Valar Guild

January 10, 2016 Sunday Meeting

5pm EST (UTC/GMT - 5)

AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace

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Transcript work by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (4)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV (presiding), ArPharazonV, Elladan-(V)/scott92027, PallandoValar

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
    Varda, Fangorn, Elwing
    Fladrif
Web:
    Art
    Article link
Gaming
Tolkien:
    Topic: Battles in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
After -meeting:
    Ar-Pharazon: gaming news including flashgaming reviews.
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Before-meeting
You have just entered room "valarguildmeetingplace."
ArPharazonV: Aiya Pallando
AriehnV has entered the room.
ArPharazonV: Aiya :-)
AriehnV: Aiya there :-)
AriehnV: well well well
AriehnV: there we are at ten o' clock and t seems we are all that is going to appear
ArPharazonV: Invited people on the aim list yet?
AriehnV: done
scott92027 has entered the room.
ArPharazonV: Right, invited em too, just to be sure ;-)
AriehnV: Aiya Elladan :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya Elladan!
AriehnV: Aiya Pallando as well :-)
AriehnV: five minutes more and then we will start :-)
AriehnV: Right then .. "sends tentatiive rays through Arda to each individual virtually present" .. if they reach you type "Elbereth"
ArPharazonV: "Elbereth"
AriehnV: al right .. it seems our brightness must be sufficient tonight :-)
AriehnV: let's see what we bring together :-)
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AriehnV: Elen sila lumenn omentielvo - A star shines upon the hour of our meeting!
AriehnV: Membership news:
AriehnV: You are here tonight :-)
AriehnV: Varda is out of town as she helps Elwing to set up a new computer so she can enjoy better graphics in gaming :-)#
ArPharazonV: Yay better gaming!
AriehnV: Eonwe is at work as usual , but I am sure his (and Varda's) thoughts are here with us right now
AriehnV: anything else as far as membership news are concerned?
ArPharazonV: Dentist appointment tomorrow..? ;-)
scott92027: aiya but afk :-)
scott92027: here in spirit
AriehnV: uuurgs .. good luck for that one
AriehnV: aiya Elladan and the spirit is what counts :-) Noticed your shiny spot :-)
AriehnV: I ' ve got vacation coming up at the end of the month for two weeks so more time for all round gaming then ;-)
ArPharazonV: Yay!
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AriehnV: Web news:
AriehnV: There is one new sketch up from our talented Bohemian Weasel TV: A nice watercolor sketch of the Fellowship leaving Lorien .. and here the link
AriehnV: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/BohemianWeasel/places/Lorien/soni-topps-lotrm2-120_farewell_Lorien.jpg
AriehnV: its very suitably held in blue and green colors .. interesting the different shades and light effects there
ArPharazonV: Feels a bit vaguer than the usual headshots, is nice.
AriehnV: I am afrad nothing else new up right now , but of course anything from poetry, articles, art and music uploads with a link to Tolkinen is very welcome and please send them to Varda if you have anything in store :-)
AriehnV: and stories of course :-)_
[Note: We had more scattered across this past week:
    Art "Thranduil",
    Article link: "The Myth of the Tolkien Elf" by Michael Martinez.]
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AriehnV: Gaming:
AriehnV: Blizzard games first since they take up a bit more space
AriehnV: In World of Warcraft a small patch was released .. seems to be mainly hotfixes to me .. I haven't noticed anything new
AriehnV: seems to be fixes concerning server crashes while logging in or loading the character list
ArPharazonV: Haven't had any of that, luckily!
[Note: A patch was released this week: patch 6.2.3, build 20886. There have also been some hotfixes.]

AriehnV: In Diablo III season 5 iis starting coming Thursday ,,the 15th of this month
AriehnV: and a further look into patch 2.4.
[Note: Blizzard asks, Are You Prepared for 2.4.0? ]
ArPharazonV: Any word on the stash space yet?
AriehnV: havent seen anything hold on
AriehnV: nope nothing
ArPharazonV: They announced it as this big thing for season 5 and further seasons, and then not a word in any later blog, not even if it's cancelled or not.
ArPharazonV: I could rather use the new stash space myself, so it's really a curious thing ;-)
AriehnV: it mentions the revamped areas under Leoric's Manor and the Eternal Woods near the ruins of Secheron and some yetis that wander there
AriehnV: also the increased status that set gear provides as well as some set dungeons as i mentinened after Blizzcon
AriehnV: a new kind of Rifts .. Empowered ones that can be opened with the help of Orek :-)
ArPharazonV: Spend gold, get more rift :-) Interesting concept.
AriehnV: hehe aye at least you know what to do with the gold ^^
AriehnV: i usually spend it merging jewels and crafting stuff and repairs of course
ArPharazonV: Not sure what I've used it on.. probably crafting for the season journey.

AriehnV: nothing new in Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm iit seems
AriehnV: or have you heard anything there?

ArPharazonV: I think Winter Veil is going to end soon, in Heroes of the Storm, so finish that quest if you haven't and want to.
AriehnV: all right yes thank you :-) the Christmas events in games are coming to an end
AriehnV: New ones are starting
ArPharazonV: Still a while before the valentine's holiday starts, I think.
AriehnV: yes a little break with a darkmoon faire diirectly before i think
ArPharazonV: Oh, Lunar Festival's first.
ArPharazonV: Starts on the first of feb.
AriehnV: ah yes of course ... how could I forget that
ArPharazonV: Wonder if there's anything new this year.
AriehnV: We shall see

AriehnV: LotrO :
AriehnV: the executive producer has published a summary of last year on the website and looks forward to the upcoming upgrade of their operating system from 32 biit to 64 bit
AriehnV: you can find it on
AriehnV: http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/letter-executive-producer
AriehnV: and that upgrade is happening this week in fact [Note: tomorrow Monday]
AriehnV: as well as some more free transfers
[Note: Schedule for free transfer between servers.]
AriehnV: They also mention a new Epic battle and epic book quest coming up leading to the Battle on the Pelennor fields which apparenty seems to contain a range of new dungeons and a new raid :-)
ArPharazonV: Sounds interesting, really coming to the big battles now :-)

AriehnV: outwith Lotro and WoW I have been playing quite a bit of Rift last week on Zaviel where i found a nice active guild .. mainly on WoW for roleplaying as time and tiredness allows
AriehnV: anything you want to mention in business , Phari?

ArPharazonV: WoW enabled purchase of Crystallized Fel for valor this week.
AriehnV: ..uhm and if you can think of a Tolkien topic then whisper me of course :-)
ArPharazonV: This allows you to upgrade your legendary rings more easily without having to find a raid for normal or higher Archimonde, and is very welcome for many casuals :-)
AriehnV: sounds great :-)
ArPharazonV: And it's good for those like me with a legendary ring for each spec, because I need twice the fel ;-)
ArPharazonV: And I think that's the biggest wow news this week.
AriehnV: hehe
AriehnV: all right
ArPharazonV: *general* wow news, anyway.. got some interesting stories in the personal section!
AriehnV: Looking forward to it :-)
AriehnV: Do you have any ideas for a Tolkien chat? I 've got one in mind but if you have let me hear :-)
ArPharazonV: Go ahead!
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AriehnV: Tolkien time then :-)
AriehnV: In fact, Phari, you mentionened it and it springs to mind as i mentioned the Battle of Pelennor
AriehnV: Battles in Lotro . then wider in the Silmarllion . Battles even older than that .. or we can start chronologically :-)
AriehnV: Battles in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit of course
ArPharazonV: Battles in the Hobbit..
ArPharazonV: I remember one involving 5 armies, but can't remember what it's called!
AriehnV: Tip .. try "Battle of five armies " :-)_
ArPharazonV: That might be it!
AriehnV: remember which five armies?
ArPharazonV: I believe the classic list is human, dwarf, elf, goblin, warg...
ArPharazonV: but multiple interpretations are possible
ArPharazonV: because we've also got a wizard, a werebear, some eagles, another dwarf army, and some invisible hobbit running around.
AriehnV: one hobbit , one wizard .. , the skin changer although he might count as human in fact
AriehnV: but yes Eagles as well
AriehnV: and in the film interestingly bats are seen used as a sort of weapon as well .. but i cant remember the book mentioning bats
ArPharazonV: Don't think so, no. Guess the goblins needed an aerial advantage.
AriehnV: right that is the only real battle in "The Hobbit" .. the skirmish with the spiders and the goblins don't really count as such
AriehnV: well we have a few in the "Lord of the Rings" :-)
ArPharazonV: In the movie the goblin-battle got a bit nasty, but is it really a battle when you're fighting just over a dozen people?
AriehnV: not really .. they got overwhelmed pretty quick . that was too drawn out in the film
AriehnV: it was very well done and i loved the scenes in goblin town but movie ^^
ArPharazonV: Oh, late member news, caught Fladrif in Hearthstone a few times the past week. But he never stays late.
AriehnV: ah that;s great news :-D
AriehnV: say hello to him from me when you see him :-)
ArPharazonV: Will do!

Battles in the LotR
AriehnV: right iif we start of with skirmishes for mention's sake .. we could start with the weather top
ArPharazonV: Sounds about right. Couple of Nazgul, couple of hobbits and a ranger.
AriehnV: finiishing wiith Aragorn driving five or the ring wraiths back with fire and Frodo getting wounded with a Morgul knfe
AriehnV: yes and Merry, Sam and Pippin too
AriehnV: ((knife))
AriehnV: Elrond raising the Bruinen to unhorse all the riders in defense of Rivendell
ArPharazonV: Then it gets a bit quiet for a while.
AriehnV: the goblin ambush at Tol Brandir where Legolas shoots the mount of one of the Nazgul , then the next morning Boromir in defense of Merry and Pippin where he unfortunately has to pay with his life but redeems himself for his attempted theft of the ring
ArPharazonV: There's a bit of a skirmish in Moria before that.
AriehnV: ah yes . I forgot that ^^
AriehnV: glad you are here :-) two brains are better than one tired one ;-)
ArPharazonV: Followed by a fight on the edge of Lorien, for a bit, as the company sits up in a tree.
AriehnV: yep .. those two in the middle between Bruinen ford and the afore - mentioned night ambushy
AriehnV: After that we have the Riders of Rohan fighting and overwhelming the orcs that kidnapped Merry and Pippin
AriehnV: Then it escalates pretty quick
ArPharazonV: Fight at the... what's the river.. Isen?
AriehnV: that's right
ArPharazonV: 3 of them, I believe.
AriehnV: Theodred dies in a fight on the banks of the Isen
AriehnV: The Battle of Helms Deep as the first major Battle
ArPharazonV: Yep.
AriehnV: Isengard attacks Rohan but is defeated with Gandalf's and the Ents' help
AriehnV: The next smaller "battle" if you want is the army of the undead Oathbreakers taking the pirates ship in Umbar
AriehnV: that leads of course to the battle on the Pelennor Fields
ArPharazonV: Bit one-sided.
AriehnV: Indeed Phari .. the Undead use just terror and fear as weapons .. as far as is mentionened the Pirates just run screemingly but the Oathbreakers take them anyway
ArPharazonV: Bad way to go, I imagine.
AriehnV: from a soldiers view yes *nods* , one with honor and courage
AriehnV: anyway .. next battle up the "centre piece" of battles
AriehnV: The battle on the Pelennor Fields
AriehnV: .. looks pretty grim for Minas Tirith as Sauron is throwing all his might and military power at them but Rohan saves the day as well as Aragorn coming up the river from the Paths of the dead
ArPharazonV: In the meantime there are also the battles in the north, right, or was that later?
AriehnV: As we know King Theoden is lost in the field and Faramir badly wounded in the preceding siege
AriehnV: i think that was around between the Pelennor battle and the battle before the gates i believe in that time span Phari
AriehnV: Rivendell was attacked and also the borders of Lothlorien
ArPharazonV: Fair enough.
AriehnV: Dale and Erebor as well as far as i can remember
AriehnV: Then we have of course the Battle before the Gates of Mordor just before the ring is destroyed
ArPharazonV: In the movie concluded by a big earthquake that removes all the orcs and leaves the free armies standing.
ArPharazonV: How convenient!
AriehnV: The Gondorian armies and the knights of Rohan fight again together .. remember how we get to know how that particular battle is ended?
AriehnV: .. in the book please :-)
ArPharazonV: Not sure what you mean, but I assume we're talking about the destruction of the Ring?
AriehnV: yes .. but that moment or just before is noticed on the battlefield
AriehnV: what exactly happens?
ArPharazonV: Pippin is crushed by a dead troll chief, and hears the eagles coming.
AriehnV: correct but larger scale :-)
AriehnV: i tell you what i mean
ArPharazonV: hmm, you'd better, because I'm not getting it :-)
AriehnV: the enemies armies almost come to a standstll for a moment as the dark lords concentration is being taken from them
ArPharazonV: Ahh!
AriehnV: The Nazgul "flee" the battlefield remember?
AriehnV: can you tell me why?
ArPharazonV: Because Sauron directed them towards Orodruin.
AriehnV: because?
ArPharazonV: Because Frodo put on the Ring :-)
AriehnV: and claimed it for his own correct ;-)
ArPharazonV: Indeed.
AriehnV: that that didn't end that way we know because something very unlikely and unexpected happenened ..
AriehnV: Gollum bit the finger with the ring off and fell in the volacanic lava as he triumphed
AriehnV: and that sorted that ^^
ArPharazonV: Hurrah for gravity.
AriehnV: But as we know the battle at the gates of Mordor was not the last mentionened in the Lord of the Rings
AriehnV: That happenened where between who :-)?
ArPharazonV: Hmm...
ArPharazonV: Oh, of course. The battle of Bywater.
AriehnV: Parties involved?
ArPharazonV: Buncha hobbits, buncha humans.
ArPharazonV: Hobbits waiting in ambush of sorts.
AriehnV: Tooks mainly, Merry organizing the defenses and the "rebellion" as such , namely Sarumans mainly human thugs, a few corrupted hobbits and half orcs
AriehnV: but of course the bounder forces and some stout civillians
AriehnV: on the hobbits side
ArPharazonV: Yes, the locals did help out.
AriehnV: correct and with Otho 's and Saruman's death ending that battle with the rest of his "heroes" running to nowhere to be ever seen again brings the war of the ring to an end .. sort of .. we know that in the South the Gondorians had to do with remants of the Easterlings and surviving orc battalions
AriehnV: But yes that brings the skirmishes/ battles mentioned in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings to an End :-)
ArPharazonV: Oh yes, but the renewed alliance with Rohan helped with that.
ArPharazonV: And Aragorn himself was no stranger to open battle, he participated in Gondorian campaigns in the past.
AriehnV: I am sure Eonwe and Varda will mention no doubt next week or in a mail or comment on the forum if I have missed any :-)
AriehnV: or if we.. we both of us missed any .. but with your help i think they are complete
ArPharazonV: I don't recall any more right now!

More Hobbit
ArPharazonV: Unless you count Gandalf dropping burning pinecones on the heads of wargs.
AriehnV: well yes .. of course :-)
AriehnV: in the Hobbit before the Eagles rescue them
AriehnV: and drop them on the Carrock
ArPharazonV: That's the one.
AriehnV: And thus .. i do take a golden Warhammer .. bathes it in sunlight and melts it down to recreate it as .. golden gavel with a full booming sound
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AriehnV: "doooong"! Aftermeeting
AriehnV: Many thanks Phari for helping me with that :-)
ArPharazonV: No problem :-)
ArPharazonV: Well, let's do the gaming news then!

ArPharazonV: I'll throw in 2 flashgames this week. http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/nom_cat is a short, simple, difficult game where you have to keep the ball away from the cat as long as possible. I think my personal record is 14 seconds or something ;-)
AriehnV: good :-)
ArPharazonV: http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/bullet_phaze is a platformer where you have to switch between phases at the right moments to get through each level. The timing gets difficult fast, but it's fun.

ArPharazonV: Okidoki, blizzard games!
ArPharazonV: Not played D3 or SCII this week, but I am planning on starting season 5 when it happens in D3 next week. Only class I don't have yet is a Crusader, so that makes the choice easy enough. I might do the season rebirths in future seasons, if I document my favorite builds first before I reset my heroes ;-)
ArPharazonV: Hearthstone: Saw Fladrif a few times, spectated a few of his matches. He's got some good cards, and is apparently a bit further into the most recent Adventure than I am, but that's mostly because I never made the time for it ;-)
ArPharazonV: Most of my classes are halfway to level 39 now, so progressing steadily.
ArPharazonV: Heroes of the Storm: Finished the 50 games quest for Winter Veil, which got me a 10-day stimpack! Should be good for levelling some heroes.
ArPharazonV: I also bought Nazeebo, the Witch Doctor, because I had a Diablo/Specialist quest combination and thought I'd do both of them at once. He's a fun hero, summoning pets and spiders from a distance, and able to trap enemies with a ring of zombies. Also good health and mana regeneration, so doesn't need to break from the battlefield much.
ArPharazonV: I'm doing pretty decently with him, and that's just in 2 games played, so for me at least he's rather intuitive to use.
ArPharazonV: If you want a fun parody video about Nazeebo's abilities, check Carbot's video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEf156Aih0Q :-)
ArPharazonV: I also happened to get the Nazeebra, the unique Nazeebo-based mount, back in December (I think) with the Black Friday bundle, so immediately had the perfect mount for him too!
ArPharazonV: Now! WoW!
ArPharazonV: This week's Timewalk week, with the level 80 dungeons, so here's the chance for getting more timewarped badges. It's also the first Wrath-based timewalk week since the timewalks got updated, so the first chance to do the Timewalk-version of the Pits of Saron. First time I did it again, really brought back memories of how difficult the thing is at the right level and gear ;-)
ArPharazonV: We also started raiding again this week. Still haven't been able to repeat our first kill of heroic-difficulty Archimonde, though we got to 2% tonight. Maybe tuesday it'll be done, though I won't be home for it. But that's fine, I was there for the first, so already got my mount.
ArPharazonV: And now the big news: I'm flying!
ArPharazonV: Finally got the big achievement to unlock flight in Warlords of Draenor, after finishing my explorations and finding 100 treasures around Draenor.
ArPharazonV: Quite a big project, that was. I really enjoyed exploring hidden slopes and paths, trying to find all the treasures, and using the glider system in Nagrand in particular.
AriehnV: Congratulations :-D
AriehnV: yes that can be fun
ArPharazonV: But now that that's done, I'm finally able to fly, and get around much more easily.
ArPharazonV: Thanks :-)
ArPharazonV: With flight, I've started doing 10 Tanaan legendary pet fights a day, just because I can get around much better and find those isolated pets. I've also gotten a few more rare pets from their rewards, only missing one now. Hopefully I'll get that next week!
ArPharazonV: And I've also started killing the 3 rares on the east side of Tanaan, which require flight to reach as far as I can tell, for the 3 toys they drop for the armada achievement.
ArPharazonV: I've gotten one of the 3 toys so far, only a matter of time before the others drop.
ArPharazonV: And with flight I've decided to hunt all the rare mobs I was missing in Tanaan, for the Jungle Stalker achievement, finishing it off with Xemirkol! A special mob that you can only reach if you have completed certain conditions within Tanaan.
AriehnV: very good :-)
ArPharazonV: You need to have finished Jungle Stalker (killed every other rare in the zone), reached exalted with the Order of the Awakened, and bought a special item from that faction that teleports you to a rare mob in the zone when you use it, with a 15 minute cooldown.
ArPharazonV: Xemirkol has a really long spawntime, I believe, up to several hours, but if he's up (and you don't know if he's up until you try the item) the item transports you to him automatically.
ArPharazonV: The tag is not shared with other people, either, unless you're grouped with them, and he's difficult to kill, with an ability that can throw you off his platform and end the fight if you're not careful.
ArPharazonV: It took me 2 evenings of trying every 15 minutes to actually reach him, but when I did, and there was nobody else around already killing him, I was prepared for it, and won the fight, getting me a rare Feat of Strength and a nice title for it, "Predator".
ArPharazonV: I believe I was quite lucky to get it in only 2 days, but was very happy to get it done :-)
ArPharazonV: With all that out of the way, I've decided on my next project, which involves the Sanctum for my garrison, and a lot of PvP action. It could take me a few months, but when that's done I'll have a lot of new titles and achievements, including Warlord of Draenor. It's possibly the largest project I still have planned for this expansion, so I'm glad the next one's still about 7-8 months away :-)
AriehnV: ah Good luck with that :-D
ArPharazonV: Oh, and finally, my last ship, the Arakkoa ship "The Awakener" finally reached epic quality this week, finishing up the building and levelling efforts for my shipyard. I have every intention on keeping the 10 ships I have now, and should be able to get every mission I want to do by just switching some equipment around. Now I just gotta wait for the final few rare missions to appear for the achievement.
ArPharazonV: Thanks, I'll keep you informed on my progress there :-)
ArPharazonV: I'm building the sanctum tomorrow, after the trading post finishes its last work-orders, because that's the building I'm replacing. I already have plans laid out for how I'm going to start the project.
ArPharazonV: If you want to know more about the whole thing, take a look at http://www.wowhead.com/guides/garrisons/buildings/guide-to-the-garrison-gladiator-sanctum
ArPharazonV: And that's my news for this week!
AriehnV: right then .. a lot done
ArPharazonV: Yep.
AriehnV: and i ll head to bed for now .. so i shall see you in game .. Namarie for now!
ArPharazonV: Namarie!
AriehnV has left the room.
ArPharazonV: Well, time to save and send this transcript!
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