October 20, 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.
[times are Central Time from Varda's Discord. Add one hour for
Eastern.]
Attending (and
spoke): (4)
Discord:
Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Eonwe, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news
Web:
Tolkien Site / Stories: "The Vault of Annúminas"
by Shirebound, posted on our site today
Gaming:
General reports by Eonwe, Varda, Ar-Pharazon:
World of
WarCraft, World of WarCraft Classic, Diablo 3, Heroes of
the Storm, Lord of the Rings Online, WarCraft 3
Tolkien:
Topic: Troll origin
After-meeting:
Gaming together before and after the flashgaming
report.
Flashgaming Reviews by
Ar-Pharazon.
top
Before-meeting
VardaYesterday at 3:52 PM
Aiya. We have 8 minutes by my clock. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:52 PM
Aiya!
VardaYesterday at 3:53 PM
Phar! : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 3:53 PM
It is I!
VardaYesterday at 3:53 PM
Yay!
VardaYesterday at 4:02 PM
Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
Feel free to say hi anytime during the meeting, let us know you're
there!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:02 PM
Hi!
VardaYesterday at 4:02 PM
Hi!
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:03 PM
Heya all.
VardaYesterday at 4:03 PM
Aiya Eonwe : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:03 PM
Aiya!
VardaYesterday at 4:04 PM
Think I'm not messaging correctly. oops
So hi to all the lurkers on the side, some gaming. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:04 PM
Just got to level 4 on my undead mage in Classic. According to my
list he's still only on his fifth quest. At this rate he should only
need about 60 quests!
VardaYesterday at 4:05 PM
Yay mage : )
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:05 PM
lol
If only it were that easy :}
VardaYesterday at 4:05 PM
Then we'd be bored?
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:06 PM
The rest of the quests would still be there, you just wouldn't need
them to get to 60 :}
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:06 PM
Very true, can just do them at 60 :slight_smile:
Not boring at all to kill a few level 20 murlocs at level 60.
VardaYesterday at 4:07 PM
Good luck to Arien vs overgrown ants!
On to
top
Web News:
After the last meeting, a story went up by Shirebound (may have
reported):
"When the King Comes Back"
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Shirebound/WhenTheKingComesBack01.htm
When the King Comes Back ch. 1 "Welcome Guests"
fanfiction pre-LotR, AU. Frodo and
Aragorn are injured in an explosion, leaving
Bilbo, Halbarad, and
the Gamgees with some unexpected challenges and
decisions. Minor
angst, fluff, puppies... the usual! Approximate
ages: Bilbo is
104, Frodo is 26, Sam i...
Another was put up today:
"The Vault of Annúminas" by Shirebound
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Shirebound/Vault01.htm
The Vault of Annúminas ch. 1 "An Elven Encounter"
fanfiction pre-LotR, AU. Was it
only a dream, or has Frodo glimpsed an ancient
secret? Frodo,
Aragorn, and Elladan go on a journey to the ruins
of Annúminas, to
uncover the truth. 16 chapters.
Good sense of wonder in this one. Enjoy!
16 chapters.
Any other web news? Cool Tolkien links you want to share can go here
too.
top
Gaming:
Eonwe, will you be able to give the general gaming report?
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:12 PM
Yes.
VardaYesterday at 4:12 PM
Yay!
ArienValarYesterday at 4:13 PM
Aiya all :slight_smile:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:13 PM
Aiya!
Found your safe spot? :slight_smile:
VardaYesterday at 4:13 PM
Aiya Arien : )
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:13 PM
World of Warcraft:
ArienValarYesterday at 4:13 PM
i made it back to the road :slight_smile:
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:13 PM
This week's bonus event: Pet Battles.
The PvP Brawl: Deepwind Dunk runs this week through the 22nd.
Next week's bonus event: Burning Crusade Timewalking.
Hallow's End began Friday and runs through Friday, November 1st.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:15 PM
Back to the timewarped badge collecting. What for? Who knows? Maybe
next expansion's TW will be more expensive...
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:15 PM
In WoW Classic news, Dire Maul is now
available.
Diablo 3:
Patch 2.6.7 is on the PTR. ---
https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/23179288/patch-267-ptr-begins-1017-10-14-2019
Diablo III
Patch 2.6.7 PTR Begins 10/17
The one-week PTR testing period for 2.6.7 begins
October 17 and we need your help to make Season 19 better than ever!
Heroes of the Storm:
A new balance patch came out this week with a new piece of flair to
spend your gold on: Mastery Rings. --- https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/23181746/heroes-of-the-storm-balance-patch-notes-october-15-2019-2019-10-15/
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!
https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/23185580/new-feature-mastery-rings-2019-10-16/
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!
That does it for my report.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:17 PM
(for the curious, those are the hero selection circles in-game)
(but with flair)
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:20 PM
(Insert Office Space joke here)
VardaYesterday at 4:20 PM
^^
Thank you, Eonwe
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:21 PM
MP :}
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:21 PM
Don't think I get that reference :wink:
VardaYesterday at 4:21 PM
For LotRO, the Harvestmath Festival is
still running. Haunted House, spooky stories. And as for any
festival, the chance for Anfalas crystals.
Landroval:
Arien
Bregalad
Eonwe
Fangorn
Mirabella
Nar
Thranduil
Varda
Ithil:
Arien
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda
Anor:
Fangorn
Varda
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:22 PM
Short version: movie about people disgruntled with their jobs. One
person works at a restaraunt that requires there to wear "at least 5
pieces of 'flair'" but keeps getting hounded by her boss about
wearing only the exact amount required.
*restaurant
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:23 PM
Aha :slight_smile:
VardaYesterday at 4:25 PM
Any other gaming news? Eve Online? Whispers of Time? Cold Steel 3?
Other?
Our people play lots of games. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:26 PM
Warcraft 3:
Reforged has been receiving some development updates, with lots of
screens and models being datamined. Looks pretty good! Also
hyper-realistic.
VardaYesterday at 4:27 PM
Realism as in artwork? Movements? Textures?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:28 PM
The artstyle and details.
Compared to the old style (and WoW style).
VardaYesterday at 4:28 PM
Can we still poke characters and get comments? : )
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:28 PM
https://www.wowhead.com/news=295740
for examples :slight_smile:
Wowhead
Warcraft III: Reforged Human Models - Arthas with
Frostmourne, Uth...
We're having tons of fun covering Warcraft III:
Reforged, and as you may have noticed, we've been improving the
quality of our models in the past few days.
We now have high-definition models of Human
characters for you, including Arthas with Frostmourne, Uther, Jaina,
and Medivh.
Probably!
VardaYesterday at 4:28 PM
ahhh, thanks
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:29 PM
Lots of links at the bottom of the post for more models and
animations.
VardaYesterday at 4:29 PM
Big ol' pauldrons there.
Cool models
Any other news, comments, suggestions, invite requests, jokes, or
howdys? : )
Don't want anyone left out.
Cinematic on the right upper corner of that page Phar showed us.
Just have to wade through some ads.
Onwards to
top
Tolkien!
Trolls didn't get a lot of attention from JRRT, so we may have to do
some fill-in for ourselves.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:34 PM
Well, that's not relevant to the post. As far as I know, Wowhead
just randomly plays BfA cutscenes there for people to check out.
VardaYesterday at 4:34 PM
It caught my attention, heh.
A website gave a little info on a possible place that the troll idea
came from outside the obvious of mythology and folklore in which
JRRT was expert, in history:
Historically speaking, Rome invaded the island in 55BC, ruling until
380ishAD. Then, in 449AD, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invaded.
They were led by Germanic brothers Hengest and Horsa. In Tolkien’s
early mythology, Hengest and Horsa’s father was Eriol the Mariner.
The Battle of Ros was their invasion, and the Trolls (along with the
Orcs, Gongs, etc.) came right after.
Source:
https://sweatingtomordor.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/the-ancient-origins-of-tolkiens-trolls/
It's a Dangerous Business, Frodo
The Ancient Origins of Tolkien’s Trolls
As our heroes make their way to the East Road
after stumbling upon the Stone-trolls, let’s take a look at the
first time Tolkien used trolls in his stories. Thoughts on the
Passage – Book I, …
JRRT does tell us of a number of different types of trolls.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:37 PM
Isn't that taken from the Lost Tales? It does sound
familiar.
I mean, I didn't remember about the trolls, but about that invasion
and the origin of Eriol, yes.
VardaYesterday at 4:37 PM
Probably
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:38 PM
checks link yep, it mentions the BoLT :slight_smile:
Even Frozen has trolls, camouflaged as rocks at will, though
they're quite a bit smaller :wink:
VardaYesterday at 4:40 PM
We know trolls show up in folklore and mythology, and he was
well-versed in those.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:41 PM
But in my experience, the smaller trolls are often interchangeable
with goblins and kobolds.
VardaYesterday at 4:41 PM
Very early trolls may have been fae, suppposed to have been
beautiful, according to another source.
That sure got dropped.
Trolls under bridges, waylaying travelers. Bert, Tom, and William
were of that type. Closer to human, talked a good bit, working for
themselves?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:43 PM
Just don't offer them billy goats.
VardaYesterday at 4:43 PM
So trolls could have been developed using human stock, crossed with
unknown something that may have caused the vulnerability to light.
They become gruff?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:44 PM
:slight_smile:
VardaYesterday at 4:44 PM
Maybe even magical tinkering with their genes. Evil things tend to
have sensitivity to light.
So they had to be worked on further, and we don't hear much anymore
about their talking or being on their own.
They were in mockery of the ents, so they needed to be tall, strong,
but ugly.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:46 PM
Were ents all that handsome, though?
VardaYesterday at 4:46 PM
They had to lose the turning to stone in light, so they could
travel.
Ents had a treeish look. Could be mistaken for them.
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:47 PM
After the fashion of trees, sure. No ugly trees out there :}
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:47 PM
And perhaps to other trolls, trolls looked quite beautiful :wink:
VardaYesterday at 4:47 PM
Ok, so it may not have been a big stretch to imagine trolls from
them.
They had to be strong to do heavy work like helping haul siege
equipment and fight. Tanks?
Orcs could be considered infantry, trolls as tanks, nazgul as air
cover?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:48 PM
That works.
Certainly how it worked in Battle for Middle-earth.
And wargriders for cavalry :slight_smile:
VardaYesterday at 4:49 PM
Good one there. And oliphaunts.
The trolls were bred to handle multiple terrains.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:50 PM
They were so big, sometimes at the same time!
VardaYesterday at 4:50 PM
We know stone giants existed, apparently unconcerned with all the
other things going on. Perhaps some of them were mixed into early
trolls?
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:50 PM
That did cross my mind.
VardaYesterday at 4:51 PM
We also know there were "nameless" horrors in the deeps. No telling
what they were mixed with, or even if it could be done.
Leftovers from Melkor's time.
But the trolls were humanoid enough that one might expect that to be
a base stock.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:52 PM
Tentacled creatures that came from crossbreeding with noodles.
VardaYesterday at 4:52 PM
You ate some bad noodles?
Cthuloid noodles.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:52 PM
Well, stony nature... is it possible they were bred from dwarves?
VardaYesterday at 4:52 PM
Interesting thought.
Dwarves were very hard to corrupt, other than pushing their love of
gold. Not sure it was possible.
Humans are very adaptable, not that hard to corrupt in too many
cases.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:54 PM
Well, trolls weren't very bright, perhaps some brain damage was
involved...
VardaYesterday at 4:54 PM
hah
So that's a suggestion that they were crossed with something of low
intelligence.
Very large.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:55 PM
Those stone giants come to mind, but where did they come from?
VardaYesterday at 4:55 PM
Morgoth and Sauron did a lot with their monster-making. Part
involved what they fed the things. That's mentioned with fell beasts
for instance.
Stone giant origin, goooood question.
Hmm, ent means "giant" in Old English.
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:56 PM
Entish origins?
How to breed a dwarf with a tree...
VardaYesterday at 4:56 PM
The word was used in Beowulf, which JRRT taught for years.
ArienValarYesterday at 4:57 PM
i remember Treebeard mentioned something like trolls are a mockery
of ents just like the orcs are a mockery of the elves
VardaYesterday at 4:57 PM
Right, Arien
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 4:57 PM
Yes, but does that imply they were used in the breeding?
...Probably.
VardaYesterday at 4:59 PM
Giants and Jotun of Norse mythology, likely source. But where do
they come from in Middle-earth myth?
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 4:59 PM
Since Melkor/Morgoth could not create sentient life of his own
accord, something with sentient life would have to have been used.
VardaYesterday at 4:59 PM
Aye, Eonwe
We know that Sauron, working for Morgoth and for himself, took
living beings and corrupted them with torture, weird sustenance, and
crossing with other creatures.
Doesn't actually say that he used sorcery, evil gul magic.
Might make it possible to do the impossible crossings though.
Anyway, we've reached the hour.
If you have any other thoughts or references, please feel free to go
ahead with them in the After-meeting.
double-headed hammer bounces to the hammerpad
the hammerpad makes a second of itself hurriedly
thump thump
the hammer and hammerpad put the mirrors to one side and
chuckle at us
top
After-meeting!
Arien requests aid on the Landroval server vs a baddie. I'll jump
over there to help. Anyone else who would like to come bash on a
monster level 102 is welcome to join!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:04 PM
Good luck :slight_smile:
VardaYesterday at 5:04 PM
Thanks : )
ArienValarYesterday at 5:04 PM
thanks :slight_smile:
just logging in
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:08 PM
Well, I'll do some Storm matches then. Plenty of time for gaming
report after :slight_smile:
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 5:18 PM
That's it for me. Take care all, good night, sleep well, and have
fun.
VardaYesterday at 5:18 PM
Namarie!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 5:18 PM
Namarie!
VardaYesterday at 5:18 PM
We took down Chuckles. : )
Eonwe ValarYesterday at 5:18 PM
Congrats :}
VardaYesterday at 5:18 PM
Hantal and have a great night!
ArienValarYesterday at 5:22 PM
congrats :slight_smile:
VardaYesterday at 6:15 PM
Thanks for the fun Fellowship, Arien. : )
Namarie for now
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:16 PM
namarie!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:19 PM
Personal gaming report time!
Flashgaming: Of the 3 games, one is new,
but if you can't tell which are old, it doesn't matter :wink:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:28 PM
https://www.kongregate.com/games/HeroInteractive/dead-metal
is the first game! A space shooter that's a bit like Bubble Tanks,
in that a fight takes place in the confines of a bubble/circle where
you circle around and shoot enemies that spawn in the center of the
circle.
Kongregate
Dead Metal
Dead Metal is a top down shooter set in space,
built off our powerful BT3 game engine. In fact, summing it up as
Bubble Tanks in space with Star Forge art wou...
So basically a circular arena :wink:
Get metal from kills, use it to buy better ships, and make your way
through the campaign!
Comes with a nice storyline as well.
ArienValarYesterday at 6:36 PM
sounds good and Namarie from me :slight_smile:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:36 PM
Namarie!
https://www.kongregate.com/games/doogog/zunderfury
is the second game! Choose either the Zunder or the Fury as ships,
and fight your way through incoming enemies, upgrading as you go
along. See how far you get, and collect achievements!
Kongregate
ZunderFury
Fast-paced arena shooter with tons of different
enemy types.
You can play as one of two ships each with its
own unique weapon to battle against vast amounts of...
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 6:47 PM
https://www.kongregate.com/games/whiteboardwar/creeper-world-user-space
for the third game! Smaller part in the Creeper World series, with
12 levels to play. Build your base, defend from the creeper fluid
flooding the map, and reclaim enough territory to activate the
totems to make your escape.
Kongregate
Creeper World: User Space
Twelve awesome and highly original missions come
your way in this latest episode of Creeper World. Boil away the blue
menace yet again in these exotic and car...
There's also several full games in the series, which I highly
recommend :slight_smile:
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 7:19 PM
Blizzard gaming:
Starcraft II:
Tier 4 of the third phase of the war chest complete. Only 2 more
matches should be required to complete the entire chest
:slight_smile: After that I guess I'll ignore the game again!
Hearthstone:
Pretty much all classes are around halfway now. One is about three
quarters in, and...
the paladin is level 60!
My first level 60 of the nine classes, getting me the last golden
stormwind champion, and stopping at max level. No more experience
for him.
Reason for this is the week's brawl: Second part of the 3-part
story, this time with the League of Explorers in the same tomb as
last week, but with different enemy bosses, but the same final boss:
the Headless Horseman.
I thought I'd go in with Finley, who was my lowest class of the 4
available ones at the time. Got a really good, synergetic run, with
powerful treasures and a lot of murloc "bucket" choices that really
empowered each other, but I failed on the 7th boss due to
underestimating his win condition.
..and him having a card in his hand that complimented said
condition.
Boss 6 was a struggle also, which I barely survived, so I thought
the next run wouldn't go much better, especially as the treasures
and card buckets were a bit worse at the start.
Luckily, I was wrong; managed to get some more powerful treasures
later on, and though I had to change up my deck strategy a bit from
the first run, I cleared out boss 6 rather more easily, as well as 7
and 8, which was the Horseman.
I ended up getting the entire run done under 40 minutes, getting me
both golden reward cards :slight_smile:
...But, due to 14 wins out of 15 fights, Finley's paladin class
skyrocketed, and indeed I hit level 60 by the end of it!
So, 8 classes to go :wink:
Those will take a while though.. depending on what brawl we get next
week, I suppose!
Heroes of the Storm:
Indeed I finished up the last quest for the event on monday, and
thought I was done with it. But when the patch came out, a new
element was added after this questline: The choice to choose a daily
quest matching one of the 3 characters, for hero damage, siege
damage or healing done, with a loot reward chest at the end.
Since I only play 2 matches a day generally, those can be annoying
to get, and I don't want to really play more games a day than I
already do for every day until the event ends. But luckily,
uncompleted quests stay until the next day, so getting a loot chest
every 2 or 3 days is a good bet. And still a nice frequent reward
:slight_smile:
One new level got, to 373, this one by getting Morales to level 12.
Brawl went well, all familiar heroes open to me, which meant the
games were smooth but no levels were gained :slight_smile:
I took a look at those mastery rings, but since I retire my active
heroes at level 15 and the first ring is accessible at level 15, I
didn't see much point.
Maybe if I really have the gold to spare at some point, I guess it
might be nice if I get to choose one of them in a brawl.
WoW Classic:
Poked my mage a bit again tonight, got him to level 4 :slight_smile:
He's only about 5 quests in, and still in the opening area of the
starting zone, but did manage to scrape the silver together by
vendoring junkloot to buy frostbolt and conjure water when he hit
level 4.
Since I aim to level him as frost, both will already make his
rotation a lot smoother, and get me used to his playing style
:slight_smile:
WoW:
Raiding going better and better! Killed Azshara tonight for the
third time, after only a few attempts, giving us next tuesday off
once again. I also got a headpiece from the boss before her, Zaqul,
which completes my guardian spec gear up to heroic level. So yay!
Weekly is petfights, with a quest to win 5 pvp pet battle fights; I
used it to complete my Critter family pvp pet battle achievement,
which is the 7th family out of 10 which I got complete. 3 to go!
And speaking of pets, I found the time to continue hunting the B'aal
pet, at the end of a long line of secret pebbles to be found around
Kul Tiras and Zandalar. You'll need a guide for those, since they
are at very random locations, and two of them are even far out at
sea. Good luck if you're going for it!
Found the pet yesterday, hiding in a volcano in Draenor. Very
ominous! And quite cute. But it's not the end of the search; a line
he says when you summon starts off the next chapter of the secret,
which will take even more time, even more travel, and end up in a
rather unique belt.
I hope to start that search next week :slight_smile:
But since we've got tuesday off it'll be a good start!
And finally, some Warcraft books have arrived!
The Ashbringer comic, which is the last of the episodic comics I was
missing, and the first of 3 class manga: Death Knight, with the
story of Thassarian, the death knight npc you might remember from
Borean Tundra in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
And tomorrow, the popup book should arrive, with 3d structures of
major cities found in Azeroth :smile: Will be fun!
And that's my report for the week!
Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 8:29 PM
namarie!
[Note: in other news for that night, in Lord of the Rings Online:
Fangorn and Varda made their pair of Stout-axe dwarves on the Ithil
server running together, enjoyed the new starting area, and just
kept going! Those two dwarves plan to join the Valar kinship there
Monday; Falco already has his Stout-axe in the kin there.]
top