Valar Guild

November 4, 2018 Sunday Meeting

5pm Eastern  Time change today in the U.S.
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place

Back to News
Transcript work by Varda.

Attending (and spoke): (7)
    Discord: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Celebrian, Elrond, Falco, Ioreth, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
    Time changes in the US
Meeting begins
Membership news:
Web:
Gaming:
    General report
    Destiny 2: free for  little while.
    Pillars of Eternity 2: Celebrian's review after playing.
    Diablo 3: Immortal: comments on this phone game
Tolkien:
    Topic: Dwarves and dragons
After-meeting:
    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 3:58 PM
Meeting in about 2 minutes, thanks to another time change.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:58 PM
Aiya!
VardaYesterday at 3:58 PM
This time in the U.S.
Aiya Phar : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:58 PM
Back to normal for me
ElrondYesterday at 4:00 PM
Aiya
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:01 PM
Aiya!
VardaYesterday at 4:01 PM
Aiya Elrond : )
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Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
A star shines on the hour of our meeting.

Membership:
CelebrianYesterday at 4:02 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 4:02 PM
Ancalagon, Falco, and I are in LotRO
Aiya Celebrian : )
FalcoYesterday at 4:02 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 4:02 PM
Aiya Falco  : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:03 PM
Aiya Celebrian, Falco, Ancalagon, and anyone I missed!
VardaYesterday at 4:04 PM
Eonwe says hi by email, may not be able to come tonight but put up the gaming news.
He asks for news for your games to put there sent to him by email. Nice way to advertise your game to the rest of the guild too.
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Web:
Tolkien Site:
Not very visible, but I've been adding diacritical marks to dwarf articles.
The older articles especially don't have them, as they were not normal to most of us making the articles back then.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:07 PM
Even during meetings I tend to ignore them
VardaYesterday at 4:09 PM
Good thing because it's tough to add them in for some of us. : )
I copy paste them from a list into the Encyclopedia. Should automate with some kind of program, most likely, but stuck with this for now.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:09 PM
I'm pretty sure I've got a ^ somewhere in my  name.
VardaYesterday at 4:11 PM
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Gaming:
Right now we have a batch of people gaming, as you can see if you're in Discord with us right now to the right side of the screen, not so visible from the transcript. Hi and happy gaming to all of you!
From Eonwe, a tip:
If you have Battle.net, Blizzard is giving you a free copy of Destiny 2 to claim by November 18th. If you're interested, get your copy before it goes away
Hey, free stuff.
The rest of this info is not free stuff. : )

Diablo:
Also coming to your phone, should you choose to get it: Diablo: Immortal.
(Group's information on the game below.)

World of WarCraft:
This week's bonus event: Battle for Azeroth Dungeons.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:14 PM
Ah, blizzcon news... I'll keep browsing a bit as this could take a while :wink:
VardaYesterday at 4:14 PM
Blizzcon brings us 2 new blogs:
World of Warcraft: What's Next Panel Recap
ArienVYesterday at 4:14 PM
aiya all :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:14 PM
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22646758/world-of-warcraft-what-s-next-panel-recap
    World of Warcraft
    World of Warcraft: What's Next Panel Recap - WoW
    The Battle for Azeroth has begun and there’s more story to be told and adventures to be had. To provide you a look at what’s next, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas along with designers Jeremy Feasel, and Ryan Shwayder took to the stage.
Aiya Arien : )
Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic Panel Recap
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22646759/restoring-history-creating-wow-classic-panel-recap
    World of Warcraft
    Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic Panel Recap - WoW
    During the Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic panel, software engineers Brian Birmingham and Omar Gonzalez and Game Director Ion Hazzikostas provided insights into bringing the World of Warcraft Classic experience to life.

StarCraft 2:
A new Co-Op commander was announced at Blizzcon: Zeratul.
https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/22640607
    StarCraft II
    StarCraft II Official Game Site
    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.
Also check out future plans in: Recap: StarCraft II What’s Next 2019 Panel.
https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/22640608
    StarCraft II
    StarCraft II Official Game Site
    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.

Heroes of the Storm:
Seen what's planned for 2019 in Heroes of the Storm: 2019 Gameplay Updates earlier in the week.
https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/22556628/heroes-of-the-storm-2019-gameplay-updates-2018-11-2/
    Heroes of the Storm
    Legendary heroes and villains from Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo are summoned to the Nexus. Choose your hero and prepare to fight in Heroes of the Storm!
There was a balance update earlier in the week.
https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/22636768/heroes-of-the-storm-balance-patch-notes-october-31-2018-2018-10-31/
    Heroes of the Storm
    Legendary heroes and villains from Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo are summoned to the Nexus. Choose your hero and prepare to fight in Heroes of the Storm!

Hearthstone:
The next expansion has been announced: Rastakan's Rumble.
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22629915/be-ready-for-the-rumble
    Be Ready for the Rumble!
    Rastakhan’s Rumble is Hearthstone’s newest expansion, featuring 135 all-new cards, is coming December 4!

Overwatch:
A new hero has been announced: Ashe. See her origin story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvT9wKCrEyo&feature=youtu.be
    YouTube
    PlayOverwatch
    [NEW HERO] Ashe Origin Story | Overwatch
There's also a new animated short: Reunion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8LbOecWGug&feature=youtu.be
    YouTube
    PlayOverwatch
    [NEW HERO] Introducing Ashe | Overwatch

WarCraft 3:
Coming in 2019: Warcraft 3: Reforged.
https://playwarcraft3.com/en-us/

LotRO:
Update 22.1.3 came out this week.
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?668360-Update-23-1-3-Release-Notes
    Update 23.1.3 Release Notes
    These are the Release Notes for Update 23.1.3, released on Wednesday, October 31st.
    News and Notes:
LotRO Beacon Issue # 84.
https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/lotro-beacon-issue-84
    The Lord of the Rings Online
    The LOTRO Beacon: Issue 84
Live video with +Cordovan (aka Cord of the Rings) about the upcoming Legendary server.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/327672234
    Twitch
    Legendary Server Q&A - Lord of the Rings Online
The Valar Guild does plan on setting up a kin there (Legendary server) for everyone's convenience with the same Discord channel and a side on the general Legendary channel, but Landroval will continue to be our main with our same Discord channel.
Does anyone need an invite to the general Legendary server channel for Discordright now? or just want one? The server isn't up yet, but possibly around Nov 18.
LOTRO Legendary Servers
    110 Online
    477 Members
In LotRO this past week, kin mates seen:
Ancalagon
Aranuir
Bregalad
Celebrian
Dis
Eonwe
Falco
Fangorn
Luthien
Mirabella
Nar
Varda
Does anyone have any other general news for their games that you'd like to share with the group?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:25 PM
I think I'll pass on that server
VardaYesterday at 4:25 PM
Ok : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:26 PM
I can say I pre-ordered the Spoils of War edition of Warcraft 3: Reforged, for the bonuses!
VardaYesterday at 4:26 PM
Nice
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:26 PM
I suspect Fladrif will be interested too, even if it's just the basic edition, but he's not been online in 9 days so probably doesn't know yet :wink:
VardaYesterday at 4:27 PM
For StarCraft 2, Fangorn and Eowyn are gaming together fairly regularly.
ahh, maybe leave him a message?
Eve Online group has been busy, may be too busy trying to stay alive to talk right now. : )
Any other games?
Celebrian, how is that Pillars of Eternity?
CelebrianYesterday at 4:28 PM
Yeah he just got popped in his ship lol
VardaYesterday at 4:29 PM
yikes
CelebrianYesterday at 4:29 PM
I am on my second play through of Pillars of Eternity 2.
VardaYesterday at 4:29 PM
Hi to the space people!
CelebrianYesterday at 4:29 PM
I like it a lot. My favorite kind of game.
VardaYesterday at 4:29 PM
What kind is it? Not famiiar.
*familiar
CelebrianYesterday at 4:30 PM
Its a CRPG like Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter
VardaYesterday at 4:30 PM
https://eternity.obsidian.net/
Could be fun then.
CelebrianYesterday at 4:31 PM
Yep. Hate that its only single player. I havent played the first one yet.
VardaYesterday at 4:33 PM
Do you know if they plan to make it multi-player later?
CelebrianYesterday at 4:34 PM
Probably not because those kinda games usually arent.
ElrondYesterday at 4:34 PM
Sorry, trying to get somewhere that they aren't too happy about me going. Ran into a gate camp. They gave sent me back home in flames :).
VardaYesterday at 4:35 PM
rushes in with a fire extinguisher
Stay alive if you can!
ElrondYesterday at 4:36 PM
Oh it was over in about 10 seconds haha
VardaYesterday at 4:36 PM
heh
Any other gaming news we want to pass along, business, invites from the various officers currently on?
Tolkien!
In our LotRO gaming at least, we have new areas opening up giving us adventures with the dwarves.
Go ahead, Arien.
ArienVYesterday at 4:39 PM
just an addition to the blizzcon news
VardaYesterday at 4:39 PM
Always welcome
ArienVYesterday at 4:39 PM
I am sure you heard about Diablo 3 immortal and the controversity that ensued
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:39 PM
..I've seen videos of the boo-ing in the Q&A.
ArienVYesterday at 4:39 PM
there is an article in the sun online today i ve got the web address
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/7654735/diablo-immortal-reaction-puts-blizzard-on-back-foot-at-blizzcon/
    The Sun
    Diablo Immortal reaction puts Blizzard on back foot at Blizzcon
    WHEN Blizzard revealed that the next game in its storied Diablo franchise was going to be mobile game co-developed with China’s NetEase, many fans made their displeasure clear. Despite the fa…
VardaYesterday at 4:40 PM
There's always somebody fussing at every change. Hope there's good there too, as otherwise they would not blow that money on it.
ArienVYesterday at 4:40 PM
its fairly good and a summalry of that q & A and gives a comment
VardaYesterday at 4:41 PM
Don't they pass any of this by fans first, I wonder?
ArienVYesterday at 4:41 PM
whatever you think of it its good to get an idea of what itr is about
VardaYesterday at 4:41 PM
Thanks, article appreciated! Will have to check that out in  a bit.
ArienVYesterday at 4:42 PM
i ve been working a bit on the season , on the last part now but thats it from me :smiley:
carry on :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:42 PM
try https://www.diabloii.net/blog/comments/huge-backlash-for-diablo-immortal-the-community-responds as well, at least for the appropriate videos :wink:
    Diabloii.Net - Diablo 3 News, Forums and Wikis
    Rushster
    Huge backlash for Diablo Immortal - The community responds - Diabl...
    The Diablo community responds to the Diablo Immortal announcement as the backlash begins from all corners of the Internet.
ArienVYesterday at 4:42 PM
Thanks Phari
VardaYesterday at 4:43 PM
Hmm, adding a vertical element to gameplay sounds interesting to add to Diablo. Not sure about the other stuff.
Thank you, Phar.

Ok, back to Tolkien.
So since we are hitting Dwarven territory and lore in-game pretty hard, it might be interesting to also read Eonwe-Valar's article in our Encyclopedia, at least skim:
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/d/dwarves/dwarvesE.htm
    Dwarves
    Article on Dwarves of Middle-earth, information from the books of the Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, and Histories of Middle-earth.

Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:45 PM
Oh, yes, there was a scene in the gameplay trailer where the wizard jumped on a rope and descended down a large shaft while aoe-ing enemies around. That was pretty impressive vertical element :wink:
sorry, continue
VardaYesterday at 4:45 PM
That does sound interesting.
Thanks Phar

Also, since it goes into the mountains of the north, there's a lot of dragons of all sorts showing up in the game.
We don't have a single article just on dragons in general, but we do have a list of articles on some of the individuals that we meet.
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/d/dragonindex.htm
a bit on cold drakes as well, that we run into in-game.
The game does take the lore and run with it, yes, but it seems pretty grounded, keeping it interesting for us lore-fans as well as for us gamers.
Since we're both, it's pretty fun.
Smaug could have had family. Why not? : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:50 PM
Probably did.
VardaYesterday at 4:50 PM
We know it was common enough for Sauron to set up his changed creatures (often at Morgoth's bidding and surely with help from his power) with the ability to breed normally.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:50 PM
Indeed :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:50 PM
This was true of orcs, we know from the books, despite the pod people of Saruman's in the movies.
We know that Smaug was a great dragon who came from the mountains north of the Lonely Mountain in search of dwarven treasure.
There had to be dragons he was greater than for him to be comparable.
We hear in the books of such things as cold-drakes, a lesser type.
The dwarves had terrible dealings with the dragons in the past.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:52 PM
Assuming he was honest about his stature, and not just driven out by stronger dragons.
VardaYesterday at 4:52 PM
heh, so maybe there are even bigger ones over there that he didn't mention!
And those left behind would have continued growing.
Here's a very quick bit with dwarves and dragons not getting along:
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/a/Azaghal.htm
    Azaghal
    Article on Azaghal, dwarf, Lord of Belegost from Tolkien's works.
Young Glaurung.
Another thing to consider is the land that we're trying to travel through.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:55 PM
Enemies the dwarves make, they tend to keep.
VardaYesterday at 4:55 PM
That is some very rugged terrain.
Aye, the dwarves tend not to forget a grudge or a true evil.
Does that mean they also well-remember a good deed?
It seems probable.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:56 PM
can only hope
VardaYesterday at 4:56 PM
I believe there are some examples that will come to mind after the meeting is over. /facepalm
Bilbo would be one. : )  They remembered him, coming to see him and Frodo in the Shire.
They never lost touch.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:58 PM
True.
VardaYesterday at 4:59 PM
Does anyone else have a thought to add before we close? The hour is about up.
the hammer spreads its wings and zooms to the hammerpad
it draws a deep breath...
the hammerpad shoots a waterhose at it and it falls
thunk!

After-meeting!
the wet hammer drags itself back to the shelf
Free chat!
ArienVYesterday at 5:03 PM
Thanks Varda
"dazzles up and dries the gavel*
VardaYesterday at 5:04 PM
: )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:04 PM
Here be dragons?
VardaYesterday at 5:04 PM
the hammer thanks Arien and tries to bow
Dwarves are crunchy and good with catsup?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:04 PM
Yum.

Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:23 PM
Well, been busy with a lot of stuff including blizzcon news, but I guess I can start with the gaming report :smiley:

For flashgaming:

the onemorelevel website I use to check for each daily game, and which started only referring to another website recently, is being revamped and hosting games themselves again, so can link from there again :wink:

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/tornado is the first game! You play a tornado. Fly around (a bit awkwardly) to pick up small things to get bigger and be able to pick up bigger things, see how large you get and all the stuff you're able to destroy before the timer runs out.
Tornado - OneMoreLevel.com
A bit like the Katamari games if you're familiar with them.

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/zomball is the second game, you're a zombie on a rising platform, dunk bodyparts of yourself into the baskets, when you succeed you get that bodypart back, get as far as you can before you run out of parts :smiley:
    Zomball - OneMoreLevel.com

https://www.kongregate.com/games/Tenfor/landor-quest-2 for the third game! Upgrade/rpg game. Explore the levels, get gold and experience, use gold to get better gear/stats and experience to boost your abilities. Beat the bosses of each level. You can get pretty far by just grinding the levels and upgrading your stats, but by the end you'll need strategies to defeat the bosses. If you're stuck, check the description for tips for each boss.
    Kongregate
    Landor Quest 2
    Face the dangers of the dungeon, upgrade your skills and gear to save the world from the Dark One and his evil minions.
    I#39ve been working hard on a huge updat...

Blizzard gaming:
Diablo 3:
Got one more menagerist pet, the Unihorn. Quite nice, but apparently the same model as a seasonal reward introduced at some point. I suspect many of the seasonal pet rewards are recolors of the menagerist's collection.
Starcraft II:
Did the next two missions, completing the Umoja set. Next up would be the Char world, but...
with the WoW patch announced for a little over a month from now, I got a bit spooked, and decided to leave both D3 and SCII for now as I work on WoW more.
Will still be doing my regular hearthstone and heroes of the storm though.
Heroes of the Storm:
Level 310, 2 levels got. First one was level 15 on Raynor, my first Starcraft assassin combination, and 15 is the goal for all my heroes to reach gold and the portraits and so on. So now I retired him and have moved on to my next Starcraft assassin: Kerrigan!
I'm not good with melee assassins, a bit too squishy for my tastes, but she's got some interesting ways of staying alive. Not decided on a build yet, experimented with a ravage build but didn't go too well. We'll see.
The brawl this week is a single-lane, done 3 times, took me quite a while. Finished 2 matches with familiar heroes, and one with Jaina, who I'd only played once before, and who gave me my second level this week by leveling to 2 from that match. Interesting hero, but as far as warcraft assassins go, she'll have to wait a bit longer before it's her turn to be actively played.
I suspect warcraft assassin is the combination with the most heroes, which is a bit sad.
As they'll take a long time to all be played.

IorethYesterday at 5:47 PM
Did you mention the Destiny 2 free download?
VardaYesterday at 5:56 PM
Yes, but it's good to mention again.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:09 PM
Ah yes. Claimed it, but not played it. Probably won't, doesn't seem to be my genre. But hey, free stuff.

Hearthstone:
another class to 56, with a few more pushed closer. My total level is now 500 :wink:
Brawl this week is deck assembling, where you recruit a new card every turn, and cards that are played (or minions that are played and killed) go back into the deck, making for bigger and bigger decks.
All random, all fun.
Also had a quest for some dungeon run wins, from the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion. Hadn't done any dungeon fights for a while, but found myself to have a pretty good mage deck already in progress.
In fact, with those 3 wins required I completed the entire dungeon with that mage deck. Last boss, king Togwaggle, felt almost too easy; he'd loaded up his side of the board with 3 cards of 0 damage that would summon minions for each spell Togwaggle would cast, and his first 4 casts were 1 mana... filling the rest of the board with 1-damage minions. And since one of the special treasures I'd come across for the mage was permanent stealth for all my minions, I could fill up my board and punch the boss in the face while he was stuck with his 7 minions doing almost no damage and not being able to get rid of them against mine, filling up his hand and losing cards to overdraw. It was quite sad to see!
Anyway, that makes my second class out of 9 to complete the dungeon, after the paladin which I got done ages ago. Do it with all 9 to get a Togwaggle card reward, I think; but the dungeons are so random that it takes some dedicated time spending to get it all done. I may do so in the future, I may not. I do know that I'll tackle at least a couple of fights every time I get the quest for it (which doesn't happen often) and with enough luck and time, who knows?
Oh, and got a new legendary card, the storm bringer, the shaman legendary spell for the current expansion. Fits into the shaman evolution mechanic, by transforming all your minions into random legendary minions. Still, not all legendary minions are very good, and random is still random.
Still, might be interesting if you happen to have a board of 7 1/1 murlocs or something :wink:
WoW:
ArienVYesterday at 6:25 PM
it is bed tme for me here i am afraid dear Valarites
Namarie for now!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:25 PM
Namarie!
Had a bit more trouble with heroic Zul again this week, but tonight we 2-shot him and 1-shot Mythrax, the next boss, immediately afterwards. Had a few more attempts at heroic G'huun, getting consistently to phase 2 and even down to 35% through another reorigination shot. Just need more practice with not spreading the debuff.
Few more expeditions, including another island-specific mythic for achievement, and a few normal difficulty farms for items, which ended up giving me 2 more quest-starters. One of them contained a reference to the Dragon Isles, a place we've never seen which was visible on one of the earliest WoW maps.
Will we ever go there? Who knows? A lot of these expedition delivery quests hint at things going on elsewhere in the world, opening up a lot of possible loose ends. No guarantee we'll see any of it developed, but it's nice flavor.
Weekly this week is mythic dungeons, of which I usually do 2 specific ones on monday already, and for the 4 for the quest I did 2 more this weekend, including my first venture into mythic Shrine of the Storm. I'd previously done it on normal already, so a few new things, but nothing too difficult, especially since I outgear the place.
Had no luck with the remaining hat from the Hallow's End daily quest in Val'sharah this year. Just another duplicate this week. Will try again next year!
And finally, more Stormsong questing. I'd hoped to be done this weekend, but with so much Blizzcon stuff to read and absorb, it was hopeless :smiley: I need about 20 quests more, a few in the Briarback Kraul questline and the rest at the Tortollan place. At least it should be done in a few days!
And yes, last week I said I'd do the Tortollan place next, but the story was really picking up elsewhere in the zone and I decided I'd save it for last, as a special reward or something :wink:
And that's my report for the week!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 7:02 PM
wooh, my first MVP as Kerrigan
always special with a new hero :smile:
VardaYesterday at 7:16 PM
and a major hero at that
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 8:01 PM
namarie!
VardaYesterday at 10:47 PM
Namarie
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