March 29, 2020 Sunday Meeting
5:00
P.M. Eastern Daylight Savings Time
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.]
["slight smile" is the same as we are used to using as a regular
smiley]
Attending (and
spoke): (5)
Discord:
Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Arwen, Gorlim, Varda (presiding)
Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news:
We are together on Daylight Savings Times across
the continents.
Web:
Tolkien Site / Stories:
New story posted today: "Holding
Back the Flood" by Shirebound. (Note: posted
after-After-meeting)
Gaming:
General reports: Satisfactory, World of Warcraft,
Hearthstone, Overwatch, Lord of the Rings Online, StarCraft 2
Tolkien:
Topic: Did Sauron hold the
rings of the nine ringwraiths or did they?
After-meeting:
Flashgaming Reviews by
Ar-Pharazon. Includes Kana Warrior that helps the player learn
Japanese.
top
Before-meeting
Eonwe ValarLast Friday at 9:03 PM
Heya all, Just a random thought for those of us with a character in
the WoW Lothar Branch: If you're looking for something to do with
all your time and all that extra exp available through April 20th,
we still have all those "Classy" Guild achievements to get, so
you could level some characters up for that :} https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/guild/us/lothar/valar-guild/achievements
World of Warcraft
Valar Guild - Guild Achievements - WoW
Achievements earned by the Alliance guild 'Valar
Guild' on Lothar - US
VardaToday at 3:59 PM
Aiya
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 3:59 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:00 PM
Good to see you, Phar. : )
Are we about in synch on time zones?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:00 PM
Yep! We got set an hour ahead last night.
VardaToday at 4:00 PM
Huzzah!
Time for pokage all around. : ) We are the Alarm Clocks!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:05 PM
I'm messing around in Total Annihilation right now but I'll open up
bnet for Arien :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:05 PM
Cool - and we can poke here too!
ArwenToday at 4:06 PM
hello :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:06 PM
Aiya Arwen!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:06 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:06 PM
Have a great day at work!
ArwenToday at 4:06 PM
:smile:
ty!
I've been playing Satisfactory
which is pretty fun
VardaToday at 4:06 PM
Is that a group game?
ArwenToday at 4:07 PM
I think up to 4 players? it is multiplayer
I'm not sure how many though
playing with the new guy I'm dating
ArienValarToday at 4:07 PM
Aiya al :slight_smile: lurker mode
VardaToday at 4:07 PM
4 is like Diablo where we started
Aiya Arien : )
ArwenToday at 4:07 PM
its kind of a first person buildy game like minecraft or factorio
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:07 PM
Aiya Arien, poke successful :wink:
VardaToday at 4:10 PM
May have to check that game out. : )
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Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
Just making it "official" since we're already doing membership type
chat!
The howdy section. : )
(Howdy's good all the way through though, so don't be shy!)
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Web:
Trying to put up a 19 chapter story by Shirebound ahead of the
meeting but didn't succeed.
You get to see it later on. It'll be linked in to the general New on
our site. : )
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Gaming:
Found a link to Satisfactory:
https://www.satisfactorygame.com/
Satisfactory
A 1st person open-world factory building sim by
Coffee Stain Studios. Conquer nature, build multi-story factories,
and automate to satisfaction!
It says Update 3 is out now. : )
And you can get it on Steam.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:14 PM
(whoops, didn't expect enemy to have access to aircraft, need to
rethink my defenses)
VardaToday at 4:14 PM
The Valar Guild Steam is run by Scatha, so maybe people can join up
there too.
Oops!
We'll let Phar defend while we continue. : )
World of Warcraft:
This week's Bonus Event: Arena Skirmishes.
The PvP Brawl: Classic Ashran began March 24 and runs through
Tuesday, March 31st.
Check out this week's hotfixes.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23277654/hotfixes-march-25-2020
World of Warcraft
Hotfixes: March 25, 2020 - WoW
Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address
various issues related to World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth.
Hearthstone:
Out now: Patch 17.0, Ashes of Outland.
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23357896/ashes-of-outland-17-0-patch-notes-march-26
Ashes of Outland – 17.0 Patch Notes – March 26
Priest updates, Hall of Fame, and Battlegrounds
changes are included in today’s update.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:17 PM
Aand down goes the next plane. Prepared this time.
VardaToday at 4:17 PM
Yay Phar!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:17 PM
Right, I'll close the game for now and join the meeting :wink:
VardaToday at 4:17 PM
You can also Open Ashes of Outland Packs at Home at Your Own
Pre-Release Fireside Gathering!.
Some games we can play and meet at the same time. : )
(I should go farm potatoes.)
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:18 PM
TA is fullscreen, so need to switch every time :wink:
VardaToday at 4:18 PM
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/23357895/open-ashes-of-outland-packs-at-home-at-your-own-pre-release-fireside-gathering
Open Ashes of Outland Packs at Home at Your Own
Pre-Release Firesid...
It’s almost time to take up arms with the Demon
Hunters in Outland!
You need a second screen!
And then a third..
I am using two screens, but not gaming unfortunately
Overwatch:
Check out Overwatch Lore: Revisiting the Past: A Look Back at
Archives Lore.
https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/23369557/revisiting-the-past-a-look-back-at-archives-lore
Overwatch
Revisiting the Past: A Look Back at Archives Lore
This year’s Archives event brings deadly new
modifiers to your favorite missions, challenging you to demonstrate
your tactical finesse in Rialto, King’s Row, and Havana. Looking for
a story recap before you dive into the action?
We’ve got you covered.
Lord of the Rings Online:
The Spring Festival is still going through April 13th.
The dailies for level 130's in the lands of Mordor for the most
recent area has been keeping me really busy, and even playing with
others. What a concept.
Some of us got together for a Draigoch dragonslayer run, finding out
that in a 12-man, 6 people playing can't open the drop rock. We had
to call in people for more weight. Where is Bombur when you need
him?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:22 PM
Probably sleeping off a river.
VardaToday at 4:23 PM
We also found that our perfect hits with our Fellowship Maneuvers
plus our awesome dps was too much dps for the game and bugged it
just as we almost had him. His health was only a sliver.
Next time, guess we just throw nerf balls.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:23 PM
Ouch.
VardaToday at 4:24 PM
But we learned. It's been a long time since any of us had run that
one.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:24 PM
Quite overgeared, I guess?
VardaToday at 4:24 PM
During this special time, even free to play get to run all the
instances, so we had the chance to bring in people who had never
seen it.
Phar, probably.
Everyone wants the big dragon statue if it drops, for their kin
house or personal home(s).
We have one at our kin house, just enjoying the run.
And doing the /rich emote in the gold piles was fun. You get that
from the Treasure festival
Any other gaming news?
Landroval gamers this past week:
sorry, Lord of the Rings Online kinmates showing in kin this last
week:
(Ithil is the most consistently active, but Landroval has a lot of
scattered activity)
Landroval:
Arien
Bregalad
Erkenbrand
Eonwe
Fangorn
Lenwe
Nar
Varda
Ithil:
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda
Anor:
Fangorn
Varda
StarCraft 2:
Fangorn, Eowyn, and grandson gaming together during the week.
Faramir also playing. Others too, feel free to mention your names if
you like!
Any other gaming to mention? Eve Online?
On to
top
Tolkien!
If you have a question or topic suggestion, even if not for today,
please let us know.
Maybe a Tolkien link you enjoyed. : )
Tolkien quotes that you enjoyed, feel free to quote. We call them
Tolkien Moments.
They often kick off a discussion.
For today, while looking at the story that didn't quite make it
online,
this question came up:
Who holds the ringwraiths rings? Do they?
Does Sauron?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:36 PM
Thought about this before. I'm guessing Sauron, or they'd be spread
all over the fords at Rivendell while the wraiths were disembodied.
And would the Witch King's ring be lying abandoned at the Pelennor
Fields?
VardaToday at 4:36 PM
Agreed. Good reasoning.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:36 PM
Also, Sauron did not have the One Ring at the time, so why would he
be able to control the Nine if he didn't have them?
VardaToday at 4:37 PM
One reason some think the ringwraiths carry their own rings is a
comment Gandalf uses in the Council of Elrond, possibly a wizard
shortcutting his talk which was already long.
Good point, I agree Phar.
Because they have a habit? : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:37 PM
hehe
VardaToday at 4:38 PM
During the Council of Elrond, Gandalf states that "The Nine the
Nazgûl keep."
This has confused a number of people. I wonder if it was meant to
say that or if it got left in by accident.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:38 PM
Hmm, good question.
VardaToday at 4:38 PM
Most everywhere else, it does not say that kind of thing.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:39 PM
I'd really wonder why they didn't make a point of at very least the
ring that would be left behind at Minas Tirith.
If the wraiths were supposed to have them.
VardaToday at 4:39 PM
We know Frodo can see the Rings on others' fingers when other people
can't. Sam could not see the ring on Galadriel's finger except as if
sunlight shone past, but Frodo saw it.
Yet Frodo does not see rings on the Nine at Weathertop, when we see
a fairly detailed description. That would not have been left out.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:40 PM
Hmhm.
VardaToday at 4:41 PM
Gandalf redeems himself in this line, also at the Council:
"So it is now; the Nine he had gathered to himself; the Seven also,
or else they are destroyed. The Three are hidden still."
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:41 PM
Ah, yes. That I remember too.
VardaToday at 4:42 PM
The Seven of the Dwarves are definitely solid, not some "will"
thing.
Gandalf does stay secretive about the Three.
Gloin reacted when Gandalf said that and we find out why later.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:42 PM
And 2 were right in the room :wink:
VardaToday at 4:42 PM
hahahaha! true!
ArienValarToday at 4:43 PM
Vilya, Narya and Nenya?
VardaToday at 4:43 PM
Gloin at the time knew Balin was in Moria partly to recover the Ring
of Thror.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:43 PM
"The Three are hidden still!" wink wink nudge nudge at Elrond
VardaToday at 4:43 PM
Arien! Right. That's the three Elven Rings.
The only one missing at the Council of Elrond was Galadriel's.
heh
So at the meeting, Gloin first learned what happened to that Ring.
He hadn't had serious hope, but had some.
ArienValarToday at 4:44 PM
ah yes true i forgot Cirdan had given it to Elrond *You will have
more use for it than i " [Note: Cirdan gave the ring of fire to
Gandalf.]
VardaToday at 4:44 PM
Thror had passed it his son Thrain, and it was taken from Thrain
under torment at Dol Guldur before Gandalf could reach him.
Right, Arien
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:45 PM
(to Gandalf)
VardaToday at 4:45 PM
Which goes to show a wizard might not always arrive when he wants
to, but maybe it was when he was supposed to.
Imagine if the dwarves had that one of the Seven back! Would they
have been as willing as the Elves to give it up?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:46 PM
I don't see they had much of a choice. They could hang on to it all
they want, when teh
VardaToday at 4:46 PM
The elves knew their Three would go inert and they would lose
Rivendell and Lorien's special properties.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:46 PM
*when the One Ring fell it would go dormant anyway.
VardaToday at 4:47 PM
The dwarves might not have been as willing to help fight to destroy
the One Ring.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:47 PM
Only option would be to waylay the Fellowship, and I'm sure the
dwarves saw the need of the expedition.
Perhaps.
Perhaps they'd go with one less dwarf.
VardaToday at 4:47 PM
Gloin whispers to Gimli, "You know what to do!"
They could have talked against the expedition at the Council. Kind
of like Boromir who wanted the One Ring for Gondor (on his finger,
of course).
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:49 PM
And they'd be overruled, just like Boromir.
VardaToday at 4:49 PM
Right, we might not have had a dwarf representative, as they might
want to protect the Ring they already had, not just hoping for.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:49 PM
Indeed. Extra elf, probably, either of Rivendell or Mirkwood.
VardaToday at 4:50 PM
They would be overruled, but not helpful.
Bilbo, we need you after all.
Notice that the one elf they took was from a place not dependent on
a Ring.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:50 PM
It would not have helped mend the relationship between elf and dwarf
as much as the occurred version did.
VardaToday at 4:50 PM
Good point.
Another spot that points out that Sauron had the Nine rings was when
Galadriel was talking with Frodo:
"You saw the Eye of him that holds the Seven and the Nine."
I might have typed that already...
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:52 PM
Don't think so, but good find :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:53 PM
Here's a good quote from Unfinished Tales, "Hunt for the
Ring":
"At length he (Sauron) resolved that no others would
serve him in this case but his mightiest servants, the
Ringwraiths, who had no will but his own, being utterly
subservient to the ring that had enslaved him, which Sauron held."
"They were by far the most powerful of his servants, and the most
suitable for such a mission, since they were entirely enslaved to
their Nine Rings, which he now himself held..."
[Unfinished Tales]
(Hah, had that one on Notepad.)
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:53 PM
Yes, seems pretty conclusive :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:54 PM
Anyway, I agree with you, Phar, that Sauron held the Nine to keep
control of the ringwraiths. They were all boss types in life and
might have decided to set up their own mini-kingdoms instead of
running around on Sauron's errands in the Shire.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:55 PM
Risky, if he ever gets his Ring back. Not only might they refuse the
search, they'd also need to hinder it.
VardaToday at 4:56 PM
Sauron might not like that. And he might have trouble finding more
Ring fodder of the kind he wanted.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:56 PM
Or keep it for themselves. Tough situation. Can't risk Saurorn
getting it, can't risk anyone else getting it in case they fell to
Sauron or took over from him, and they couldn't let it get
destroyed.
-r
VardaToday at 4:56 PM
The Witch-king would surely consider doing that!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:56 PM
Hide it in Angmar. Sneaky guy.
VardaToday at 4:57 PM
ah hah! (our forum story might get suddenly surprising)
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:57 PM
haha
VardaToday at 4:57 PM
(What is that ring-box for?)
Here's another quote stashed back for you guys, from the Letters:
"Sauron sent at once the Ringwraiths. They were
naturally fully instructed, and in no way deceived as to the real
lordship of the Ring...But the situation was now different to that
under Weathertop, where Frodo acted merely in fear and wished only
to use (in vain) the Ring's subsidiary power of conferring
invisibility. He had grown since then. Would they have been immune
from its power if he claimed it as an instrument of command and
domination? Not wholly. I do not think they could have attacked
him with violence, nor laid hold upon him or taken him captive;
they would have obeyed or feigned to obey any minor command of his
that did not interfere with their errand - laid upon them by
Sauron, who still through their nine rings (which he held) had
primary control of their wills..."
[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien #246]
This of course is at the Crack of Doom.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:58 PM
Right.
So they had an errand they had to obey but had to disobey at the
same time.
VardaToday at 4:59 PM
They had deception to do.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:00 PM
"Come with us, or we'll hurt you! (please!)
VardaToday at 5:00 PM
heh
We have just arrived at the Hour.
And wrapped up about the same time.
Will wonders never cease?
the hammers fly out, rather like the keys in Harry Potter
one at a time, they pop the hammerpad
pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop
the hammerpad giggles
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:02 PM
Poor hammerpad.
Or not :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 5:02 PM
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After-meeting!
watches the hammers fly back, like a flock of key... birds
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:12 PM
Personal gaming report!
Of the badges this week only one game is new to me, but there's two
others I don't mind repeating because I like them :slight_smile:
For flashgaming, that is.
https://www.kongregate.com/games/Tukkun/kana-warrior
is the first game! A very special one, and rather niche. A side
scrolling typing game, based around learning Japanese!
Kongregate
Kana Warrior / かなウォリアー
Learn the two basic Japanese writing systems in a
brand new way. Featuring two game modes and three different
quotfunquot minigames, Kana Warrior allows you to learn...
GorlimToday at 5:20 PM
Hola
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:20 PM
...Actually I did play it in the past but right now the key inputs
don't really seem to be working. Might be the browser or some other
reason, since it seems to vary among commenters whether it works.
Anyway, if you can get it to type, remember which characters are
which letters, then type them to overcome the obstacles :wink:
Aiya!
GorlimToday at 5:22 PM
Just snoozing while I wait for azuregos to spawn..
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:22 PM
Ah, here we go, it works on Chrome :slight_smile:
GorlimToday at 5:22 PM
Noticed Varda said hi
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:23 PM
She might be afk right now?
anyway
https://www.kongregate.com/games/ahnt/loops-of-zen
for the second game! Lovely addictive puzzle game, turn the squares
until the loops all connect. Always good to start at the edges,
since you know connections will never cross outside. Which means
straight lines can only go one direction, and 3-pointers can only go
one way.
Kongregate
loops of zen
This puzzle game is about harmony. Solve the
entagled loops until perfect harmony is reached.
And if you find a few dead ends at random spaces that don't seem to
work, prepare to slightly alter most of the puzzle you'd already
thought you'd finished :wink:
https://www.kongregate.com/games/LLGD/gospace
is the last one, and the new one :slight_smile: An asteroid bullet
hell shooter, with upgrades and levels with objectives! All the good
bits of the genres combined, in my opinion. Play levels, shoot
stuff, get coins, and upgrade at the end of the level. If you fail,
you get to keep the coins. Complete the objectives to unlock the
next level.
Kongregate
GOSPACE
EN:
Do you like space shooter games? And Upgrades
games? And Time Attack games? And Badges? This game is for you!
PT-BR:
Você gosta de jogos de nave? E de jo...
Achievements to get as well!
So yes, I heartily endorse all 3 games this week :slight_smile:
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ArienValarToday at 5:28 PM
Namarie from me here :slight_smile: oh and member news late
its my Bruce who is going to work tomorrow in the coop and me , i
stay in bed :wink:
aka he got a job there :slight_smile:
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:29 PM
Grats!
You're alright yourself, though?
ArienValarToday at 5:29 PM
yep sure i am :slight_smile:
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:29 PM
Good :slight_smile:
ArienValarToday at 5:29 PM
just days off , tomorrow and Tuesday
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:30 PM
No corona lockdown over there? I'm about to go into my third week
off. From both jobs.
ArienValarToday at 5:30 PM
since i am supermarket worker i am a key worker and vital that
people can get their food
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:30 PM
Ah, yes.
ArienValarToday at 5:31 PM
but else yes, non essential shops are closed
and work from home who can
GorlimToday at 5:31 PM
What coop?
ArienValarToday at 5:31 PM
people out only in two and only for food shopping and daily
exersosse
Co- Operative Food
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:32 PM
Well, I work 1) with tulips, planting etc, and 2) at a city
archive's digital system. Neither can be done from home.
ArienValarToday at 5:32 PM
thats the supermarket chain i work for
GorlimToday at 5:32 PM
I just was wondering as I prefer to patronize coops rather chain
stores
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:33 PM
I never place the - in co-op when I see coop. I just think about
chickens.
GorlimToday at 5:33 PM
Tulips are essential?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:33 PM
Nope, which is why I'm at home :slight_smile:
GorlimToday at 5:33 PM
Oh heh
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:34 PM
I just meant I can't work from home.
ArienValarToday at 5:34 PM
well you stay safe all :slight_smile:
and look after yourself
GorlimToday at 5:34 PM
Definitely not worth dieting over
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:34 PM
Namarie, you too!
ArienValarToday at 5:34 PM
Namnarie :slight_smile:
GorlimToday at 5:35 PM
Err dieing over... I hate autocorrect
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:35 PM
I was wondering, though we have been known to eat tulips during
hunger...
GorlimToday at 5:36 PM
Ewww.. I thought tulips were poisonous
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:36 PM
Well the... what are they called in English...
the bulbs
I guess those aren't poisonous :slight_smile:
And it's mostly a famous story from WWII.
I don't think we've had the need since then.
Though I did try a bite last year. It does not taste good. Maybe I
should've boiled it first!
GorlimToday at 5:39 PM
Roses are edible when candied but dunno about the food value
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:39 PM
Never tried it!
GorlimToday at 5:40 PM
Well tell Varda hi.. I need to go in the other room
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:40 PM
She's still in the room and will read up later. I'm sure she'll
notice your greeting :slight_smile:
Blizzard gaming:
Heroes of the Storm:
Not much to say! Had some fun games with the two latest heroes in my
active roster, Sonya and Auriel. Got a good grip on their gameplay
with some nice specs, at least for vs AI, and not too bad in brawls
either. Still level 396 though, no new levels.
For those curious, the event - covering 2 seasons now - will run out
in about a week. I actually completed another lap around the
gameboard yesterday, my third I think, so that got me a rare loot
chest. I won't make it to 4 before the event is over, so that's the
biggest rewards I'll get. Still, it's been good fun, and I'm looking
forward to what's next. A Greek God theme was leaked in an
interview, but that might be later in the year.
Looking forward to seeing what's next, I mean :slight_smile:
Hearthstone:
Also benefits from a few weeks off from work :slight_smile: Did more
quests, got more gold, bought more packs. With the next expansion
around the corner I'll save some gold for any adventure coming, and
I'm also looking forward to playing the Demon Hunter prologue to
unlock the new class. At which point I'll probably play a lot of DH
just to get him to level 60 :slight_smile:
Some UI changes have already been made with a recent patch,
including a 10th class slot in the class/quest overview, that is
still empty for now. But there are still only 18 deck slots, so
that's a shame.
Brawl is Mechazod, a cooperative bossfight where both players have
to use their turns to boost each other to take down a large boss on
the board. Mage and Druid, this time, which boost each other well
with card draw, spell power, and some healing. It came kinda close,
but we did get it on the first try!
WoW:
Raidwise, mostly stuff on farm now. No new bosses on heroic, but we
did use the shortcut on normal for the first time, while also
helping some others complete their shortcut quests (only the leader
needs it done to unlock the shortcut).
Along the way, for those who maxed out their cloak to rank 15, we
got our first drop from normal N'Zoth to add 3 corruption resistance
to the cloaks. We'll pretty much be able to do that all the way
through the rest of the expansion, and be able to wear more and more
corrupted items.
Note, if you don't raid, you can also get the resistance item from a
horrific vision. But if you ever fall behind a week, you'll need to
do both if you want to catch up again. So try not to fall behind too
much if you don't raid :slight_smile:
I've suspended most of the emissary quests for now, giving me more
time for the other projects. Emissaries and paragon rewards give a
good amount of gold and azerite power, but I don't really need more
AP and after taking some advice I've decided to only do emissaries
that also reward gold themselves. That way I still get the bulk of
it, but lose a lot less time. And I don't need paragon collectible
rewards anymore anyway.
Weekly this week is arena skirmishes, which as always is a lot more
fun now that I'm doing them in guardian/bearform. Had some good
fights, didn't take too long to get my 10 wins, and at times could
solo 2 players at once while my teammate was already dead
:slight_smile:
The Ashran brawl is kinda annoying, but you also get the quest
victory if you just win an event instead of the whole fight, so it
didn't take too long.
VardaToday at 5:58 PM
Hi for those missed! : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:59 PM
:smile:
And I got a variety of pets from a variety of sources!
Starting with a Shadefeather Hatchling from the expeditions. Not too
many pets missing there, and hoping to get some more when the right
salvages get sold.
VardaToday at 6:01 PM
(Hi Gorlim! Fangorn also says hi!)
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:01 PM
Along the way in that expedition I finally got, from the weekly
reward, the mission starter for the rank 4 version of the expedition
essence. I can't send out the mission at 100% chance of victory
without a champion I've not yet collected from Nazjatar, but it
appears that it'll stay on the board indefinitely, so no rush.
Second pet was the Gust of Cyclarus; with the first patrol part of
the Darkshore Warfront cycle since I unlocked it, I've been working
on killing the rares again that drop stuff I want. So far the only
thing new I've gotten is the pet, a tiny whirlwind.
Third pet is from the raid, got my fourth pet from there, the
Void-Scarred Anubisath from Ra-Den. Only the eye pet from N'Zoth is
missing now.
But since we've got him on farm now, only a matter of time, since
you can also trade them in the raid.
For other projects, I completed the 8.1 war campaign! Quite
interesting. Turning an intelligent gorilla into a giant weapon,
breaking into the Dazar'alor vault in a daring mission of
infiltration, and finally organizing the diversion in Nazmir.
Next part is the actual raid quest, which I'll do next week
:slight_smile:
After completing that section of the war campaign, I decided to
delve into the Gnomeregan pet dungeon. After drafting a list of
strategies and levelling the pets I needed (had just enough epic
stones) I've built a reliable roster of pets to make it through the
challenge mode of the dungeon with no healing allowed. It went well,
which gave me 2 more pets, the Mini Spider Tank as a quest reward
and the Mechanical Cockroach as the first pet bought with the reward
token. If I repeat the challenge mode 5 more weeks, which I plan to
do, I'll get the other 2 pets as well!
And as final project, a small one, apparently 8.1 included a new
tarantula mob in Redridge Mountains called Gnollfeaster. Killing it
for the first time gives a guaranteed pet called the Redridge
Tarantula. So I dropped by, killed it, and went home with a fuzzy
red pet :slight_smile:
Next up will be the Dazar'alor raid which I intend to do in LFR, the
few quests after the raid, some profession stuff.. and then I can
dive into 8.1.5, including the unlocking of the Kul Tiran race!
And finally, for my big project of replaying old games properly, I
dove into Total Annihilation, the old RTS which I vaguely recall
Pallando mentioning some years ago as well.
So far I've gotten to level 10 of the Core campaign, and some things
are notable...
It's very slow to start with. Metal resource is very limited and
slow to trickle in, which means stuff takes a long time to build
until you can expand a bit or upgrade your mines. Your production
will be halted a lot of the time, and building your starting army
and a couple of defenses is the most boring part of any battle.
Pathing is pretty terrible, especially with groups of vehicles on
worlds like Core Prime which consists of small corridors, walls and
ramps. Add to that the wreckage left behind after any skirmish, and
the path will be pretty blocked off at the chokepoints as well
unless you reclaim or destroy the debris.
On more open worlds it's more interesting, but with naval stuff you
have to be careful not to lock in your own pathways with defensive
torpedo launchers or other small buildings.
Speaking of, I got introduced to naval warfare in the last 2
missions, and it's even slower to get started! Everything
shiprelated is very expensive and slow to build, so unless you have
a good economy going already by the time you head into the water,
it's going to be even slower than land maps. In fact, you'll
probably want to build a bit of a defensive force on land to help
protect your opening moves on the sea from the shore.
But when the fleets get going, the action is a lot of fun
:slight_smile:
The ships are expensive, but also fairly powerful. Build a good
fleet, and nothing on land will stand a chance.
My gameplay experience is rather different than what I was used to
years ago, though. Maybe I'm getting better, maybe it's that I'm
using a bigger resolution and hence see more of the map... but a lot
of it is also that I'm not so much relying on static defenses any
more, but rather cheaper defensive vehicles.
I always played RTS games with a large emphasis on inpenetrable
lines of defensive buildings for my playstyle, and for some games
that works, but usually it's better to just make a more replacable
ground force of units, and in this case with some scouting flyers in
front to give me more range.
Core Prime, the first 4 levels, were really slow, especially since
I'm building larger armies now that get around less easy, but after
that it became a lot easier than I remembered from the past. Gives
me good hope of actually finishing it. I'm playing on medium
difficulty, but I can't imagine I was playing on hard back then...
And if I'm just better at RTS games than I used to be, that's
promising for later games in my list as well!
So yeah, that concludes my review for TA to start with, a bit longer
than I expected, but it's still a fun game to play, and people
who've played it in the past might be inspired to take it up again
as well :slight_smile:
And that's my report for the week!
VardaToday at 6:41 PM
Thank you, Phar. : )
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