January 28, 2018 Sunday Meeting
5pm
EST (UTC/GMT - 5)
Discord: Valar
Guild/meeting_place
Back to News
Transcript work by Varda.
Attending: (4)
Discord: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Varda
LotRO: Aranuir, Varda
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
Web:
Gaming:
General gaming report
Tolkien:
Topic (from Aranuir-V): Why didn't Gandalf and Elrond hand over the One Ring to Tom Bombadil?
After-meeting:
Flashgaming Reviews by
Ar-Pharazon
top
Before-meeting
(times are in Central from Varda, so add one hour for Eastern)
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:01 PM
evening folks
Varda - Yesterday at 4:01 PM
Aiya Arien
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:01 PM
Aiya Varda
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:01 PM
Aiya
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:02 PM
Aiya Phari
Varda - Yesterday at 4:04 PM
Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
Discord: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, and Varda are here.
LotRO: Varda is present.
Aranuir just left, but gave us a Tolkien topic. Dis just left also, may
have been crafting until ending and the game kicks out for afk, not
sure.
Eonwe emailed, put up the Games report for us.
top
Web:
Since my regular computer deigns to come on only sometimes, no new
stuff has been added on this other, older computer to prevent confusion
between versions. This situation will be fixed.
I usually don't list off birthdays for the week as so many are not
being told to us. However, Lenwe made special mention of his brother
Erkenbrand's birthday being today. Happy birthday, Erkenbrand!
top
Gaming:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:09 PM
Happy birthday!
Varda - Yesterday at 4:09 PM
Eonwe's Games report can be updated by us for our favorite games by
emailing him so he can have the item loaded in for reporting on the
proper day. We can do input!
World of Warcraft:
This week's bonus event: Burning Crusade Timewalking.
Changes to Recruit-a-Friend have been made this week and are now live.
A dev watercooler also came out giving an Overview on Class Design in Battle for Azeroth. (Note: link needs repaired)
A live Developer Q& A is coming on January 30th.
Another birthday, huzzah! Arien's birthday is this coming Tuesday. Happy birthday, Sunshine!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:13 PM
Happy birthday as well!
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:13 PM
Happy birthday Erkenbrand and thanking you
Varda - Yesterday at 4:14 PM
more on WoW:
Check out the latest hotfixes.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21365424/hotfixes-january-26
World of Warcraft
Hotfixes: January 26 - WoW
Diablo 3:
Season 12 is ending February 11th for all regions. If you're trying to
get anything from this season, now is the time to wrap up. (Note: link needs repaired)
Heroes of the Storm:
A new patch came out this week.
https://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/21464985/heroes-of-the-storm-patch-notes-january-24-2018-1-24-2018
Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes - January 24, 2018
We’ve just released a patch to the live servers in order to apply some balance updates and bug fixes.
StarCraft 2:
Patch 4.1.4 was released this week.
https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/21313391
StarCraft II
Wage war across the galaxy with three unique and
powerful races. StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard
Entertainment for the PC and Mac.
Hearthstone:
Updates are coming to ranked play starting with the March 2018 season.
LotRO:
http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/lotro-beacon-issue-44
The Lord of the Rings Online
The LOTRO Beacon: Issue 44
It includes an updated events calendar:
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?646193-LOTRO-Events-Schedule&highlight=events
Any other gaming news of a general nature:
?
Guild mates seen in our games this past week:
LotRO:
Aranuir
Arien
Bregalad
Dis
Fangorn
Nar
Nimrodel
Tulkas
Varda
Has anyone seen anyone else in their games?
StarCraft 2:
Eowyn
Fangorn
Either of you in SC2 this past week?
Any further general gaming news, business, suggestions, other?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:20 PM
Nah, war chest part 3 doesn't start until next week.
oh, my Beren and Luthien book arrived
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:22 PM
not really generall.. some nice personal deeds in Lotro with Titles and a steed , but thats it
Varda - Yesterday at 4:22 PM
Yay for both of you!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:22 PM
didn't realize it was large print, but hey, now I can read from a distance, and it fits the other books well enough
Varda - Yesterday at 4:22 PM
Heh
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:23 PM
i got Champion of Eriador as title from completing both Volumes of Book I and got the steed from that , a grey horse
Varda - Yesterday at 4:23 PM
Very good!
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:24 PM
very fascinating .. as i hinted last week ^^
Varda - Yesterday at 4:24 PM
Aranuir just came back on LotRO just now.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:27 PM
aiya to Aranuir
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:27 PM
Aiya!
Varda - Yesterday at 4:28 PM
He's about to go to dinner, just snuck in a short bit.
top
Tolkien:
First topic is from Aranuir:
[Kinship] Aarfon: Gandalf and Elrond discussing giving the ring to Tom Bombadil
For a question, I'll add:
Why didn't Gandalf and Elrond hand over the One Ring to Tom Bombadil?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:30 PM
As I recall, he wouldn't naturally see the danger in it, and would probably lose it somewhere.
But phrased more friendly :smiley:
Varda - Yesterday at 4:31 PM
hehe
[Kinship] Aarfon: they were afriad that he would think it trivial and then lose it
(Aarfon is Aranuir)
Elrond said he had forgotten Bombadil, and wondered if he should have invited Iarwain.
Gandalf said Iarwain would not have come.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
But he also said that Iarwain wouldnt leave his territory .. ehm Gandalf said that if i recall
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
Easy to forget Bombadil.
Just look at the movie!
Is he in LotRO?
Varda - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
Erestor asked if they could still send him a message, as he seemed to have power over the Ring.
Phar, aye, he's in LotRO.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:35 PM
oh yes he is LotrO indeed and does do even booklike stuff for us in game :)O
Varda - Yesterday at 4:35 PM
and JRRT said to the earlier movie-makers that if they needed to make a cut, they could drop Tom.
Gandalf answered Erestor that the Ring had no power over him, but could
not alter the Ring itself or break its power over others.
Gandalf also said that Iarwain had withdrawn into a little land within
bounds that he had set himself. Perhaps waiting for a change of days,
but would not step past them.
That must be why Gandalf said he would not come.
Erestor suggested taking the Ring to Tom in his own territory.
To keep it forever harmless.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:37 PM
not step past them... what if the hobbits had summoned him later on?
Varda - Yesterday at 4:38 PM
He was only going to help them in the Barrow-downs, which was apparently inside his territory.
He would not have come.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:38 PM
ah, yes
Varda - Yesterday at 4:38 PM
And he shows up in LotRO in the Old Forest and the Barrow-downs. :smiley:
Gandalf answered Erestor (notice, this is not Elrond talking), that he
would not willingly take the Ring, but might if all the free folk of
the world begged him to, but would not understand the need. He would
soon forget it or most likely throw it away.
Such things have no hold over his mind and he would be an unsafe guardian.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:41 PM
and would really no enemy forces be able to cross into his land i wonder?
Varda - Yesterday at 4:41 PM
We know the barrow-wights lived inside his boundaries.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:42 PM
even if he can fight tkhem .. if they d come in sufficient numbers he could not fight them all victoriously
Varda - Yesterday at 4:42 PM
Glorfindel said sending Tom the Ring would only postpone the day of
evil. Also, he was far away and they could not take it back to him
without a spy catching them at it.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:43 PM
he's pretty powerful in the Battle for Middle Earth games :smiley:
Varda - Yesterday at 4:43 PM
He said even if they managed to sneak the Ring to him, Sauron would eventually find out and bend all his power towards it.
Quote from Glorfindel: "Could that power be defied by Bombadil alone? I
think not. I think that in the end, if all else is conquered, Bombadil
will fall, Last as he was First; and then Night will come."
This seems to me to be a good answer to those that think Tom is Eru.
Eru would care, and could not be defeated by such small beings as
Sauron and his minions.
Galdor adds a bit that may speak to Tom's nature:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:46 PM
ah, but the Council would not know he was Eru?
Varda - Yesterday at 4:46 PM
Glorfindel might well know, since he's been to Valinor and back.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:47 PM
Might still be a secret.
Varda - Yesterday at 4:47 PM
Gandalf would know, most likely. And he comments later that he knows
him, and is as a moss-covered stone while Gandalf is due to rolling.
He might be a Maia, as Gandalf suggests they are both stones, similar types.
Eru would not have the same attitude as Tom, but ok, apparently not good enough proof.
at least, not enough to convince Phar. :smiley:
Galdor chimes in with more about Tom's nature.
He admits to not knowing Tom, however.
So again, not proof.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:49 PM
Tom could be a sort of avatar of one part of Eru's personality :wink:
Varda - Yesterday at 4:50 PM
Galdor says "Power to defy our Enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself."
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:50 PM
Sounds like a sort of Maia, fair enough.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:50 PM
so the question arises whether he would fight at all
Varda - Yesterday at 4:51 PM
To protect Goldberry and his home? I believe so, but they would overwhelm him at the end.
Galdor adds that they have seen that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills.
Galdor asks if Lothlorien has the strength to keep out Sauron when all
else is overthrown. Elrond answers no, and that Rivendell doesn't
either.
That sounds like an oblique reference to their having the Elven Rings.
Elrond makes an interesting comment.
He says that those beyond the Sea would not receive the Ring, that is, they would not take it.
Thus they are stuck with it being in Middle-earth and having to deal with it.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:54 PM
what would they do, send it back?
Varda - Yesterday at 4:55 PM
They would not take it in the first place.
That's what it means, that they would not receive it. An old style of speech.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
return to sender...
Varda - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
heh
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
what if someone went there on a boat with the Ring? He'd never arrive?
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
kind of a bad report what happens when you send corrupt things away ...
Varda - Yesterday at 4:57 PM
It doesn't give details, but aye, maybe. The boat might not move, or find itself on a 180 degree path.
*an
Middle-earth was supposed to learn from this confrontation with Sauron
and become strong, not pass their problems to someone else. The buck
stops here.
If they failed, they would have to take the consequences. No risk, no gain.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:59 PM
Funny, considering Sauron's nature.
"Yeah, he's one of us, but you're gonna have to learn to deal with it yourself. We're staying out of this one."
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:00 PM
well the Valar knew that all people had to work together if they wanted
to be victorious and even thougfh they had to help all they could in
their subtle way
Varda - Yesterday at 5:00 PM
They were making the free peoples strong, self-reliant. You can see the change when Frodo and crew returned to the Shire.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:00 PM
True.
Varda - Yesterday at 5:00 PM
They needed to become able to make the new Arda.
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:00 PM
so they had to overcome their differences and maybe bad history with each other like dwarves and elves
Varda - Yesterday at 5:01 PM
True, the Valar helped subtly. They sent advisor Istari, gave desires to meet with certain people.
Such as Thorin and Gandalf both having the need to find each other. Or
the Fellowship members wanting to arrive at a particular time at
Rivendell.
Elrond did not call the meeting but merely hosted it.
Aye, Arien.
Bury the old feuds, work together.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:03 PM
helping Bilbo find the Ring...
Varda - Yesterday at 5:03 PM
Aye, put it right where his hand would go.
It fell off of Gollum's hand on purpose, trying to reach Sauron who was
calling by finding an orc. The Valar put Bilbo's hand there instead.
The Valar did their bit, but it was subtle.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:04 PM
Clever Valar indeed
Varda - Yesterday at 5:05 PM
They didn't force, but gave opportunities. It was up to the free people what they did with them. Could have squandered them.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:06 PM
Could Bilbo have squandered it and put his hand somewhere else? :wink:
Varda - Yesterday at 5:06 PM
Glorfindel suggested making Saruman's like come true by casting the
Ring into the Sea. But Gandalf warned that their job was not to kick
the can down the road but to handle the problem for all time.
Bilbo would have put his hand on it, but what he did with it once he had it could have changed.
He might not have ever passed it on to Frodo. Gandalf still had to give him a push even when Bilbo planned on it.
He could have been waylaid on the way to Rivendell.
Glorfindel worried that the Havens and Towers could be destroyed, leaving the elves no way to sail West.
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:08 PM
imaginesa a Lord Bilbo having a constant party with a host of slaves
working in his garden and kitchens and tyrannizing all who wouldnt want
to follow his orders or cook bad food or not do proper garden work
Varda - Yesterday at 5:08 PM
Especially if Suaron's forces followed them to the Sea.
Dark Lord Bilbo!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:09 PM
That's the kind of image the Ring should've used on Sam instead.
Still wouldn't have worked, though.
Varda - Yesterday at 5:10 PM
Right. Sam wanted the enjoyment of having his own hands doing the things, not through others where he could not touch it.
a hammer is wafted through the air, twisting around in surprise to look at the view
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:14 PM
Where are its eyes?
Varda - Yesterday at 5:14 PM
the hammer is brought down on the hammerpad, fulfilling its purpose
some might call them nails
thunk!
the hammer levitates back to the shelf, happy
top
After-meeting!
Free chat
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:29 PM
Personal gaming report!
Flashgaming:
For the first one... there appear to be 2 versions, on both different
main websites I use. Both appear to be a prototype of a full game in
development, but very fun already! I guess I'll give both, though I
suspect the onemorelevel one is further along.
A musical platformer, where you play a little bird, solving puzzles etc
by hitting keys along with the rhythm when needed :smiley:
https://www.kongregate.com/games/JoysteakStudios/songbird-symphony
Kongregate
Songbird Symphony
Songbird Symphony is a 2D musical adventure game depicting the tale of
a young bird named Birb as he leaves the safety of his nest to confront
the outside worl...
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/songbird_symphony
Songbird Symphony - OneMoreLevel.com
doing a bit more research, the second version does indeed seem to be a
later iteration of the game, more recent, with a greater focus on
environment interaction, and allowing better access to the songs.
If you like it, go find the main site, perhaps download a more stable version there, and keep an eye on future updates :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:05 PM
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/knightin
is the second game, a dungeoneering game with obstacles, some items to
collect, and puzzles to complete that I can't figure out, like how to
get rid of purple columns :wink: If you'll try it, good luck!
Knightin - OneMoreLevel.com
ArienV - Yesterday at 6:05 PM
quite fun that Songbird intro ^^
i hav to call it for now tho .. yawns
Varda - Yesterday at 6:06 PM
Good night, Arien :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:06 PM
https://www.kongregate.com/games/Kajenx/ether-war is the third game! Upgrade action game, where you defend a base from some star/gasball like creatures.
Kongregate
Ether War
It#39s Ether Cannon 2! Fly around and blow stuff up!
Namarie, Arien!
ArienV - Yesterday at 6:06 PM
good night and Namarie Valaries :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:07 PM
Get the upgrades done, then go on the offensive :smiley: I'd completed
it before, so might have mentioned it in the past, but decided to do it
again when it came up this week.
top
Blizzard games!
Hearthstone: Played a bit of
catch up with some of the classes that were a bit behind, as quests
allowed. Still really slow now. The levels are only supposed to require
a bit more xp every time, but it really feels much slower in the 50s.
Might just have to stop reporting on that until I progress a bit
further :smiley: Still, one class halfway now.
Fun brawl this week, cooperative, with one person playing Anduin
(priest) and the other Morgl (shaman), facing a powerful Nefarian
minion on the board. I played Morgl myself, and we got the win on the
first go, but it took quite a while. Healing each other and buffing
each other's minions is the key, but the decks are built for that.
Heroes the Storm: another
payload escorting/defending brawl this week, though luckily I had the
choice of at least one familiar hero each game. Did quite well, too; in
the last game the opponent didn't even make it to the second checkpoint
before time ran out :wink:
Level 246 now, so a couple more levels gained. And I finally
read/discovered that Lucio attacks while moving, which completely
alters the way I'd been playing him. So instead of being annoying and
squishy, it actually becomes quite fun and mobile with the right
talents. It pays to read a bit and do some research :wink:
A bit silly that I had already gotten him to level 5 before noticing that, but there you go, and better late than never :wink:
WoW:
No new pets from the old raids, alas. No new heroic raid progress
either, though some of the earlier fights are going rather smoother
than they used to. I think our improvement in gear is starting to show.
Got 4-piece bonus on both guardian and feral spec myself now.
Weekly was doing timewalks, which I did; now I have over 10k timewarped
badges on my main, which should be about enough to get all the new
stuff they might bring in the next timewalk for the next expansion. But
still continuing anyway, can't have too much of those.
Also got a belt reward which was an upgrade for feral, so yay!
Completed the maze for the Puzzler's Desire riddle series I mentioned
last time, with about 2 and a half hours of running around and mapping.
Could've gone worse; I never even ran into the teleport room even
though I was backtracking all the time to make sure.
And ended up with a new mount, the Lucid Nightmare! A rather void-like
unicorn which my void elf is surely going to like in the next expansion
:smiley:
Also got the first mount from Army of the Light paragon rewards, quite
lucky! One of the bejeweled elekks, a Blessed Felcrusher. Now at 297
mounts, 300 looming very close.
Looked into some more summonable rares in Argus. In addition to the
summoning item for the Many-Faced Devourer, I also found out how to
summon the imp-mother Rosula, and collected the parts for a portal to
reach Commander Shivax. And made a habit of finding a group for
Doomcaster Suprax at a special rune-site, because it needs 3 people to
summon.
Much of that paid off already! Got the pets from the Devourer as well
as Rosula, which means I've now got all the pets that can drop off of
Argus rares, and the toy from Shivax. So those rares I already don't
have to bother summoning anymore :smiley:
The pet from the Devourer, a ghost girl called Uuna, has her own
storyline now since the new patch, but I'm not tackling that yet. Got
some other projects in mind first.
And just when I thought I was down to 2 toy-dropping rares on Argus, I
checked up a bit more, and found out that 2 other rares have a chance
of dropping a toy (though it's the same one, so if I get it from one I
can stop killing either), and one rare can drop a powerful fishing
line, which I want for my fishing pole artifact. So now I've got a few
more to check up on.
What I don't have to check on, however, is the new rare mobs in
Silithus that got put in with the new epilogue questline. Tackled that
entire questline last night, not too long, though there were some fun
moments, including killing Twilight cultists for some toilet paper. And
as I was collecting silithid brains and broodlings, I got the pet that
drops from the silithid rares on my first try, quite lucky :smiley: So
now I can leave Silithus alone again, until more quests come in, or
someone figures out where the dress-up toy comes from.
Got a couple of appearance rewards I was after, one from Broken Shore,
one from Argus. Even got a new one from an older WQ in Highmountain, a
cloak which apparently was not yet in my collection. Prompted me to
download an addon that tells me which appearances I've not yet gotten.
Apparently the default blizzard AI covers everything except world-quest
tooltips, so that's why I employed the addon. It's a bit performance
heavy though, so now that I've got those missing pieces I'll disable it
again.
*maybe I'll disable it again.
And finally I'll mention I got the luck-based Court of Stars
achievement this week, and can confirm that it can also happen on
heroic difficulty, despite the achievement saying mythic. Now all
that's left is farming some notes in Black Rook Hold, and a bigger Maw
of Souls achievement that our party needs to find time for. Possibly
tomorrow!
And that's it for this week! Next week I plan to tackle (pun
unintended) the remaining fishing achievements and fisherfriend
reputations. Should get me a lot of stuff too, including one more
mount. Hopefully done with that in a couple of weeks :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 9:03 PM
Namarie, see you next week!
Varda - Yesterday at 9:03 PM
Namarie!
top