Valar Guild Meeting Minutes

Sunday, September 8, 2024

5:00pm Eastern Time

Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place

Before-Meeting

September 5, 2024

[11:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: So I've tried a couple of Delves in WoW now. Seems fun enough. Too bad their Horrific Visions back in BFA was a false start that led into Torgast, but It looks like they expect these to be rewarding and provide a challenge for < 5 people, and it looks like they intend to support it, so I'll be warily optimistic.

[11:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: And the transition from world to Delve and back is pretty smooth too.

September 8, 2024

[4:01 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya All! Are we meeting today?

[4:03 PM]Eönwë Valar: Yes, down at the local creek. We're gonna fish up some crawdads and make us a gumbo.

[4:03 PM]Sandalf13: Sounds tasty. Locally grown rice?

[4:03 PM]Varda: Aiya

[4:04 PM]Varda: With jalapenos : )

[4:04 PM]Sandalf13: But of course!

[4:04 PM]Varda: Eonwe, I'd like to pass the gavel to you today, as I'm not at home and therefore may be iffy.

[4:05 PM]Varda: Arien expects to be a bit late, work-related.

[4:05 PM]Varda: If it's not a good time for you to take the gavel, I'll give it a shot. : )

[4:05 PM]Eönwë Valar: Depends on who gets to pick the locale. Phar's in the Netherlands, Vard and I in Texas, Arien's in Scotland. So sure, it's gonna be local to somewhere.

[4:05 PM]Varda: hehe

[4:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!

[4:06 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Ar!

[4:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Denmark?

[4:06 PM]Varda: Aiya : )

[4:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm in the Netherlands

[4:06 PM]Sandalf13: The Netherlands, aka Hollan

[4:06 PM]Eönwë Valar: Fixed :}

[4:06 PM]Eönwë Valar: Was thinking Irmo.

[4:06 PM]Varda: Not exactly the same but close

[4:06 PM]Sandalf13: Dutch is nothing like Danish...

[4:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Er, not Irmo. I know someone was from Denmark and now I don't remember who, heh.

[4:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: To be fair, when we watch Danish shows there is a bit of Dutch-like in there... and German, and English...

[4:07 PM]Sandalf13: Beowulf

[4:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hamlet?

[4:07 PM]Varda: Irmo was Netherlands

[4:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Elatan, there we go.

[4:08 PM]Varda: Elatan/Amillo was Denmark. What you said. : )

[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: OK, so I've been asked to chair, and so chair I will :} (edited)

[4:09 PM]Varda: Yay!

[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: Swings chair around

[4:09 PM]Sandalf13: Chair away!

[4:10 PM]Varda: Careful of that third button on the right arm of the chair. Rocket launchers.

[4:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: OK, so here we go!.

Meeting Starts

[4:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: Elen Sila Lumenn Omentielvo!

Membership

[4:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: Membership:

[4:11 PM]Sandalf13: Chair away, chair away...we must bear all chairs away...room we need for a meeting today...our talk today to keep the gloom away...

[4:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Ere break of day.

[4:12 PM]Varda: Sauron's reek has no chance at this table, except maybe for the pipe-smoking.

[4:12 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya all

[4:12 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Arien!

[4:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!

[4:12 PM]Eönwë Valar: For the attendance, everyone here say Nienna.

[4:12 PM]Varda: Aiya Sunshine!

[4:12 PM]Varda: Nienna

[4:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Good, I won't have to hurry in-game to warn you

[4:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Nienna

[4:12 PM]Varda: More's the Pity

[4:13 PM]Varda: She is Compassion. We thank her for her work.

[4:13 PM]Arien Valar: NIENNA

[4:14 PM]Sandalf13: Nienna?

[4:14 PM]Eönwë Valar: OK, so for the roll today we have: Eonwë, Varda, Pharazon, Arien, Sandalf.

[4:15 PM]Arien Valar: oops caps. Typing on mobile rather

[4:15 PM]Varda: Nienna article

[4:15 PM]Eönwë Valar: As a reward, you get this: YouTube - Niënna

[4:16 PM]Sandalf13: There was some snow in the High Country this past week...above 12,000 feet...got down to 49 Grad F her ein Thornton last night...Fall is on the way! Yay!

[4:16 PM]Arien Valar: Shume notavailable for me

[4:17 PM]Eönwë Valar: Try this: YouTube - Oonagh - Nienna

[4:17 PM]Varda: Try the url above the image, rather than in the image.

[4:17 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm, after several weeks of nearly 30 celsius, things are finally heading into fall here as well, only 15 in a few days. 4:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: And if that doesn't work, try the nightcore warrior anime girl version.

[4:19 PM]Varda: Gandalf was fond of Nienna

[4:19 PM]Sandalf13: He sure was...

[4:20 PM]Varda: In a Maia and Vala way, not a romance.

[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Any other Membership News?

[4:21 PM]Arien Valar: Very nice song

[4:21 PM]Sandalf13: Es ist auch auf Deutsch, nicht wahr?

[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: Isn't it though? First song I heard by Oonagh. Now I have 3 cds, heh.

[4:22 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well this one is in Elvish, but most of her other songs are in German, yes.

[4:22 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well, I guess this one is a hybrid rather.

[4:23 PM]Arien Valar: Aye sandalf and I thi k the singer cooperates with Faun at times

[4:24 PM]Arien Valar: And year its both gjerman and sinjalin ithink?

[4:24 PM]Arien Valar: Sindarin

[4:25 PM]Eönwë Valar: I think it's supposed to be Quenya.

[4:25 PM]Sandalf13: I would have to see the lyrics in..I, for one, cannot hear it well enough to tell....

[4:25 PM]Sandalf13: in print

[4:26 PM]Eönwë Valar: Off the top of my head, Sindarin would shift s > th in most words.

[4:26 PM]Arien Valar: Okay quenya then makes sense ..I heard the word Eldaliw

[4:26 PM]Arien Valar: Eldalie

[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: As much as we could sit here and discuss the song for the meeting, we must carry on :}

[4:27 PM]Varda: Onwards!

Web

[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: Web:

[4:27 PM]Sandalf13: Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
(from Kansas)

[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Nothing, yet.

Gaming

[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Gaming:

World of Warcraft:

[4:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft:

[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: Season 1 goes live September 10th, and with it the first raid: Nerub-ar Palace.

[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out the new blog Going Solo in World of Warcraft: A Hero’s Journey.

[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: Alot's coming with the 20th Anniversary celebration.

[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: Included in that update will be the chance to player a Dracthyr as something other than an Evoker. The Dracthyr Spread their Wings to New Classes

[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out This Week in WoW for anything not mentioned above.

[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out this week's hotfixes.

Hearthstone:

[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hearthstone:

[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: A new mini-set is coming: The Travelling Travel Agency.

[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ragnaros is coming with patch 30.4.

Diablo IV:

[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo 4: Check out the recent patch notes.

Diablo Immortal:

[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo Immortal:

[The next major update, Crucible of Justice, comes out September 11th.

Lord of the Rings Online:

[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: Lord of the Rings Online: Update 41.2.1 came out this week.

[4:36 PM]Eönwë Valar: Any other gaming news?

[4:36 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Nerubar Palace for those who want to learn the new WoW raid's fights in a simplified browsergame

[4:39 PM]Arien Valar: Got very lucky on my cata Hunter to get the Storm drake Mount from vORTEX PINNACLE normal

[4:39 PM]Varda: I have some LotRO news:

[4:39 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online kin players within the last 14 days:

Landroval branch (main, RP-encouraged):

Crickhollow branch: (regular)

Mordor branch (EU, 64-bit, legendary but could be permanent test, wraiths test):

Angmar branch (US, 64-bit test, legendary, wraiths test):

Treebeard branch (US legendary, slow lvl test):

[4:39 PM]Varda: and grats, Arien : )

[4:40 PM]Arien Valar: Thanks

[4:40 PM]Varda: Mordor only says getting in line to connect. Does it work for you, Arien?

[4:40 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Grats, Arien!

[4:40 PM]Varda: (and failed to launch client, again just now)

[4:41 PM]Varda: sends Arien on her Storm Drake Mount to check out Mordor

[4:42 PM]Varda: Oh, and Starcraft this week: Eowyn, Fangorn, and Floppa have been gaming together. Faramir also playing but with others.

[4:43 PM]Arien Valar: Got dcd several times on Mordor but launched all right so I played either on Angmar or crickhollow

[4:45 PM]Arien Valar: I got a bit fed up with the wraiths I fear

[4:45 PM]Varda: Me too, Arien.

[4:45 PM]Sandalf13: I really, really, really wish I could learn to play with all of you someday...sounds like a lot of fun.

[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: We all started somewhere.

[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: If you were going to pick a spot to learn, LotRO certainly has the best price point at Free to Play, heh.

[4:47 PM]Eönwë Valar: Don't think I'd start with the Mordor server though.

[4:47 PM]Eönwë Valar: Though I'm pretty sure that's behind the paywall.

[4:48 PM]Arien Valar: They are only for pay options .vip as they callit

[4:49 PM]Varda: Mordor server is for Europe.

[4:49 PM]Varda: The legendaries are behind a pay wall, including Mordor.

[4:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heh, almost 20 years later, still some of the best 200 bucks I've spent was for lifetime membership on LotRO.

[4:49 PM]Varda: Landroval still the best.

[4:49 PM]Varda: Same, Eonwe!

[4:50 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm, if they'd had that for WoW... must've spent thousands on subscription.

[4:50 PM]Arien Valar: aye to that!

[4:50 PM]Varda: Other servers will be moved to 64-bit in the future. Expensive, so it will take a while.

[4:50 PM]Varda: The lifetime sub was only at the start. Gave the game seed money.

[4:51 PM]Varda: But the monthly is inexpensive. : )

[4:51 PM]Eönwë Valar: They did sell it a couple more times.

[4:51 PM]Eönwë Valar: For 300 instead of 200.

[4:52 PM]Arien Valar: I ll have to call it very soon

[4:53 PM]Eönwë Valar: One more piece of business before we move on to Tolkien:

[4:54 PM]Arien Valar: Can I ger five Mins Tolkien please

[4:54 PM]Eönwë Valar: The GSMU mails will go out to Full Members later tonight or tomorrow. Once they do I'll take responses by e-mail or Discord. As always please respond by September 30th.

Tolkien

[4:55 PM]Eönwë Valar: Tolkien:

[4:55 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ok Arien, what do you want to discuss? :}

[4:56 PM]Arien Valar: ISTari? Always a good topic

[4:57 PM]Eönwë Valar: OK, Istari: Let's start with where are all the hundreds of Istari shooting lazer beams?

[4:57 PM]Varda: looks around. Nothing

[4:58 PM]Arien Valar: Hehe ....

[4:58 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, they're also ninjas, right? No wonder you can't see them!

[4:58 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ninja Wizards. I knew it!

[4:58 PM]Sandalf13: Ninja Istaris...sounds like the title of a good graphic novel.

[4:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: Put them in space and we could have an interesting three sci-fi movies.

[4:59 PM]Varda: It was a meme with Boromir talking about it.

[4:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: cough

[4:59 PM]Arien Valar: wandering around with lost memories which they have to find in time..

[5:00 PM]Eönwë Valar: Aye, but they at least knew their mission.

[5:01 PM]Arien Valar: As pictured in the Amazon series by the way

[5:01 PM]Sandalf13: Gandalf in his younger days, practicing in the Gardens of Lorien...

[Image of ninja practice]

[5:02 PM]Arien Valar: but. ..but Namarie for me

[5:02 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!

[5:03 PM]Eönwë Valar: Everyone else in the gardens of Lorien: YouTube - Kung Fu Panda - Inner Peace

[5:03 PM]Arien Valar: night is too short as it is

[5:03 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie, Arien

[5:03 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sleep well Arien.

[5:03 PM]Varda: Namarie Arien : )

[5:03 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The sun complaining about short nights, eh?

[5:04 PM]Eönwë Valar: The solution complaining there's a problem? :}

[5:04 PM]Eönwë Valar: "Just stay in the sky longer!"

[5:04 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: hehe

[5:04 PM]Varda: The stars like coming out. : )

[5:06 PM]Varda: Istari: Five in number. Who were they?

[5:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Curufin, Mithrandir, Radagast...

[5:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Curunir

[5:07 PM]Sandalf13: Two Blues...Pallando, and one other...

[5:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Curufin was a son of Fëanor.

[5:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Right. Wrong Curu.

[5:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Alatar.

[5:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That's how you know I'm not taking it from a book

[5:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: hehe

[5:07 PM]Varda: : )

[5:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Then there was Bill and Ted.

[5:08 PM]Sandalf13: There exists an entire online mythology about the fate of the Blue Wizards...

[5:08 PM]Varda: That's why we have to stick to the books. : )

[5:09 PM]Sandalf13: Most of it is, IMHO, simply garbage.

[5:10 PM]Varda: Ok, so using the more well-known names: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey (later White), Radagast the Brown, the Blue Wizards Alatar and Pallando.

[5:10 PM]Varda: What was their original mission?

[5:10 PM]Eönwë Valar: Al and Pal.

[5:10 PM]Varda: : )

[5:12 PM]Eönwë Valar: Mission: to rally the Free Peopls of Middle-Earth to stand against Sauron.

[5:12 PM]Sandalf13: To succor the dwellers of Middle-earth, both Elves, Men, and Dwarves...succor...i love that word. Had to get it in, somehow.

[5:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: To boldly go where.. I mean... yes, what Sandalf said

[5:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And Eonwe.

[5:13 PM]Eönwë Valar: And to do that, a single messenger was sent by the Valar to hand out 19 magic rings to 19 special people... Oh wait, that's Sauron's propoganda.

[5:13 PM]Sandalf13: Disinformation from Vladimir Putin, no doubt.

[5:14 PM]Sandalf13: I have often wondered with social website Sauron would use to present his viewpoints...

[5:14 PM]Eönwë Valar: All of them.

[5:14 PM]Eönwë Valar: Either they would agree with him and let them use them, or they'd be the kind to let everyone express their opinion so he could use them anyway.

[5:14 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Palantir dot com.

[5:17 PM]Sandalf13: Sort of like Darth Vader just doing his best to get through the day...

[5:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: OK, I think this is a good spot to call it.

[5:19 PM]Varda: So, they came in the guise of old men, to advise rather than lead, to aid the free people against Sauron. A Maia enemy to them was just too much.

[5:20 PM]Varda: callling

[5:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Raises gavel into the air.

[5:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Bangs gavel.

After-Meeting

[5:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Aftermeeting:

[5:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: Feel free to continue chat.

[5:23 PM]Sandalf13: Labor Day Weekend Hike up Apex Peak, in the Foothills...

[5:31 PM]Varda: I must away. : ) Will read the rest later!

[5:31 PM]Sandalf13: on that note....such as it is, I must bid you all a temporary Namarie, until I return to read Ar's report...Namarie!

[5:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: YouTube - Cowboy Bebop OST 3 Blue - Call Me Call Me

[5:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!

[5:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: YouTube - Cowboy Bebop - The Real Folk Blues ending theme

[5:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: Some music to enjoy.

[5:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: I too must be off.

[5:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: Take care all, good night, sleep well, and have fun.

[5:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie

[5:39 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And I'll add YouTube - Cowboy Bebop OST - Tank! to the mix

[10:56 PM]Varda: Mordor server works for me now. : )

[11:57 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:

[11:57 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, here's Deep Forest

[11:59 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A short-ish adventure/puzzle game wherein you're a witch living in a forest. When your squirrel friend goes missing, it leads to a nightmare corrupting the forest and the animal spirits. Use your abilities and items found through the forest to cleanse them and end the nightmare!

September 9, 2024

[12:00 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I advise you to use your first pure water to unlock the cave to the right, where you can get a permanent magic bottle. Saves you a lot of backtracking

[12:04 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:

[12:05 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone: Level 80 on the reward track now. It's all gold reward from here.

[12:06 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Continuing on the quest event, only the third main quest remains, and then I'll need about 600 xp worth of daily quests.

[12:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got enough gold to buy a new hero skin, and went for the warrior skin Goulash Garrosh, since I like the food theme. I'm thinking the food items are not so much tied to the class or character as much as just a pun

[12:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But still got enough gold for the next mini-set when it comes out!

[12:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl is Brawl of Gaudiness: Choose a class, get a random deck. All cards are half the cost, but you can only play 2 per turn.

[12:10 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Rather less combos possible in this one, and I'd recommend druid as those tend to have the most expensive cards, though I'd say most classes are viable with a bit of luck.

[12:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: No new collection level this week. Things are really starting to slow down now, with almost every mini to uncommon quality and also nearly all of them on at least level 18, after which experience gets quite slow.

[12:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Indeed, there have been no quality upgrades or talents acquired this week.

[12:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: What doesn't help is that I spent most of my gold supply on a legendary core tied to the weekly Blingtron event. But I thought it was worth it since they're so difficult to find

[12:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But being tied to the event does mean it might become more frequent in the future. That'd be nice, and take the pressure off of spending so much gold at this point.

[12:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In the dungeon, got my second undead leader, Thalnos, from level 5 to 17. Bit of a silly deck with lots of spells to make use of his power, though it's a bit fragile, and unless I change in a way I've not figured out yet, it'll take a few more levels on Thalnos before I can continue higher. At least I've got all his slots on silver now and a few on gold.

[12:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And in the new Cenarius dungeon week, also doing well, having gotten through levels 18 and 19 on Cenarius himself. Don't think I'll get much higher this week, but it's progress!

[12:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Today I got a dungeon perk that boosted healing for every nearby Cenarion unit, which meant that my selfsustaining deathball only became more selfsustaining as it grew Bosses didn't stand a chance once I got going!

[12:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And in the heroic sigil campaign, defeated Maiev with all families, and the final Ashenvale boss, Raene Wolfrunner, with 3 of the 5. Raene was already annoying on normal, and on heroic she's giving me some trouble despite still being 3-4 levels lower than my minis are, especially with the huntresses. I have hopes that further bosses might be a bit easier again, but if not, I might be starting to hit a bit of a wall here

[12:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: 109 sigils got now!

[12:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:

[12:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: No raiding or weekly quest yet. Raids will activate this week, but I'm not high enough level yet for either activity anyway.

[12:27 AM]Varda: (Namarie - back tomorrow!)

[12:27 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I have started the new expansion now, though. Not very quickly, as my tiredness is only just now starting to clear up after a week or two.

[12:28 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie

[12:28 AM]Varda: ugh. Glad you're better

[12:28 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It helps that the heat is receding!

[12:28 AM]Varda: True!

[12:29 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Anyway, did the intro questline with Dalaran, cleared the Earthen capital of Dornogal of nerubians, and did some exploring of the city and its npcs.

[12:29 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: After that I headed for the town of Freywold, recruiting some more Earthen, and unlocking Delves.

[12:30 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Now ready to leave the town again in pursuit of a flock of more flying nerubians

[12:31 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And I reached level 72 along the way, getting into the hero talents for feral. Looking good so far!

[12:32 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As for delves, I'm liking it. Did the first delve on difficulties 1 and 2, while leveling companion Brann to 5. Going to be fun to see him get stronger and tackle some harder delves along the way. Though I think I need level 80 to advance past tier 3.

[12:32 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: They're like mini-dungeons or scenarios that you can solo with an npc companion

[12:33 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So next week we'll try to finish the Isle of Dorn and then use the Coreway to go underground, maybe finding a few more delve locations!

[12:34 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week

[12:34 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!

Thus ends this week's meeting. Come back and see us next week!