Valar Guild

May 26, 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): (3)
    Discord: Arien (presiding), Ar-Pharazon, Gorlim
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news
Web
Gaming:
    General reports. see also under Tolkien.
Tolkien:
    Topic: Númenórean colonies
    Classic WoW: who all is going to join in? Gorlim and son are asking. They are going to try it in August, along with a batch of others (20+) as Horde in the Americas. Arien and Ar-Pharazon will be doing Horde in Europe.
After-meeting:
    Flashgaming Reviews.
top

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)

ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:06 PM
Aiya all if anyone is here :)?
Ah well  .. i ll give it until half past if there is nobody owning up in here by then it will be a fast meeting indeed :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:20 PM
Aiya!
Got my pc fixed and seriously upgraded since last time, so I'm back.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:27 PM
Aiyata :smile:
and congratulations on that :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:28 PM
Hantalye :smile:
Take your time, I'm just reading up on some wowhead. With everything that's going on I'm over a week behind :wink:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:32 PM
oh right then i guess we should start .. , i am a bit distracted watching the eu ele ction results coming in especially from the UK and rp still on as well but theiy know i am here
all right :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:32 PM
Though I can give some computer upgrade details if you want for member news.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:34 PM
lets do the official opening first then :smiley:
top

Elen sila lumenn omentielvo!!
A star shines upon the hour of our meeting!

First: Memberhip news:
We are here :smiley: That is Ar Pharazon and myself .
Eonwe is at work and Varda is travelling with her husband, Fangorn.
Also it was Fangorns birthday yesterday and he got a lovely chocolate fudge cake from Varda |)
:smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:36 PM
Congratulations!
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:36 PM
Happy birthday again from me , Fangorn, I am sure you enjoyed the cake :smiley:
I met Varda ingame in Lotro yesterday, so she told me :wink:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:37 PM
Handy.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:37 PM
But yes Phari .. the Floor is yours :smiley:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:40 PM
Right! Well. The friday before last meeting, my pc shut down by itself and then continuously tried to reboot itself and failing within 2-3 seconds. I tried removing the pieces I could remove - harddrive, ram, graphics card - and none of those seemed to be the problem, so I shipped it to the shop on saturday, where they would, over the weekend, find out the motherboard was busted.
And while I could keep the power supply and the (still new) graphics card, new motherboard did come with new processor and new ram. And while we were upgrading the ram from 8 to 16 and the processor from 4 to 6 cores, I also figured... let's add an SSD drive, since stuff on my pc had been slowing down, especially WoW. And while they managed to clone the C partition to the SSD, I still needed to upgrade from windows 8.1 to windows 10 because the new motherboard wouldn't support 8.1. So it was either that, or use 8.1 without any updates ever.
So with that all done, I shipped WoW over to the new drive as well, so that got me even more benefit :smiley:
Before the upgrades, WoW alone would come with long loading screens, and keeping both my browsers, or a browser and hearthstone, open along the side really disrupted the performance on everything. But now I can basically have everything open at once with minimal difficulty.
So yay, basically new computer with minimal disruptions :wink:
I got to pick it up from the shop late tuesday, and since then I've been catching up on stuff and enjoying all the new capabilities.
(oh, and I'm going on vacation on the 3rd of June but should still be able to join the meeting on the 2nd)
And that's my member news.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:52 PM
congratulations Phari , that is brilliant
Happy gaming with happy computer
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:52 PM
Yes!
top

Web:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:53 PM
And many thanks to Eonwe who has done gaming news for us, faithful as ever
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:53 PM
Yay!
top

Gaming:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:53 PM
Blizzard gaming:)

World of Warcraft:
Gnome and goblin Heritage armour is anounced with the next patch
you can find the link here
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22994612/rise-up-and-stand-tall-with-new-tauren-and-gnome-heritage-armor
    World of Warcraft
    Rise Up and Stand Tall with New Tauren and Gnome Heritage Armor - WoW
    Rise up and stand tall with two new Heritage Armor sets—one for gnomes and one for tauren—coming in the Rise of Azshara content update.
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:55 PM
(tauren and gnome, not gnome and goblin)
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:55 PM
oops sorry Tauren and gnome
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 4:55 PM
But as a bonus, they did find out from interviews that worgen and goblin will be the next ones to get heritage armor in one of the patches after
ArienValarLast Sunday at 4:56 PM
ooooh nice
and of course there are new hotfixes
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/22933417/hotfixes-may-24-2019
    World of Warcraft
    Hotfixes: May 24, 2019 - WoW
​    Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth.

Starcraft II:
There is a new patch out
https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/22989880
    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.
They have new co- op commander as well
https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/22989881
    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.
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:00 PM
Stetmann. I always liked him in the campaign.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:00 PM
Stetmann

Diablo 3:
a new blog is out
https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/22989464/legendary-an-ancient-primal-guide-5-24-2019
    Diablo III
    Legendary: An Ancient & Primal Guide
    For those of you who may have taken a break from gathering loot recently, we thought a quick refresher was in order on Legendary, Ancient, and Primal Ancient items.

Heroes of the Storm :
A new balance patch is out
https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/22990045/heroes-of-the-storm-balance-patch-notes-may-22-2019-2019-5-22/
    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:
has done the same with their game .. very original
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22990356/upcoming-card-balance-update-may-22-2019
    Upcoming Card Balance Update – May 22, 2019
    We’re applying balance updates to a few cards in an update planned for May 22. Read inside for details.
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:05 PM
heh
Hearthstone is also planning to buff some cards though, rather than just nerf, which is new :wink:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:06 PM
Good :smile: that is something
Overwatch:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:06 PM
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/22990355/ for those who want to know more :wink:
    Behold the Rise of the Mech!
    Blastmaster Boom has gone back to the drawing board! Find out what’s in store for Hearthstone with the Rise of the Mech event, which starts June 3.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:07 PM
oh very nice
uhm

Overwatch
they are intoducing and in game feature where they can watch their games :smiley: very much like the reflection pools in lotro where you can watch your percformance in an instance :smiley:
https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/23000187/introducing-overwatch-replays-see-your-past-games-from-new-perspectives
    Overwatch
    Overwatch is Blizzard’s team shooter for PC and consoles.
    Choose a hero from a diverse roster of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities, each with their own unique set of abilities.
    Bend time, defy physics, and unleash an array of extraordinary powers in concert wi...

of course i have forgotten under wow news
This weeks bonus event are pet battles :smiley:
something for your, Phari
and

Lord of the Rings online of course : i am going to get the gamer lists there from this week
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:15 PM
Yep, nice and quick while also allowing me to work on a couple of achievements; I found a nice 3-magic pet team to get my wins with.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:17 PM
Very good :smiley:
we have active players on Ithil this week:
Ithil:
ArienValar  ( no idea who that is :smiley: )
Dis
Fangorn
Falco
Varda
Anor:
Arien
Varda
Fangorn

Landroval:
Arien
Dis
Eonwe
Fangorn
Nar
Mirabella
Varda
That is the active player list :O)
On that note i have put some screenshots from the festivals and also from some ruins in, can you guess the region, Phari, and the origin of the ruins :)?
they were taken on Anor if i remember right
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:36 PM
in the screenshots channel?
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:37 PM
aye

[Note:
Ruins up close,
A little distance "room with a view"]

Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:38 PM
I'd guess either Ithilien or in Arnor north of the Shire (Annuminas or somewhere around there) but other than that I can't say.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:39 PM
if you open the original it is a bit clearer but a shot in the gold with your second option :smiley: it is actually in the Northern Barrow downs
hence the city is of Anorian origin, or to be more exact , the former probably capital in that region  of the kingdom of Cardolan
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:41 PM
Ahh, the stone circles, of course... should've guessed. I was thinking more to the northwest than that, but it's close-ish :wink:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:41 PM
it is indeed :smile:
but anyway i was very impressed when i wandered around there
so much detail and.. imagine if it still manages that in ruined state, imagine the splendour in its heigh day
But yes .. compliment to the graphic designers there :smiley: AND  much love for detail
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:43 PM
Hah, yes.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:44 PM
so that brings the gaming news to an end :smiley:
top

Tolkien:
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:44 PM
And a bit of Tolkien there as well, unless you've got something more :wink:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:44 PM
and Tolkien . we could elaborate on that if you want to , otherwise we can call it after meeting :smiley:
Extend a bit on Numeonors heritage in Middlearth
what would you like?
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:46 PM
Well, I remember in a space-exploration browser-game, I colonized a solar system and named all the planets after Numenorean colonies in Middle-earth, so I've got a few of those in my head :wink:
The list contains Vinyalonde, Elostirion, Annuminas, Fornost, Angrenost, Dol Amroth, Pelargir and Umbar.
What can you tell me about those? :wink:
so many winky faces
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:51 PM
Vinyalonde ... Hmm , that was the harbour maybe where they first landed in Middlearth?
that would be the capitals of all the Numenorian kingdoms, is it?
Angrenost is Isengard thojugh
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:52 PM
Vinyalonde is indeed one of the first settlements, founded by one of the earliest kings, Aldarion (I've named my WoW warrior after him).
Not all are capitals, no, but most of them are. And indeed, Angrenost is Isengard.
well, most... some :wink:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 5:54 PM
Fornost , is in the Northdowns
so that would be a capital
Dol Amroth  is the  realm ruled by Lord Imrahil of Gondor ^^ , bordering on Ithilien
Pelargir is the harbor of Minas Tirith
Umbar is the eastern border of the numenorian kingdoms
many pirates lived there and the original people worshipped Sauron in the dark years
The Numenorians who settled there  mixed with those locals and became known as Black Numenorians]
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 5:59 PM
As I recall, while the Elf-friends founded Dol Amroth and anything north from there, Umbar was actually the most northern of a series of colonies founded by the Kings' Men, leading further to the south. But of those, only Umbar was named and featured in the later stories.
Interesting thought that even by the time of the Third Age or beyond, there might be a variety of coastal kingdoms ruled by "Black Numenoreans" stretching far to the south of Gondor, along what would probably the African coast if put in parallel with modern geography.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:03 PM
Aye
Rhun and Khand?
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:04 PM
I think those were further to the east, rather than south.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:05 PM
ah right
right time is over , even with the late start :smiley:
but lets not forget what happened to those kingdoms
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:10 PM
Well, if you want to finish the list, Annuminas was a predecessor of Fornost as capital of :Arnor, and Elostirion is the tower looking to the west with the connecting palantiri :smiley:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:10 PM
the nine kings or high nobles of those kingdoms were each offered a great Ring by Sauron
and they became the Ringwraiths
The Nine, the Nazgul
The descendants of Elendil and Anarion however ~
impressive Phari :smiley:
the kingdom of Gondor fell into decline but managed to maintain something of the splendour of Numeor as could be seen in Osgiliath and Minas Tirith
eventually the lines of kings fell and was extinguished , instead the stewards of gondor took their place but not quite their rank
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:13 PM
But at least one of them was still quite reluctant to give up his seat to an incoming king :smiley:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:15 PM
Even Denethor, until the end would not take the title of king, alhough, in his final madess he chose the death of one of the ancient kings that worshipped Sauron and decided to burn himself and his heir . Faramir who as we know was saved b
by Gandalf and Pippin
Boromir acknowledged Aragorn as leader, and as king before he died
in the North of Middle earth the Northern Kingdoms all fell but the line of the kings survived with a few loyal followers who we know as Dunedain and their Leader Aragorn who became  King Elessar  of both Gondor and Anor :smiley:
or as Rangers of the North :smiley:
or Grey Company#
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:19 PM
Nice contrast. In the south, the kings fall but the kingdom lives; in the north it's the other way around. And suddenly you have two opposite pieces of the puzzle: one kingdom, one king, and they fit together well to recreate the past glory of both kingdoms.

GorlimLast Sunday at 6:22 PM
Hi guys, is Varda on?
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:22 PM
Aiya Gorlim no she isnto
she is away until tomorrow

did something happen?
GorlimLast Sunday at 6:24 PM
Not really. My son is way stoked about classic wow and we are going to start that in August
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:24 PM
Great to hear :smiley:
GorlimLast Sunday at 6:24 PM
He was asking me if you guys were doing it too
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:25 PM
I've got plans for an undead frost mage myself, because I never got to see the horde side of the pre-Cata classic story.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:25 PM
I will be yes
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:25 PM
But that'll be in Europe.
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:25 PM
yeah i am as well i fear
GorlimLast Sunday at 6:27 PM
Ok. I’m not sure how they are doing servers. My son has like 20 + friends in Houston that are doing Horde so he was going to ask Varda and gang too
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:28 PM
Sounds good, but you'll probably have to wait for later in the week, or next week's meeting, to find Varda.
I don't know if she's interested, but I'm sure some in her family will be :wink:
GorlimLast Sunday at 6:29 PM
Ok thanks. That’s kinda what I thought as one of them lives about 5 min from us
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:29 PM
thats cool :smiley:
Varda might be online tomorrow night , and it is actually Eonwe who leads the wow branch so you should talk to him in fact
GorlimLast Sunday at 6:30 PM
Yep and my wife is making homemade Gondorian oatmeal raison cookies
ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:31 PM
oh oooo
sounds very tempting :smiley:
GorlimLast Sunday at 6:32 PM
Eat them at elevenese with tea and Sauron runs in fear
:grin:
Ok back to solving other people’s problems.  See ya later

ArienValarLast Sunday at 6:34 PM
*looks at a railing with  a long line of silvern gavels .. suddely they jump off the hook, form Earendils star , fly like rockets to the moon and crash down with a loud bang
top

Aftermeeeting!
the pieces of gavels miraculasly revorm and pogo back to the rail

Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 6:57 PM
Right, personal gaming report. Technically this'll be for 2 weeks now, but I'm not sure I did a lot for the first week...

That said, at least I've got enough flashgames :wink:
https://www.kongregate.com/games/YMM315/moneyseize is the first! A platformer where your goal is to collect all the coins. The more coins you have, the higher your tower will grow, allowing you to visit more levels. You don't need to collect all the coins in one go for each level, but many of them have special conditions, for example timers, in order to unlock a few specific coins.
    Kongregate
    MoneySeize
    Disclaimer: This game is very difficult.
    Sir Reginald MoneySeize II, Esq. must collect coins to fund construction of the tallest tower in the world!
    Jump t...
Go collect em all!

Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 7:10 PM
http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/this_is_your_life_now is the second game, a life simulator where you walk through levels, interact with elements introduced into your life, and see what kind of life you lead because of those choices. Many combinations possible!
    This Is Your Life Now - OneMoreLevel.com
Emulate your own life, construct what you would like your life to be, or just do silly random stuff :wink:

ArienValarLast Sunday at 7:11 PM
right Phari .. i ve got to give up :?
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 7:11 PM
Hm?
ArienValarLast Sunday at 7:12 PM
else i am getting mourthbarrier with the next yawn ^^
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 7:12 PM
Time for bed, eh?
hehe
ArienValarLast Sunday at 7:12 PM
yeah high time for bed
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 7:12 PM
I'll finish the report anyway, I'm sure Varda will check it out.
Namarie :smiley:
ArienValarLast Sunday at 7:12 PM
yup so will I :smiley: Namarie for now

Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 7:18 PM
For the third one, let's go with http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/h2o_sandbox which is a strange platformer where you get a ball across the finish line using water, and  various states of water. Can't quite get the hang of it myself past the first few levels, but it's quite nice!
    H2O Sandbox - OneMoreLevel.com
top

Blizzard gaming:
Heroes of the Storm:
Actually didn't get to complete the brawls for the first week, since it was during my first brawl that the pc shut down. For this week it went fine though, with a bit of practice on Falstad as well as heroes I was more familiar with.
Got two levels, up to 345; one from D.Va and one from Genji. Got a legendary from one of the chests, but alas, it was a duplicate. Still, many shards.
Hearthstone:
6 classes to level 58 now, 3 to go. A few more basic golden cards as a result. If I finish these last 3 this week, it'll mean all the remaining golden card rewards will be visible on mouse-over, since they are the same for 59 and 60.
Some interesting brawls; first one was a clone-brawl, with 4 copies of random legendaries and spells to decrease their mana cost. Some wacky combos possible!
Second one was with self-built decks, where each turn you would draw a card costing that turn's amount of mana, if possible, leading to some guaranteed draws and interesting combinations if you construct it right. I had some fun with many high-level cards and an alarm-bot.
I haven't actually tried the Dalaran-heist solo adventure yet, but I have bought up to the first 3 chapters, because I'd been saving my gold. I'm sure I'll get around to them, maybe when we get quests. The unlock system for new starting decks and hero powers looks interesting, at least.
WoW:
Good results with the raiding! We defeated Jaina on heroic difficulty for the first time, clearing the Dazar'alor raid on heroic, and then proceeded to try Crucible of Storms on heroic. My computer was back just on time for me to join the Tuesday raid and be there for our first heroic kill of the Restless Cabal, as well :wink:
For the weekly events, first one was doing 4 mythic dungeons, of which I'd already done 3 before the troubles began, but did have to cram in a fourth on the last day. For pets it's quite a bit more relaxed, just a few matches from my garrison to work on multiple achievements at once :smiley: For my magic pet team this time around I focused on a flash/light combination whereby the enemy pet would be blinded and then take double damage.
Still doing world quests, grabbing pet charms, now over halfway to the pet portal, which is the last thing I can buy before I need to unlock a few things I really should've unlocked months ago. So I can soon take a break from that. A similar thing is happening for the service medals as the main items I still need are a few cheap heirlooms.
But I did get two new things! One pet from expeditions, a Leatherwing Screecher, which is probably obvious to guess as a bat :wink: And a new mount as well: Visiting the Underrot on mythic difficulty every week paid off, as the crawg mount is now mine. One of my favorite mounts start the start/datamining of BfA, I'm glad to have it. Though I must say 8.2 will also bring a few interesting ones for me to start collecting!
And that's my report for the week!
Ar-Pharazon-VLast Sunday at 8:50 PM
namarie
top