Valar Guild

July 19, 2015 Sunday Meeting

5pm EDT (UTC/GMT - 5)

AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace

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Transcript work by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (3)
    ArPharazonV, Farmer Maggot-(V)/thesirg3, Varda Valar (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
    Arien: LARP weekend.
    Indis: traveling.
Web:
    New art by the Bohemian Weasel-(T)
Gaming
Tolkien:
    Discussion topic: Eomer's role in the Lord of the Rings
    Forum rp
    Book
After -meeting:
    Gaming news from Ar-Pharazon
    Review of The Witcher 3 by Farmer
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Before-meeting
ArPharazon-V (ArPharazonV) has entered the room.
Varda Valar (VardaValar1) has entered the room.
Varda Valar: Aiya early bird. :-)
ArPharazon-V: Aiya!
ArPharazon-V: I'll still be busy though :P Still want to do a treasure contract quest in WoW, and then some fishing.
ArPharazon-V: yes, i started fishing again!
Varda Valar: Yay? :-)
ArPharazon-V: Considering the fun rewards you can get, I'd say yay :)
Varda Valar: I like to fish, WoW or LotRO.
Varda Valar: I assume some other games have fishing. Know of any?
ArPharazon-V: I've seen some games that were about fishing, but otherwise...
Varda Valar: heh
Varda Valar: Well, I'm glad our favorite games have it.
Varda Valar: O wait. There's a reason those are favorite games!
ArPharazon-V: Some mobile game my dancepartner used to have was about throwing out a line, going as deep as possible and then collect a ton of fish on your way back up.
ArPharazon-V: I think it was quite popular. Here, anyway.
Varda Valar: Sounds fun
ArPharazon-V: Never got into mobile games though.
ArPharazon-V: For one thing, don't have a smartphone :P
Varda Valar: Me either. Yet. We'll probably be stuck with those leashes eventually.
ArPharazon-V: leashes?
Varda Valar: Mobile phones arre like leashes for dogs.
ArPharazon-V: Keeps you tethered to society? ;)
Varda Valar: under control
Varda Valar: Plenty of ways already to keep up with friends: email, Facebook, regular phone, visit in person.
ArPharazon-V: Oh, well, facebook.
Varda Valar: Play games on a computer or console
ArPharazon-V: If I had facebook, smartphone would be a good way to keep up with it :)
Varda Valar: or do that on your computer
ArPharazon-V: *gasp* then how would you share pictures of your food while you were away from home?
Varda Valar: There are times when a mobile phone would be really handy, like trying to find each other.
Varda Valar: With a camera that hooks to the computer? :-)
ArPharazon-V: I meant, right away :)
Varda Valar: Yep, I'm just an old fossil.
Varda Valar: Rush rush. :-)
Varda Valar: Let them eat with me, then they can see it on the spot.
ArPharazon-V: If that's the case, I'm merely a slightly younger fossil.
Varda Valar: hehe
Varda Valar: Would be good in emergencies, or in a place where the group is getting separated and needs to get back together.
Varda Valar: Where we needed it at RenFaire, the area wasn't good for phones and they didn't work anyway.
Varda Valar: Had a couple of people in the party with phones. Just in their way then.
Varda Valar: Anyway, I saw Indis earlier today. I know she's traveling, so she probably won't be able to come.
Varda Valar: Any sunshine sign?
ArPharazon-V: Seems a bit out of character for a renaissance faire anyway.
ArPharazon-V: I'll check.
ArPharazon-V: Oh. Right. She was Larping, I think.
Varda Valar: ohhh, that's true. Should be fun. :-)
thesirg3 has been invited.
Varda Valar: Farmer Maggot is on. :-)   Not sure he's actually present.
thesirg3 has entered the room.
Varda Valar: Aiya Farmer :-)
ArPharazon-V: Well there's someone whose Valar name I haven't added to my buddy list it seems.
thesirg3: Heya
ArPharazon-V: But that's easily fixed :)
ArPharazon-V: Aiya!
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Varda Valar: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Varda Valar: A star shines on the hour of our meeting!
Varda Valar: Membership:
Varda Valar: Arien is out LARPing, should be a blast.
Varda Valar: Indis is traveling.
ArPharazon-V: Got something that's a bit member/tolkien.
Varda Valar: Eonwe is working. A good thing.
Varda Valar: Fire away, Phar
ArPharazon-V: Got myself a "new" Tolkien book that was missing from my collection, thanks to some WoW friends from England I met up with yesterday.
ArPharazon-V: Containing the stories of Farmer Giles of Ham, and the Adventures of Tom Bombadil :)
Varda Valar: Very good!
Varda Valar: Now you can read up on the original version of Tom.
ArPharazon-V: Leafed a bit through it so far. Giles of Ham seems very loosely connected, and in fact appears to take place in medieval Britain (though it has a dragon and a giant).
Varda Valar: Does it have Leaf by Niggle?
ArPharazon-V: ...didn't notice, probably not
Varda Valar: Most of those things are actually separate, but some can be worked in.
Varda Valar: Fastitocalion the turtle maybe?
ArPharazon-V: I'll grab the book to see. I did remember a few familiar verses in the Tom Bombadil section :)
Varda Valar: You'll have plenty of fun with the ones you mentioned. :-)
Varda Valar: o neat. :-)
ArPharazon-V: Including the story of the troll and the shinbone, if you remember ;)
ArPharazon-V: As well as the song Frodo sang in the inn.
Varda Valar: A poem, I used to sing it and do the guitar with it.
Varda Valar: Jumped over the moon. :-)
Varda Valar: Nice
ArPharazon-V: And the cutlery running off :)
Varda Valar: It's especially fun to think of it as the early version of the later kids' poem most of us know.
Varda Valar: More of the pre-history touch.
ArPharazon-V: Ooh, just grabbed the book, and Fastitocalon is in here too.
Varda Valar: yay!
ArPharazon-V: As well as the Oliphaunt :0
ArPharazon-V: *:)
Varda Valar: Fun
Varda Valar: LotRO has all these big turtles, and I think Fastitocalion is the reason.
Varda Valar: Neat little nod to the poems.
ArPharazon-V: Sounds great :)
Varda Valar: Got a bit of web news for us
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Varda Valar: Web:
Varda Valar: First as the star queen I have to mention the fly-by of Pluto in real life this week. Photos will be coming out for quite a while.
Varda Valar: For our Tolkien Site, we have new pictures from the Bohemian Weasel-(T)
ArPharazon-V: Saw some funny pictures and comics relating to that.
Varda Valar: ahh, might link some for us in a bit if you like. The real Pluto pics were incredible enough.
Varda Valar: Anyway, back to the Tolkien pics. These are mostly Eomer related.
Varda Valar: "Éomer bears Théodred before him"
Varda Valar: "Éomer and Éowyn, brother and sister"
ArPharazon-V: Hmm, marks the transition to Two Towers, I suppose?
Varda Valar: "‘Everywhere his spies slip past our nets..’"
Varda Valar: Right.
Varda Valar: Hope has abandoned these lands."
Varda Valar: "Éomer and Éowyn before Théoden"
Varda Valar: The actual page for Eomer images from her on our site is:
Varda Valar: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/BohemianWeasel/characters/Eomer/Eomer.htm

Varda Valar: A friend passed a link on for a singer who does instruments mostly with his own voice, and harmonizes with himself. Amazing talent.
Varda Valar: Some instrument use too, in certain songs.
Varda Valar: He did a batch of Tolkien songs. Here's a page with links to them for YouTube
Varda Valar: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUcJ_HmO2bE9ct1GtRlV2486p6PNpRXB2
Varda Valar: I've been listening to them today while playing LotRO on my dwarf. :-)
Varda Valar: Eonwe did the updates to the news for the Games Site. We'll get into those next.
Varda Valar: Phar, I'd enjoy seeing those Pluto jokes if you happen to run across the urls again. :-)
Varda Valar: Ready for
ArPharazon-V: Might be able to find a few on a forumthread I follow with funny pictures. I've linked LotR stuff before that I found through there.
Varda Valar: That would be fun too. :-)
Varda Valar: On to
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Varda Valar: Gaming News
Varda Valar: LotRO:
ArPharazon-V: https://twitter.com/requires_coffee/status/621112053969911808 is the first one, while backtracking through the thread :)
Varda Valar: Scheduled server downtime: Monday July 20th 8:00am-11:00am Eastern (-4GMT) for an update to the game. Update 16.2 article.

Varda Valar: Ahh, you have them already. I'll hold up for a sec.
Varda Valar: Hah, a change from the obvious heart image. :-)
ArPharazon-V: http://imgur.com/gallery/1xm5TW5
ArPharazon-V: that heart image? :)
Varda Valar: awww
Varda Valar: Aye. Pluto has a huge heart on it. Looks as if the Will Smith hero from Legend put it there.
Varda Valar: For real, looks like a heart.
ArPharazon-V: Huh. Those are the only ones I can find on this thread, anyway. Still, enjoy!
Varda Valar: Thank you.
ArPharazon-V: no, wait
ArPharazon-V: Well, here's one I can't find a shorter link for than
ArPharazon-V: https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11751739_1076174512410147_7907955893019075792_n.jpg?oh=f9d60e4b2243d5819e54b80ea1557127&oe=5652D7D0
ArPharazon-V: Death Star reference but I might be wrong.
Varda Valar: NASA has a ton of pics out for Pluto, showing on the front page. You can see the real life heart image easily:
Varda Valar: http://www.nasa.gov/
ArPharazon-V: I can't unsee the dog now.
Varda Valar: I can't unsee the heart because that's what it is. :-)
Varda Valar: The dog fits, named Pluto too. :-)
ArPharazon-V: Yep.

Varda Valar: Back to gaming news, this time from Eonwe.
Varda Valar: His has the LotRO news too.
Varda Valar: World of WarCraft:
Varda Valar: See highlights of the Timewalking dungeons: Utgarde Pinnacle and The Nexus.
Varda Valar: A new option to attempt to reduce PvP queue times is being developed. Check out Mercenary Mode.
Varda Valar: Check out the latest hotfixes and the PTR patch notes.
ArPharazon-V: Hmm, speaking of Timewalking dungeons, this weekend is Timewalking weekend, with a quest attached.
Varda Valar: Good to know, thanks. :-)
ArPharazon-V: Complete it for an extra seal to roll for loot, and some loot from Hellfire Citadel, normal quality.
ArPharazon-V: If you haven't already :)
Varda Valar: We all have alts. ;-)
Varda Valar: StarCraft 2:
ArPharazon-V: Also, for Starcraft II, Legacy of the Void, the second expansion (protoss-themed) is now available for pre-order.
Varda Valar: If you want to pre-purchase Legacy of the Void through Blizzard, you now can. If you're holding out for the Collector's edition though, you've still got some waiting to do.
ArPharazon-V: Yes, that.
Varda Valar: See the latest Legacy of the Void Beta balance update and beta patch notes.
Varda Valar: Hearthstone:
ArPharazon-V: Actually, no need to wait that long. The contents have already been announced, and the Dutch webshop where I buy mine has put it on pre-order in the last few days or so.
Varda Valar: Blizzard says they've got a momentous announcement coing July 22nd. Follow that link for more info.
ArPharazon-V: The CE that is.
Varda Valar: Nice
Varda Valar: That's all the general gaming news Eonwe and I had.
ArPharazon-V: Myep, I think that's the general stuff for me too.
Varda Valar: Alrighty then.
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Varda Valar: Tolkien:
Varda Valar: Eomer, what was his role in this complicated story about the One Ring? :-)
ArPharazon-V: I was going to talk about Eonwe before I read your question again.
Varda Valar: We first meet him with the Three Hunters. Aragorn needs news.
Varda Valar: Lot of E names!
ArPharazon-V: Yep, they get news, but it's not good news.
ArPharazon-V: Consequentially they just ignore it and decide to check for themselves.
Varda Valar: The only good news is that we still have some of the Rohirrim out hunting down orcs despite Theoden's being under Grima and Saruman's thumb.
ArPharazon-V: And the other good news is that they know where to look :)
Varda Valar: Oh, other good news is they get to ride horses the rest of the way instead of walking against some power that slowed them and speeded the orcs.
Varda Valar: True!
Varda Valar: And that they are not walking into a huge mass of live orcs that don't want to turn the halflings loose.
ArPharazon-V: Does that power of Saruman have no effect on horses, then?
Varda Valar: It doesn't mention it happening, but by then there are also no orcs to help. So we don't know.
Varda Valar: At least the travel was a lot easier.
ArPharazon-V: Maybe the effect wasn't as noticeable because they go faster than people anyway.
Varda Valar: Could be.
Varda Valar: Let them carry the weight of a Buick instead of Gimli.
Varda Valar: instead of Gimli carrying his armor's weight.
ArPharazon-V: Hmhm.
Varda Valar: Aragorn and Legolas had leather armor and longer legs. Gimli must have been amazing to keep up.
ArPharazon-V: They probably mine stuff while in full armor, as well.
Varda Valar: ugh
ArPharazon-V: Dwarves are well built to live with their armor :)
Varda Valar: Bet they could be smelled coming from a long way off.
ArPharazon-V: Probably swimming in it!
Varda Valar: True about their build for armor. But still not a great build for running. Stamina had to be fabulous.
Varda Valar: or walking on the bottom? :-)
ArPharazon-V: If needed :)
Varda Valar: Hold your breath and cross the river!
Varda Valar: They probably had great lung power.
ArPharazon-V: Less easy for the stream to carry you with it.
Varda Valar: Handy companion crossing a river with a strong current.
ArPharazon-V: A mobile anchor.
Varda Valar: Eomer shows up again, sister-son of Theoden, not taken in by Grima's words, sees right through him to what he is really after with his power, namely Eowyn.
ArPharazon-V: Just drags the boat to the other shore.
Varda Valar: heh
Varda Valar: Horse is being carried away! No worries, I've got him.
ArPharazon-V: hehe
Varda Valar: Eomer is imprisoned by Grima, as a real threat to Saruman's power over the kingdom.
Varda Valar: That just happens to put him right there handy to work with Aragorn and Theoden instead of off gallivanting around.
Varda Valar: Eomer and Aragorn pick up a friendship, respect for each other's fighting, at Helm's Deep.
Varda Valar: Invaluable for the alliance between their kingdoms later and their bringing their armies and cavalry together later for the mop-up after Sauron's defeat.
Varda Valar: Eomer is right there at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to take up the leadership of the Rohirrim after the fall of Theoden to the Witch-king, and the Witch-king's demise at the hands of Eowyn and Merry.
ArPharazon-V: Useful guy.
Varda Valar: The Rohirrim have a bold and fresh leader instead of being demoralized.
Varda Valar: Aye
Varda Valar: Then Eomer and Aragorn meet on the field, and Eomer wonders if Aragorn is foresighted in knowing they would meet there.
Varda Valar: Eomer isn't done yet. What else did he do?
ArPharazon-V: Maybe not so much Aragorn as Tolkien himself. He did like to throw in some foreshadowing even if the characters themselves didn't know it.
Varda Valar: True, clues for us readers.
Varda Valar: And some did have actual foresight.
ArPharazon-V: He represented the Rohirrim at the battle of the Black Gate, also very vital!
Varda Valar: Not always very helpful and sometimes misleading.
Varda Valar: Aye!
Varda Valar: He led the Rohirrim at that last battle. And supported Aragorn loyally and with a kingdom to back him up.
Varda Valar: They did not do that silly surrounded circle from the movies. :-)
ArPharazon-V: The best prophecies are the ones so vague and complex and indistinct that there's no way to decipher them until what they foretell has already happened.
Varda Valar: They were up on hills.
Varda Valar: Aye to that.
ArPharazon-V: Gosh, they were strategists, who would've guessed ;)
Varda Valar: Would not have guessed from the movie. I wondered why they did that and decided it was to cut costs.
Varda Valar: I don't actually know why.
ArPharazon-V: I think it makes it less confusing for the viewer if they're all bunched together. Preferably with all the named characters at the front.
Varda Valar: That's true.
Varda Valar: So Eomer's role was major in the battles and supporting Aragorn's claim to the throne.
ArPharazon-V: Hmhm.
Varda Valar: Also let Eowyn not have to rule Rohan so she could run off with Faramir. :)\
ArPharazon-V: And afterwards he cemented the alliance between Gondor and Rohan even further by marriage.
ArPharazon-V: I wonder how common noble intermarriages between Gondor and Rohan were before the War of the Ring.
ArPharazon-V: They were allies for a few centuries.
Varda Valar: Aye, Eomer married Lothíriel, the daughter of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth
Varda Valar: Eowyn and Faramir
Varda Valar: So the trend was set. :-)
Varda Valar: Trivia bit: Elfwine was Eomer's sun and ruled the Mark after him.
Varda Valar: That puts a bit of elvish blood in the Rohirrim royalty as well as a lot in the son and daughters of Aragorn.
ArPharazon-V: Hmm, Elvish wine...
Varda Valar: Elves weren't as wiped out as it might appear.
Varda Valar: :-)
Varda Valar: wine here means friend, I think, but wine fits so well.
ArPharazon-V: hehe
ArPharazon-V: I wonder how far you can dilute blood like that before it's no longer noticeable.
Varda Valar: It doesn't seem to say who Elfwine married, but it was likely a daughter of Aragorn, since he had a bunch of them, they would have met often enough.
Varda Valar: In Imrahil's line it was one elf-maid way back, but Legolas could still tell.
Varda Valar: Good question.
ArPharazon-V: Eyes slightly glowy, ears slightly longer...
ArPharazon-V: bit light on his feet.
Varda Valar: I wonder if Aragorn and Arwen's kids had slightly pointed ears.
Varda Valar: heh, interesting thought.
ArPharazon-V: Perhaps a bit of an aura that only Elves (and ringwearers) can detect.
Varda Valar: The spirit coming through the body, aye. Shows up more as the elf becomes older.

Varda Valar: Oh, I forgot to mention during the last meeting,
Varda Valar: Eonwe-(Valar) posted to the forum. Calion is up next. :-)
Varda Valar: Might be a quick post.
ArPharazon-V: Ah yes. Right. Was planning on doing that.
ArPharazon-V: Would be a quick post, yes, unless I want to repeat everything I said in one of my last posts :)
Varda Valar: Cool! I look forward to it.
Varda Valar: Not necessary at all.
ArPharazon-V: Will try to get it done during the week.
Varda Valar: Eonwe's post was quick too. These suit dialogue posts. Would be perfect if we could all get together in a meeting and do it, but we're good. We can handle it. :-)
Varda Valar: Thank you.
Varda Valar: That seems to cover our Tolkien subjects unless anyone had more to add?

Varda Valar: Any new or old business to comment on? Growls or kudos?

ArPharazon-V: Not unless you want to know something from the book I got :)
Varda Valar: If you have something you'd like to mention? The title maybe? :-)
ArPharazon-V: I already did!
ArPharazon-V: It's just called "Farmer Giles of Ham" and underneath "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil"
ArPharazon-V: Oh, it has illustrations. Not sure if they're "canon" or added by a later party.
Varda Valar: Good to know.
ArPharazon-V: Tom Bombadil looks like a human-sized garden gnome.
Varda Valar: Thought it might be The Tolkien Reader. Mine has Tom as done by JRRT
Varda Valar: just his style
ArPharazon-V: Was looking at the dates at the front.
Varda Valar: Actually done by Pauline Baynes.
ArPharazon-V: Farmer Giles of Ham: 1949, Adventures of Tom Bombadil: 1961, combination appears to date from 1975.
Varda Valar: go ahead with the dates.
ArPharazon-V: So around/after LotR, in fact.
ArPharazon-V: Not sure when they were actually written though.
Varda Valar: Tree and Leaf 1964 to add one
Varda Valar: Aye, probably out because the Hobbit and LotR were so popular.
ArPharazon-V: "embellished by Pauline Diana Baynes"
Varda Valar: ahh, maybe the same picture then.
ArPharazon-V: Could be :)
Varda Valar: Bombadil napping on a hillside, fish and water below and seem into the sky?
Varda Valar: We could be looking straight down the hill.
Varda Valar: Makes a sort of optical illusion.
ArPharazon-V: Hmm, haven't found that, but there is an illustration or two of his meeting with Goldberry.
Varda Valar: I have another book without an actual title, the way yours is. Says Smith of Wooten Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. Shows Giles and the dragon chatting.
ArPharazon-V: On what looks like a battlefield, or what remains of it?
Varda Valar: hmm, Tom sees her seated in the reeds with birds in each hand?
ArPharazon-V: yes!
Varda Valar: Nice one
Varda Valar: Another where he's dancing with the family
ArPharazon-V: And a small dog lying on a chair?
Varda Valar: Aye!
ArPharazon-V: That's the one :)
Varda Valar: Several other dogs nearby
ArPharazon-V: Yes, including one just in the foreground.
Varda Valar: Lots of smaller pics, plant stuff and critters that took Tom's oars.
Varda Valar: *checks the shelf for the gavel. It scootches away mischievously.*
Varda Valar: *runs around and pokes a hand through the secret wall panel and grabs the hammer*
Varda Valar: *ta-bonk*
Varda Valar: *puts the hammer back and watches it dance over to another shelf*
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Varda Valar: After-meeting!
Varda Valar: oh, trivia. Found a mention of Dumbledors as something fought in Errantry.
ArPharazon-V (ArPharazonV) has left the room.
ArPharazon-V (ArPharazonV) has entered the room.
Varda Valar: ack
Varda Valar: Hope you saved before that quick crash.
ArPharazon-V: Sorry, mistyped, I hadn't saved yet. I hope you have.
Varda Valar: o dear. Going to be interesting clean up. Aye, I should have it.
ArPharazon-V: Was under attack, so I cancelled my typed sentence... not a good idea.
Varda Valar: You survived?
ArPharazon-V: I did. Even while hitting it with my fishing pole.
Varda Valar: hehe
Varda Valar: Then all is well.
ArPharazon-V: I'd rather have died and not left the room.
Varda Valar: ouch
ArPharazon-V: But yeah, I've got those little images in my book as well, was what I was saying.
ArPharazon-V: And there was so much chat lag that your entire section after that was entered in one go.
ArPharazon-V: So it's Aftermeeting, then?
ArPharazon-V: Let me stealth up real quick while I give gaming news.

ArPharazon-V: Flashgaming: I'll give you 3 games I've come across.
Varda Valar: Aye, After-meeting. Thanks.
ArPharazon-V: http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/logical_element is a puzzle game, with switches and lights you have to turn on, while satisfying and/or conditions.
ArPharazon-V: Not too difficult, but still fun.
ArPharazon-V: Next up, a short funny game where multiple outcomes are possible through binary choices you make, http://www.kongregate.com/games/molkman/caesars-day-off
ArPharazon-V: Doesn't get much simpler than this.
ArPharazon-V: http://www.kongregate.com/games/whiteboardwar/whiteboardwar-chopraider is the third and last one I'll give. Rather simplistically styled game where you use a helicopter to take out enemy war factories.

ArPharazon-V: Right, Blizzard games...
ArPharazon-V: Heroes of the Storm: Diablo event still going, with a daily 100 gold from a treasure goblin you get to kill in the first map you play.
ArPharazon-V: Haven't bought anything new yet. I could, but I don't feel up for learning any new heroes at the moment :)
ArPharazon-V: So might as well save up the gold.
ArPharazon-V: Hearthstone: Nothing much new either. Started saving gold for whatever they're going to announce next week. The Tavern Brawl's theme this week was rather interesting, with completely random cards for whatever class you wanted to play. You never knew what you were going to draw. I think that's still going today, if you want to try it out.
ArPharazon-V: Diablo 3: Reached level 70 on my seasonal monk today! Not sure if I want to try out further achievements with him, they seem rather difficult. Still, he was a fun hero to play.
ArPharazon-V: With it, more transmogrification items unlocked for maxing out a hero in this season.
ArPharazon-V: Season 4 shouldn't be too long away, either.
ArPharazon-V: Starcraft II: Am planning on pre-ordering the Legacy of the Void Collector's Edition, tomorrow if not today :) Comes with a key for the beta as well, which means I should be able to play the Protoss prologue missions they released. Not sure on the details.
ArPharazon-V: World of Warcraft:
ArPharazon-V: Still working on the items of my to-do list. Going well still. Finished the quests for coins which you collect from random heroic 5-man instances, which gives you some free items to try out to upgrade heirloom items with.
ArPharazon-V: And because I was already there I also decided to buy all the heirlooms the npc was selling, which means I've now got nearly all the heirlooms in the game. Good for levelling alts!
ArPharazon-V: I also worked on fishing quests, got Nat Pagle as a special Garrison follower, which unlocked the ability to fish for Lunkers and Cavedwellers. With those I can get a currency called Nat's Lucky Coin, which, in turn, you use to buy fun stuff from Nat himself in your garrison. A very good fishing hat and fishing pole, 2 pets and a new water-walking mount.
ArPharazon-V: So now I'm travelling up the shore of the Spires of Arak zone every day, fishing all the pools, and getting the lunkers needed to buy stuff. Out of the 250 I need for the good rewards, I've got 50 coins already, so it's going well!
ArPharazon-V: For the raiding, we've gotten 10 out of 13 bosses down on normal now, for the second week in a row, and will be trying to work on the last 3 on tuesday. I've got 2 pieces of the class-set now, quite useful for my tankspecialization.
ArPharazon-V: And I think that's my news for this week!
Varda Valar: Thanks Phar. :-)
ArPharazon-V: Oh yes, and I got the timewalking quest done this weekend as well. Kinda fun to see the old instances from Northrend again at an appropriate level.
Varda Valar: More exciting that way.
ArPharazon-V: Certainly.
ArPharazon-V: And also for raiding, we killed one boss fast enough to get the new follower from him, Ariok, an orc that was with us at the start of the expansion. Nice to see him again, and add him to the garrison.
Varda Valar: I should mention that Farmer got called away early on to go eat.
ArPharazon-V: He did seem a bit quiet...
thesirg3: I've been back for a few minutes but had nothing to add :)
ArPharazon-V: Aiyata!
ArPharazon-V: Not been gaming yourself? :)

thesirg3: In the past month, I've played ~135 hours of The Witcher 3
ArPharazon-V: Ah! I think I heard of that.
thesirg3: It's quite well done and I enjoyed it. Very story-rich with good gameplay
Varda Valar: Sounds like something to check out. Welcome back!
Varda Valar: We're in After-meeting, free chat time now about whatever we want.
thesirg3: It avoids the typical "good" and "bad" choices and everything is shades of grey and whatever you do typically has some sort of consequence, even if it's to do nothing
ArPharazon-V: Sounds like a lot of replayability.
Varda Valar: Sounds realistic. Doing nothing is a choice with consequences.
ArPharazon-V: Unlike in WoW, where I recently did a quest where I had to save an npc who only had "minutes to live" and the nature of questing is such that I could've left him for a week and he'd still be in the same condition.
Varda Valar: You probably just sent a batch of people over to try Witcher. :-)
thesirg3: It also avoids the RPG quest tropes like "fetch a dozen whatever". You have some stuff like contracts on monsters, but it's varied in terms of what you have to do and the story associated with it
thesirg3: One contract has you taking care of a "haunted" house, which more or less turns out to be a harmless kid-like creature and you have the option to let her stay there and claim it's haunted
thesirg3: for example
ArPharazon-V: There. That's the end of my fishing run, 7 lunkers caught today for 7 coins. Seems about average with my fishing skill, though of course it is random.
ArPharazon-V: So is it clear which of those choices you make is good or evil?
thesirg3: Sometimes. This one is fairly clearly "she's doing no harm", though you don't get paid
thesirg3: In other cases you have to decide between the lesser of two evils
Varda Valar: (currently listening to:
thesirg3: There's one small quest where you track down an arsonist. If you turn him in, he promptly gets hanged to be made an example of (but you don't know this in advance)
Varda Valar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI3fkqA9-IA&list=PLUcJ_HmO2bE9ct1GtRlV2486p6PNpRXB2&index=4
(Song of the Lonely Mountain, done by Peter Hollens)
ArPharazon-V: Hah, I always like those videos with the same person in different windows with different voices and instruments.
ArPharazon-V: I suppose you do know it in advance when you replay it :)
thesirg3: Or if you spoil the endings by looking things up :(
ArPharazon-V: *grin* that works
thesirg3: Anyways, I really like the entire Witcher series of games, and the books they're sequels to
ArPharazon-V: new fishing pole with +200 lure bought. Just need pets and mount now.
ArPharazon-V: Games as sequels to books? Interesting.
ArPharazon-V: Usually they're just based on or inspired by.
ArPharazon-V: Are they made by the same person?
thesirg3: Sort of. The first Witcher game had the author's input, IIRC
ArPharazon-V: And the gaming company took it up from there.
ArPharazon-V: I suppose there are canon endings to lead into the sequels?
thesirg3: The books left things off in such a way that the game developers could just have the game start by the protagonist running out of the woods not knowing who he was and you learn about him as he does
ArPharazon-V: Ahh.
ArPharazon-V: Perfect RPG material :)
thesirg3: The books are good, though the latter two or three are only fan translations from the original Polish
thesirg3: The biggest gripe I have with the books is with the last one. The point of view it's being told from swaps around quite a bit and some of the times it's people in the future recounting events of the past (that form a continuous timeline with what you're reading through)

ArPharazon-V: Heh. Sounds a bit like the Homestuck webcomic, which is famed for that sort of shenanigans.
ArPharazon-V: Add multi-dimensional time-loops into the mix...
thesirg3: How do you get time-loops in a multi-dimensional universe? Doesn't it just fork off another?
ArPharazon-V: In this case it was the actions in one dimension spawning the other
dimension, while events in the new dimension give feedback to the older dimension, causing some of the events to happen that cause its own creation.
thesirg3: That sounds like you'd need a chart
ArPharazon-V: Let's just say it gets more complex after that.
ArPharazon-V: Including parallel versions based on a "hard reset" of a universe, leading to reversed generations and families, which also find a way to communicate back to the older version..
ArPharazon-V: A chart is useful, yes :)
thesirg3: And that's a *webcomic*?
ArPharazon-V: Yes. Though it has has also started using logs of dialogue and chat, animated gifs, music, and even full animations.
ArPharazon-V: It really pushes the boundries of what is a webcomic.
ArPharazon-V: http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6 have fun ;)
thesirg3: That's the problem I have with some really large series
thesirg3: like the Wheel of Time stuff
thesirg3: there's so many that I don't really have the interest in starting
ArPharazon-V: It's nearly at 8000 pages now, so I can understand that.
thesirg3: That is a lot of pages. When did they start?
ArPharazon-V: Ooh, not as long ago as you'd expect.. I was reading its predecessor too, so have been following it from the start.. let me check the wikia.
ArPharazon-V: April 2009. Well, still longer than I thought, but he went on hiatus for about a year at some point.
thesirg3: I don't follow too many web comics and only one of them has any sort of narrative (Questionable Content)
thesirg3: I recently started following Cube Drone. Some of them hit close to home (e.g. http://cubedrone.com/comics/n/2)
ArPharazon-V: He started a kickstarter for a game based on the comic as well, got the 700000 for his goal in 32 hours, and ended up at the end of the month with 2 and a half million dollars.
ArPharazon-V: So he's working on that now too.
thesirg3: I will give it a poke when I find some time
ArPharazon-V: The author, I mean, of course.
ArPharazon-V: Sure :)
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