Sunday, November 3, 2024
5:00pm Eastern Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
Attending (7): Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Eonwe, Leod, Sandalf, Shelob, Varda (presiding)
[October 28, 2024
[11:02 AM]Varda: Happy belated Navy Day to Sandalf, for yesterday!
[October 29, 2024
[1:03 PM]Sandalf13: Thank you! I am in Boise ID on business...got here a day early to miss a snowstorm tracking across Utah and souther Wyoming...will tour the town today, do my work tomorrow, and head back to Brigham City, UT tomorrow....spend the night, and arrive home in Thornton on Thursday,...just in time to give out Halloween treats to the local kids.
[6:43 PM]Varda: Busy guy! Sounds great.
[9:43 PM]Eönwë Valar: For those who need a dose of bass in their music: YouTube - MONSTER MASH | Low Bass Singer Cover | Geoff Castellucci
[9:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: YouTube - GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY | Low Bass Singer Cover | Geoff Castellucci
[9:56 PM]Eönwë Valar: Also YouTube - SONG OF DURIN | Bass Singer Cover | Geoff Castellucci
[10:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well that was interesting. Took the portal from Tanaris to Stormwind and was dropped into the ocean east of the Burning Steppes. One would think I took a boat.
[October 30, 2024
[8:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm, some sort of disturbance in the leylines, perhaps!
[October 31, 2024
[4:26 AM]Eönwë Valar: Hmm, happened a second time. Something must be going on.
[9:30 AM]Eönwë Valar: OK, something's going on with the portal. It's alot more than me experiencing it.
[November 3, 2024
[11:46 AM]Varda: Time change in the USA today, and therefore Valar Time which is based on Eastern time.
[11:47 AM]Varda: (We had an extra hour to sleep, this morning, yay! No, I'm not in Eastern! We used to have mostly EST folk in the guild. Times change!)
[11:49 AM]Varda: 2 A.M. became 1 A.M.
[12:48 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: YouTube - Garrosh Hellscream: Times Change
[3:37 PM]Sandalf13: Sorry to be a party pooper, but we are expecting our first real snow storm on the Front Range this evening, and I have got to get a lot of stuff in the garden cleaned up before it gets here...lots of work to do while the sun shines, so I shall try to join in again later. Namarie and sei gesund, for now!!!
[3:37 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Good luck!
[3:39 PM]Sandalf13: Meeting_place
[3:39 PM]Sandalf13: Ar saw it already
[3:39 PM]Sandalf13:
[3:40 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V:
[3:40 PM]Varda: Aiya. Thanks, Sandalf
[3:40 PM]Varda: Good luck!
[3:45 PM]Varda: Fifteen minutes until meeting time, for our new time. : )
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya!
[4:00 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[4:00 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya
[4:00 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend Valar Guild meeting time! Huzzah! Come chat gaming and Tolkien, and make your wishes known!
[4:01 PM]Léod: Aiya!
[4:01 PM]Varda: Congratulations on manueuvering past the time zone craziness!
[4:01 PM]Varda: Aiya Phar, Arien, and Leod
[4:01 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:01 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:02 PM]Varda: We have some really great people here. Happy to have met you all.
[4:02 PM]Varda: Hi to Fangorn, lurking and in LotRO.
[4:02 PM]Varda: Sandalf is out saving his crops ahead of the predicted snowstorm.
[4:03 PM]Varda: Any other membership news? Sightings of Valarites?
[4:03 PM]Varda: Web:
[4:04 PM]Varda: We have a new story from our illustrious Arien, thank you!
[4:04 PM]Léod: I saw someone in Valar on Angmar, but I can't remember who it was.
[4:04 PM]Varda: Might have been me.
[4:04 PM]Varda: "Out with you! - a wight's report" by Arien-(Valar), emailed Oct. 31, 2024. The Barrow-downs incident from the wight point of view.
[4:04 PM]Varda: Stand-alone short story for the 27th Anniversary of the Valar Guild, great for Halloween as well.
[4:05 PM]Varda: Out with you! - A wight's report The Barrow-down wight's point of view.
[4:05 PM]Léod: I don't think it was you, this time.
[4:05 PM]Léod: That sounds like a fun read!
[4:06 PM]Varda: When I went to Angmar today, I didn't even see the Leod in the past week's kin list. Did you come on today?
[4:06 PM]Varda: It is! Not very long, enjoy!
[4:07 PM]Arien Valar: I had fun writing it Wish i was a bit less complicated with my sentences but . ah well it is not too bad i think
[4:07 PM]Léod: Maybe it was on Landroval. Sorry. I've had a rough week and my memory may be a bit flawed.
[4:08 PM]Varda: You did fine, Arien. : )
[4:08 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: At least you're sure it's the right game
[4:08 PM]Varda: No worries, Leod. I go into each branch and check the list for the weekly report.
[4:09 PM]Varda: Arien, we are all Tolkien readers here. We might be able to handle the occasional complicated sentence. No worries!
[4:09 PM]Varda: and I'm in a rut, hah.
[4:10 PM]Varda: On to
[4:10 PM]Varda: Gaming!
[4:11 PM]Varda: Eonwe is not currently present, so I'll check his notes to pass along to everyone.
[4:11 PM]Varda: Feel free to make a comment if you think you can add to that game's news, or add another game.
[4:12 PM]Varda: Eve Online:
[4:12 PM]Varda: Pallando just messaged as he's traveling. He says an expansion comes out next week.
[4:12 PM]Varda: Tuesday.
[4:13 PM]Varda: World of Warcraft:
[4:13 PM]Varda: The Darkmoon Faire is going this week! Grab that extra profession knowledge and extra 10% exp and rep for your alts!
[4:13 PM]Varda: Content Update 11.0.7 is up on the PTR.
[4:13 PM]Varda: The War Within PTR: 11.0.7 Content Update
[4:14 PM]Varda: Check out November's Trading Post.
[4:14 PM]Varda: It’s an Anniversary Celebration at the November Trading Post!
[4:14 PM]Varda: The Rage of the Firelands patch for Cataclysm Classic is live. Firelands opens Thursday.
[4:15 PM]Varda: (In the meeting, you get to see all these nifty images!)
[4:15 PM]Varda: Season of Discovery Phase 6 begins November 21st.
[4:15 PM]Varda: Check out This Week in WoW for anything not mentioned above.
[4:16 PM]Varda: Check out this week's hotfixes. Among them are increases to the amount of bronze tokens earned, so go get them and get all the anniversary stuff you can!
[4:16 PM]Varda: Any other WoW news you'd like to add?
[4:17 PM]Varda: Diablo 4:
[4:17 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Few more days of Hallow's End, get your stuff!
[4:17 PM]Varda: Ahh, thanks!
[4:17 PM]Varda: A new blog is out: A Crucible for All— Accessibility features in Vessel of Hatred.
[4:18 PM]Varda: Hearthstone:
[4:18 PM]Varda: Patch 31.0 is out.
[4:18 PM]Varda: 31.0 Patch Notes Blast off into The Great Dark Beyond!
[4:18 PM]Varda: The rewards track will be refreshed with the launch of The Great Dark Beyond on November 5th.
[4:19 PM]Varda: Warcraft Rumble:
[4:19 PM]Varda: If you play, don't forget to log in for the anniversary goodies.
[4:19 PM]Varda: Blizzard says Get Rady to Lay Siege to Ironforge.
[4:19 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmhm, there's some portraits in there, always nice!
[4:19 PM]Varda: : )
[4:20 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The anniversary goodies that is.
[4:20 PM]Varda: Diablo Immortal:
[4:20 PM]Varda: A new patch is out.
[4:20 PM]Varda: Regale in the Winds of Fortune limited-time event.
[4:21 PM]Varda: Starcraft 2:
[4:21 PM]Varda: There's an update on the patch 5.0.14 PTR.
[4:22 PM]Varda: Starcraft 2 gamers this past week that I know of: Eowyn, Fangorn, Faramir, Floppa.
[4:22 PM]Varda: Anyone else?
[4:23 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:23 PM]Varda: Tome of tracking, Oct 31-Nov 7 Code: ONTHETRAIL
[4:23 PM]Varda: (Nice if you'e playing not-the-Hunter.)
[4:23 PM]Varda: and for Leod:
[4:23 PM]Varda: Valarites that showed up in kin this past week:
[4:24 PM]Varda:
Landroval branch
Crickhollow branch:
Treebeard branch:
Angmar branch:
Mordor branch:
[4:24 PM]Varda: Leod, anyone familiar on Landy or Crick that you might have been thinking of?
[4:25 PM]Léod: I'm looking.
[4:25 PM]Léod: Nar or Arien, maybe?
[4:26 PM]Arien Valar: not me i fear :/ I havent been on Angmar or Mordor in a while .. just cant get friends with the wraiths popping up every 20 minutes or more
[4:26 PM]Léod: I meant on Landy.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya all. Sorry, got caught up in a task that needed completed. Still not done, but far enough along to be here, heh.
[4:27 PM]Varda: Those wraiths are annoying, aye!
[4:27 PM]Varda: Aiya Eonwe
[4:27 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[4:27 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Eonwe
[4:28 PM]Léod: Honestly, I am tired of the wraiths too. I get on Angmar to avoid lag, then go back to Landy to avoid wraiths.
[4:28 PM]Varda: hehe - I very much understand.
[4:28 PM]Varda: Mordor and Angmar are great for that 64-bit. Really ready for it for our other servers!
[4:29 PM]Arien Valar: one wraith every hour .. and then maybe as group event as one of the nine and their one of rthe nine events like every what .. 5 times a day maybe?
[4:29 PM]Varda: I wonder if they copy us over, or it's going to be the usual transfer. Yikes.
[4:29 PM]Varda: Seems like a lot more than one hour.
[@Léod
[Honestly, I am tired of the wraiths too. I get on Angmar to avoid lag, then go back to Landy to avoid wraiths.k
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Going to another dimension is quite a way to avoid wraiths.
[4:29 PM]Varda: I have a lot of characters.
[4:30 PM]Léod: DDO is trying something similar with a single 64 bit server. I think it has more lag than the normal ones.
[4:30 PM]Arien Valar: i mean that would be my suggestion for improvements ^^
[4:30 PM]Arien Valar: or to make it more bearable
[4:30 PM]Varda: We are Valarites. We can do this!
[4:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: More Beornable.
[4:31 PM]Varda: Just keep the big wraith events. Those are cool. The little ones make no sense. They should be hunting the One Ring.
[4:31 PM]Arien Valar: aye sounds good enough
[4:31 PM]Varda: Any other gaming news? We are at the half hour, about to move to Tolkien.
[4:32 PM]Varda: (I wound up with an excess of topics, heh.)
[@Varda
[Just keep the big wraith events. Those are cool. The little ones make no sense. They should be hunting the One Ring.
[4:32 PM]Léod: Absolutely true. I have seen others make the same argument.
[4:32 PM]Varda: Anyone need invites, stuff in the kin house, a kin house?
[4:32 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Enough to carry us through the rest of the year?
[4:32 PM]Varda: O good. Maybe they will listen then.
[4:33 PM]Varda: Phar, JRRT did that for us. : )
[4:33 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Very true!
[4:33 PM]Léod: Tolkien Let's Goooo!
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Isn't the idea of the events that somehow someone has a lesser ring?
[4:33 PM]Varda: They do, actually. To win the big events, one of the players is supposed to have a ring.
[4:34 PM]Varda: On to
[4:34 PM]Varda: Tolkien!
[4:34 PM]Varda: Here's one to start us off:
[4:34 PM]Varda: Corruption seems to be one of the many themes, at least to me.
[4:34 PM]Varda: Yes? No? Example of something that might look theme-like in Corruption?
[4:35 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, it applied to a lot of people. Starting with some Ainur, then some elves and men, at least one more ainur...
[4:36 PM]Arien Valar: corruption of forests .. the Great forest that used to be from the old forest to Mirkwood , thining of the trees and The old man willow
[4:36 PM]Varda: So starting early on... : )
[4:36 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Melkor was the ur-corruptee, after straying into the void from Eru and starting to get some big ideas.
[4:36 PM]Varda: and you see a continuance. That sounds like a theme.
[4:38 PM]Arien Valar: aye minor spirits to become Wights , more powerful to be Balrogs or super powerful one like Sauron who became Morgoth s lieutenant
[4:38 PM]Léod: A more simple and easier to understand due to parallels with our own world is Lotho Sackville-Baggins.
[4:39 PM]Léod: His corruption came through the simple desire for power over others.
[4:39 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yep, that's how it starts. Seeing other people as targets.
[4:39 PM]Varda: True
[4:41 PM]Varda: People are to love, protect, help. Target? whoops.
[4:41 PM]Arien Valar: Saruman used this for his advantage , aye , and he himself became corrupted through his studies of the enemy , maybe? or, he being a Maia , was a shadow of corruption in his heart before from Morgoth and that developped in what it became?
[4:41 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: To be fair, it can start as a desire to protect and help.
[4:41 PM]Varda: True both
[@Varda
[People are to love, protect, help. Target? whoops.
[4:41 PM]Eönwë Valar: Target with love? Coconut creme pies? :}
[4:42 PM]Varda: Saruman studied the Rings, grew despairing from Sauron's bias on the Palantir news, and fell.
[4:42 PM]Varda: passes out coconut creme pies. Happen to be online on a cook.
[4:43 PM]Léod: Anyone think that since the rings of power tended to enhance what is already in someones essence, that Saurman's ring furthered his own corruption?
[4:43 PM]Arien Valar: yummy coconut creme pies
[4:43 PM]Eönwë Valar: I think the fact he made one was already a strong sign of his tendencies.
[4:44 PM]Varda: Using any of Sauron's rings was a disaster. He had his "backdoor" installed just in the directions on how to make them.
[4:44 PM]Léod: I agree. I think it's possible that once he took possession of the ring he made, it made him more corrupt faster than he would have been corrupted otherwise.
[4:44 PM]Varda: Saruman tried to make his own, but if he was using Sauron's directions, it was already hacked.
[4:44 PM]Varda: Exactly.
[4:45 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Built in molecularly
[4:45 PM]Varda: Sure, why not? : )
[4:46 PM]Léod: And we know, he was using the ring-lore that Sauron had taught as Annatar.
[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: The risks of using someone else's software library instead of coding from scratch, heh.
[4:46 PM]Arien Valar: well if you re gonna use plans made by the master of corruption .. i mean the result is somewhat predictable
[4:46 PM]Léod: Yes indeed.
[4:47 PM]Varda: Here's another:
[4:47 PM]Varda: Why can we call the plot of The Lord of the Rings a "reverse quest"?
[4:48 PM]Varda: Might help to define a "quest" first.
[4:48 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A quest traditionally requires a target... there's that word again... something to retrieve. Beren's quest for the Silmaril, for example.
[4:48 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: LotR was about getting rid of something, instead.
[4:48 PM]Varda: So Beren went to retrieve a Silmaril. (Got greedy and owie.)
[4:48 PM]Varda: Aye!
[4:48 PM]Léod: Awww... I was going to say that Ar-Pharazon!
[4:49 PM]Varda: Sauron, using his "knights", is the one doing an actual quest.
[4:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: Interesting take.
[4:49 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Bilbo's journey was a quest, partially, since treasure was part of the goal, indeed the Arkenstone was a mostly unspoken of prize.
[4:49 PM]Varda: (Wiki suggestion. I liked it and passing it on.)
[4:50 PM]Léod: Very true, so not only were they trying to destroy the "treasure" that they possessed, but they had to keep the "knights" from completing theirs.
[4:50 PM]Varda: "To find our long-forgotten gold" as the song goes, aye.
[4:50 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In fact, I remember from the history of LotR that Tolkien briefly considered the book to be another quest for treasure as Bilbo could have "run out", but then switched to something more dire instead. Reversing the quest, indeed.
[4:51 PM]Varda: Interesting. He was running out, it seemed. I'll bet he reloaded now and then, as from the Troll stash.
[4:51 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: True 🙂
[4:52 PM]Varda: With that long a life, that big house, and all those dependent on him like the Gaffer's family, he must have used a good bit, even while making money.
[4:53 PM]Eönwë Valar: A quest can also be to defeat someone or something, i.e, a dragon, the Dark Overlords of the Universe, or save a princess. You Tube - HOWARD THE DUCK (1986) The Dark Overlord
[HD] Marvel The quest was to defeat Sauron by proxy.
[4:53 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: He was already quite well off before his adventure, though.
[4:53 PM]Varda: Aye
[4:53 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Even still, he lived a long time to spend it 🙂
[4:54 PM]Léod: Well Gandalf had the quest of defeating Sauron, though inspiring and motivating the Free Peoples and countering Sauron's activities and goals. So while he was on the reverse quest he was completing his own personal one.
[4:56 PM]Varda: That's true. Multiple quests going.
[4:56 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Full log!
[4:57 PM]Léod: LOL!
[4:57 PM]Varda: One more before the hour hits...
[4:57 PM]Eönwë Valar: The quest to defeat Sauron required a reverse quest to lose a treasure. Perhaps not too dissimilar from crossing the streams to save the world: YouTube - Ghostbusters - Don't Cross The Streams
[4:57 PM]Léod: Oh my gosh! LOL
[4:57 PM]Varda: We keep hearing about themes. JRRT put it to rest for what the main theme was in two letters:
[4:57 PM]Varda: Nice, heh
[4:58 PM]Varda: #203
But I should say, if asked, the tale is not really about Power and Dominion: that only sets the wheels going; it is about Death and the desire for deathlessness. Which is hardly more than to say it is a tale written by a Man!
[4:58 PM]Varda: #211
It is mainly concerned with Death, and Immortality; and the 'escapes': serial longevity, and hoarding memory.
[4:59 PM]Varda: You said never to cross the streams...
[5:00 PM]Eönwë Valar: There's definitely a slim chance we could live.
[5:00 PM]Léod: Wow, I honestly never thought of it that way. In the Simarillion it was a huge theme with the Numenorians.
[5:00 PM]Léod: But in LotR I never thought of it. I can see it now though.
[5:01 PM]Varda: The escapes.
[5:01 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I know the Ring itself embodies that. I suppose the Elven desire to conserve their lands and ultimately having to say goodbye to the power of their Rings is also part of it.
[5:01 PM]Varda: The Rings had to be rendered powerless.
[5:02 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Indeed.
[5:02 PM]Varda: The elves were becoming stagnant, especially in Lorien.
[5:02 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In fact, change and saying goodbye is an important aspect of this theme.
[5:02 PM]Varda: Elrond allowed enough outsiders in to slow that down, but in the end, it was stagnation.
[5:02 PM]Varda: Moving on, aye.
[5:02 PM]Eönwë Valar: Aye, Phar. Even for the Elves, the Rings were about longevity: preserving their little corners of Middle-Earth from the hastening pace of the time of Men.
[5:03 PM]Varda: Hope keeps showing up for what would happen after. Death was a gift to move on to something greater.
[5:03 PM]Varda: By avoiding death, they avoided this great gift.
[5:03 PM]Léod: I think CIrdan was very aware of that, and realized that his ring would do more good if it was on an agent of change, rather than keeping the Gray Havens pristine forever.
[5:04 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Except for those who had been so corrupted in their efforts to avoid it, that when they eventually passed, Saruman and Sauron were blown away by the Valar... gift refused.
[5:04 PM]Léod: Cirdan even.
[5:04 PM]Varda: Good point about Cirdan. He handed over his ring to where it would be the most help.
[5:04 PM]Varda: The real meaning of "blown away"? : )
[5:05 PM]Eönwë Valar: Cirdan was one of the oldest Elves by then. Probably didn't bat an eye at a few millenium of change.
[5:06 PM]Léod: I've often thought Cirdan was the wisest of all the elves in Middle-Earth. He never went beyond his mandate, and stayed where he could be found if needed. He helped with advice and sometimes more, but never desired fame or power or even preservation.
[5:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Unlike Galadriel?
[5:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That was at Eonwe
[5:07 PM]Léod: Yes, unlike Galadriel. She was a force for good, for sure, but she, and others knew her limits.
[5:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: Galadriel was one of the first generations born in Aman. Cirdan was older, and we can't really be sure by how much.
[5:08 PM]Léod: Do we even know what house he was from?
[5:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: If memory serves, he was related to Elwë/Olwë, but I'd have to go digging to prove it.
[5:10 PM]Léod: I just read that.
[5:10 PM]Varda: (We are past the hour. Don't have to stop the chat, but...)
[5:11 PM]Varda: the hammerpad slips up to the shelf
[5:11 PM]Léod: I have to go. I loved this discussion. THanks to everyone for participating, and especially to Varda for coming up with the topics.
[5:11 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Good morning!
[5:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[5:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And Aiya
[5:11 PM]Varda: and bats a gavel that was listening to the chat
[5:11 PM]Varda: bop!
[5:11 PM]Varda: After-meeting:
[5:11 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Dangit!
[5:11 PM]Varda: Aiya Shelob. Just in ahead of the hammer!
[5:11 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Just late to grab the gavel and prevent it from being hammered by the pad.
[5:12 PM]Varda: Thank you, Leod, very interesting!
[5:12 PM]Arien Valar: aiya Spidey
[5:12 PM]Varda: Namarie, Leod
[5:12 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie, Leod
[5:12 PM]Varda: So, Cirdan. So old he could grow facial hair. : )
[5:13 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Ahh, the age all elves strive for, then.
[5:13 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: To leave Mandos for the 6th time after dying of injury... and think "Maybe I'll make it to beard-age this time"
[5:14 PM]Varda: And the dwarves laugh at them. : )
[5:14 PM]Varda: from the Halls of Mahal.
[5:14 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: "Hah! We grow them when we're 3!"
[5:15 PM]Varda: Even our girls grow beards!
[5:15 PM]Eönwë Valar: Yeah, that's about all we're sure of, but I could be wrong. Tolkien might've given his age somewhere in Nature of Middle-Earth. I suspect in the 12k+ range. Galadriel sits at about 9k if memory serves.
[5:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: To be fair, have we met any female elves old enough to disprove females can't grow them?
[5:16 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Galadriel?
[5:16 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: She might not quite be there yet!
[5:16 PM]Arien Valar: well if she was 3000 years younger than Cirdan then maybe she was not old enough yet?
[5:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: I think she was in that range, or on the cusp of it. If Elf women were going to grow beards, she'd have a 5 oclock shadow by now.
[5:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: She could be shaving.
[5:18 PM]Sandalf13: To go back to Ar's comment from earlier (as I just got back and was perusing the notes): To be fair, it can start as a desire to protect and help. Indeed, Gandalf said so himself, when Frodo offered him the Ring...almost word for word. Good on you,, Ar!
[5:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hah, I hadn't even noticed that, Sandalf And Aiya!
[5:19 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya right back at ya.
[5:19 PM]Arien Valar: i immediately thought of it as soon as you said it , Phari, but i didnt say it
[5:21 PM]Arien Valar: but as it is .. yawn it s getting time for the sun to go down .. well up .. flip i get confused with this
[5:21 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Under the covers.
[5:22 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie, Valarites , and uhu aye Phari upf in clouds ~
[5:22 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: namarie!
[5:22 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sleep well Arien.
[5:23 PM]Varda: Namarie
[5:24 PM]Varda: Aiya Sandalf : )
[5:24 PM]Varda: This is an interesting article on Celebrimbor (correction, meant to say Cirdan whom we were discussing). I haven't checked it all, but it reminds us we need our own article too. : )
[5:24 PM]Varda: Círdan
[5:25 PM]Varda: Aye. Gandalf had good sense. He knew the danger of the Ring and avoided it. Alas for Saruman.
[5:26 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In the end, I suppose Gandalf knew more about the Rings than Saruman.
[5:26 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Including "don't touch"
[5:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: Er, I see a mention of Celebrimbor, then an article on Cirdan....
[5:27 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I assume Celebrimbor was a slip 🙂
[5:28 PM]Sandalf13: One of the interesting choices that Tolkien offered his readers...what would you do if Frodo offered you the Ring? Something to ponder, heh?
[5:29 PM]Sandalf13: I know what I would like to do, but could I do it? If the situation requiring its use was dire enough?
[5:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: "Mom, I'm engaged!"
[5:29 PM]Sandalf13: Some things we do not know until the time comes to know it....
[5:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: Wrong answers only version: "Frodo offered me a ring? I'd be so giddy! Of course I'd say yes! He's so dreamy, and he's got a big house, and a gardner!"
[5:30 PM]Sandalf13: Persopnally, I would not accept a marriage proposal from Frodo, Ar....
[5:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: Lol, Phar beat me to it.
[5:32 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Of course, Frodo forgot to mention that being engaged to him with that Ring he gave you, also means being chased down by wraiths.
[5:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: More seriously, by the time Frodo offered me the Ring, I imagine I'd have sworn off it for one reason or another, and so like Faramir I'd hold that as a vow.
[5:33 PM]Sandalf13: Here is a picture of that snowstorm front coming over the mouintains....can't even see the mountains. The weather folks are now calling for only snow from 2300 on...will start as a rain/snow (sleet) mix...
[Image
[5:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well, my time to go has come, so I leave you with this: YouTube - MALINDA - Irish song "Rocky Road to Dublin".
[5:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: And this: YouTube - MALINDA - Misty Mountains from LOTR but make it "siren" and "mermaid"-y
[5:33 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie Eonwe!
[5:35 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Mermaid singing Misty Mountains... that's one way to lure dwarves to their death.
[5:35 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And namarie
[5:38 PM]Sandalf13: I'm heading out to dinner with an old friend in Longmont, hope to get home before the sleet starts in order to read Ar's report...Namarie for now!!!
[5:38 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[5:38 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Enjoy
[5:58 PM]Varda: Namarie Eonwe and Sandalf
[6:03 PM]Varda: Malinda's song for Misty Mountains, wow!
[7:42 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[7:43 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, I give you Kongregate - Super Ordinary Joe.
[7:44 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A Mario-based platformer about Joe, a guy trying to get through the level but with limited physical attributes and stamina.
[7:45 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Collect coins before your stamina runs out, and between each attempt you can spend the gold on food to replenish yourself, as well as attributes you collect in the level: speed, endurance, jumping height, and others.
[7:46 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Eventually, make it to the cake at the end!
[7:46 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Good luck with both levels
[7:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[7:55 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Diablo 4: Didn't get any playing done, but I did log in for the free Halloween cosmetics You've got until the fifth to collect them all, if you haven't yet!
[7:56 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: They're a creepy horse, the Recluse's Host, and matching horse armor and mount trophies.
[7:56 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Very spidery.
[7:57 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone: Level 149 on the reward track. With expansion coming up next week, that's pretty much it for this track. Might get 150 if expansion arrives on wednesday rather than tuesday, but eh.
[7:58 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Completed the Darkmoon Faire quest event, getting a new golden legendary, the Avatar of Hearthstone, as well as a new rogue skin, Daredevil Patches.
[7:59 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: From the looks of it, they extended the duration of the event, since there's 8 days left now rather than 1.
[7:59 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I wonder if we'll get a new one immediately for the expansion after this one runs out.
[8:00 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl is the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl, a form of arena that requires 2 tickets and allows you to play with the expansion's cards early. Not my thing, but luckily I didn't have a brawl quest this week.
[8:03 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: Made it to collection level 46! Some more tomes from the Hallow's End reward track and a bit of the anniversary track, as well as daily offers I've been getting for gold to complete one of the last challenges of the Hallow's End event, which got a bunch of my minis to level 19
[8:05 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A few more days on the event, and I'm almost done through the track. I need one more login and 9 gold offers to get the last tickets I need to complete the track, getting a few more stars for the Horseman and the legendary core at the end. Rather than logging in once a day, I'm now trying to make use of the 4 hour cooldown on the free offer to get those last 9 offers on time, so I have to check multiple times a day But that's fine, for just a few days.
[8:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: On the anniversary reward track, I've also just been getting my daily login rewards, and have gotten a few stars for my minis, as well as a footman portrait and an orc grunt portrait. Gotta get them portraits!
[8:06 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Later in the event you can also get new skins for the kobold and the towers. That'll be nice.
[8:08 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: More dungeon progress! In the alliance leader week, I've finally gotten Tirion through level 22, completing his army slot upgrades, and today went through my first dungeon with Jaina, easily making it through level 5 and getting 3 upgrades.
[8:09 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: She's a spell-buffing leader, so I just gave her a bunch of spells to work with and a tank squad to keep her alive. I've no idea how long that'll be effective, but as long she seriously outlevels her dungeon, it should be fine
[8:10 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In the heroic sigil campaign, I cleared Cairne Bloodhoof with all families, completing the Thousand Needles zone and putting me at 120 sigils.
[8:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Next up is Lordaeron, where the first fight, Chef Audrey, is already rather tricky, with lots of siege wagons, gargoyles and abominations. Those can quickly bring down your base if you don't intercept them along the way.
[8:13 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I've cleared it with 3 families now, but for 2 of them I needed to make some custom alterations to my armies. Some useful minis are dragon whelps to place at the middle siege wagon spawnpoint, and banshees to take over gargoyles and/or abominations. Once you manage to take over one of the middle towers, things become a bit smoother.
[8:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As for quality upgrades, I didn't buy any stars this time around because I needed to save my gold for the offers, but I did get the dire batlings to uncommon through the reward track, and bought my second talent for the headless horseman. No batlings talent yet, but I'm sure that'll happen soon.
[8:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[8:16 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Raiding continuing to go well, as we're now at 7/8 for heroic difficulty We defeated the silken court for the first time tonight, and my own first kill of Ovi'nax on thursday, meaning I've now killed every boss on at least one difficulty.
[8:17 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: On heroic, only Queen Ansurek remains.
[8:17 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But we're getting more nerubian finery as well, to get a permanent damage/healing/shielding buff for the raid, which is now at 5%. That'll help as we go on!
[8:19 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Weekly quest is skirmishes, of which I've now gotten 8/10 wins. With tank specs becoming more useless in arena with every expansion, I decided to switch to feral instead for my skirmishes. I'm not sure if it's doing anything for my winrate, since it makes me rather squishy, but at least matches are a lot faster and nobody's complaining about me being tank in arena
[8:21 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Other weekly is, once again, classic timewalking, from the 20th anniversary event. Got a few of those done as well, but I don't really have much use for the badges at the moment, since I had already bought all the new rewards.
[8:22 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Also for the event, I've actually gotten some of the few remaining appearance pieces from the anniversary worldbosses! My last mail pieces from Doomwalker and the green dragon Ysondre. That leaves just the other 3 dragons with one piece each, 2 cloth for the mage and 1 more mail for the hunter.
[8:23 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: If anything, it means I don't have to kill them every day anymore; on Ysondre days I can just skip it
[8:23 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As for the other event, Hallow's End, been continuing to fight the Horseman every day.
[8:24 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: With success: Not only did I get the guaranteed Patched Harvest Golem appearance set - bar the cloak, which comes from a vendor - but I also finally got the Hallow's End armor for my Windborne Velocidrake, as well as the ghostly dog pet Arfus, the Lick King That comes complete with an achievement, which caught me by surprise! But is always nice.
[8:26 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But I need more Treats, since there's 400 treats' worth of stuff to buy this year, including the aforementioned cloak. So starting tonight I started travelling around for the Candy Buckets. Got all of them on Khaz Algar, completing the new achievement, and also revisited all the ones at the Dragon Isles. This leaves me about 200 treats short, but I think that should be doable with all the buckets in Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms and Pandaria.
[8:27 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: There are just a lot of buckets around
[8:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And finally, more Delves! Got another chapter of the Delver's Journey, unlocking a Trusty Hat toy from Reno, which you can throw onto other players. I also completed all the stories for the Mycomancer Cavern delve, and got Brann leveled up to 39.
[8:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I think I'm missing 4 stories now, so that's not bad.
[8:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Next week, more anniversary, more candy buckets, and hopefully some good tries at Queen Ansurek
[8:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[8:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie
[8:58 PM]Sandalf13: Just got back! Sorry I missed talking to you, but a great report as always! Namarie~!
[10:31 PM]Varda: Namarie
Thus ends this week's meeting. Come back and see us next week!