Valar Guild

March 17, 2019 Sunday Meeting

5:00 P.M. Eastern time (-5 GMT)
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place

Back to News
Transcript work by Varda.

Attending (and spoke): (5)
    Discord: Arien,  Ar-Pharazon, Falco, Pallando, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news
Web
Gaming:
    General reports
Tolkien:
    Topic: Did Tolkien make use of colors in the Lord of the Rings to move along the story in any way? How about a lightening or darkening?
    We now have a forum thread for members to put in their suggestions for Tolkien topics for Sunday meetings.
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)

FalcoLast Tuesday at 4:27 PM
Open The Gates and Let Us In...  Yeah!!!!
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?671787-Update-23-4-Release-Notes
    Update 23.4 Release Notes
    Here are the Release Notes for Update 23.4, released on Thursday, March 14th.
    Of Special Note:
    The Gates have opened!
VardaToday at 3:56 PM
Thanks, Falco. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:03 PM
Aiya, almost forgot about DST. That said, I do need to be afk for the next 40 minutes or so.
Will catch up.
VardaToday at 4:03 PM
Ok, thanks for letting us know. : )
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Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
We have a lot of folks in Discord right now. To you all, hello and feel free to say hi and join in.
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Web:
Most of our webwork has been towards the News site and archiving lately, and to keeping up the Games Site with help from branch managers. We also appreciate help from members in any of the branches to keep current on news.
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Gaming:
O first:
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope you are wearing something green.
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Gaming:

World of WarCraft:
This  past week's Bonus Event: Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking.
Un'goro Madness begins today and runs through Tuesday, March 19th.
ArienVToday at 4:07 PM
Aiya all :smiley:
VardaToday at 4:07 PM
Aiya Arien : )
See the recent hotfixes.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22933417/hotfixes-march-15-2019
    World of Warcraft
    Hotfixes: March 15, 2019 - WoW
​    Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to World of Warcraft:Battle For Azeroth.

Hearthstone:
Check out this week's Hearthstone Update.
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22911364/hearthstone-update-march-14
    Hearthstone Update: March 14
    In this update we draw up the plans for Rise of Shadows and give you a chance to join the crew before the heist begins.
    We’re also saying goodbye to the Year of the Mammoth card sets in style, adding some cool quality of life improvements, and fixing some bugs. Read on for ...
The next expansion, Rise of Shadows, is coming April 9th.
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22927025/join-us-for-the-rise-of-shadows
    Join us for the Rise of Shadows!
    There’s something evil afoot, and it has designs on Dalaran. Hearthstone’s newest expansion, Rise of Shadows, launches on April 9!

Lord of the Rings Online:
Update 23.4 came out this week.
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?671787-Update-23-4-Release-Notes
    Update 23.4 Release Notes
    Here are the Release Notes for Update 23.4, released on Thursday, March 14th.
    Of Special Note:
    The Gates have opened!
ArienVToday at 4:12 PM
oooh Moria on classic :smiley:
VardaToday at 4:12 PM
Aye, Moria is up and leveling now goes to 60.
It's not really "classic", but starting over cleanly using all the updated things that we didn't have in the beginning, including the Beornings, High Elves, rune-keepers, and so forth that came later.
All of the data has moved onto new data centers for all the servers, so that the game loads faster with less lag.
The quest "Fungus Takes Flight" has been temporarily closed on Legendary Servers.
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?671852-Temporary-Quest-Closure-Legendary-Worlds-ONLY
    Temporary Quest Closure - Legendary Worlds ONLY
    The quest Fungus Takes Flight has been temporarily closed on Anor and Ithil due to a bug. We will let you know when the quest reopens. This closure only impacts the Legendary servers.
Kin folk seen in LotRO this past week:
Landroval:
Arien
Bregalad
Elwing
Eonwe
Fangorn
Nar
Thranduil
Mirabella
Varda

Ithil:
Arien
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda

Anor:
Arien
Dis
Fangorn
Varda
StarCraft 2:
Eowyn
Faramir
Fangorn
Assuming Ar-Pharazon and Arien?
Sauron has been in Mass Effect.
Any other gaming news?
Any other business?
.
The question has been asked, should we post a Tolkien topic ahead of the meeting?
Would we prefer that post to be on Discord, the News, both, other?
How far ahead? Same day, a week ahead, a couple of days?
ArienVToday at 4:19 PM
May I put in another suggestion?
VardaToday at 4:19 PM
Feel free to leave input here during the week, or in Harbor.
Please do.
ArienVToday at 4:20 PM
Maybe if people want to suggest a  Tolkien topic on the forums that can be dscussed here?
VardaToday at 4:21 PM
Or post here,  aye, since many don't even know how to go on the forum.
ArienVToday at 4:21 PM
Then we get a feed back of what the members want and the burden of choosing the topic doesn't end up on your shoulders only
or on the one who chairs
then every one can get involvend
VardaToday at 4:22 PM
Also, anyone is welcome to suggest a topic at the meeting.
Meetings are intended to give everyone a chance to give input on any of our games and website, and a chance to talk with officers and each other at a pre-set time.
We can set a particular time when we go to Tolkien, so those that don't want to discuss gaming will know when to come.
It's usually about half an hour into the meeting, so that is kind of done already.
ArienVToday at 4:26 PM
Put that maybe on to the forum , so those who are not familiar with meetings know what time to peek in :smiley:
but good idea
VardaToday at 4:26 PM
The News page, easy for anyone to access, has our times and even transcripts of the meeting for those who don't use Discord.
The transcript is posted under the Sunday news.
We have archives of these back for many years.
ArienVToday at 4:27 PM
I mean the particular time for the Tolkien chat
VardaToday at 4:28 PM
Do we want to make it a hard set time? Would that benefit anyone? Currently it's happening about halfway through the hour.
One-half gaming and business, one-half Tolkien.
I've been playing it by how the group chat is going rather than a hard-set time.
If anyone wants this or doesn't want this, please let me know.
The half hour is here now. : )
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Tolkien:
Did Tolkien make use of colors in the Lord of the Rings to move along the story in any way? How about a lightening or darkening?
ArienVToday at 4:31 PM
Tolkien certainly used Dark and Light yes we see that many times
VardaToday at 4:32 PM
Can we think of an example?
ArienVToday at 4:32 PM
In the dark Morgoths creatures grow stronger , and more to fear  , fire can be  used to chase them away .. that goes for Sauron and probably for Morgoths as well
VardaToday at 4:33 PM
True. When the moon arose the first time, it frightened Morgoth's creatures. Reeks had to be made to offer them cover.
ArienVToday at 4:34 PM
in the Silmarillian Ungolianth hungered for the light  to devour it .. once she did the dakness grew and she became more powerful
and physically bigger
VardaToday at 4:34 PM
Morgoth originally wanted the light for himself, as he wanted all things.
ArienVToday at 4:36 PM
aye . but as he needed her he allowed her a bit .. that she wanted all  was not intended , but she was an ally and he maybe did not want to antagonzie her or did not dare it because of her growing power
VardaToday at 4:40 PM
In that incident, Morgoth had not really expected her to want everything.
Colors acted as identifiers. Banners of black for Sauron, or white for Aragorn, with devices.
Black (and a few red) for hair for Noldor.
The Sindar whose hair is mentioned have blond or silver.
Grey eyes went with black hair for the Noldor and human Numenoreans.
A quick way of knowing a Numenorean such as Faramir or Boromir or Aragorn was that color-coding.
The Istari/Wizards were color-coded.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:47 PM
Aiya
VardaToday at 4:47 PM
Saruman left his color code, fragmenting from white into rainbow colors showing his change of allegiance to himself and warning that he thought Sauron could not be beaten.
Aiya Phar : )
Sail colors had meaning. Not changing a sail color has even meant disaster.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:48 PM
As for exact timing, doesn't seem wise... some weeks we'll have less news and be done faster, some weeks we'll have more news and it doesn't feel right to cut that short, though we can interfere it with the Tolkien topic if we want.
VardaToday at 4:48 PM
Ok
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:49 PM
But I guess half an hour in is a good focus point for people to come online, even if they join the topic a bit late, they can still catch up.
VardaToday at 4:50 PM
Right now it comes at about the half hour naturally. Doesn't have to be a tight time unless people need that.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:50 PM
Color.. well, the dwarves had differently colored hats, helped keep them apart
VardaToday at 4:51 PM
Good point.
A golden tassel on the hood seemed to be a mark of honor, or maybe it was just vanity.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:52 PM
Tough to tell, sometimes
VardaToday at 4:55 PM
May have gone hand in hand.
While the light of the sun and moon frightened Morgoth and Sauron's folk,
The light of the stars had to be made to help the elves about to awaken, and that light showed from their eyes aferwards.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:58 PM
I do believe there was a specific star that gave hope in Mordor
VardaToday at 4:58 PM
True : )
Also,
The black of night frightened people until Arwen became queen and removed that fear of night.
Gimli and Eomer talked about the preferred Lady. Gimli said Galadriel, and Eomer said he would have agreed until he saw Arwen.
Gimli realized that it showed the passing of the ages, of time.
It's the hour. If we would like to continue, we can go ahead in the after-meeting. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:00 PM
In other words, Galadriel was getting old?
VardaToday at 5:01 PM
hah! Better duck if you tell her that
a white and a black gavel bounce out towards the hammerpad
the hammerpad pinches in two, making one white and one black
thomp thomp
no difference in the sound, except together they were stronger in volume
the gavels bounce back to the shelf
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After-meeting!
Free chat.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:18 PM
Oh, correction, did not play SCII this week, as the war chest is done  Also didn't play Diablo 3 but that's because I've been really busy this week for reasons I can't put my finger on..
VardaToday at 5:18 PM
http://valarguild.proboards.com/thread/1631/suggestions-tolkien-chat-topics
    Suggestions for Tolkien chat topics | Valar Guild
Please post your suggestions here for what you would like as Tolkien chat topics at our meetings.
VardaToday at 5:39 PM
Thank you for those suggestions. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:41 PM
Hmm, sounds like excuses to open up appendix a
Not that I mind, I've got a certain affinity with the corsairs etc...
VardaToday at 5:41 PM
hehehe
Pallando-ValarToday at 6:31 PM
Aiya!
..little late, but hey
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:31 PM
Aiya!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:15 PM
By the way, Varda, speaking of forum... you did guess my riddle, I remember that, but you  never posted it.  [Thanks! Now posted March 17, 2019.]
(I guess you'll read this next week)
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:37 PM
Personal gaming report!

We start with 3 flashgames.
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/forward is the first! Roguelike cardgame, pretty much. You play a character, with extra classes to unlock, and make your way through a dungeon of sorts, but each step is a choice between cards.  
Make your way through, fight enemies, collect gold and items, see how far you get. Use the final points to save towards the other classes, and try again!
    Forward - OneMoreLevel.com

ArienVToday at 7:43 PM
Namarie all
AND  aiya Pallando
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:43 PM
namarie!
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/love_is_blind is the second game! A short-ish platformer about a blind girl looking for the lover her father imprisoned.
    Love is Blind - OneMoreLevel.com
The gimmick is the blindness indeed; you can't see anything beyond the direct area of what you've explored.
https://www.kongregate.com/games/scriptwelder/dont-escape-3 is the third game, a point and click. Trapped in a space ship, you can escape, or try to find out what happened to cause the murders of the crew... multiple endings possible
    Kongregate
    Don't Escape 3
    I woke up with a terrible headache, like if someone hit my head really hard. I had no idea what I didn#39t like more: the fact that I woke up in the ship#39s airlo...
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Blizzard gaming!
As mentioned earlier, had no time for Diablo 3... rather sad, but for the next few objectives, if I don't have time for a full bounty act in one session, I'm better off playing something else during that time
Heroes of the Storm:
336! Level 10 on Morales, so came with an extra chest. Also got a new legendary announcer from a loot box, Vanndar the dwarf from the Alterac map.
Brawl this week is another single-lane (getting boring!) where at least I got to use familiar heroes, not that it seemed to help much
Hearthstone:
Still moving along. Hunter is way ahead now, halfway to the next level, probably because I had a bit of trouble with the brawl this week, where cards in your hand get cheaper every turn. Found a cheap hunter mech deck for it, but it took some practice
WoW:
Raiding going well! Got the entire normal raid down, all 9 bosses, in a single evening, just under 3 hours. And we're making heroic progress too, with the third and fourth bosses killed. Got a few new pieces myself, including a level 400 chestpiece.
For old raiding we had our last try at Dragon Soul for a while... starting tomorrow we are going for the new Raiding with Leashes achievement, travelling across Pandaria for raids and their pets  Going to be fun!
8.1.5 is here, but... haven't done much about it. I did try out the new Calligraphy world quests from the Tortollan faction, there's one available every day, faction-limited as far as I can see; one in Zandalar for horde, one in Kul Tiras for alliance. Tracing shapes on the ground in certain friendly towns, not far from flightpoints, so they're easy to get to... but there's an achievement to "master" each one, and the circle especially is going to take a lot of luck and practice
Did more expeditions, getting my 50th mythic victory. Now all that's left is the pets, the queststarters, and the pvp expedition achievements with which I won't bother for a long time if ever. Got no new pets out of em myself, though I did get pets from other sources!
Been doing more world quests for pet charms, which I used to buy a carnivorous lasher (meat-eating plant) in Stormsong, and a Zandalari Shinchomper, a devilsaur pet with the same model as the 4 Zandalari pets from the Oondasta area in Pandaria, but with a different color scheme. So it's a bit nostalgic  They're all good pets, too, with powerful attack combinations.
The Shinchomper was from Dodger, btw, the unlockable pet vendor who sells pets usually available to the other faction only.
Also been doing more world quests in Arathi and Darkshore, killing rares along the way; got a Darkshore Sentinel  (spectral blue owl) pet from Darkshore (obviously) and a Teeny Titan Orb pet from Arathi. So the collection grows!
And finally, another book arrived, Day of the Dragon
And that's my report for the week!

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 9:47 PM
namarie
VardaToday at 9:47 PM
Namarie
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