July 28 2019 Sunday Meeting
5:00
P.M. Eastern time (-4 GMT aka 9 P.M. aka 21:00)
Discord:
Valar Guild/meeting_place
Back to News
Transcript work by Varda.
Attending (and
spoke): (6)
Discord:
Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Celebrian, Elrond, Pallando, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news:
Web:
Tolkien Site: new article:
"Valar of Time"
Gaming:
General reports
LotRO: Mosby asks for Landroval level 120's who
would like to join T1 raids.
Tolkien:
Topic: In any story, the characters have some
kind of goal but they have to learn to find their way, whether it's
for a world goal or personal goal or both.
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 4:01 PM
Aiya : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:02 PM
Aiya!
VardaYesterday at 4:02 PM
Good to see you. : )
ElrondYesterday at 4:05 PM
aiya
VardaYesterday at 4:05 PM
Aiya Elrond : )
ArienValarYesterday at 4:06 PM
Aiya all :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:06 PM
Aiya Sunshine : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:06 PM
Aiya Elrond and Arien!
ArienValarYesterday at 4:06 PM
Aiya Phari and Elrond and lurkers :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 4:07 PM
Membership:
We are still around, gaming, reading, having a life. Yay!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:08 PM
Hardly, in this heat.
VardaYesterday at 4:08 PM
Any membership news you'd like to pass along?
(Our youngest grandbaby is walking a bit. : ) )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:09 PM
Yay!
VardaYesterday at 4:09 PM
Scattered showers, pleasant here.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:09 PM
National heat records a few days ago.
VardaYesterday at 4:10 PM
If it isn't at least three digits, meh. ; )
ElrondYesterday at 4:10 PM
My two pigs are eating well about 45lbs each, and I did my first
test run of my cider press yesterday. Got 2.5 gal of cider from 5
gal bucket of apples. I've got more to do but it takes some time.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:10 PM
Considering we're in Celsius, that'd be a bit much.
VardaYesterday at 4:10 PM
Nice, Elrond! Enjoyed the videos of the pigs too.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:10 PM
But if I recall correctly, 100 degrees for you is 37 or so here,
which means... yep, triple digits.
ArienValarYesterday at 4:11 PM
I am on holiday \o/#
VardaYesterday at 4:11 PM
Regularly hits 120 for Eowyn's area.
Normal summer weather.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:11 PM
I'd spend my days in the fridge.
VardaYesterday at 4:11 PM
But joshing aside, it's nice that the meeting is in your night time
so you've had a chance to cool down.
ArienValarYesterday at 4:11 PM
even here on skye we had 28 degrees on thursday .. phew
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:12 PM
Even now, still warm, 26 degrees :wink:
It might be nighttime, but I think I'll go open the door...
VardaYesterday at 4:12 PM
Beats having you keel over instead of typing to us.
ArienValarYesterday at 4:12 PM
it seems to be 22 outside here now
so at least its bearable :wink:
VardaYesterday at 4:15 PM
Web News:
Tolkien Site:
We have a new article, thanks to last week's chat.
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/v/ValarofTime.htm
The Valar of Time
The Valar of Time, dropped from JRR
Tolkien's storyline as it developed.
One good reason to have our chats is to bring us new articles, fan
fiction, art from having thought about it, and share it free with
all other Tolkien fans.
On to
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Gaming News:
World of WarCraft:
This past week's Bonus Event: Arena Skirmishes.
The PvP Brawl: Comp Stomp began July 23 and runs through Tuesday,
July 30th.
Check out this week's hotfixes.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23036677/hotfixes-july-26-2019
World of Warcraft
Hotfixes: July 26, 2019 - WoW
Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address
various issues related to World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth.
Lord of the Rings Online:
LotRO general news: Game worlds will restart every Tuesday about
8:00 AM Eastern, usually taking less than one hour, "to promote the
health of the game environment".
LotRO event news: Here's the video from the all-bands event held on
Landroval server: Weatherstock XI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0MVvCTgLSg&feature=youtu.be
YouTube
Druidsfire
Weatherstock XI - Lonely Mountain Mega-Band
Lag-Buster Opening Set
LotRO gaming news: Do we have any level 120 gamers on Landroval
server interested in T1 raiding? What days would be good? So far
suggested are evenings Wed, Sat, or Sun. We would be running with
our old friend Mosby of the Palantiri and others to make up a full
group.
LotRO kinsmen showing this past week:
Landroval:
Arien
Beleg
Bregalad
Eonwe
Fangorn
Mirabella
Nar
Varda
Ithil:
Arien
Dis
Fangorn
Varda
Anor:
Arien
Fangorn
Varda
Any other general gaming news? Eve Online? SWotR? Other?
ElrondYesterday at 4:22 PM
SWTOR has double xp/cxp running till August 20th.
VardaYesterday at 4:22 PM
Nice!
Guess we'll hear other news during After-meeting. : )
ArienValarYesterday at 4:24 PM
ah nice
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:24 PM
Usually :wink:
ArienValarYesterday at 4:25 PM
i played a bit swotr this afternoon .. i want to play at
least the other class stories :smiley:
that is up to level 50
i ve got the Jedi Consular and the Knight so far
and i have started on the smuggler
so well i started the other classes of course as well but will focus
on one class at a time for now
VardaYesterday at 4:26 PM
Good idea.
tries to imagine this focus concept
ArienValarYesterday at 4:27 PM
*tries to imagine to stick to it * cough
ElrondYesterday at 4:27 PM
Once you run through them once, then do an evil jedi and good sith
for a real treat
VardaYesterday at 4:28 PM
Hah, that's interesting to do. Sauron-Valar had fun with that.
ArienValarYesterday at 4:28 PM
:smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:28 PM
In some opinions, that is the default :wink:
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:28 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 4:29 PM
Aiya Pallando : )
We haven't heard any Eve news yet.
ElrondYesterday at 4:30 PM
I'm not playing atm, may be some time before we return.
VardaYesterday at 4:30 PM
Ah ok. A bit of that going around. drags you all to LotRO
./duck
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:30 PM
I am
CelebrianYesterday at 4:30 PM
Aiya
VardaYesterday at 4:31 PM
O good.
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:31 PM
The blackout is the best thing to happen to eve in at least 5 years
VardaYesterday at 4:31 PM
Aiya Celebrian : )
O wow, amazing. to hear.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:31 PM
Aiya Pallando and Celebrian!
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:32 PM
My personal situation is a little weird, but the short version is
I'm temporarily with a null bloc that if almond comes back means we
get to shoot each other. ;)
Almond=elrond
Stupid autoincorrect
ElrondYesterday at 4:32 PM
Is in npc corp lol
VardaYesterday at 4:32 PM
hehe - evil phones of Morgoth
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:32 PM
You left goons?
ElrondYesterday at 4:33 PM
I won eve
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:33 PM
Hey, plenty of people still in goons have won too :p
Including mittens, sometimes
Anyways, Eve is in moderate chaos
The developers just did a podcast interview saying they want more,
talking about a ton of things that players have been asking about
for awhile
Depleting resources, reducing or eliminating asset safety, bunch of
other things
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:37 PM
Sounds a bit nasty, to be honest :smiley:
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:37 PM
Eve's been fairly stagnate and there's a lot of problems with the
economy and meta-game. The blackout has been a nice first step, so
hopefully it keeps going and we see more.
That's how Eve's supposed to be
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:37 PM
fair enough
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:38 PM
If you feel safe, something went wrong. Or you're just ignorant, and
someone will educate you shortly. ;)
Hopefully we move back to that.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:38 PM
hehe
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:39 PM
Also elrond I bought my first super last week. :p
ElrondYesterday at 4:39 PM
Its all downhill from there
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:39 PM
Heh
It's just docked in a keep for now, haven't done anything with it
Probably try ratting once or twice then never unlock it again until
I drop it on someone.
It's on my main.
That's it for eve for now, but things will probably get real
interesting over the next few months, so if you've never tried it
before, now's a great time. :)
VardaYesterday at 4:41 PM
Thanks! Good to hear.
Any other news? Suggestions? Comments?
On to
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Tolkien!
In any story, the characters have some kind of goal but they have to
learn to find their way, whether it's for a world goal or personal
goal or both.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:46 PM
Mordor, Gandalf? Left or right?
VardaYesterday at 4:46 PM
We see some of that in Middle-earth. A good bit of attempted
muddling through even for the "higher" characters such as Istari.
hehe - aye
The Istari came to Middle-earth with some rough strikes against them
to help them keep an advisory role, rather than giving in to
impatience and taking over from the Free People that they were
trying to teach.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:48 PM
Gandalf handled that role pretty well, he would've made a good
schoolteacher.
VardaYesterday at 4:48 PM
What were some of those problems the Istari faced?
He was the only one to manage it well.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:49 PM
Though some kids like Denethor did not want to be educated.
VardaYesterday at 4:49 PM
That might have had to do with his earlier role as Olorin where he
whispered suggestions to elves, unseen. This way he was seen.
They thought they knew better! Inside info and all that.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:50 PM
Yep, that was one of the problems several Istari faced. Interference
through Palantiri.
VardaYesterday at 4:50 PM
That's a good point.
A communications device that gave interference.
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:50 PM
Well let is not forget about my namesake either
VardaYesterday at 4:50 PM
Definitely not!
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:51 PM
He went down a dark path and lured people to a darker side.
..this name really is appropriate for me. Anyone want to try eve?
VardaYesterday at 4:51 PM
Cult leading in Eve too! o my
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:52 PM
I promise I can teach as well as Gandalf! And I'm way more fun.
VardaYesterday at 4:52 PM
And yet, maybe the Blue Wizards helped out by causing a power
struggle among Sauron's potential recruits.
They listened to Saruman, so it's possible they thought they were
doing right but were going down the wrong path thanks to him.
Pallando-ValarYesterday at 4:53 PM
It does follow -- certainly neither would want to support the other
VardaYesterday at 4:53 PM
Aye
All of the wizards had the problem that they were suddenly in the
bodies of old men, instead of their usual strong ones that they
could even switch out.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:55 PM
So is it possible Saruman instructed the Blue Wizards to cause
discord among Sauron's followers, in the hope that if he was able to
reproduce the Ring, he'd be able to contest Sauron more easily? Or
something?
VardaYesterday at 5:22 PM
Sauron even had turncoat spies in high places, the ear of the kings
and stewards.
As soon as any one of them started using the Power of the Ring, it
would tell Sauron right where it was.
It held a part of him. Not exactly a horcrux, but quite a pull.
Activating the Ring said "Here I am!" As Frodo found out on the hill
at the Seat of Seeing.
And the Ring's real "loyalty" was to Sauron. It would betray any
other.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:24 PM
Was he looking at Bilbo using his Ring to hide from annoying
relatives? :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 5:25 PM
Interesting thought. And yet, he wasn't trying to exert power but to
hide.
He wasn't trying to send Lobelia in another direction.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:25 PM
Was it not the same for Frodo?
VardaYesterday at 5:26 PM
Right. But at the Seat of Seeing, he was trying to look outwards, to
"spy"?
And on Sauron's plans, not his relatives, as Gollum did.
There must be some fine distinctions there.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:27 PM
True. Perhaps Sauron picked up on him looking in his direction.
VardaYesterday at 5:28 PM
So Frodo learned that it was really dangerous to put on the Ring,
and it had to try to force him to wear it against his will.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:29 PM
When he was least expecting it, like falling from a table.
VardaYesterday at 5:29 PM
True
We are past the hour. Did anyone have further comments they would
like to make concerning Tolkien?
Would you like to suggest future topics? Articles you would like to
see or to write?
the gavel pogo sticks along, trying to follow a map
the hammerpad whistles to guide it back
the gavel turns the map the right way up
thonnnky!
mission accomplished and map rightside up, the gavel makes it
back to the shelf
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After-meeting!
Free chat about anything. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:32 PM
Could mention that I had a blast of nostalgia in the past week as I
found a let's play series for battle for middle earth :wink:
VardaYesterday at 5:32 PM
What fun!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:33 PM
Though it was rather annoying that the player/commentator always
seemed to avoid looking at the objectives :wink:
ArienValarYesterday at 5:39 PM
oh bit of gaming news i nearly forgot .. after enough of grinding
some despair and almost giving up i finally managed azeroth flying :smile:
VardaYesterday at 5:39 PM
yay!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:39 PM
Grats!
ArienValarYesterday at 5:39 PM
and my mage has finally reached the ilevel of 400 ~
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:40 PM
Ah, nice round number :smiley:
Remember to make a "mage not found" joke when you hit 404.
ArienValarYesterday at 5:40 PM
oh i love that :smile:
i shall ~
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:41 PM
yay :smile:
ArienValarYesterday at 5:43 PM
dare i ask what i level you have now :O?
on Cala?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:44 PM
Well, considering I gear up for both guardian and feral spec, I have
a total optimized ilevel of 420 I think, though for the specs it's
416 and 414.
ArienValarYesterday at 5:44 PM
and Method of Tarren Mill got a world first for Ashara on mythic btw
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:44 PM
But I have been raiding normal Palace, made a start at heroic
Palace, and have been poking a few mid-level keystone dungeons
:wink:
Ah yes, I read about that, and saw the kill video.
Quite impressive, considering they were a day late on the second to
last boss compared to Limit.
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/8653-Method-World-First-Queen-Azshara-Kill
for those who want the video :smiley:
Method World First Queen Azshara Kill -
MMO-Champion
Method World First Queen Azshara Kill
ArienValarYesterday at 5:45 PM
:smiley: was that their direct competirttion?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:46 PM
Oh yes, each of them was ahead at different points.
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Hmmm, looking at flashgames for my
gaming report, one of the ones this week is, while an old one, still
one of the most beautiful games on kongregate when it comes to
graphics and music.
Should I start the report? :smile:
VardaYesterday at 5:48 PM
Sure
I want a peek at this beauty
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:48 PM
Right, saving best for last grin
Personal gaming report!
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/send_in_the_clones
is the first game, an avoidance game with emojis where you move
around to collect gems, while angry clones spawn behind you and
follow your path. So it's a bit like snake, except the clones move
at a fixed pace so there's very little time to think and plan ahead.
Send in the Clones! - OneMoreLevel.com
https://www.kongregate.com/games/SilenGames/mushroom-madness-3
for the second game! An upgrade game where you have to protect your
mushrooms from waves of animals using various kinds of weaponry.
Lots of upgrades, lots of achievements, with those upgrades you can
pretty much make the game as smooth as you want.
Kongregate
Mushroom Madness 3
Defend more mushrooms from hungry animals. Now
with 300% more enemies, weapons, explosions and fun!
Try to complete about 100 levels and get all
quests and ac...
Third in a series, the second one was up as well this week, but I
prefer the mechanics and upgrades in this one.
ArienValarYesterday at 5:52 PM
looks an interesting fight
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:52 PM
And now, for the third flashgame...
https://www.kongregate.com/games/Kajenx/william-and-sly-2
is a platformer where you play a fox called Sly, and go around
collecting pages of William's lost journal, while also collecting
mushrooms (yes, it's mushroom week on kongregate), teleports and
upgrades like flying, or technically multi-jumping.
Kongregate
William and Sly 2
The gnomes have stolen Williams journal and
scattered the pages all over the mountainside! Luckily, he knows a
fox who#39s willing to help him out.
Very smooth animation, beautiful terrain and background, and great
music.
Even if you don't feel like spending all that time exploring and
completing the game, you can still just hop about a bit and enjoy
the scenery :smiley:
But if you do, there's lots to discover, and a map if you get lost,
though I think that's one of the abilities or otherwise unlocked.
Been a while since I started over :wink:
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Right breaks away from game let's continue.
Blizzard gaming!
ArienValarYesterday at 6:04 PM
tis bedtime for me friends
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:04 PM
Namarie :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 6:04 PM
Namarie Arien. We're in After-meeting, no worries. : )
ArienValarYesterday at 6:04 PM
Namarie :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:07 PM
Heroes of the Storm:
Level 354, one level gained. Culprit would be Uther, the famous
Warcraft paladin who I've played only once before I think, but got
him to level 2 now through the brawl. Pretty difficult, but some
interesting abilities, and while I played him as healer, there is
potential for purging the enemies of the Light...
8 days left of the event! Being in a time crunch, I decided to
change my policy from choosing the exact hero to fit all daily
quests and then fitting an event quest to it, to a bit less
efficient daily questing but with heroes that are much better for
the event quests.
Of special note, Sergeant Hammer is still such a massively damaging
hero that I wrapped up the last thirds of the siege damage and hero
damage quests in one match each, and the experience quest didn't
take long either with it.
For healing, Lucio's pretty good as well, though not as exceptional.
Healing quest is now at 89%, which means just one or two more games
(preferably with Lucio) to finish, and then it's just the win 4
games quest remaining, the easiest one which I left for last
:smiley:
So should be about 3 days to complete the event, and that's without
doing more matches than my normal 2 a day. Quite happy with that!
Hearthstone:
bit more experience on the classes that were just below halfway to
the next level. Fire Festival is almost over, with this brawl being
an interesting one... random decks for players, and if you lose, you
play the next game with the deck that beat you, and you get a few
statistics for the winrates of the decks as well.
Idea is that only the best decks remain :smiley:
That said, I came across a pretty good one quite early, so that was
fine.
WoW:
Raiding still going, haven't gotten Azshara down on normal yet. We
also decided to poke heroic difficulty a bit, and got the first boss
down, but the underwater boss is giving us some trouble. So then we
went back to normal for today's raid, but numbers are slow due to,
among other things, summer heat, and we stopped after 5 bosses.
(Oh, backing up to Hearthstone, got a new hunter legendary, Halazzi
the Lynx)
Didn't get too much done with my questing, since I still had to
finish last week's weekly on monday and tuesday, complete with
expeditions, while also doing this week's weekly and expeditions
during the weekend. But I did poke some more Zandalar world quests,
including the two troll-related ones with achievements I was
missing. One tough one where I had 60 seconds to find a dozen
stealthed trolls, which is especially hard when other players are
doing the same quest, and one easier one where I got to stand on top
of some stairs to refresh totem buffs while having to kill 100
trolls coming to fight me.
I wouldn't be surprised if I'd done all normal-type Zandalar world
quests now, at least those available to alliance, as well as the
majority of rare mob-based world quests. So while I will continue to
look for new ones there for a while, and occasionally do one that I
hadn't seen yet, I think my time in Zandalar is mostly over for now.
As for arathi world quests, while I didn't get any of the remaining
3 items at the end of this warfront cycle, I did get enough service
medals for the fifth and last heirloom.
That makes this a good time to take a break from that zone as well,
though I will continue to check daily (when we have the zone) for
quests for the 3 mobs who drop those items. I might be able to slack
on service medals, but I'm not giving up on that toy and those two
mounts :wink:
So yeah, I guess this week has been mostly about making use of the
time I had, and wrapping up a few activities to make time for new
ones.
However, I did get a new rank 1 healing essence from this week's
keystone dungeon, as well as my first rank 3 essence from the weekly
expeditions.
Only rank 4, the cosmetic upgrade, remains for that one, which will
be a random proc from the weekly treasure map. Might get it next
week, might get it in 2 months, might not get it at all if I'm
unlucky. But we'll keep trying!
Also did the weekly for this week, arena skirmishes, and together
with the brawl that put me at the conquest cap for the first time
this season. Which should get me another new essence when the next
reset starts!
And I'll wrap up by saying that I found several new book
publications by Blizzard on the webshop I use, including
reprints of the Ashbringer comic, the first of the 3 class manga
books (if they complete that series I'll finally have my book
collection complete until they write something new), and the new
Warcraft pop-up book as well.
Expected to arrive in october, but at least they're coming :wink:
VardaYesterday at 6:34 PM
Yay books : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:35 PM
And that's my report for the week!
VardaYesterday at 6:35 PM
Thank you, Phar
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:36 PM
And now I'll head into Storm and see if I can finish up that healing
quest :smiley:
VardaYesterday at 6:36 PM
Good fortune!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:36 PM
Thank you!
Oh, and temperature has dropped another degree. Nice.
Still too warm for me, but getting better.
Hmm, not looking good, 2 other healers in the team.
Still, if spread over 2 matches I should be fine.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 8:19 PM
namarie!
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