Valar Guild

July 1, 2018 Sunday Meeting

5pm EDT (UTC/GMT - 5)
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place

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Transcript work by Varda.

Attending: (4)
    Discord: Arien (presiding), Ar-Pharazon, Lenwe, Marigold

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
Web:  
    Arien's new art section
    More membership news.
Gaming:
    General gaming report
Tolkien:
    Topic: Finding things in games that remind us or actually come from Tolkien's works.
After-meeting:
    Flashgaming Reviews by Ar-Pharazon
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Before-meeting
(times are in Central from Varda, so add one hour for Eastern)

ArienV - Yesterday at 4:08 PM
Is anyone present here? Say Arda if you are :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:08 PM
Arda!
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:08 PM
Arda!
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all right then .. Elen sila lumenn omentielvo !
a star shines upon the hour of our meeting

Membership:
we are here!
Varda is still on the road for her family and Eonwe is busy at work
Have  you seen any Valar Guild members online, Phari?
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:14 PM
Just got here, Aiya!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:14 PM
I've seen you, Arien :smiley:
Even talked to you in chat!
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:14 PM
\o/
you did :smiley: you reminded me about the Silithus quests :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:15 PM
Fladrif's been around too, it seems, last online 20 hours ago :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:15 PM
very well  a happy *hoom hoom"to him when you see him next
I have seen HelmV of course online
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Web:
there is a new cave online
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/Arien/caveArien.htm
its the pictures from Brill  when we were down south for the exhibition :)#
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:21 PM
Yay, nice catch :smiley:
Interesting how close that looks to the hills they built Hobbiton in in New Zealand.
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:26 PM
Aiya!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:26 PM
Aiya!
Also Aiya to Lenwe, which I missed somehow!
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:27 PM
Aiya Lenwe and Aiya Marigold :smiley:
how is your computer?#
Marigold has problems with her computer and is waiting for a new one  to be able to get back gaming
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:28 PM
Dying a slow death, painful for me and the computer. :no_mouth:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:28 PM
Much ouch.
Got your stuff backed up?
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:28 PM
::/
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:29 PM
Yes, I am prepared for the inevitable. I was telling Varda I spent my computer $$ on a new horse. Don’t regret it one bit, but I do miss gaming!
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:30 PM
oh i understand the choice :smiley:
i would have done the same
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:30 PM
For a moment I thought a horse was a metaphor for a pc :0
😆1
* :smiley:
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:30 PM
A computer bucks less
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:30 PM
I mean, people do call a computer a "beast" somtimes
sometimes
my spelling's way off today
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:31 PM
and i am not sure about computers bucking less , Lenwe, .. sometimes
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:32 PM
^^
Hear, hear!
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:32 PM
I do get bucked off the Internet regularly
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:32 PM
Like a rodeo bull, perhaps.
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
I did get bucked off Marigold’s horse, though. It’s more painful than computer bucking.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
But possibly less frustrating.
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:34 PM
Aye!
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:36 PM
In the interest of full disclose, Marigold’s horse has not bucked before nor since Lenwe  departed from its back. Coincidence? Perhaps not.... :wink:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:37 PM
A horse with a grudge?
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:37 PM
Doesn’t like elves?
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:37 PM
what kind of horse is it? and young  or old with bad experiences?
Marigold - Yesterday at 4:39 PM
An Icelandic, 8 years old. Green broke, but quite gentle. I do wish I’d taken a video and we might analyze who was indeed at fault. Since I don’t, I’ll chalk it up to a miscommunication between horse and rider... unless Lenwe has a different explanation?
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:41 PM
I’m fine blaming it on a combination of new rider and hobbit-horse :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:44 PM
it happens i ^^ as  long as nothing happenened and you can get back up again :)#
i love horses and have had riding lessons in my childhood years :smiley:
I miss it a lot and i know a tiny bit about these lovely animals .. so just as explanation :smiley: anyway f .. lets continue
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Gaming news:
I have played Eve online and WoW this week , spotted nooned last week i fear.
any none blizzard games played anyone or no lotro?
Lenwe - Yesterday at 4:50 PM
I played HotS a couple times this week; not so much quest chasing as just enjoying a few human matches as one of my favorite heroes
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:50 PM
some flashgames, but nothing big outside of blizzard
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:51 PM
:smiley:
very good
Blizzard Gaming  (as delivered by Eonwe on the website)

World of Warcraft:
the Darkmoon Faire starts today!
There is also a new questline to max the artefact weapons
in silithus started by Magni Bronzebeard "The Speakers Call*
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:55 PM
Oh. Right. Darkmoon faire. Was gonna look into those concert achievements again.
Eh, maybe at some point during the week.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
its not that easy the deathmetal guy .. you want to make sure a good crowd is there  or organize a full raid :smiley:
just as heads up
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:56 PM
They did make the achievements simpler, it seems; no longer need to have the most points to get a role or something.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:57 PM
ah will have a look again#
there is also a checklist on Legion things to complete
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21921944/tips-to-complete-your-legion-checklist
World of Warcraft
Tips to Complete your Legion Checklist - WoW
There is a new overview for BfA pve
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 4:59 PM
Not all that much on the list, it seems; just mage tower and argus mount. Good warnings, but there's other stuff too.
ArienV - Yesterday at 4:59 PM
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21901729/battle-for-azeroth-preview-war-mode-pvp-talents-and-more
World of Warcraft
Battle for Azeroth Preview: War Mode, PvP Talents, and More - WoW
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:00 PM
first aid achievements, various battlegrounds getting removed, and mythic Helya achievement come to mind
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:02 PM
mh .. then of course there is the usual amount of weekly hotfixes :smiley:
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21901729/battle-for-azeroth-preview-war-mode-pvp-talents-and-more
World of Warcraft
Battle for Azeroth Preview: War Mode, PvP Talents, and More - WoW

Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:02 PM
wrong link :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:02 PM
oops
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21365424/hotfixes-june-26
World of Warcraft
Hotfixes: June 26 - WoW
thought i had copied that when i openened the page blush
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:03 PM
I know from experience that url copies don't always seem to make it through...
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:04 PM
and in case you havent noticed .. The BfA pre- patch will be applied coming Tuesday or respectively Wednesday  :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:05 PM
Doubtful, unless they're planning to keep the tower up "permanently" for just a week. I know it's up for download already, but I think the expected date was the 17th.
It's possible though.
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:06 PM
oh maybe i misread that somewhere .
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:06 PM
If you can find it again, give me a link :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:07 PM
seems to be the most official we have *expected the 17th * :smiley:
just asked my guildmates they are quite up to date with such things :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:08 PM
hehe
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:08 PM

Hearthstone :smiley:
the July pvp season is underway and the current cardback is Lightforged
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/21906555/july-2018-ranked-play-season-put-your-faith-in-the-lightforged
July 2018 Ranked Play Season – Put Your Faith in the Lightforged
Are you ready for action? Are you ready to battle for JUSTICE? To arms, because duty calls! In the gloomy shade of the Witchwood, The Light dims, but it’s time fight for what’s right! Make your foes follow the rules during Hearthstone’s July Ranked Play Season and the L...
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:10 PM
they're really like Yrel and the lightforged these days.
*liking
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:12 PM

Overwatch:
the new competitive season is going on there currently as well
https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/21905731
and there is a new comic
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:12 PM
about a new hero, I believe?
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:13 PM
about a ;new hereo indeed :smiley:
https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/21901631
Overwatch
Learn more about Overwatch’s heroic gameplay.
he is called Wrecking Ball ::)
Lenwe you were about to write something :)?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:13 PM
all he wants is to break your walls
Lenwe - Yesterday at 5:15 PM
No :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:17 PM
oki dok
oh i forgot to menttion WoW s weekly event is this week Arena skirmishes and a new Brawl  called Packed House

LotrO:
the new Beacon issue is out this week
https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/lotro-beacon-issue-66
The Lord of the Rings Online
The LOTRO Beacon: Issue 66
There is a new festival on in Lotro
wsith speciall Summer instances
there is also  a new Hope boost available over a coupon MOREHOPE
reedeem it and you get 5 & hope more :smiley:
online members this week
Orome
Mirabella
Dis
Varda
Gorlim
Nar
Bregalad
Fangorn
Melkor
 :smile:
thats it this week as far as i can see :)O
any additions from you who have played LotrO this week? Nar  and Lenwe?
or Marigold and  Lenwe?
Marigold - Yesterday at 5:28 PM
No additions :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:29 PM
all right :smiley:
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Tolkien:
then welcome to receive suggestions for Tolkien topic or you get what i throw at you :smiley:
Marigold - Yesterday at 5:33 PM
I haven’t anything prepared, so go ahead and throw something!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:33 PM
yep, sounds good to me holds glove ready

ArienV - Yesterday at 5:33 PM
all right i havent prepared anything either but i got an idea sort of ^^
when i played Eve online a couple of hours ago i stumbled on a system called Illuin :)#
does that ring a bell?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:35 PM
Maybe not ring a bell, but I think it shines a lamp...
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:35 PM
indeed :smiley:
the  Northern Lamp of Valinor before the Sun sailed the sies
Aule forged the two lamps while Yavanne spoke herprayer and Varda filled i them with light
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:37 PM
Ah yes, the old "You know, I thought this 'ice' stuff would be more stable than that" trick.
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:38 PM
the ligh was set on top of the tower Helcar indeed Phari :smiley:
the other lamp was Ormal
and Ormal was on the pillar of  Ringol
we meet things like that in our various games :smiley:
things that remind us of other things and tales papa Tolkien wrote about  and created :smiley:
can you think of such in the games you play?
maybe one or two :smiley:

Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:41 PM
Well, there were the 3 ogron in Spires of Arak on Draenor in WoW, a reference to the 3 trolls in The Hobbit :smiley:

And Diablo 3 has boggits, which are tiny little guys who are described to be rather timid but get excited around magic jewelry, especially rings!

And there's the world quest on the Broken Shore, called "Where There is a Whip..."
Even though that's more indirect, referencing a movie instead :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:44 PM
Everyone knows what is meant :
just to give the answer ..#
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:45 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y
YouTube
NTorch
Where there's a whip, there's a way!

And personally, in the browsergame Ogame, I have all my colonized planets named after locations in Middle-earth.
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:46 PM
ha you are faster than i am :smile: you beat me
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:47 PM
On the first server I played I'd named them after locations on Numenor... and on the second I named my homeplanet Numenor and sent out my ships to create far colonies which I named after places founded by Numenorean settlers in Middle-earth.
And then the first server went down, which was... fitting...
But yes, I can't look at my list of planets without thinking of Tolkien's works :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:50 PM
very well :smiley:

I shall add onto this list some of the monster races the heroes have to fight like
Snaga and Uruk Hai
in my LarP world of Forever Destiny :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:52 PM
ah, clear reference there :smiley:

ArienV - Yesterday at 5:57 PM
i wonder whether there is a system called Ormal as well in Eve :smiley: maybe there is :wink:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 5:58 PM
Could be, better keep looking!
ArienV - Yesterday at 5:58 PM
anything else we can think of . and I shall :smiley:

Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:01 PM
well, the very existence of orcs themselves in any game...

ArienV - Yesterday at 6:02 PM
if not i shall finish with a short Tolkien moment .. a passage from Beren and Luthien .., to be exact the story that precedes the Tale :smiley:  and i  completely agree :smiley:

not to mention various computer games referring either to the hobbit or The Lord of the Rings directly or some spin offs like Northbound about the   Battles of Gundabad or Shadows of Mordor more referreing to the  (non canonical) fate of  Fea  in the servce of Sauron and his underlings

Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:05 PM
the Battle for Middle-earth games come to mind, as well as a Fellowship of the Ring game I loved to play in the past.
ArienV - Yesterday at 6:06 PM
:smiley:
indeed
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:07 PM
Especially with the secret event where you find Gollum and get to replace Anduril with a fish...
ArienV - Yesterday at 6:07 PM
chuckles funny idea
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:08 PM
If they'd ever made sequels to it, I wonder how the king of the dead would have reacted to that.
"How do we know you're the king? Do you have the sword?" "Better! I have.. this fish!" "..Alright, we'll join you."
Right, feel free to bring your Tolkien moment :smiley:

ArienV - Yesterday at 6:18 PM
"In those days Men came over the Blue Mountains into Beleriand, bravest and fairest of their race.  Felagund it was who found them, and he was ever their friend. On a time he was  the guest of Celegorm in the East, and rode  a-hunting with him. But he became seperated from the others, and at the time of night he came upon a dale in the western foothills of the Blue Mountains. There were lights in the dale, and the sound of rugged song. Then Felagund marvelled, for the tongue was not the tongue of the Eldar or of the Dwarves. Nor was it the tongue of Orcs , though this at first he feared. There were camped the people of Beor, a mighty warrior of Men, whose son was Barahir, the Bold. They were the first Men to come into Beleriand ."
quote end @:)

*grabs a solid looking gavel from the hooks with the gavel sortiment and bangs it .. but the moment it is banged a flock of Nightingales escapes and flutters in the air*
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Aftermeeting !
feel free to comment or contineue or add on as always :smiley:

Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 6:21 PM
Well, I'll start with my gaming report right away :smiley:

as soon as I find 3 flashgames...
http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/tetra-tower/ is the first! A tetris defense game where you place blocks to barricade your tower and squash attackers. Interesting combination...

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/color_magnets is the second game, a platformer where you control 2 magnets, one on each side of the path, and have to jump with both of them at the right times to clear obstacles appearing on their sides; if you get blocked you might disappear of the screen and fail. Try to collect the stars as well!
Color Magnets - OneMoreLevel.com

http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/upward/ is a classic looking platform game where you have to jump up from platform to platform and letting yourself be moved around; all  you can do is jump
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Blizzard gaming!
Hearthstone:
Still leveling, all of them about half level, one slightly over. Brawl this week is the chess game from Karazhan adventure, but with the possibility to keep 6 normal cards in your deck to give yourself interesting advantages...
I  used a priest deck, based on silencing and changing stats on my pieces to one-shot the opponent after you've got enough pieces on the board. I imagine a Shaman evolve deck would be fun too.
Heroes of the Storm:
Making good use of the xp-bonus while playing with friends! Got 4 levels, up to 284.
3 of the new levels belonged to my warcraft heroes; with my policy of going for the lowest-xp level that my quests allow,  heroes tend to level up in bunches.
Fourth one was another Morales level, who's level 6 now... and whose loot chest included a legendary dreadlord skin for Jaina. Looks very nice, too bad I don't own her as a hero yet, and won't for quite a while, since I've got various other warcraft assassins I want to play with first. But some day!
Brawl this week: Booty Coffers, a Blackheard Bay match but where the first team to deliver 100 coins wins. This time around, the games weren't so close that we ended up hoarding coins and preventing the other team from delivering for 5 minutes :wink: Good thing too, much less boring when we can just deliver coins regularly.
Diablo 3:
Chapter 1 of the season complete, and started chapter 2. Got all the way to level 60 now, which should allow me to get a few of the objectives. Goal for this chapter is reaching level 70, as well as various smaller achievements like crafting. Should be done in a week or 2 at most.
*objectives, not achievements... very different things :smiley:
WoW:
Mounts! So many mounts. But I'll get to that :wink:
Still raiding, still doing old raids. Old raids paid off nicely! Finally got my Onyxian Drake mount from Onyxia, after years of trying. That also completed the Awake the Drakes collection achievement (my last mount achievement), which also got me an Emerald Drake. Model not as unique as the Onyxian, but the colors fit my transmog much better :smiley:
Only thing I have left from our old raid runs is the snobold pet. I'm sure that'll come with enough tries!
Normal raiding was rather improved by the Speaker's Call questline which arrived this week, allowing us to give our artifact weapons a massive boost in traits, by nearly 50, giving it a trait level of 126 and concordance of 75. Can't use artifact power anymore, but the tokens have become vendorable and the artifacts are still increasing slightly on their own, having given at least one more level above that so far and will be increasing more over the next few weeks, before being disabled in the pre-patch.
Those large amounts of concordance make raiding just a bit smoother, giving killspeed records on various bosses. That is actually becoming a problem on Aggramar, since the adds have to be defeated on a steady timer to avoid getting double debuffs, but they spawn based on Aggramar's health. Bring him down too fast, and you get some very dangerous overlaps.
We might actually have to start delaying damage on him when necessary :smiley:
Got a new belt from one of the bosses, which is also one of my last remaining appearances from heroic difficulty. I think I've only got a hat from the High Command fight to get.
Weekly this week is arena skirmish. Not my favorite, but at least the fights are fast and though I lose the majority of them, it's not as bad as it used to be. I'm sure the extra concordance helps there quite a bit, but the opposition has it as well :wink:
Didn't do much for Midsummer Fire Festival. I killed Ahune once just to see if there was anything new to it, or how easy he'd be to kill, and it was pretty fast. But I don't really need to do more until they implement new stuff to get.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 7:01 PM
I'm done farming the rares on Argus! Got the last 2 mounts from Skreeg and Blistermaw, so now I have all mounts, pets and toys from the rares there, including all 4 color variations of that mount.
I also completed the selfie backgrounds, getting them from Cho'gall and Sha of Fear. After that I decided to dedicate some time each night to patrolling Azsuna for ephemeral crystals, the key to collecting the Long-forgotten Hippogryph mount.
It is an interesting process, whereby you need to find all 5 crystals, spawning in one of many many locations around the zone, with each discovered crystal spawning another. But you're not the only one hunting for it, and if someone gets all 5 crystals, they disappear and you need to wait up to 12 hours for them to respawn again. So it's a race... but you don't know when the race starts or who's also trying to get it at that time. So all you can do is roam around, hoping at least one crystal is up, and hoping you find them faster than anyone else.
ArienV - Yesterday at 7:04 PM
I am sure you will find it evenually :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 7:05 PM
There's an addon to use for it, containing all the outdoor locations the crystals can spawn, as well as all the caves in Azsuna which may or may not spawn crystals as well. Using that, I made myself a patrol path past all the outdoor locations; if I came up with 1 or more crystals and no others were up along the route, I'd start checking the caves.
First night I didn't find any crystals until someone got the mount.
ArienV - Yesterday at 7:06 PM
and i have to give up i fear .. i ll read the rest of it when i come on tomorrow :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 7:06 PM
Second try I found 4 out of 5 crystals outdoor, but the fifth one in a cave was completed by someone else before I could get there.
But....
third try was a success!
3 outdoor, 2 in caves.... so now I have that mount as well :wink:
ArienV - Yesterday at 7:06 PM
:smile:
congrats :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 7:06 PM
thanks :smile:
Very lucky, that was, to get it so fast. But the addon really helps.
The roaming itself was fun too though, get to see a lot of little ruins and locations in the zone that you'd otherwise never come across.
So I do advise at least giving it a try :smiley:
ArienV - Yesterday at 7:07 PM
Namarie for now and see you in game nex time :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Yesterday at 7:07 PM
Namarie!
And then I started my current project, which is fishing for the pond nettle mount on Argus. Really rare, can take up to thousands of catches if you're unlucky, so I just try to spend 30 minutes a day if I have the time to try to get it. So far I've done that twice with no luck.
But it's simple and relaxing: No achievements to track for it, or coins to get, or pools to search, or even mobs to fight if you just fish from the Hope's Landing location... just stand there and fish. Very nice, even when you're not getting the mount :smiley: I'm sure I can keep this up until the patch comes, at least.
Assuming I don't get the mount before that, of course, but it would be nice if I did.
What else... ah yes, there's still the meta achievement for fighting all the Argus pets with all 10 families. As I explained last time I only do it when the world quest is up, which makes progress rare, but I did get 2 more done this week, leaving only 5 more. Might get it before patch. If not, I'll still get it eventually though.

And finally: World of Warcraft comic volume II arrived, completing my collection of the main comic series! Did not expect it until July, but it just showed up yesterday :smiley: I also placed a pre-order for the Sunwell trilogy parts 2 and 3, which have been announced and planned for september. Collection just keeps growing!
And that's my report for the week.

Oh, and I'll add one more thing: A piece of music found in the upcoming expansion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSE7dDZHGvQ 3 tracks from the dive bars. Enjoy, and make sure to visit the bars when the expansion comes to hear it "live" :wink:
YouTube
WoW Music Vault
Battle for Azeroth Music - Dive Bars

namarie!
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