Valar Guild

December 9, 2018 Sunday Meeting

5:00 P.M. Eastern time (-5 GMT)
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place

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Transcript work by Varda.

Attending (and spoke): (6)
    Discord: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Celebrian, Elrond, Eonwe, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news:
    Congratulations to Celebrian and Elrond on their 23rd Wedding Anniversary!
Web:
Gaming:
    General report.
Tolkien:
    Topic: Mention a character and how that person affected the story of the One Ring.
After-meeting:
    Continued Tolkien with another batch of characters.
    Flashgaming Reviews by Ar-Pharazon.
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Before-meeting
(times are in Central from Varda's Discord, so add one hour for Eastern. Example: 4pm Central in the transcript is 5pm Eastern)

VardaYesterday at 3:53 PM
Aiya
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:53 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 3:54 PM
Still about 10 minutes, but wanted to say howdy. Hope you've had a great day, Phar!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:55 PM
eh, bit of health issues, and no new drops from the Arathi rares. But we did get Zul down with a less than ideal group, so that's something.
VardaYesterday at 3:55 PM
Sounds as if with all that against you and your gang, you have bragging rights.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:55 PM
hehe
ElrondYesterday at 3:59 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 3:59 PM
Aiya Elrond : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:59 PM
Aiya!
VardaYesterday at 4:00 PM
Welcome to the start of the meeting. : )
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Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
Lots of folks on Discord, Ar-Pharazon, Elrond, and Varda speaking so far. : )
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Web:
Games Site:
Eonwe has been working on putting in the new LotRO server info and updating Landroval's as well.
Feel free to email or Discord message him with your updates.
He also takes game reviews, but please email those.
http://valarguild.org/gaming/lotrolandroval/players/characters-by-member
The Valar Guild Games Site
    Valar Guild Games Site
http://valarguild.org/gaming/lotroanor/players/characters-by-member
    The Valar Guild Games Site
    Valar Guild Games Site
http://valarguild.org/gaming/lotroithil/players/characters-by-member
    The Valar Guild Games Site
    Valar Guild Games Site
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Gaming:

World of Warcraft:
This week's bonus event: Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking.
Patch 8.1: Tides of Vengeance, is coming December 11th.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22820910/tides-of-vengeance-arrives-starting-december-11
World of Warcraft
    Tides of Vengeance Arrives Starting December 11 - WoW
    Prepare for Tides of Vengeance by learning more about the new content ahead including a new Warfront � Battle for Darkshore, new dwarf and blood elf Heritage armor, Faction Assaults, and more.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:05 PM
(12 for europe)
VardaYesterday at 4:06 PM
Thanks, Phar!
Also see the previews on faction assaults and Battle for Darkshore.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22820909/tides-of-vengeance-preview-faction-assaults
    World of Warcraft
    Tides of Vengeance Preview: Faction Assaults - WoW
    The push and pull between the Horde and the Alliance in Kul Tiras and Zandalar continues as both factions race to gain control of Azerite.
    With the release of Tides of Vengeance, each side will begin launching Faction Assaults in a bid to achieve supremacy.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22820908/preview-new-warfront-battle-for-darkshore
    World of Warcraft
    Preview: New Warfront � Battle for Darkshore - WoW
    In the ashen shadow of Teldrassil, hostilities between the Horde and the Alliance ramp up once more along the western coast of Kalimdor.
    With the release of Tides of Vengeance on December 11, prepare to clash in an all-new Warfront: The Battle for Darkshore.

Hearthstone:
The new expansion, Rastakan's Rumble, is live.
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22788309/rastakhan-s-rumble-is-now-live
    Rastakhan�s Rumble is Now Live!
    The gates of Gurubashi Arena have been thrown open, drums are thundering, and the teams are ready to battle for the glory of their Loa in Hearthstone�s newest expansion: Rastakhan�s Rumble!
Also see Rastakan's Rumble: Ticket to Greatness - Part 5
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22788310/rastakhan-s-rumble-ticket-to-greatness-part-5
    Rastakhan�s Rumble: Ticket to Greatness � Part 5
    One lucky contestant has won the Rumble raffle, but the prize isn�t what he bargained for! Will Thrall prevail? Will Rastakhan rumble? How many teeth does a crab have?
    Find out in Wronchi Animation�s Ticket to Greatness � Part 5!
and Hearthside Chat with Paul Nguyen: A Tussle of Trolls.
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22788313/hearthside-chat-with-paul-nguyen-a-tussle-of-trolls
    Hearthside Chat with Paul Nguyen: A Tussle of Trolls
    Join Hearthstone Mission Designer Paul Nguyen as he delves into the new Rastakhan�s Rumble single-player content: Rumble Run!

Lord of the Rings Online:
Patch 23.1.6 came out this week.
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?669568-Update-23-1-6-Release-Notes
    Update 23.1.6 Release Notes
    Here are the Release Notes for Update 23.1.6, released on Wednesday, December 5th, 2018.
    News and Notes:
    Items
And of course the festival is still going, wrapping up soon.
Any other news you'd like to add on your games? Including Eve Online and others? Diablo 3?
Players on LotRO this past week:
(in kin, by server world)
Landroval:

Ancalagon
Bregalad
Eonwe
Lenwe
Mirabella
Nar
Nimrodel
Varda

Anor:

Dis
Fangorn
Varda

Ithil:

Arien
Dis
Falco
Varda
We still have some outstanding characters to invite on the Legendaries including my own, heh.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:11 PM

Diablo 3 season start date has been announced for january (no day has been given I think) so a while longer to wait
VardaYesterday at 4:11 PM
Good to know, thanks.
CelebrianYesterday at 4:12 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 4:12 PM
Aiya Celebrian  : )
Aiya Arien : )
ArienVYesterday at 4:13 PM
aiya Varda :smiley:
ElrondYesterday at 4:13 PM

Eve Online is having a special from the 11-28th. Login on your account for 13 days during that time, get rewards. The real special one allows you to use 3 skill injectors WITHOUT getting nailed with the depreciating return, so you would get the full 500,000 points. 
https://updates.eveonline.com/card/300XE/13-days-of-eve/
    13 Days of EVE
    The holiday season is a time for gift-giving, so log in to EVE Online regularly during the 13 Days of EVE campaign and get free rewards as an Alpha or an Omega! Celebrate the festive period with EVE between...
VardaYesterday at 4:13 PM
Oh, thanks!
ArienVYesterday at 4:13 PM
aiya Elrond :smiley:
yeah but you cant train everything as an alpha :?
not even fly everything what you trained for

CelebrianYesterday at 4:15 PM
And today is me and Elrond's 23rd Wedding Anniversary :smiley:
ElrondYesterday at 4:15 PM
You can train up to 5 mil, inject up to 20 mil. There are restrictions on certain things but you can fly alot more than before.
ArienVYesterday at 4:15 PM
oh happy Anniversary :smile:
ElrondYesterday at 4:16 PM
ty :smiley:
CelebrianYesterday at 4:16 PM
Thank you.
VardaYesterday at 4:16 PM
Happy anniversary!
23 years. You must be doing something right. : )
Thank you both for dropping by on such a day!
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:17 PM
Heya all.
VardaYesterday at 4:18 PM
Eonwe! Aiya : )
Here's our coder extraordinaire. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:18 PM
Happy anniversary!
Also, Aiya Arien, Celebrian and Eonwe :smiley:
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:18 PM
And  Happy Anniversary Elrond and Celebrian :}
CelebrianYesterday at 4:18 PM
Thank you :smiley:

VardaYesterday at 4:19 PM
Any further business or other cool news?
StarCraft 2: Eowyn, Faramir, Eonwe, and our grandbaby have been playing. : )
ArienVYesterday at 4:21 PM
aiya Eonwe :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:21 PM
And Merry Christmas to everyone coming up!
ArienVYesterday at 4:21 PM
uh Ra
Frali did get a new pony from a box ^^ [LotRO]
in Lotro
VardaYesterday at 4:21 PM
What fun!
ArienVYesterday at 4:22 PM
Steed of the Winged messenger :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:22 PM
A horse I don't have yet! Extra kudos.
ArienVYesterday at 4:22 PM
hehee :smile: a miracle
i knew there had to be one horse you dont have yet
VardaYesterday at 4:23 PM
hehe
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:23 PM
grats!
VardaYesterday at 4:23 PM
Sounds as we're ready for
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Tolkien!
Thought we might try something different.
Each of us gets to pick any character from Tolkien's books and tell a short bit (no long essays this time!) on how that character affected the story of the One Ring.
I'll go first and you can pick on me if you like. ; )

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
She (and Lotho) took over Bag End, and Frodo left for Crickhollow with a good excuse. This threw the Nine Nazgul off, as they were told to hunt in the Shire.
In alphabetical order, you get to tell yours: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Celebrian Elrond, and Eonwe. Unless you have a time problem and need to go early, just say.
Arien, you're up!
If you saw your turn come up and need a moment, feel free to say. (And you can use very famous characters.)
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:28 PM
Trying to think of someone obscure with only a bit part effect...

ArienVYesterday at 4:30 PM
The  Nine Nazgul  came to hunt and chase but didnt find Frodo in the Shire anymore. They sent the Breefolk blowing their horns , since Dick Bolger managed to run to the Bounders  and so delayed them even more , as the nearest point to cross was twenty miles away on the Brandywine bridge
VardaYesterday at 4:31 PM
Fredegar?
I found a bit online that says Fredegar was also "Dick". But I can't read the article to see:
http://ardapedia.herr-der-ringe-film.de/index.php/Fredegar_Bolger
    Ardapedia
    Fredegar Bolger
That's who you meant, right?
ArienVYesterday at 4:34 PM
yes indeed
VardaYesterday at 4:34 PM
Thanks
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:34 PM
Fatty, is all I know :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:35 PM
Fatty is the nickname I know, too.
ArienVYesterday at 4:35 PM
i think it might have been in the German translation
Fatty being translated as "dick* .. like in fat
which makes it slightly unfortunate :?
VardaYesterday at 4:36 PM
Thank you. We just picked up some education. : )

Ar-Pharazon is up next, if ready?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:37 PM
Right, let's go with the Barrow Wight.
VardaYesterday at 4:38 PM
ahh, nice, out of left field.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:38 PM
Waylaid the hobbits and their quests in the foggy Barrow Downs, took some of their stuff (but not the Ring) and, after being defeated by Tom Bombadil, turned out to be a nice source of melee weapons for the party.
*quest
ArienVYesterday at 4:40 PM
one of the daggers delivering the decisive blow to the former King of Angmar
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:40 PM
Indeed!
VardaYesterday at 4:40 PM
Good one!

Celebrian, you're up. : )
VardaYesterday at 4:49 PM
Celebrian seems to be unavailable at the moment. Elrond, are you there?
We'll let them have some anniversary time. : )

Eonwe, are you available?
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:53 PM
Sure.
Let's see....
Bill Ferny. If it weren't for him. Same wouldn't have had Bill the Pony!
Same = Sam
VardaYesterday at 4:56 PM
Nooooo!
Bill was the ultimate share the load picker-upper. : )

Thank you all! That was interesting reading, food for thought.
We're coming up on the hour, so...
the hammer huffs and puffs running to make it on time to the hammerpad
the hammerpad upends itself to roll away on its side, laughing
ArienVYesterday at 4:58 PM
*delivers some solar power(
VardaYesterday at 4:58 PM
the hammer slings sideways and...
gonnnnnng!
they both cheer and the hammer returns to the shelf
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After-meeting!
ArienVYesterday at 4:59 PM
:smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:59 PM
Always good to have extra power!
Feel free to add any other perhaps under-appreciated characters who affected the fate of the One Ring, like Deagol, and generally enjoy free chat time. : )

Deagol found the One Ring in the river long after it had betrayed and left Isildur. Doesn't sound like a desirable Ring, no matter what it tries to whisper.
ArienVYesterday at 5:08 PM
if Deagol hadnt found  the ring though Smealgol wouldnt have gotten it and if Smeagol wouldnt have gotten it . Bilbo wouldnt have gotten it . and if Bilbo hadnt gotten it >
? what then eh?
VardaYesterday at 5:08 PM
Right. An important find by Deagol.

VardaYesterday at 5:17 PM
Farmer Maggot took Frodo in his wagon to Buckland Ferry, and the Nazgul have problems crossing running water. : )

Fangorn-(Valar) says Strider got the hobbits into different rooms than they were expected to be at the Prancing Pony, leaving bolsters and whatnot in the beds so it looked as if they left.
They had been in the rooms, so if the Nazgul used their sniffing, their smell was still in there.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:19 PM
They should've left the Ring in there as well. That would've fooled them even more!
VardaYesterday at 5:19 PM
lol

Eonwe ValarYesterday at 5:37 PM
Time for me to be off. Take care all, goodnight, sleep well, and have fun :}
VardaYesterday at 5:37 PM
Namarie!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:37 PM
Namarie!
ArienVYesterday at 5:47 PM
Namarie!

Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 7:15 PM
Alright, personal gaming report time.

3 flashgames!

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/corgi is a platformer, starring... a corgi.
    Corgi - OneMoreLevel.com
In a powersuit of sorts.
Run around the level, collect coins, shoot a few bad guys. Seems to be a tutorial level, but finishing it just puts me back at the start. So might be bugged, but.. it's a start?
And it's a corgi, so there.

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/side_by_side is the second game; make your way through a maze/tunnel without hitting the sides, by clicking to alternate between moving left and right. Good timing needed!
Side By Side - OneMoreLevel.com

And for the third game... one of the kongregate badges for this week was for one of my all-time favorite defense games
tower defense genre, but instead of towers you train squads of warriors: melee, archer, or caster, to hold back waves of enemies, get gold from enemies, and upgrade your units. By completing levels with better results and completing achievements you also get skill points, which you can use for powerful passive upgrades which apply to every map. But you can reset and re-assign those without loss. So experiment, and see what works for you :smiley:
https://www.kongregate.com/games/booblycCom/incursion is the link!
    Kongregate
    Incursion
    Darkness is on the way to enslave this lands and you have to stop it. 27 unique warriors will be available in your army. You will need to move them to where th...
Also all the unit quotes are warcraft references, so that's always nice :wink:
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Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 8:15 PM
Blizzard gaming:
Hearthstone:
Got my first bunch of Rastakhan's Rumble packs. You get a free loa and 2 spirits for the same class when you first log in, and mine were for the mage class. The first legendary I got from the packs was the mage champion. Game really wants me to play mage :wink:
Tavern brawl this week was an enhanced arena, against greater cost and with higher prizes. I don't bother with those myself. Other than that, a bit more xp on various classes.
Heroes of the Storm:
4 levels gained, to 321. So nice progress there. One of them was for Zeratul, which I don't normally play, but was forced into for the brawl. Which, by the way, is a temple arena where you have to control the temples longer than your opponent to bring the enemy core then. For several of the rounds we were all forced to play the same hero, which can be fun, but also difficult if you're not familiar with it and the others are :wink:
The other 3... can't be sure anymore. I have quite a few that are just past leveling, the Diablo heroes are especially close. So probably a few of those :wink:
WoW:
Still raiding, with difficulties. We did manage to get heroic Zul down with a suboptimal raid today, with only 12 people and no priests for dispelling, simply by pushing through the first phase as quick as we could, reducing add-cycles. Got a new cloak appearance out of it, as well. We failed on Mythrax after that though... guess we pushed our luck :wink:
With patch coming next week, I thought I'd wrap up a few 8.0 projects, though I'll still have a few to go before I really get into the new patch content. Part of that was completing the plans I made last week.
I first got Order of Embers to exalted, getting the new pet and mount from there. Then I continued work on the Jaina questline. Which succeeded: Went through the entire thing, including my first Siege of Boralus dungeon, and seeing both cutscenes. Quite emotional, especially with the music :smiley:
While in the Boralus mythic, I also picked up another quest I didn't even know existed, which I then delivered in Stormwind, which showed me Jaina's Warbringer video, with the Daughter of the Sea song.
And so I completed the Pride of Kul Tiras and Nation United achievements, which is basically the conclusion of the Kul Tiras storyline.
That very same night I decided to finish the job for the other 2 Kul Tiras factions, getting exalted with both Proudmoore Admiralty and Storm's Wake, both of which had emissaries up at the time. So that timing worked out quite well.
While doing so I also got the third penguin sledding world quest, completing that achievement as well, and when I had both factions to exalted I also got my 100 exalted achievement, which was the project I really wanted to complete before patch :smiley:
With those factions to exalted I also bought 3 more toys, 1 more pet (a bumblebee) and 2 more mounts. As well as getting yet another mount and a title from those 100 exalted.
So yes, my collection of stuff grew significantly that night!
Oh, and I got revered with the Tortollans this week as well, getting me the Azerothian Diplomat achievement, one of the conditions for Pathfinder part 1.
With all that out of the way, I finally had time for the weekly, which was Northrend timewalks. Had some painful TW with my 2 alts, but the 5 TWs with my main were quite smooth. Funny how that works, despite every thing scaling down.
And with that done, it was time for some miscellaneous items on my to do list. I started a project to kill normal Argus in the old Legion raid once a week, to finish upgrading the upgradeable trinkets for my class. I won't ever use them again, but seeing them below max ilevel just hurts my completionist tendencies :wink: I got my first of 19 kills, which really went rather smoothly. Getting a nice raid of people who are 10 levels higher than appropriate really makes it easy. It shouldn't be much of a problem to get the rest, even if it takes 18 more weeks.
Another little side project was collecting glyphs. After doing some research, it turns out glyphs in Legion and BfA are not actually collectible; rather they are a bit like enchants in that they're one-use only and overwrite each other for the same slot. So rather than going in full collect mode I just got the one glyph I wanted, which was the one to turn my aquatic form into a tideskipper dolphin. Looks really nice, but there is a bit of an oddity when you jump out of the water; the dolphin model has a dolphin jump, but that gets interrupted in mid-air because you're no longer in the water and therefore switch to travel form automatically.
Maybe they'll fix that one day, though I wouldn't know how.
And the last little side project I undertook was getting my revenge on a big elite mob on Argus, patrolling the southeast passage in Krokuun, sneaking up on people and bashing them to death because we never really stood a change against it at level 110.
But now that I'm 120 and raid-geared, I thought I'd give it a go :smiley: It has rather more health than most of the rare mobs in BfA, but the damage it does to a 120 is almost negligible, and I was easily able to solo it in catform.
With operation payback complete as well, it's time to move on with the story... next week I'm going to explore Zandalar and take care of all the little questlines that are also available for alliance. I've already identified the main locations leading to all those quests, and am ready to go when time permits. Patch will hit in the middle of the week, which means I'll probably also be doing some mythic island expeditions with the simplified reward drop system, as well as some battlegrounds for the weekly (I think that's battlegrounds, anyway), but I'm sure I'll have time for some questing along the way. I don't plan on tackling the new questlines until I'm done with Zandalar and the 8.0 war campaign anyway.
Oh, and to finish off... I visited the Arathi warfront again, finishing the achievement to capture all the bases personally, and recruiting 2 more types of unit. Just the siege engine to go, as well as the random event achievement but that can't really be helped. Just need to get lucky.
And that's my report for the week!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 9:00 PM
namarie!
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