Valar Guild

September 7, 2014 Sunday Meeting

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

Back to News
Transcript work by
Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (4)
    AriehnV, ArPharazonV, Indis-(V)/karakedi25, VardaValar1 (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
    Games Site Mass Update
    17 Anniversary of the Valar Guild upcoming.
Web:
    New art by The Bohemian Weasel-(T)
Gaming:
    D3
    Hearthstone
    flashgaming
       Race the Sun
    SWTOR server The Ebon Hawk
    SCBW
    EQ2
    WoW
    LotRO
Tolkien:
    Discussion: What carried over from the Hobbit to inform the LotR? (books)
After-meeting:
    Question about whether or not the way we currently take articles etc for the Tolkien Site is ok.
    Ar-Pharazon's WoW picture puzzle game.
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Before-meeting
You have just entered room "valarguildmeetingplace."
VardaValar1 has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Phar. :-) 10 minutes yet
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
VardaValar1: :-)
karakedi25 has entered the room.
karakedi25: Aiya
VardaValar1: Aiya Indis :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
VardaValar1: Raiding?
karakedi25: not at the momeent
karakedi25: -e
VardaValar1: Some of us did the Swan DA dailies, nice to be in a group for that area!
VardaValar1: See anyone in LotRO? Maybe I should drop in there.
VardaValar1: Arien on WoW?
ArPharazonV: I'll check.
karakedi25: I logged out for a while
VardaValar1: I'm logging into LotRO, also checking. No worries
VardaValar1: Much easier to concentrate when not also gaming. :-)
ArPharazonV: Arien poked.
VardaValar1: Thank you
karakedi25: afk
VardaValar1: Thanks for being here on time, Indis. You can see this when you scroll back later. :-)
AriehnV has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Sunshine :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
AriehnV: Aiya :-) sorry i worked until 8 pm our time and then got involved in rp .. my destiny ;-)
VardaValar1: No worries. Phar is great as a reminder. :-)
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VardaValar1: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
ArPharazonV: Sure, as long as Varda reminds me :-)
VardaValar1: poke the poker
VardaValar1: Membership:
VardaValar1: The Games Site Mass Update is underway.
VardaValar1: Eonwe sent out an email to anyone he could locate in the guild, that is, with a working email.
VardaValar1: For others, the letter is also posted with his email on the News page.
VardaValar1: I'll be adding a page for a link with it as well, and putting it on the upcoming 17th Anniversary page.
VardaValar1: It's that time again. Anniversary Oct 7!
ArPharazonV: Myes. I don't think I got that mail.

VardaValar1: 17th Anniversary.
ArPharazonV: Only noticed it on the sitenews.
VardaValar1: Might check to see if it's in your spam folder since it has links in it.
ArPharazonV: I did, and it's not there either.
VardaValar1: Folks might also put Eonwe and my email in their friend list in their email
VardaValar1: Fangorn says hi. :-)
ArPharazonV: Maybe he misspelled ArPharazon? ;-)
VardaValar1: We would like to be able to put your entries for the Tolkien Site on the Anniversary page, preferably before the anniversary, although late entries will also be taken if they say they are for that purpose.
VardaValar1: Maybe :-)
karakedi25: I got it and replied.
AriehnV: is it that time again?
AriehnV: 4 th of october is it?
VardaValar1: Thanks Arien, Oct 4 is right.
VardaValar1: Oct. 4, 1997
ArPharazonV: 17 years.
VardaValar1: Aye
ArPharazonV: 's not bad!
VardaValar1: Any other membership news?
karakedi25: Have I mentioned my new family member?
VardaValar1: How is the kitty? :-)
karakedi25: doing well
ArPharazonV: Yay kitty!
karakedi25: integrating with the other two. He and the alpha cat were licking each other and then they played a bit of chase.
VardaValar1: That sounds very promising.
VardaValar1: Do we have a "baby picture" yet?
karakedi25: Very. He's taken over the cat tree.
karakedi25: Let's see what I can find.
VardaValar1: No hurry. We might have another meeting. But feel free to pop it up anytime during today's meeting. Who can resist a cat picture?
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VardaValar1: Gaming:
VardaValar1: Any non-LotRO, non-WoW gaming news?
ArPharazonV: Yus, sure.
ArPharazonV: More Diablo III, for one thing: Got my seasonal barbarian to level 22 now, and seeing Act II for the first time, since I quit long ago at the start of Act II. All unknown territory!
AriehnV: do we have a topic for the anniversary contributions by the way?
VardaValar1: Fun new stuff
VardaValar1: Not yet.
ArPharazonV: More Hearthstone too; new season's started, Plundering Pirates!
VardaValar1: Suggestions welcome.
ArPharazonV: Get to rank 20 in September and you'll have a piratey card back :-)
VardaValar1: Arrrr
ArPharazonV: And all my classes to 27 now! Onward to 28 :-)
ArPharazonV: Let's see, what else.. flashgames...
ArPharazonV: I'll link you a vector-game thing where you have to fly very fast and pick up bonuses and avoid obstacles. Can be a bit difficult, but some would call that a challenge!
ArPharazonV: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Flippfly/race-the-sun
VardaValar1: What is this? A game?
ArPharazonV: A game, yes.
ArPharazonV: for my flashgaming of this week
ArPharazonV: Hmm, let me think... yeah, I think that covers it for me this week.
VardaValar1: Thanks, Phar :-)
VardaValar1: Arien, have you been out and about in the gaming world?
VardaValar1: Sauron has been playing SWTOR, mostly light side lately.
VardaValar1: Ioreth also has characters on The Ebon Hawk, didn't realize that's our branch server.
VardaValar1: A problem in SWTOR is the friend channel has to be made every time you go in, and we all tend to forget that. Not very helpful.
VardaValar1: The GSMU letter had a mistake in it, but our SWTOR server is indeed The Ebon Hawk.
VardaValar1: Rubat Crystal is a discontinued server.
VardaValar1: SCBW for Fangorn, Sauron, and myself.
VardaValar1: EQ2 for Bilbo, among other games, including Diablo 3
VardaValar1: Eowyn was also in D3

VardaValar1: WoW news:
AriehnV: insertion
VardaValar1: Eonwe says the next Lords of War Cinematic has been released:
VardaValar1: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/15663731/lords-of-war-part-two-grommash-9-5-2014

VardaValar1: Arien, go ahead.
AriehnV: i have finished the Diablo 3 campaign .. act V
AriehnV: so unlocked adventure mode for the Demonhunter
VardaValar1: Nice!
AriehnV: :-)
VardaValar1: (My poor neglected Demonhunter)
AriehnV: still fun to play actually
ArPharazonV: Grats!
AriehnV: lots to kill as usual ;-)
ArPharazonV: I'll get to Act V.. one day...
ArPharazonV: Was just happy about reaching Act II this afternoon.
AriehnV: thankies :-) thats all i ve don other games wise .. i havent played Leage of Legends last week but i am there and Summoner level 2
AriehnV: registered as Sulnar
VardaValar1: I think Arien is away at the moment.

VardaValar1: A quick comment from Eonwe via email:
VardaValar1: "Got some achievements out of the way, mainly the 4 that require going around Azeroth /love - ing creatures."
AriehnV: i am done yes
VardaValar1: /endquote
VardaValar1: Okie dokie. Thanks, Arien. :-)

VardaValar1: LotRO:
karakedi25: (still working on the cat picture(s))
VardaValar1: ok, thanks. :-)
AriehnV: oh wel i have a little rpeort on LotrO :-)
VardaValar1: The two areas we've been working on for the world events to open are now open, so we can quit blowing our tokens there.
VardaValar1: Arien, go ahead.
ArPharazonV: I'll give my report on WoW after then :-)
VardaValar1: Sorry, seem to be all over the place today.
AriehnV: on Tuesday night anyway i was joined by a certain Fainan .. my Guardian was on a request to help in Southern Mirkwood
AriehnV: Together we faced orks and ogres and scouted to bring reports to the Malenhard forces
AriehnV: we gave them good ad i am sure they wont forget us so soon *smiles* .. report end
VardaValar1: Thanks, Arien. It was fun questing with you.

VardaValar1: Phar, you had a WoW report? Go ahead.
ArPharazonV: Hmhm, been getting myself off the Timeless Isle (though I did get another weatherstone, leaving only 2 to get) to get some stuff done before the pre-expansion patch.
ArPharazonV: Got a whole bunch of scenario-achievements done (in fact, only one to go!) and my new Challenge Mode group is going decently, for 2 nights a week. Not sure if we'll get all silver in time, but we'll sure give it a try!
ArPharazonV: And as of today,my entire gearset is of heroic raid quality, so that's another milestone! ;-)
VardaValar1: Woot!
ArPharazonV: My advice to all of you is to do the same:
ArPharazonV: If there's anything you want done that'll be taken away (or turned into feats of strength, or whatever) before 6.0, you'd best get started now.
ArPharazonV: Because I hear the patch is only a month or so away.
ArPharazonV: Annnnd I think that's it.
VardaValar1: Thank you, Phar :-)
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VardaValar1: Web:
VardaValar1: The Games Site has the first round of gaming information posted now. :-)
VardaValar1: Email Eonwe if your spot needs a bit of work.
ArPharazonV: So I should probably not wait for an email but send in my stuff separately? ;-)
VardaValar1: Aye, they should already have been sent out.
VardaValar1: And you might check your spam filter, and anyone else missing the letter.
ArPharazonV: I did check my spam filter. For the past 3 weeks or so. Everything's in Dutch ;-)
VardaValar1: I don't think Eonwe speaks Dutch. German, yes, not Dutch. :-)
VardaValar1: Took me a second to find you on the Games Site. It's under Pharazon intead of Ar-Pharazon
ArPharazonV: Well the email should still be the same.
ArPharazonV: *shrug* what can I say, it's just not there.
VardaValar1: yep, you just have to email him the hard way.
VardaValar1: Thanks for your extra effort!
VardaValar1: You can check the News for the email's content.

VardaValar1: Tolkien Site:
VardaValar1: This week we have more art from the Bohemian Weasel-(T):
VardaValar1: Here's her cave:
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/BohemianWeasel/caveBohemianWeasel.htm
karakedi25: She does good work.
ArPharazonV: I continue to be amazed at stuff like this. I couldn't draw if my life depended on it.
VardaValar1: This is the new stuff:
VardaValar1: Pardon, says message too long :-)
VardaValar1: Pippin: (new section)  "Lost in Gondor"
VardaValar1: Oathbreakers: new art added:
       "King of the Dead" green sketch card with thumbnail. Previously only had the thumbnail and wasn't put online.
       "King of the Dead" black and white sketch card
       "Sword of the King"  Aragorn with Anduril. Also under Aragorn.
VardaValar1: Witch-king: new art added:
       "The Witch-king of Angmar leads Sauron's army to war." Also placed on the Valar Guild's rotating images on the opening page.
       "Challenge of the Witch-king"
VardaValar1: Mordor: new art:
       "When the One Ring is destroyed."
       "The Fall of Barad-dur"
VardaValar1: oops that didn't have the Mordor section link:
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/BohemianWeasel/places/Mordor/Mordor.htm

VardaValar1: And we have a working url now from Indis for Tigger. Fire when ready, Indis!
karakedi25: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/tekir/media/Tigger0914.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
VardaValar1: yay!
karakedi25: This is Tigger, a 2.5 year-old brown tabby and a total love-bug.
VardaValar1: Brown? Seems gray here? *pet*
VardaValar1: Maybe a tad of brown in the gray?
VardaValar1: Handsome cat.
karakedi25: he's what they call a brown tabby. More brown and reddish color than the photo may show
VardaValar1: Thanks, interesting. We learn something new every day!

VardaValar1: For art, we should be having a new model up from DeepGroover-(T) that just came up in my mail. More like Conan, but maybe we can see him as a leader of the wild men? :-)
VardaValar1: DeepGroover has a lot of work that is only borderline Tolkien, but is fantasy. If any of you feel I'm overstepping, please warn me. It gets tricky to decide.
VardaValar1: Not up yet, but expected to go up this week.
VardaValar1: This is his cave:
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/DeepGroover/caveDeepGroover.htm
VardaValar1: Both of them have contributed to the Valar Guild index page's rotating pictures, as well as the Tolkien Encyclopedia illustrations.
VardaValar1: Is there any further business? Suggestions? Comments? Volunteering to do something for the 17th Anniversary? : ) Suggestions for what we could be doing for it in-game as well as on the website?

karakedi25: Another picture that shows more of the brown in Tigger. It also shows my alpha cat--grey tuxedo cat.
karakedi25: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/tekir/media/TiggerampPatrick0914.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
ArPharazonV: Well I've got one more thing I could mention, which is that I'm considering putting the picture of all my WoW characters on our forum too, and letting you guess in aftermeeting which character is which class, as a little quiz/puzzle :-)
VardaValar1: Ahh, I see. That does show the color difference nicely. And the alpha looks like an alpha. :-)
karakedi25: The other cat is named Patrick, aka Bad Cat.
ArPharazonV: Bad Cat Pat.
VardaValar1: hehe
VardaValar1: Sounds fun, Phar. Looking forward to that.
ArPharazonV: Should I do that for today's aftermeeting, then? Wouldn't want you to look them up during the week :-)
VardaValar1: Was it Arien who once suggested we make a collage of our members' pictures from in-game?
VardaValar1: ok
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VardaValar1: Tolkien:
VardaValar1: If anyone has a topic to suggest or Tolkien Moment, please feel free. I can give a topic as well. :-)
VardaValar1: Ok, here's one for you:
VardaValar1: What carried over from the Hobbit to inform the LotR? (books)
karakedi25: The Ring, of course.
VardaValar1: Literally, by Bilbo. :-)
karakedi25: Bilbo himself
VardaValar1: Bilbo also went from the Hobbit into the LotR, aye.
karakedi25: and a variety of other characters
ArPharazonV: Gollum.
ArPharazonV: Gloin.
ArPharazonV: Gandalf.
ArPharazonV: Other things with G.
karakedi25: Sauron
ArPharazonV: Bag End carried over.
ArPharazonV: So did the incident with the silver spoons :-)
ArPharazonV: Rivendell, with Elrond.
AriehnV: cute kitty and i love the artwork
VardaValar1: The Shire is once again the beginning and ending.
ArPharazonV: There and back again was a factor in both cases, though unexpected in the latter.
ArPharazonV: And both times, the hero came home to be disappointed.. Bilbo was just in time to see half his inventory get auctioned off, and Frodo came home to find someone else living there.
ArPharazonV: Not to mention the other damage.
VardaValar1: Have to keep a watchman over your house!
ArPharazonV: Indeed.
ArPharazonV: Though to be fair, when Frodo left he'd already passed along the house.
VardaValar1: That might even be a potential theme.
VardaValar1: True. To other Bagginses who really wanted it.
VardaValar1: Sackville-Bagginses.
ArPharazonV: Yep.
VardaValar1: The elven-king carried over since his son became a member of the Fellowship
VardaValar1: Gloin carried over as his son did the same
ArPharazonV: And Gloin himself was featured in Rivendell.
VardaValar1: Aye, and told his part in the Council
VardaValar1: There is also mention of Thranduil although not a direct showing of him.
ArPharazonV: Very true.
ArPharazonV: If you count the appendix, Laketown and Erebor carry over too.
ArPharazonV: With their lords.
VardaValar1: Some LotR versions have the Appendix as a separate book, but I find that unkind. Prefer to count it, although we don't put it on entry tests. :-)
karakedi25: The appendix is the best part :-P
karakedi25: all that lovely material about language
ArPharazonV: I wouldn't really say that, but there's a lot of great stuff in there :-)
karakedi25: I really go for all JRRT's work, but I have a special soft spot for language
VardaValar1: I like the extra info in the Appendix, but prefer the fleshed out parts for reading a book.
VardaValar1: The appendix is more like reference.
ArPharazonV: *sigh* if only the Silmarillion was as fleshed out for its entire duration as LotR..
ArPharazonV: the thousands and thousands of pages we would enjoy
karakedi25: I like them in different ways, but since my university major was linguistics, it makes sense that I really like the language stuff in the Appendix
VardaValar1: I like it as well.
VardaValar1: Maybe you would enjoy putting in an article concerning linguistics for the Tolkien Site Language section for the 17th Anniversary? :-)
ArPharazonV: It's interesting, and I know it's interesting objectively, but I never really get a good picture of it in my head. I'm just not good with languages.
karakedi25: maybe
VardaValar1: We keep having to use it to name crafted things in LotRO. :-)
VardaValar1: We use it a little to say hello and goodbye, and used to use it much more.
karakedi25: I'm going to need to go wait for my pizza delivery soon, so I can hear the doorbell
AriehnV: Food in Lotro ?
AriehnV: in LotR :-D
AriehnV: that would be a fun article
karakedi25: pizza and chocolate, of course
VardaValar1: Arien, like to do a bit on food for the anniversary, or another topic? Or more than one topic? :-)
AriehnV: i can do that ^^
AriehnV: theres few things mentioned so i should be able to get some things together
karakedi25: that could be a topic for another meeting
karakedi25: afk
VardaValar1: Looks like time to pick out a gavel.
VardaValar1: Then we can check out Phar's pics that he's about to post.
ArPharazonV: Allright, it's on the forum :-)
VardaValar1: *swings gavel*
VardaValar1: *Thooooooom!*
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VardaValar1: After-meeting:
VardaValar1: Do you have an url for us, Phar?
karakedi25: interesting picture, but since I don't know WoW, I can't guess their classes
ArPharazonV: http://valarguild.proboards.com/thread/1560/
ArPharazonV: Hmm, fair enough, but maybe Varda and Arien can do better :-)
VardaValar1: Oh cool! They look like they're standing together. Really nice photoshopping!
ArPharazonV: Yep! Was happy to have them all meet up for once.
karakedi25: why ae they all wearing crosses?
ArPharazonV: That's the guild tabard for my guild, The High Guard.
ArPharazonV: Except 2 of them who are in the guild I raid with.
VardaValar1: In Valar, we use a tabard with the Secret Fire on it.
VardaValar1: LotRO doesn't have a kin outfit thingy.
VardaValar1: The tabard is also handy to cover up some of those outfits they put on us ladies.
karakedi25: WoW does steel bikinis?
VardaValar1: Sort of. :-)
karakedi25: ick
ArPharazonV: I think it used to. Some sets were infamous for it.
VardaValar1: It has all kinds of outfits.
karakedi25: afk again

VardaValar1: Here's the url for last year's anniversary page:
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/varda/NewsArchives/extras/2013/anniv16th/anniv16th.htm
VardaValar1: You can see it was unusually sparse outside the gaming section. First time it was like that. So you know your contributions to that would be especially welcome.
VardaValar1: ahh, we had a special thread on the forum for the anniversary to talk about the themed subject of light. Thanks to Arien for contributing to that. :-)
VardaValar1: We will be considering themes, but it didn't seem to help folks as a prompt last year so we're not sure it helps.
ArPharazonV: It helps for deciding on screenshots :-)
VardaValar1: Good point
VardaValar1: The forum setup changed so the link to the anniversary howdies moved. At least it goes to the forum.

VardaValar1: We wanted to ask folks here if the way we take contributions to the Tolkien Site seems ok to you?
VardaValar1: The emailing it in allows it to be betaed, as the fan fiction sites say, so that it goes online with a spelling and grammar check. Makes the author look better. :-)
VardaValar1: If the piece seems to need a bit more work, it gets sent back for revision, so when it goes up, it is a quality piece.
ArPharazonV: Are you saying instead of people actually putting their own stuff directly on the website unedited?
VardaValar1: Everything we post on our website is looked over first.
VardaValar1: A number of sites would have folks put their stuff up unedited. For instance, it could be put on the forum directly.
VardaValar1: The question about our system would be, is the middle-man part and/or the emailing part putting off any of you from putting up stuff on the Tolkien Site?
VardaValar1: Maybe we need a page up explaining better how to contribute?
ArPharazonV: The only thing putting me off from putting up stuff is the fact that I'm just not very creative.
VardaValar1: Research is all we need. Doesn't have to be something like a story or poem. :-)
VardaValar1: The articles are supposed to be our main focus.
VardaValar1: The rest is yummy gravy.
ArPharazonV: Right, fair enough.
VardaValar1: Short articles are fine too, if we can narrow down our subjects.
VardaValar1: Then together it makes a very large body of work.

ArPharazonV: So do you feel like taking guesses? 11 characters, 11 classes :-)
VardaValar1: ok, um.
VardaValar1: Five in the back:
VardaValar1: Panda monk, night elf don't know, night elf druid, night elf death knight, draenei don't know.
AriehnV: looks cool your "group picture"
ArPharazonV: The death knight is also a draenei.
ArPharazonV: You've got those 3 classes correctly so far!
VardaValar1: Arien can probably do these better. Arien, like to take a crack at the back five?
VardaValar1: Front six: dwarf cleric, three gnomes don't know what, two human don't know what.
VardaValar1: Flunked that test. :-)
VardaValar1: Arien, you can surely do better.
AriehnV: hmmm dwarf priest .. druid nelf .. gor
AriehnV: human rogue
AriehnV: human mage
ArPharazonV: Not human rogue, the rest is good so far.
AriehnV: gnome warrior gnoe hunter
ArPharazonV: There are no gnome hunters.
AriehnV: ooops ^^
AriehnV: gnome warrior gnome lock then?
ArPharazonV: Yes.
AriehnV: human paladin
ArPharazonV: Yes!
AriehnV: human mage and gnome rogue?
VardaValar1: Cosmetic clothes make the guessing tougher
ArPharazonV: Doing well, arien :-)
ArPharazonV: I think that leaves the female night elf and the male draenei.
AriehnV: nelf hunter as wel there
ArPharazonV: Yep!
AriehnV: the second Draenei i cant guess
AriehnV: one is the dk the other i dont know
ArPharazonV: Well.. what class remains?
AriehnV: Human .. Mage Paladin Dwarf Priest Nelf Hunter Druid Gnome Warrior Warlock Draenei Deathknight
ArPharazonV: And gnome rogue.
AriehnV: gnome rogue yeah
ArPharazonV: So what's the 11th class?
AriehnV: pada monk
AriehnV: panda
ArPharazonV: Panda monk, yep. Allright... that's 10 classes mentioned.
ArPharazonV: Still missing one for the male draenei.
AriehnV: okay i am an idiot .. shaman
ArPharazonV: There you go :-)
AriehnV: ^^
AriehnV: just too late for my head to function normally hehe
ArPharazonV: Well done, and I didn't even have to give hints.
AriehnV: :-)
AriehnV: good night for now and sleep well :-)
AriehnV has left the room.
ArPharazonV: Namarie!
karakedi25: I'm leaving as well...namarie
VardaValar1: Namarie Arien
ArPharazonV: Namarie Indis!
VardaValar1: Namarie Indis :-)
karakedi25 has left the room.
VardaValar1: Thanks for the puzzle and great pic, Phar. :-)
VardaValar1: Heading out now.
ArPharazonV: allright, Namarie
VardaValar1 has left the room.
ArPharazonV: saving and sending transcript
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