's part of the point of "official run days", is to be able to have a reasonable expectation of finding guildies on :}
VardaValar1: Sunday's been our best day
ArPharazonV: Well, it's all just theory anyway, since the regions are still there, but it would probably help if I wasn't raiding like.. 6 days a week ;-)
Eonwe Valar: Sorry for not being in WoW right now, hehe. I've been enjoying my last meeting for the forseeable future :}
ArPharazonV: Actually, it's more 5 days. Mondays are pretty empty.
Eonwe Valar: Hehe :}
Eonwe Valar: Well, any member of the Valar Guild is still welcome in our home on Lothar :} I keep the porch light on there, if nothing else :}
ArPharazonV: Heh.
VardaValar1: Glad you could be in the meeting!
VardaValar1: no worries, we're mostly soloing and chatting

Eonwe Valar: I'm kinda curious how Blizzard will do going housing, when they finally get around to it.
ArPharazonV: I'm guessing Blizzard is curious about that too.
Eonwe Valar: Hehe.
Eonwe Valar: *do Guild Housing, bah.
ArPharazonV: Ah, that makes more sense. Guild Housing can simply be instanced.
Eonwe Valar: Player housing probably would be similar in some form to how they did the farm in ... 5.2 was it?
Eonwe Valar: Yeah, but they like to put their own spin on it.
Eonwe Valar: We might get fortresses or something.
ArPharazonV: Hah. Upgrade it from town hall to keep to castle.
VardaValar1: Castle keep or fortress would be cool. Sort of like DAOC maybe
VardaValar1: The upgrade idea is very good!
Eonwe Valar: Outposts on a Burning Legion homeworld in the next expansion maybe, with a Naaru helping protect it. One never knows, hehe.
Eonwe Valar: Hehe, actually, that's amusing. Would certainly hearken back to Warcraft's beginning, and give something to put back gold for besides that 8th guild tab.
Eonwe Valar: I hope they wouldn't make it so you maintain a certain level of activity or your castle turns back into a town hall though, hehe.
Eonwe Valar: Probably be some upkeep required, maybe get guards with a certain spawn rate tied in, would be easy to do this well enough for PvE, and would add a new dimension in PvP.
ArPharazonV: What, attack each other's guild halls?
VardaValar1: or maybe crafting
Eonwe Valar: Aye, for PvP realms.
Eonwe Valar: Centralized crafting area, aye.
ArPharazonV: Allright, gonna save and send transcript.
VardaValar1: Thank you, Phar :-)

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