July 7, 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): (8)
Discord:
Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Celebrian, Elladan (before), Elrond,
Eonwe, Lenwe, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news:
Web:
Gaming:
General reports
Tolkien:
Topic: Tolkien's tips for writers.
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)
ElladanYesterday at 5:41 PM
Just stopping in to say aiya!
VardaToday at 3:56 PM
Aiya : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 3:56 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 3:56 PM
Hey Phar : )
VardaToday at 4:04 PM
Meeting time!
LenweToday at 4:08 PM
Aiya :smiley:
VardaToday at 4:08 PM
Aiya Lenwe : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:08 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:09 PM
Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
We've had a great July 4th this week, lots of people enjoying a bit
of time off and gaming!
Thank you to Elwing and Meriadoc for visiting, gaming, and chatting.
: )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:11 PM
Best way to spend a holiday :wink:
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:12 PM
Heya.
VardaToday at 4:12 PM
We had plenty of fireworks, booming and crackling, drifts of black
powder smoke. Fun. : )
Eonwe, aiya!
And way too many snacks. : )
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Web:
Nothing new this week on the Tolkien Site.
Eonwe put up news on the Gaming Site.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:17 PM
Aiya Eonwe!
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:19 PM
bow
VardaToday at 4:19 PM
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Gaming!
Eonwe, would you like to take this part?
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:20 PM
Sure.
World of Warcraft:
This week's Bonus Event was Battle for Azeroth Dungeons.
Next week's will be Pet Battles.
Midsummer Fire Festival ended July 5th after the Fireworks
Spectacular.
The Darkmoon Faire begins today and runs through Saturday, July
13th.
Check out this week's hotfixes: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23036677/hotfixes-july-3-2019
World of Warcraft
Hotfixes: July 3, 2019 - WoW
Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address
various issues related to World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth.
Tuesday also introduces the new raid: The Eternal Palace, for Normal
and Heroic difficulties.
The PvP Brawl: Packed House will be starting this Tuesday as well
and running until the following Tuesday.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:26 PM
15 vs 15 arena, definitely worth a try just for the laughs :smiley:
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:26 PM
That's it for Gaming News I'm aware of.
VardaToday at 4:26 PM
Thank you. : )
The LotRO group this past week across the servers:
Landroval:
Elwing
Eonwe
Fangorn
Meriadoc
Mirabella
Nar
Varda
Ithil:
Arien
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda
Anor:
Fangorn
Varda
Any other gaming news?
ArienValarToday at 4:33 PM
Aiya :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:33 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:33 PM
Aiya Sunshine : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:33 PM
Sorry, wasn't on bnet to warn you :smiley:
ElrondToday at 4:34 PM
Aiya
CelebrianToday at 4:34 PM
Aiya
ArienValarToday at 4:34 PM
its all right ^^ .. i remembered just in time i mean .. when i meant
to
VardaToday at 4:34 PM
Aiya Celebrian : )
ArienValarToday at 4:34 PM
aiya Elrond, aiya Celebrian and Eonwe :smiley:
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:34 PM
Heya Arien :}
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:36 PM
Aiya Elrond and Celebrian!
VardaToday at 4:36 PM
Any other gaming news, comments, suggestions, firework tales?
: )
Heya Elrond : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:37 PM
I set a few horde ships on fire in the war campaign past week, how's
that for fireworks?
VardaToday at 4:37 PM
my troll jumps off the ship
Fireworks best seen from a distance? ; )
ElrondToday at 4:38 PM
Eve will be putting in no local for nullsec soon. Opinions
vary, some people are leaving the game, others are coming
back. For ourselves we are winding down a bit but will still
be involved, just on a bit lesser amount. Be interested to see what
the end result is once they put this in.
And if you want to see our pigs chowing down, I posted a video in
screenshots.
VardaToday at 4:39 PM
Your Shire!
and Daenerys and Jon Snow, hah
Elrond's been doing a lot of interesting posts in Screenshots.
Enjoy!
Pallando-ValarToday at 4:42 PM
Aiya all
Can't chat, just saying hi.
Also #deletelocal #deletesupers
1
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:42 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:43 PM
Thanks for dropping by, Pallando!
Pallando-ValarToday at 4:44 PM
Did I link the video of my Eve tournament victory?
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:44 PM
Heya Pallando :}
VardaToday at 4:45 PM
Under Screenshots?
The Winning Drinks in Harbor. : )
ElrondToday at 4:47 PM
You did @Pallando-Valar in harbor(edited)
Pallando-ValarToday at 4:50 PM
Awesome. That's all I've got. :)
VardaToday at 4:53 PM
Thank you, Pallando. That's a lot!
On to
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Tolkien!
For fun for all of us writers and readers:
https://writingishardwork.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/tolkiens-10-tips-for-writers/
Writing Is Hard Work
Roger Colby, Novelist
Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Writers
I have long been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Every year, when school dismisses for summer
break, I read The Lord of the Rings.
This year I will read it to my children and do
all the voices for them.…
See what a novelist gleaned from JRRT's comments as his tips.
[Added in just the list headings while making this transcript, with
my own short version of the comments:
1. Vanity is Useless. JRRT was humble about his
writing.
2. Keep a Stiff Upper Lip. Despite many obstacles
(including illness, job, war, son and helper away at war) he made
time to write.
3. Listen to Critics. This refers to his writing
group, specifically C.S. Lewis, when they made comments about his
work in progress.
4. Let Your Interests Drive Your Writing. He
loved ancient languages and built cultures based on them. He enjoyed
the old tales with dragons. He enjoyed writing (not reading)
structuring verse and metrics.
5. Poetry as a Road to Prose. Some of his early
stories were originally done as long poems, such as Beren and
Luthien. The article writer says he tried writing in poetic form
first and that it made a difference in thinking hard about the
phrasing, and that he recognized the poetic cadence in JRRT's work.
The writer also recommends it as a way past writer's block.
6. Happy Accidents. Even with a carefully planned
plot, little things connect along the way to make happy surprises,
including insights and other ways to look at a character.
7. Dreams Give Us Inspiration. JRRT had a
recurring dream of a giant wave wiping out everything. He worked out
some of the nightmare in writing and verse, and drowning comes up in
various places in the LotR.
8. Real People Make Great Characters. He would
incorporate a few characteristics from people he saw.
9. You May Be the Next Best Selling Author. JRRT
knew of another writer in his neighborhood of rather decayed roads,
whom he considered an amateur like himself as he had no status in
the literary world, who produced a long book that slowly became
famous; it changed him from a normal Englishman so that he seemed to
fancy himself as a reincarnated renaissance Italian and started
dressing the part.
10. Books You Write May Seem Trite. Tolkien
writes: “I now find The Lord of the Rings ‘good in
parts'”.
]
That was so popular, that it spun off:
ArienValarToday at 4:54 PM
VardaToday at 4:54 PM
https://writingishardwork.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/tolkiens-10-tips-for-creating-epic-heroes/
Writing Is Hard Work
Roger Colby, Novelist
Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Creating Epic Heroes
One of my most popular posts is Tolkien’s 10 Tips
for Writers, in which I glean from J.R.R. Tolkien’s letters of his
wisdom about writing.
Today I will delve into his letters again, bu…
and
https://writingishardwork.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/tolkien-on-inspiration/
Writing Is Hard Work
Roger Colby, Novelist
Tolkien on Inspiration
Today’s post is fortuitous in that Tolkien is
again in the news. Yesterday NPR ran a story about an ancient
Roman ring that may have been the inspiration for The One Ring in
Tolkien’s …
These may give a bit of insight into his writing process, or what
this person thinks it is.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:55 PM
"happy accidents".. it worked for Tolkien, it worked for Bob Ross
VardaToday at 4:55 PM
Bob Ross was great too. : )
"Happy little trees."
And then there are huorns.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:56 PM
hehe
VardaToday at 4:59 PM
I found almost the identical first article but with pictured stuff,
so I hesitate to give credit to anyone in particular, but it was
interesting.
See how similar this is?
https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2014/08/22/tolkiens-writing-tips/
Aerogramme Writers' Studio
J.R.R. Tolkien's Writing Tips (Infographic)
“Criticism – however valid or intellectually
engaging – tends to get in the way of a writer who has anything
personal to say.
A tightrope walker may require practice, but if
he starts a theory…
The main thing is JRRT's words from his Letters are being shown to
us, collected under the subject of writing.
We can dig through on our own and find them too, but it's nice when
they are pulled out like that to see more easily.
It's kind of what we try to do in articles. Find all the different
pieces of info across the books and put them in one place.
Did anyone else have a comment topic, or Tolkien moment? Something
Tolkienesque you saw while gaming?
Saruman had the black powder market cornered, so the fireworks in
Middle-earth seem restricted to knocking down a wall.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:08 PM
And a particularly lifelike dragon
VardaToday at 5:08 PM
Right! Gandalf did the real fireworks.
Eonwe ValarToday at 5:17 PM
Time for me to be off. Take care all, good night, sleep well, and
have fun.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:17 PM
Namarie!
VardaToday at 5:17 PM
Namarie
gavels tap together and sparks fly!
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After-meeting!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:22 PM
Yay, I just unlocked baby dinosaurs to pet in an outpost in WoW.
VardaToday at 5:26 PM
What fun. : )
ArienValarToday at 5:28 PM
good night Eonwe
VardaToday at 5:28 PM
Namarie!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:28 PM
Now on my way to unlock my last outpost, in Vol'dun. These should
all make travel across Zandalar quite a bit easier!
ArienValarToday at 5:50 PM
oh aye
uh btw interestingly a couple of SNP member of parliaments compared
England 's sudden interest in the union with Gollum' s clinging to
the ring which inspired me to a post on face book
VardaToday at 5:52 PM
Hah : )
ArienValarToday at 5:52 PM
i don't know if you have read that Varda
VardaToday at 5:52 PM
I"ll pull up FB
Found it : )
Entertaining parallel-making. : )
ArienValarToday at 6:06 PM
Hehe aye It was fun writing it
when i read the articles in the paper i thought yep .. great guys
hehe
ArienValarToday at 6:52 PM
Namarie all and have fun
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:52 PM
Namarie!
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Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:59 PM
Personal gaming report! Let's find some flashgames...
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:07 PM
Only two new ones, but I'll start off with an old one
https://www.kongregate.com/games/ExploreWellcome/axon
is the first game! A rather frantic clicker where you have to path
your way through protein targets to build the largest neuron you
can. Useful colors to collect are green for a boost and purple for a
temporary range increase, avoid red because it also spreads and can
block your path.
Kongregate
Axon
Grow your neuron as long as possible by clicking
on protein targets.
You can only click on protein targets within your
circle of influence but you need to be...
Oh, and yellow is also good if you can chain a few
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:31 PM
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/bow_royale
for the second game! Simple idea, hold space bar and let it go at
the right time to hit the target. Take on a few practice targets,
then face what I think is other people, or it might just be really
good AI harder than it looks!
Bow Royale - OneMoreLevel.com
Oh, it's definitely other people.
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/motherbrain
for the third game! Defensive game, shoot enemies to protect the
motherbrain, use money to build walls.
Motherbrain - OneMoreLevel.com
I haven't gotten very far yet, but seems simple so far
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Blizzard gaming:
Heroes of the Storm:
4 levels gotten, to 353! 2 heroes from the brawl, Falstad and
Zul'jin, but also 2 of my active heroes, Morales to 11 and Kerrigan
to 9. Some weeks you get nothing, other weeks they all hit the next
level
Quests now at 66%. Indeed, I've gotten the first 2 quests in each of
the 7 questlines done, with only the third one to go. But those
third quests tend to take a bit longer, with hundreds of thousands
of total damage needed, or 300 minions slain, or 75 regeneration
globes. They certainly require multiple games each. Still, at 2
months still to go, that should be easy enough.
Hearthstone:
Pushing along, nearing halfway to next level with some classes.
Finished opening the packs I'd saved, but nothing new special. Brawl
is one where you start with a small deck, recruit cards as you go,
and they return to the deck to join your hand over and over
Had some luck playing hunter, with some good beasts to spam and buff
each other.
WoW:
Started raiding again! New raid isn't open yet, but our break is
over and we decided to push the last boss in Crucible of Storms one
more time with essences on our side. And sure enough, we got Uu'nat
down on heroic difficulty on thursday, with me ending up with the
best tank trinket as well as the special staff which, while lacking
in offensive stats, comes with a fancy protective bubble. Quite
interesting.
For old raid night, we decided to check what my friend's missing for
his Drakes collection achievement, and while some of them are
reputation-based, one was from the 5-man instance Culling of
Stratholme back in the Wrath expansion. At least 10 years old! We
were pretty overgeared, and though the intro section of the instance
had us stumped for a bit (until we remembered about the plague
crates), the timed section got well and he got his bronze drake. So
yay!
Collected a few more essences through island expeditions! We
gathered up for the pvp expedition first, which gave us some
trouble, but we got it on the third try, giving the rank 1 essence
from the battleground/pvp-expedition chain, with the next ranks
requiring honor, which can be completely gotten through whichever of
the two methods you prefer. So it's nice to get that over with.
Actually, that chain gives 3 separate essences for all 3 roles, and
I decided to buy all 3 for the collection
That got us enough for the weekly expedition quest, which gave us
another essence, this one based just on the expeditions, with no pvp
necessary. And with that got, we decided to do a few more mythic
expeditions to get rank 2 for that essence as well So that's
my first rank 2!
And I got a couple of new pets from the expeditions as well, a
Deathsting Scorpid, as well as Snort, a tiny yak pet. Very cute!
For the Midsummer festival, I finished collecting the 300 blossoms,
buying the new hearthstone toy for this world event. Compared to the
hearthstones from previous events, it's not very spectacular though,
just holding a torch and making a hand motion. I am quite curious to
what the Brewfest hearthstone will look like, but that's a while
away yet...
And finally, more war campaign stuff! Completed the next two
chapters, fighting goblins in Zuldazar and tracking down Gallywix to
his Pleasure Palace, only to be duped by a fake Gallywix, and for
the next chapter chasing down some horde boats with a fleet of
gryphon riders, setting them on fire, and taking out a San'layn
prince which had been bothering us in previous chapters. Only one
more to go for the 8.0 section of the war campaign, which should get
me Pathfinder
But in the meantime I decided to go for the 4 Revered outposts in
Zandalar, 3 in Zuldazar and 1 in Vol'dun. Finding them and upgrading
them has been rather fun, with some healing support, a scrap
machine, and a baby dinosaur petting zoo. Still one upgrade to do
tomorrow, and then I'll tackle the final chapter for the first war
campaign. In addition to Pathfinder (with 10% movement speed), it
should also set me on the path to unlock the Dark Iron allied race,
which I might be able to start on later in the week. Won't be long
before I get to finally create my DI shaman, who I've already
designed as well as bought a mount and pet for in the shop. I'll
make sure to add a screenshot in the Valar screenshots channel if I
get that done before the next meeting
And that's my report for the week!
Oh! Forgot. The weekly quest for this week is doing 4 mythic
dungeons, and as part of the war campaign I discovered and then
unlocked Kings' Rest, the special instance in Zuldazar that started
out as mythic-only, part of the horde storyline, with said unlocking
necessary for Alliance at first, but later made redundant. Still, I
decided to wait until that point in the war campaign before I poked
it, as one of my four mythics for the week.
Interesting instance, linear but with a nice atmosphere and
interesting boss mechanics, as well as the chance of dropping a
mount at the end. Similar to Underrot, which I did in the past to
farm a mount, and which is also quite linear, but with a completely
different vibe, I'll try to go back to Kings' Rest every week on
mythic+ mode, to collect a mythic+ chest every week and take a shot
at the mount.
I'll also probably try to do harder keystones than just +2 this time
around, in order to progress on yet another essence But
that'll be a slow progress over the next few months.
Unless I get the mount before then, in which case I'll have to make
new plans
And that is my report for the week!
namarie!
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