Valar Guild

May 3, 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, Irmo/Irm, Lenwe, Varda (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news
Web:
    Tolkien Site / Stories:
        Three new stories, one by a new author.
Gaming:
    General reports: World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online
Tolkien:
    Topic: A wizard is never late.
After-meeting:
    Flashgaming Reviews by Ar-Pharazon.

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Before-meeting

VardaToday at 3:59 PM
Aiya!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 3:59 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:00 PM
Hey Phar : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:00 PM
Arien poked :slight_smile:
ArienValarToday at 4:01 PM
Aiya all :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:01 PM
Aiya Sunshine : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:01 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:03 PM
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Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!

Membership News:
Grats to Dis for completing her move to her new home!
Any other membership news? Howdy from Fladrif?
Howdy to Fladrif in any case. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:04 PM
Yes, spotted Fladrif twice in the past week, watched him win a battleground in hearthstone :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:04 PM
Huzzah!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:05 PM
very impressive, to be the best of 8 people!
I can't do that :wink:
VardaToday at 4:07 PM
Go go Fladrif!
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Web News:
Three stories for you.
We have a new author, named Dunadan, who sent us:
"Servant of Darkness"
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Dunadan/ServantofDarkness.htm
    Servant of Darkness
    fanfiction, Tolkien. "From the very beginning she had followed Melkor..."
He's currently working on another story for us, a longer one.
We have two stories from Shirebound:
"Keep the Home Fires Burning"
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Shirebound/KeeptheHomeFiresBurning.htm
    Keep the Home Fires Burning
    fanfiction Fellowship of theRings. "It’s time at last for Gloín to leave Rivendell and return home."
and
"The Breaking Point"
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Shirebound/TheBreakingPoint01.htm
    The Breaking Point ch.1 "Enough is Enough"
    fanfiction Fellowship of the Rings. "Ten days out from Rivendell, Frodo has finally had
    enough of the bickering between Legolas and Gimli."
Dunadan's story and the first by Shirebound are 1 chapter
Three  chapters for The Breaking Point.
So if you slip out to read them, you may have time. : )
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Gaming:
Thank you to Eonwe for posting

World of Warcraft news:
This week's Bonus Event: Pet Battles.
The PvP Brawl: Arathi Blizzard runs through Tuesday, May 5th.
Volunteer Guard Day was April 28 (Tuesday)
Children's Week runs through Thursday, May 7th.
The Darkmoon Faire begins today and runs through Saturday, May 9th.
.
Any other WoW news?
Lord of the Rings Online:
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:14 PM
Another alpha build up :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:14 PM
ah pardon, go ahead.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:15 PM
few new models, bunch of changes and... a new worldmap of Shadowlands at https://media.mmo-champion.com/images/news/2020/april/ShadowlandsMapUpdate.jpg !

VardaToday at 4:15 PM
Nice
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:15 PM
For those who've been keeping up a bit with the zones and covenants, the identity of each zone should be clear enough.
My home will be the one at the bottom of the map :slight_smile:
IrmToday at 4:16 PM
EvenIng folks!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:16 PM
Aiya!
VardaToday at 4:16 PM
Aiya Dreamlord : )
Good to see you!

Lord of the Rings Online:
Update 26.0.1
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?679876-Update-26-0-1-Release-Notes

LotRO gamers online in kin this past week:
Landroval server:
Arien
Bregalad
Eonwe
Fangorn
Hurin
Irmo
Miriel
Nar
Nimrodel
Varda

Ithil server:
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda

Anor server:
Fangorn
Varda
.
Irmo, did you have any gaming news you'd like to pass on?
Irmo, Miriel, and Hurin have been gaming in LotRO quite a bit. Very good to see them!
IrmToday at 4:18 PM
nO NEWS THOUGH:)
VardaToday at 4:19 PM
heh, ok.
LenweToday at 4:19 PM
'A wizard is never late'...unfortunately I am not a wizard. Aiya all--pardon the tardiness...
IrmToday at 4:19 PM
excuse the caps
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:19 PM
Aiya!
IrmToday at 4:19 PM
Greetings
VardaToday at 4:19 PM
Hiya Lenwe! We're glad to see you whenever you can drop by.  : )
Sneaky caps.
That's all the gaming news I have.
Feel free to add in news from games y'all play!
Any suggestions for what you'd like to see in-game or on the website?
We have a full crafting set-up in Landroval server and in Ithil server for LotRO. Feel free to take advantage. Even bankers.
We've had requests for crafting mats in the kin chest. Any in particular wanted from folks here?
On to...
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Tolkien!

"A wizard is never late."
Is this just a joke? Might it have any deeper meaning?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:27 PM
He was kinda late to pick up Frodo in the Shire and didn't catch up until Rivendell.
So at least it wasn't true.
IrmToday at 4:28 PM
That was force though
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:28 PM
He didn't say "barring any obstacles and other exceptions", did he?
VardaToday at 4:28 PM
Maybe it was best for the hobbits to get to know Aragorn better that way? It may not have been Gandalf's choice, but maybe those back of him?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:29 PM
Pretty risky all the same.
IrmToday at 4:29 PM
If there is a deeper meaning it might relate to him not really free to choose to be late...
VardaToday at 4:29 PM
It may not be his own choice of timing. He has to trust those in back of him to put him where he should be when he should be.
Aye, Irmo.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:29 PM
Alright, fair enough.
VardaToday at 4:30 PM
Or he might have just been late. : )
IrmToday at 4:30 PM
Ha, yep
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:30 PM
Maybe a bit like those crime shows where wherever the main character goes, a crime takes place.
VardaToday at 4:30 PM
Being late to the Council of Elrond made him more open in explaining things they all needed to hear.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:31 PM
Everywhere Gandalf goes, he ends up being there right on time when he's needed against his own expectations.
VardaToday at 4:31 PM
Being late gave him Shadowfax.
Aye, PHar.
IrmToday at 4:32 PM
Even on the fifth day at dawn, he arrived exactly as he meant to, and exactly on time as he predicted, and that is interesting eh?
VardaToday at 4:32 PM
That's true!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:33 PM
Some foresight.
VardaToday at 4:33 PM
The ents were there right on time too. Some thought Gandalf did that but he said he had not.
Kind of like the timing of everyone showing up at the Council of Elrond, although Elrond called no Council. He saw someone had called it to deal with the Ring.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:34 PM
eery
VardaToday at 4:34 PM
Have to wonder if that story of Valar being around might be true. Not ignoring Middle-earth as Sauron thought.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:35 PM
Standing in the back, rolling the dice, planting some ideas.
Really how I'd envision an actual creator deity would act :slight_smile:
IrmToday at 4:36 PM
We wouldnt give the valar that status methinks:)
VardaToday at 4:36 PM
Moving in the background, unobtrusively.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:36 PM
Indeed.
VardaToday at 4:36 PM
Eru set the Valar to work though. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:36 PM
Well, yes, but after the work is done and the world runs fine on its own rules :slight_smile:
Just letting it be and occasionally nudging the dice a bit.
VardaToday at 4:37 PM
With the occasional nudge, maybe?
As you said.
IrmToday at 4:37 PM
In my article on Cirdan I have a theory about how the Valor connection might have worked
Palantir contact between Tol-Eressea and Lindon :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:38 PM
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/c/Cirdan/CirdanI.htm
Cirdan: The Valinorean Connection?
IrmToday at 4:38 PM
Yep
I kinda like that one :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 4:38 PM
Me too!
Cirdan is quite a special character.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:39 PM
Looks plausible!
VardaToday at 4:39 PM
Cirdan, the Link to Valinor.
I definitely recommend reading that article, or re-reading it for many of us. : )
That's all I had to offer tonight, folks. Unless you have anything else you'd like to add?
IrmToday at 4:41 PM
Thank you Starry One
I am off to sleep then, goodnight and namarië!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:42 PM
Namarie!
VardaToday at 4:43 PM
Namarie and thanks for all the dreams!
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After-meeting!
the hammer parade does a double-take
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:43 PM
The hammer is never late?
VardaToday at 4:43 PM
the hammerpad rolls over to them and keeps them from being late
heh, right.
Good catch, Phar. : )

ArienValarToday at 4:45 PM
My own character Aranwe meets Cirdan and Gil Galad after his captivity  at the orcs not too long after the Bragollach
remember in the story?
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Arien/stories/IntotheLight.htm
    Into the Light
    Fiction set in Middle-earth: a healer is made.

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:49 PM
Oh, something part membership and part personal gaming...
Came across a couple of six inch statues for sale on the WoW gearstore, including one of Jaina, based on the larger statue but with an improved face :slight_smile:
Won't ship until September but I convinced my brother to buy it for me for my birthday in a few days!
So yes, the membership part is that it's my birthday next week :wink:
VardaToday at 4:52 PM
Woot! Happy upcoming birthday!
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:52 PM
https://www.blizzardgearstore.com/stores/blizzard/en/product/world-of-warcraft--jaina-d-stage-battle-for-azeroth-6---statue/291698 for a picture!
World of Warcraft  Jaina D-Stage Battle for Azeroth 6'' Statue | BGS
VardaToday at 4:52 PM
Cool : )
Very cool if it looks like that.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:52 PM
Or 6 pictures, actually :slight_smile:
Yep!
And she's my favorite character, so that's good.
There's a Sylvanas statue too but I don't like her as much :wink:
ArienValarToday at 4:56 PM
Looks really cool
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:57 PM
Will be a nice late birthday gift :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 5:01 PM
or any time gift!
So what are you getting your brother for your hobbit birthday? : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:05 PM
Hmm. I'd say a hug, but can't really do that under the current crisis.
VardaToday at 5:07 PM
Sure you can, virtually. Type /hug
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:07 PM
hehe
VardaToday at 5:07 PM
We have all these handy virtual bodies.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:07 PM
I don't think he does!
VardaToday at 5:07 PM
Game with him? Write a letter?
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:07 PM
I'll just thank him verbally.
VardaToday at 5:07 PM
There you go. : )
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:07 PM
He will be visiting.
VardaToday at 5:08 PM
Yay!

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:11 PM
Bit of Storm, bit of Stone, then I'll give my gaming report :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 5:11 PM
bit of making supper... : )

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Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:11 PM
Actually I can do the flashgaming already!
VardaToday at 5:11 PM
neato
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:11 PM
4 new games with badges this week, and 3 of them are really quite fun in my opinion :slight_smile:
VardaToday at 5:12 PM
4!
3/4 good %
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:12 PM
Well, the fourth's not bad.
Grindy unlocky rpg game. Didn't mind getting the first badge for badge of the day. But a bit too big for my time right now :slight_smile:
The 3 I'll give are pretty short, but enjoyable!

https://www.kongregate.com/games/xmatos/its-just-tic-tac-two is the first game, a sequel to a tic tac toe game I'm sure I linked some months ago.
    Kongregate
    It's Just TIC TAC TWO
    Duo to popular demand, this time it#39s really just Tic Tac Toe as you know it! With more than 200,000 possible different unique games, there is no end to the fun!
It's tic tac toe with various twists, which you'll figure out as you go along :slight_smile:
But quick note, when it says "thanks for playing" there's actually more to come, so don't click away!

ArienValarToday at 5:19 PM
its tic tac pillow for me :open_mouth:
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:20 PM
namarie :slight_smile:
ArienValarToday at 5:20 PM
Namarie all !

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:27 PM
https://www.kongregate.com/games/nyunesu/unnamed-chick-game is the second game! A platformer where you play a half-hatched chick in an egg who has to make it across the levels to the corn, and ultimately back to the nest.
    Kongregate
    Unnamed Chick Game
    Unnamed Chick Game, a puzzle platformer!
    Play as a chick stuck in a pointy egg-shell, but be careful, everytime you land it hurts you.
    Can you manage to comp...
But the trick is...  you've got 3 health, and lose a health every time you land after a jump or fall.
Later on you'll be able to pick up health during a level, and you'll have to puzzle your way through to make it to the corn :slight_smile:

https://www.kongregate.com/games/FractalSunrise/knight-errant for the last game: Play some chess!
    Kongregate
    Knight-errant
    A chess knight#39s little adventure.
You play a chess knight, having to make your way through a world of chess board squares through the only movement method the knight knows: 2 squares in one direction and 1 in another :slight_smile:
So it requires some planning and puzzling, but you can always retrace your steps so you can't get stuck.
Objective is to rescue the princess by getting through the maze and defeating the complete set of chess pieces from the opposing color along the way. Some pieces are tricky to outsmart, but there's always a way!
And if they defeat you, you just respawn at the starting position of that bossfight, so you never have to repeat non-boss sections.
Oh,a nd if you're a bit lost, you can mouse over the knight to see the possible moves he can do at that point.
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:49 PM
Right, just had to make my way through the game again, a lot of fun :wink: and exciting music too
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:53 PM
Blizzard gaming:
Heroes of the Storm: From 406 to 409! Got my new Diablo hero Azmodan to level 3, got Gul'dan to level 15, making me replace him with Falstad who hasn't gained a level yet, and Junkrat to level 2 in a brawl. A grenade launcher build seems to work for him.
Hearthstone: Demon hunter to 23! Slowly inching forward as long as quests allow.
Brawl is to use a deck with only cards from the adventures, and the Descent of Dragons expansion. I've got most of the adventure cards, but Descent packs I hadn't really opened yet, part of my stack of over 100 packs.
So I decided to open all the Descent packs, which were over 30 of em. And got 2 legendary cards from there as well, Moruzond the dragon and Flik Skyshiv, an assassin :slight_smile:
Brawl went well though, with a druid deck with 2 Embiggen cards, used to buff every minion in your deck with 2/2 stats and making them 1 mana costlier. Overall, it's a benefit :slight_smile:
And a few extra dragons in there as well.
I have a ton of dust to create stuff, and if I'm going to only buy the latest expansion's packs, I might as well craft cards from previous expansions if I need them for brawls or adventure. In fact I had to craft the second Embiggen card myself :wink: We'll see if this method is sustainable.
WoW:
Raiding: Farming heroic still, only boss giving us trouble this week was Xanesh. The orb mechanic is quite unforgiving even with our better gear.
But I got the shoulders I needed, which means both specs are done, and I even had some success with the spellcasting transmog weapons I was missing. Only missing a staff now, and then I'll have all the heroic appearances as well.
But since both gearsets for my specs were done, I thought I'd get a new set of appearances for myself, looking for all the most voidy/purply pieces I could find.
Experimented with the headpiece a few times, but ended up settling for one of the 5 masks from the Horrific Visions. For the final result, https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/eu/argent-dawn/calaron should show my new appearance until I change it again :slight_smile:
World of Warcraft
Calaron - Character - WoW
Calaron (Argent Dawn) ❮The High Guard❯ - 120 Night Elf Feral Druid, 465 ilvl

Speaking of, tried Horrific Visions again for 5 masks with 5 people, but no success. Several people had connection problems, and with only 3 of us left we crashed hard at the final section. Since the problems were recurring, we stuck to only one attempt. Better luck next week, maybe I'll only report on that when we have success :slight_smile:
Good luck at last on old raid night!
Got the mount from old Karazhan, the Fiery Warhorse, after all these years.
Maybe we should add the new Karazhan to our list next, and go for the new version of the mount as well :wink:
Poked the Darkshore normal warfront one more time, was hoping to see other commanders, but it was still the same ones. So I googled it and found out the others never made it into the games. So I might as well leave it from now on.
*into the game
Otherwise, pets pets pets!
It was pet battle week, and I completed the achievement to win 10 pvp pet battles with all dragons. So yay! That's 9 out of 10 achievements done, only the humanoid family left.
That'll be a few months, since I'll want 2 more pet weeks for it :slight_smile:
And I got my last gnomeregan pet dungeon done, giving me enough gizmos to buy the final pet, the Alarm-O-Dog!
Funny robot dog, with unique animation.
And then 3 more pets: Caught myself a Voidglower to see if I could find a flying void pet to go with my mog, but it too doesn't actually go up into the air. Ended up settling for a thunder dragon whelp from Legion. Close enough.
Second pet was the Rotting Ghoul from expeditions! Only 6 pets left from there now :slight_smile:
And for the third pet.. ah yes, Children's Week this week :slight_smile:
Got myself an orphan from Boralus and visited all sorts of places in Kul Tiras, only going by ground mount because I wanted to remind myself how all the roads were connected, and see a bit of the sights myself. So no flightmasters used!
And after the quests were done, got my second Kul Tiras Children's Week reward pet, Beakbert the turtle!
And further catching up on more wowhead. Still not caught up on the pages the alpha had set me behind, since it keeps on going, but I did now reach the start of the alpha, which means a lot of the articles should be a bit shorter.
Along the way I also found the announcement for those statues I mentioned earlier, so good timing :slight_smile:
And that's it for Blizzard!
For Total Annihilation I got another 7 levels further. They weren't too tough now, but I had a bit less time on my hands, so the progress was still similar.
Made my way through the annoying meteor showers of Rougpelt, and made it to a moon with no metal to mine, but a graveyard of metal to reclaim. Not that I needed much of it, since enemy troops were limited and I just made my way through the long windy map until they were all gone.
Interesting AI though; I would move to a ridge and spot the enemy on my radar retreat to the next ridge every time until they all piled up in the end. The AI is never that defensive, so maybe they made an exception for this level.
Anyway, to level 21 now, the first level of the last world, Core Prime :slight_smile: Resistance is high, but this world has infinite metal, so can just churn out troops more easily. Should be fun to complete the campaign this way :slight_smile:
And that's my report for the week!
VardaToday at 8:30 PM
Thank you, Phar. : )

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