Valar Guild

March 18, 2018 Sunday Meeting

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

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Transcript work by Varda.

Attending: (7)
    Discord: Aranuir, Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Eonwe, Pallando (After-meeting), Varda (presiding)
    LotRO: Aranuir, Orome, Varda

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
Web:
Gaming:
    General gaming report by Eonwe
Tolkien:
    Topic: Gandalf and Sauron's proxy fight.
    Tangent: Hobbits and the One Ring.
After-meeting:
    Tolkien discussion continued.
    Flashgaming Reviews by Ar-Pharazon
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Before-meeting
(times are in Central from Varda, so add one hour for Eastern)

Varda - Last Sunday at 4:00 PM
Aiya  :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:00 PM
Aiya!
Just got Stormwing mount from Valarjar paragon rep supplies :smiley:
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:00 PM
Sounds great!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:01 PM
Yup, flying storm dragon!
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:01 PM
Sounds spectacular
Eonwe Valar - Last Sunday at 4:03 PM
Heya.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:04 PM
Aiya!
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:07 PM
Eonwe! Aiya :smiley:
Doing pokes
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:09 PM
Sun poked. tries to extinguish stick
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:09 PM
o dear! That could be difficult
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 4:09 PM
Aiya everyone
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:10 PM
Aiya Aranuir :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:11 PM
Aiya!
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 4:11 PM
just kicking the tires on my warden....but I'm here
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:11 PM
Fun  :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:12 PM
No response from Arien.
ArienV - Last Sunday at 4:12 PM
Aiya :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:12 PM
Spoke too soon!
Aiya!
ArienV - Last Sunday at 4:12 PM
heehe yeah was kind of difficult to answer
but i noticed you and then had to start up Discord
aiya folks :smiley:
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Yay!
Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
In Discord, speaking we have Aranuir, Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Eonwe, and Varda.
In LotRO, we have Aranuir, Orome who says hi, and Varda.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:16 PM
Hi to Orome!
ArienV - Last Sunday at 4:17 PM
Hi Orome :smiley:
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:18 PM
Relayed. :smiley:
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Web:
Eonwe has been wonderful about keeping up the Games Site. Kudos to you, sir!
Our artists are mostly working on non-Tolkien stuff at this time, but some more seems to be coming down the pike.
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Gaming:
Eonwe has the report for us. :smiley:
Eonwe Valar - Last Sunday at 4:21 PM
Lord of the Rings Online:
    Patch 22.0.1 is out.
World of Warcraft:
    Check out the Live Q&A that happened this week.
    Un'goro Madness began yesterday [17th] and runs through Monday, March 19th.
    This week's bonus event is Cataclysm Timewalking.
Hearthstone:
    Update 10.4 is out, including pre-purchase for the newest expansion The Witchwood.
    Also out this week is a Hearthside Chat.
Hmm, links didn't translate. www.valarguild.org/gaming to see them :} [Note: links added to the transcript.]
Thus ends my report.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:24 PM
Thank you, Eonwe.  :smiley:
Would anyone like to add general news for their games not yet mentioned?
LotRO:
    Spring Festival will run through April 8.
    Abyss of Mordath run tonight with Irony & Spite. Mosby of the Palantiri will be unable to come, not well. [Note: came for part until replacement located.]
LotRO folks seen this past week in kin:
Arien (added)
Anarion
Aranuir
Celebrian
Dis
Fangorn
Luthien
Nar
Orome
Thranduil
Varda
StarCraft 2:
Eowyn
Fangorn
Faramir
(Eowyn and Faramir's now 4 year old, not yet read the books for some reason.  :wink:   )
Eve Online:  I assume
Pallando
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:29 PM
I'll add for WoW that the bearform for Kul Tiran druids was discovered and it looks great! Totally making my KT a druid in the next expansion.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:30 PM
Nice.  :smiley:
Anyone else seen this past week?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:30 PM
Yep, fought Fladrif in Hearthstone.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:30 PM
Loads of lurkers in the list on the right.
Thanks!
ArienV - Last Sunday at 4:30 PM
me?
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 4:31 PM
hahaha
ArienV - Last Sunday at 4:31 PM
in Lotro ^^
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:31 PM
And saw Arien in WoW, I think.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:31 PM
Arien one day ago in LotRO. Keep  missing her name for no good reason. My apologies!
Maybe that's  just a friend list on the right side? Do you guys see a lot of folks there?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:32 PM
15 online it says.
14 offline.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:33 PM
Same here, thank you.
Good to know.
Any other business, suggestions, comments? Tolkien topic possibilities?  :smiley:
Such a quiet bunch. Hope that means you're all contented.  : )
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Tolkien:
Gandalf vs Sauron. This can be across the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Do we see any such thing in some way?
Most of you can answer that in your sleep. Maybe a different topic?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:40 PM
How do you mean, actually?
When we see Gandalf vs Sauron in the books?
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:41 PM
(Morwe just came online in LotRO)
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 4:41 PM
yes when pippin saw in the palantir I think Sauron knew that would split the group up; sauron wanted to divide the fellowship
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:41 PM
Gandalf and Sauron fought each other mainly in a proxy battle. Gandalf was not supposed to go against him directly.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:41 PM
I know Gandalf in The Hobbit took his leave from the company of dwarves and burrahobbit to work against Sauron in Mirkwood, though possibly not as confrontational as in the movie.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:42 PM
True. He was called the Necromancer then
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 4:42 PM
galndalf and pippin went to minas tirith to see the steward and mobilze the men of gondor...I think sauron was banking on his failing because the steward was nt righty in the head
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:45 PM
Orome's comment on the Dol Guldur necromancer fight: [Kinship] Beorome: yeah, Saruman was more playing a dealying game at that point, it was not open conflict per se
Sauron had been feeding Denethor a lot of misinformation, causing him to despair. Aye.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:46 PM
Sauron was messing with Saruman's head as well, leading to Gandalf's capture.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:48 PM
That's true
At Dol Guldur, Gandalf kept Sauron busy so he didn't help Smaug, as he might have otherwise. That would have been too much even for a burrahobbit.
Gandalf was sent by the Valar as one of the Istari to aid the Free People in their fight against Sauron. That meant he had to do his fighting mostly by proxy, taking some strategy. What were some of the things he tried?
Feel free to offer an alternate topic. :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:55 PM
well, he recruited hobbits?
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:56 PM
Aye to that. No one else would have thought of that.
But they needed stealth vs Smaug. They needed Took blood for adventure, Baggins for steadiness, and got it in Bilbo.
Then Bilbo adopted his nephew Frodo. Probably not an accident.
Again, Gandalf is right there, recruiting.
Did Hobbits play much of a role in regards to the One Ring?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 4:59 PM
They were resistant to its effects, being generally a kind-hearted and contented people.
So perfect carriers.
Varda - Last Sunday at 4:59 PM
Aranuir: [Kinship] Lisl: Sam was also a ring bearer so yes
Aye, Phar
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:00 PM
Who was the first hobbit that had the One Ring?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:00 PM
Smeagol :smiley:
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:01 PM
Almost. One before him.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:01 PM
Not as contented and kind-hearted, but still resilient to Sauron's influence.
Ah, true.
Deagol.
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:01 PM
True. Smeagol did not become a wraith in those many many years he had the Ring.
Who was the next Hobbit?
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:04 PM
a most unlikely candidate...
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:04 PM
:smiley:
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:04 PM
deagol
deagol had it first then smeagol then bilbo
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
Aye!
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
then frodo then sam then frodo
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
Good
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
and then smeagol again
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
yay!
ha! yes Pharazon
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
And that covers the hobbit ownership between you!
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:05 PM
nice save
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:06 PM
The meeting has now gone the usual one hour. Feel free to continue in the After-meeting if you like!
Five hammers with single gold bands advance on the hammerpad
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:07 PM
hammer folkdance?
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:07 PM
thump thonnnnnk thwakk, thakoom, kerblast!
they melt back to the shelf
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After-meeting!
Free chat.
ArienV - Last Sunday at 5:08 PM
from what i gathered Sauron poked Smaug into bothering  Mirkwood to keep them busy
at least it makes that impression in game
not sure whether that is what Tolkien intended?
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:09 PM
Not sure how you came up with that? Maybe I missed something, not as far along.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:09 PM
well that might have been the case had they not slain him before Sauron made his move, but it didn't happen
as far as I know
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:09 PM
But in the northern Mirkwood part of the game, I haven't seen that yet.
Smaug was mainly a stopper at the northern pass, so Sauron's forces could come in there, wipe out the elven strongholds or at least prevent them from helping. Probably wipe out from Gandalf's comments.
ArienV - Last Sunday at 5:11 PM
it gives the impression in the part of the Black book directly before the razing of Dol Guldur . there is a flashback with Sauron recovering from the defeat of the last alliance
not sure whether u have done that already
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:11 PM
Did the whole Black Book of Mordor. I'll think on it.
Aranuir, do you remember that?
Not arguing, just didn't catch it.
ArienV - Last Sunday at 5:16 PM
not to worry , maybe i misunderstood it
but this warrior guy .. that Guryzul that escaped was talking abut gauding Smaug  to bother Dale and the lake area
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:17 PM
I cant say that I do actually
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:18 PM
Smaug was supposed to be a problem for the humans there, yes.
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:18 PM
i thought smaug was killed a long time before the war of the ring...like 60 years?
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:18 PM
Correct
ArienV - Last Sunday at 5:18 PM
correct
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:19 PM
Gandalf didn't want Smaug in that pass. Too helpful to Sauron when he got ready to attack.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:19 PM
It also helped to give some dwarves a position of strength to settle in.
ArienV - Last Sunday at 5:20 PM
well in the end it did help to get strong defenders in an area that other wise would have been a strategic centrepoint
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:21 PM
you know, I'm pretty sure even Sauron was 100% sure that he'd be able to control Smaug
was not I meant
was not sure...smaug seemed chaotic
i think in the end sauron would probably have had to kill smaug once he won the war
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:22 PM
It wasn't control of Smaug, but position.
Same as Shelob.
Strategic positioning.
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:22 PM
Im not sure if smaug would have left eribor for the orcs
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:23 PM
Now that's the other thing., aye. What would have happened to Smaug if Sauron had come through the pass?
Sauron would have been careful not to threaten the hoard.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:23 PM
No need to control someone if you can just let them do what they already want to do in the place that happens to work for you.
stares at sentence yes, I think that works
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:24 PM
If Sauron allowed no threat to the hoard, Smaug would probably not have cared. Maybe an occasional orc munchie, same as Shelob.
Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:24 PM
haha munchie
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:24 PM
It works, Phar, hehe
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:25 PM
good protein
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:25 PM
Size of Smaug, size of orc with armor. Probably a crunchy munchie.
Not sure their armor was good enough to add to the hoard.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:25 PM
No need to remove it first, then

Aranuir - Last Sunday at 5:30 PM
guys I have to leave for dinner! thankd for the interesting converstaion and I hope to see you all in game! until the; Namarie!
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:30 PM
Namarie!
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:30 PM
Namarie! We are in After-meeting anyway
AoM tonight
Eonwe Valar - Last Sunday at 5:30 PM
I need to go as well. Take care all, good night , sleep well, and have fun.
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:30 PM
Namarie Eonwe
Supper here too
ArienV - Last Sunday at 5:32 PM
Namarie you two
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:32 PM
Namarie Eonwe!
And Namarie Varda, though I'm sure you'll check in again
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:42 PM

Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 5:42 PM
See!
Varda - Last Sunday at 5:42 PM
zips by  fwoooosh!
zips back briefly And Smaug had already cleared out the dwarves from the northern pass. Very important. zips off again

Pallando-Valar - Last Sunday at 6:04 PM
Sorry, was quite busy.
but am alive
Varda - Last Sunday at 6:20 PM
Back
It's aliiiiiive!!
Yay 
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 6:20 PM
Aiya Pallando!

Grabbing some flashgames for the gaming report.
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/pogo_postman is the first game! use mouse to hold and release the pogo stick, use keys to lean left and right, try to make it across the level of rough terrain and boulders, can be frustrating though
Pogo Postman - OneMoreLevel.com

Not sure what's at the end, I made it to the top before falling through some rocks and ending up back down.
Varda - Last Sunday at 6:38 PM
rebooting computer.  It's acting up.
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 6:46 PM
Watching some speedruns on youtube, it can actually be done under 1 minute. I gave up after 12 minutes. Though apparently I was close to the end before falling again
https://www.kongregate.com/games/KekGames/unpuzzle-2 is the second game! Sequel to one I've linked before, a puzzle game where you have to remove jigsaw pieces in the right order to dissolve the puzzle. New types of pieces, including linked ones and rotating ones. Lot of fun!
Kongregate
Unpuzzle 2
Clear levels piece by piece (just like before, but even more fun)
Get FREE mobile version with 150 new levels:
quotGoogle Playquot:https://play.google.com/store/apps...

Heh, couldn't drag myself away from that one... see it as a recommendation
https://www.kongregate.com/games/bontegames/sugar-sugar is the last one, I'm sure I've linked the sequels before, but I didn't get the first badge for the original until now, apparently  Draw lines to guide the grains of sugar into the right cups, using filters and gaps in the edges of the screen as necessary!
Kongregate
Sugar, sugar
A new bontegame! Draw and get enough sugar in the cups. Complete all 30 levels to unlock the bonus freeplay mode. (note: draw steeper lines to make the sugar f...
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Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 7:13 PM
Blizzard gaming:
Hearthstone:
All classes at 53 now! More golden neutral basic cards. Most of them I don't use or in very specific decks, including 3 murlocs, but the Shattered Sun Cleric I got as priest reward is very useful in any and all basic decks, so had a lot of replacing to do with the gold version
Another Crossroads brawl this week: mixed decks from 2 different classes colliding into one. Choose a class, choose from one of 3 others on your first turn. See what combinations you can use!
Heroes of the Storm:
Level 260 now! Got some nice skins and stuff from the loot chests. One of the new levels is Tychus to level 2 after being forced to play him in the brawl since there were no options I was more familiar with. Pretty powerful with his minigun stuff.
Brawl was a new one, Mineral Madness, where you have to kill scvs carrying minerals along the one central lane, and with enough minerals you get a powerful buff aura on your hero. Since it's single lane, however, most of it is just an all-out brawl with not as much attention paid to the minerals, though the occasional aura happening did make for some interesting situations.
Probably themed after the Starcraft anniversary
Diablo 3:
Level 70 now! After I got there a friend boosted me through Greed's domain on T13 difficulty a couple of times, giving me about 50 paragon levels, a ton of gold and gems and a few useful or not so useful legendaries.
Finished chapter 2, got the first setbonus for a thorns-build, which I made good use of with a thorns-gem in my weapon. With a few other good abilities for that build and later on a couple of legendaries that complement it, I quickly cut through chapter 3 as well, cleaning up each bounty act and getting materials to extract some legendary powers which helped even more.
After finishing chapter 3 and getting the 4-piece bonus, with some of those legendary powers and an even better thorns-gem, I tested out a greater rift at Torment II and went through it like a knife through butter, basically only limited by my own movement speed, finishing it in 5 minutes.
Based on this I estimate I could even finish chapter 4 really really quickly, maybe in one session, and that's without getting the complete set and even better thorns-gems available. I'm considering moving beyond my usual seasonal finish line of finishing chapter 4 and testing out the full potential of this build in chapter 5 or 6 or whenever I get tired of the RNG.
Because it might be the most powerful build I've yet created in one of these seasons
WoW:
Old raids going well, we finally got our last partymember the druid toy from Staghelm in the Firelands. It's been several years since we started that effort, so it's good to have it done! Now we just have to get her legendary staff questline finished and maybe get one of our other partymembers the Ragnaros mount if we're lucky enough, and then we can really leave the place behind.
While I didn't get the last pet I'm lacking myself, one of the others did get his last pet from Spine of Deathwing, so that's achievement done for him  Hopefully the rest of us will follow soon!
Poking heroic Antorus raid some more, we don't quite have the last 2 bosses on farm yet, still need some practice to reliably get them down. It was the first time tanking heroic Argus for me, but compared to some of the mechanics the damage-dealers have to deal with, that's easy enough once you figure out when to taunt and move
Timewalks are the weekly quest for this week, first time for Cataclysm timewalks since the dungeons were scaled differently, and some of them are a pain to get through now. The Sylvanas fight in End Times in particular seems oddly overtuned, but we did get through it.
Finished gearing up my champions! Got the last 5 Sanctified Armaments quite quickly from mission rewards and bonus mission rewards, so now I can stop sending them out for extra gear and just focus on gold and reputation tokens. It also meant I could get rid of the order hall advancement to get bonus gear from missions, and get the opposite trait of extra maximum available troops. Very nice!
Also still continuing emissaries and paragon rep quests as the ones I need come up. Got the Valarjar paragon reward tonight, the flying Stormwing mount, so I can leave that emissary and faction alone from here on.
And finally, more fishing! So much fishing.... all to max out the artifact power on the artifact fishing pole. One 40-minute round of fishing gets me about 8k to 12k artifact power, and the last few traits need in the tens of thousands to complete, so it'll still keep me busy a while. And it's quite boring, but I can't just let it go
And I think that's my gaming report for the week! Slowly pushing forward.
Oh, and I thought some of the WoW books I ordered would arrive this week, but apparently not. A few are expected for next week, and the third Chronicle right after that I'm sure
Looking forward to reading through it!

And if you're curious for the Kul Tiran druid I mentioned earlier...
http://www.wowhead.com/news=282710/kul-tiran-druid-bear-form
Wowhead
Kul Tiran Druid Bear Form
Preview of the Kul Tiran Druid Bear Form.

Wicker-bear!
ArienV - Last Sunday at 8:05 PM
looks coolish

but yeah i ll call it for tonight
Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 8:06 PM
Namarie then!
ArienV - Last Sunday at 8:06 PM
so namnarie for now

Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 8:29 PM
Sidenote, a Kul Tiras folksong was found about Jaina's "betrayal" at http://www.wowhead.com/news=282714 and I'd love to hear it set to music and song one of these days  I'm sure there's people already working on it!
Wowhead
Broadcast Text for 26231 - Jaina and Saurfang from Intro Scenarios...
Battle for Azeroth build 26231 includes new dialogue related to Jaina in the Alliance Intro Scenario and Saurfang in the Horde Intro Scenario. Story Spoilers.

Ar-Pharazon-V - Last Sunday at 9:36 PM
namarie!
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