Sunday, March 2, 2025
5:00pm Eastern Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
Attending:Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Eonwe, Pallando, Sandalf, Shelob, Varda (presiding)
Link to a documentary on JRRT, in German.
Topic: The refusal to abandon shows up in Tolkien's works. Which ones can we think of?
March 2, 2025
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya : )
[4:01 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend Valar Guild meeting time in meeting_place. Come on in and say hi!
[4:06 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:06 PM]Varda: Lots of gaming going on this past week. Yay!
[4:06 PM]Varda: Web:
[4:07 PM]Varda: No new Tolkien Site content.
[4:09 PM]Varda: Eonwe worked on a review for the Games Site.
[4:10 PM]Varda: But it isn't posted yet. Stay tuned!
[4:10 PM]Varda: Gaming:
[4:10 PM]Eönwë Valar: Still Working, almost done. RL is a demanding mistress.
[4:10 PM]Varda: It truly is!
[4:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[4:11 PM]Varda: Aiya Eonwe and Phar!
[4:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya.
[4:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As a side mention, I had the wild idea today to put the Fel Reaver alarm sound as my whatsapp sound. I wonder how that'll work out.
[4:13 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A triggering sound for all who've played Burning Crusade!
[4:13 PM]Varda: gasp
[4:14 PM]Varda: Pallando will be giving us Eve Online news shortly. : )
[4:14 PM]Varda: Might explain what a Fel Reaver is for the few who might not know?
[4:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The Fel Reaver was a large demonic robot roaming the opening zone of Outland in the Burning Crusade.
[4:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It was max level in a low level zone, and made a massive sound wherever it walked, and yet people were always still surprised when it crept up on them.
[4:15 PM]Arien Valar: dear ole tinnie
[4:15 PM]Varda: hehe
[4:15 PM]Varda: Aiya Arien : )
[4:15 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya all together
[4:15 PM]Varda: Gaming Reviews on the Valar Guild Games Site.
[4:16 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[4:16 PM]Varda: So folks can catch up on previous gaming reviews. And maybe send some in for their own games!
[4:16 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: YouTube - The Fel Reaver Noise
[4:16 PM]Varda: Hah, thanks!
[4:16 PM]Varda: Now that could make a ringtone!
[4:17 PM]Arien Valar: The usual pointless high level elite that blizzard lets roam in many starting or medium; low level area .. so you get at least flattenened once if you are not extremely careful
[4:17 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yes
[4:17 PM]Arien Valar: in fact though he is actually needed to get a key into a dungeon at level 70
[4:18 PM]Arien Valar: but even then you need five to take him down
[4:18 PM]Varda: Wakes people up!
[4:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Imagine cresting a hilltop at level 60-61, and there it is... staring at you...
[4:19 PM]Varda: LotRO also has various insanely high monsters in low zones. A little care lets the player get around them, but eyes become very large.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: *Used to. Haven't seem the equivalent of a Fel Reaver since.... WotLK maybe?
[4:20 PM]Varda: ./duck behind that hilltop
[4:21 PM]Pallando-Valar: Hello! So!
[4:21 PM]Varda: Aiya Pallando!
[4:21 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[4:22 PM]Pallando-Valar: We have victories to celebrate!
[4:22 PM]Arien Valar: well in Mists of Pandaria you get the Ambassador of some or other in a 87 or so area and he is way op
[4:22 PM]Varda: Woot Pallando!
[4:22 PM]Pallando-Valar: Minmatar have had the most successful defenses against the Drifter Crisis now. However, on the 6th, some peak in activity will be reached, in a Minmatar system.
[4:22 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Grats!
[4:22 PM]Pallando-Valar: So: mystery! Danger!
[4:23 PM]Pallando-Valar: For some reason despite being the most affected the danger is coming to us!
[4:23 PM]Pallando-Valar: Which does seem odd, but hey.
[4:23 PM]Arien Valar: Grats
[4:23 PM]Pallando-Valar: But it seems liek the end of phase one and possibly the start of phase 2 comes Thursday. What that means... we will find out.
[4:24 PM]Varda: Soon! ™
[4:25 PM]Pallando-Valar: That's it for now. There's few other things that seem to hint at where this is going to go (3 way war?) but we'll see.
[4:25 PM]Varda: ohhh. Could be really major then.
[4:25 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Advice: Try not to the the party in the middle.
[4:26 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: *to be
[4:26 PM]Varda: zooms to the side putt putt putt
[4:27 PM]Varda: gavel putts over to Eonwe
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: Don't remember the Ambassador. Going to have to look him up on WoWHead.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: Thanks.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft:
[4:27 PM]Arien Valar: always bad to sit in the middle of a shear movement in a battle .. ask Gil Galad ...
[4:27 PM]Varda: heh
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: This week's bonus event: World Quests.
[This week's PvP Brawl: Warsong Scramble.
[The Darkmoon Faire is going this week.
[Don't forget Season 2 begins this Tuesday, March 4th. Vault rewards for this week will still be Season 1.
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Kalimdor Cup is also going through March 10th.
[4:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Good way to get some extra trading post currency.
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Patch 11.1: Undermine(d) is now out. Check out the update notes.
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Kalimdor Cup gives Trading Post currency?
[4:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: Don't remember that in the announcement.
[4:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Not the cup itself, but there's at least 500 for grabs for doing 5-10-20 races.
[4:32 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It's how I managed to complete February at the last moment.
[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ah, gotcha.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Speaking of the Trading Post, March's is out.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Looks like they really want my Huntress to get her butterfly on.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Alizabal is now available in Cataclym Classic's Baradin Hold.
[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out WoW Weekly for anything not mentioned above.
[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hearthstone: Patch 31.6.2 came out this week.
[4:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo 4:
[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: The next campfire chat will be March 11th, discussing the upcoming 2.2.0 Public Test Realm.
[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: Gilded Goblins will be attacking Sanctuary March 4th through 11th.
[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out the patch notes.
[4:36 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo Immortal:
[4:36 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out the recent updates and bug fixes.
[4:36 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out upcoming events.
[4:36 PM]Eönwë Valar: Overwatch 2: A new Director's Take is out: Catch Up On Our AMA.
[4:37 PM]Eönwë Valar: And last but not least:
[4:37 PM]Eönwë Valar: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:37 PM]Eönwë Valar: Update 43: Secrets of Utug-Bur is out this week.
[4:37 PM]Eönwë Valar: Don't forget the new 64-bit servers are opening this Wednesday. The Valar Guild's branches are moving from Landroval to Peregrin and from Crickhollow to Glamdring, if you want to keep your character within the appropriate branch. You could also juggle them to one or the other. For details contact Kinleader Varda.
[4:38 PM]Eönwë Valar: That's it from me. Back to you, Varda :}
[4:38 PM]Varda: Thank you, Eonwe
[4:38 PM]Varda: Starcraft 2 gamers this past week that I know of: Eowyn, Fangorn, Faramir, and Floppa.
[4:38 PM]Sandalf13: Sorry I am so late....it is 71 Grad F today, with the sun shining...got to start to get the garden cleaned up for the Spring...after all, this is now March...but we expect more snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Every little bit of cleanup now helps down the road...although you cannot plant the crops here until late early May, as we can still get frosts and snow up to the end of April.
[4:39 PM]Varda: Aiya Sandalf : ) Stay warm!
[4:39 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[4:39 PM]Varda: Back to Lord of the Rings Online news:
[4:39 PM]Varda: What Eonwe said. : )
[4:40 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: To awkwardly translate a rhyming Dutch saying: April sweet can still give a white hat.
[4:40 PM]Varda: Interesting thought. : )
[4:40 PM]Varda: Through March 6: Skill and Slayer Deed Boost freebie Code: MARCHLION
[4:41 PM]Varda: There is so much to unpack in Update 43 that I recommend just reading it online at the above url from Eonwe. : )
[4:42 PM]Varda: The game client crashing issue related to the Deed Log is known and being worked on, and should be resolved Soon ™ in an upcoming game update.
[4:42 PM]Arien Valar: Are the 64 bit servers arriving on Tuesday :O?
[4:42 PM]Varda: Monday we can put our names on the new servers (three names) to hold them.
[4:42 PM]Arien Valar: opening i mean i ve seen them in the server selection list
[4:43 PM]Varda: Tuesday we can transfer. (Please do this *after the kin leader moves so you automatically go into the kin.)
[4:43 PM]Varda: Wednesday we can game! [Note: game worlds opened Friday, since the number of transfers and players was far higher than expected.]
[4:43 PM]Varda: Expect heavy congestion as everyone from several servers tries to grab the old kinhouse and personal houses.
[4:44 PM]Varda: noon for the first two days, 1 pm the third day (Eastern aka /servertime)
[4:44 PM]Varda: I plan to fight for you all on both Peregrin and Crickhollow. Wish me luck!
[4:45 PM]Arien Valar: Good luck then !
[4:45 PM]Varda: I will post here as soon as the kin leader transfers. You'll have a clue because the kin will disappear.
[4:45 PM]Arien Valar: oki
[4:46 PM]Varda: If a player has characters that are moving in a different direction than the current server kin branch, they will not be automatically kinned.
[4:47 PM]Varda: For a fresh kin branch invited, remember in-game contact using /joinchannel Valar or LotROmail or in-game message such as /w Fainan or use Discord.
[4:47 PM]Varda: Some people even have my phone number, heh.
[4:47 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings in-kin branch gamers this past week:
Landroval branch (moving next week to Peregrin):
Crickhollow branch (moving next week to Glamdring):
Treebeard branch:
Angmar branch:
Mordor branch:
[4:47 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I assume your relatives in the guild are among those
[4:48 PM]Varda: (Please note Sauron on Landroval!)
[4:48 PM]Varda: True, Phar. Eonwe too, just in case. Elwing too.
[4:49 PM]Varda: Any other gaming or membership news? Requests? Suggestions? More ideas for the Anniversary theme?
[4:50 PM]Varda: Since the crickets have it...
[4:50 PM]Varda: On to
[4:50 PM]Varda: Tolkien!
[4:50 PM]Varda: Topic:
[4:50 PM]Varda: The refusal to abandon shows up in Tolkien's works. Which ones can we think of?
[4:52 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Fingon didn't abandon Maedhros to Morgoth, despite all that happened at Alqualonde.
[4:52 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Just had to cut off his hand. Small price!
[4:53 PM]Arien Valar: Sam s refusal to leave frodo to go alone (to Imladris, to the council to Mordor, to the chambers of fire, to go out and die together after the ring was destroyed)
[4:54 PM]Varda: The ultimate. Well said!
[4:54 PM]Varda: Good one, Phar. And Maedhros was grateful. Learned to use his other hand very well!
[4:55 PM]Varda: Hey, when you're immortal, you have time to learn.
[4:57 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sauron doesn't abandon Melkor... in his heart.
[4:57 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Don't I know it!
[4:58 PM]Eönwë Valar: No matter how cruel she is, Ungoliant's hunger refuses to abandon her.
[4:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: More seriously: Hurin didn't abandon Turgon, guarding the latter's flank until he was captured.
[4:59 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Mára arin! :brioLove:
[4:59 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya!
[5:00 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Are we hurling dirt at my mom? If so, can I have a go as well? :brioLUL:
[5:01 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: No fair, you've got too many arms to hurl with.
[5:01 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Hey! You've had an hour to hurl. Now it's my turn.
[5:01 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): And after I have done a little hurling, you can be sure I will run like the wind. I'm not in the mood to be eaten today.
[5:01 PM]Varda: Aiya Shelob : )
[5:02 PM]Varda: The topic: The refusal to abandon shows up in Tolkien's works. Which ones can we think of?
[5:02 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Sam did not abandon Frodo to you, nor even to the orcs who brought him to the tower afterwards!
[5:03 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Actually he kinda did, until he found out Frodo was still alive. But then he didn't!
[5:04 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): Well, Sam did the honorable thing there. He placed the greater good above that of one being, probably the hardest, yet most heroic choice he would have to make in their entire journey.
[5:04 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: He didn't abandon the quest, in any case!
[5:04 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Why am I shouting!
[5:04 PM]Eönwë Valar: Now I'm thinking of an episode of an Isekai anime where the protagonist is reborn as a spider and ends up getting into a fight with mama spider.
[5:05 PM]Spidey (Ungwetari/Shelob): hihihi
[5:05 PM]Eönwë Valar: Merry and Pippin didn't abandon Frodo in Rivendell, even though they didn't know they danger they'd face.
[5:08 PM]Varda: For another, here's one sentence from "Of the Beginning of Days", Sil:
"And thus it was by the power of Ulmo that even under the darkness of Melkor life coursed still through many secret lodes, and the Earth did not die; and to all who were lost in that darkness or wandered far from the light of the Valar the ear of Ulmo was ever open; nor has he ever forsaken Middle-earth, and whatsoever may have since befallen of ruin or of change he has not ceased to take thought for it, and will not until the end of days."
[5:09 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Nice one 🙂
[5:09 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aragorn did not abandon Merry and Pippin to torture and death, though I suspect that specific line was movie only.
[5:10 PM]Varda: Feel free to look it up. : )
[5:10 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I will!
[5:10 PM]Varda: Yay! Worth looking.
[5:10 PM]Varda: Meanwhile, how about two sentences...
"And in that time of dark Yavanna also was unwilling utterly to forsake the Outer Lands; for all things that grow are dear to her, and she mourned for the works that she had begun in Middle-earth but Melkor had marred.
[herefore leaving the house of Aule and the flowering meads of Valinor she would come at times and heal the hurts of Melkor and returning she would ever urge the Valar to that war with his evil dominion that they must surely wage ere the coming of the Firstborn."
[5:11 PM]Varda: End quote (near the other one).
[5:11 PM]Varda: Figured I'd toss these in since we're the Valar Guild. ; )
[5:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V:
"I would have guided Frodo and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death."
[5:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Nice how they got two memorable one-liners out of that into the movie.
[5:13 PM]Varda: Thank you, Phar!
[5:13 PM]Varda: One more, just one sentence:
"And Orome tamer of beasts would ride too at whiles in the darkness of the unlit forests; as a mighty hunter he came with spear and bow, pursuing to the death the monsters and fell creatures of the kingdom of Melkor, and his white horse Nahar shone like silver in the shadows."
[5:14 PM]Varda: A couple of paragraphs of Orome not abandoning Middle-earth.
[5:14 PM]Varda: Annnd only 14 minutes past the hour.
[5:15 PM]Varda: gavel pogo-sticks along, one skinny arm and hand supporting another gavel trying to keep up
[5:15 PM]Varda: ploink! ploink! on the hammerpad
Thus ends this week's meeting. Come back and see us next week!
After-Meeting[5:15 PM]Varda: After-meeting!
[5:15 PM]Varda: Free chat, including Tolkienesque, since there is so much!
[5:15 PM]Varda: or freedom to go to sleep, work, game, garden...
[5:16 PM]Eönwë Valar: I must be off. Take care all, good night, sleep well, and have fun.
[5:17 PM]Arien Valar: good nighjt ,
[5:17 PM]Arien Valar: Eonwe
[5:17 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[5:17 PM]Arien Valar: Pharzi , you might know this .. you have played Mists of Pandaria didnt you?
[5:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yep!
[5:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Twice, including the timerunning 🙂
[5:19 PM]Arien Valar: There was a roaming Mob for some rep in that mountain area where the shaolin pandas live .. was he a Zandalari Emissiary or Ambassador or something like that?
[5:19 PM]Arien Valar: I think on max level he could be killed in a group for rep
[5:20 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Actually the Zandalari emissaries were in multiple areas, I think they were added in a later patch though, so for those who played Mists from the start they'd have been gone from the zone before then.
[5:20 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But yes, there was also one in the Jade Forest, north part. I remember killing it a bunch of times with my timerunner.
[5:22 PM]Arien Valar: Ah i knew something foggy like that 🙂 .thanks 🙂 he was rather op if i remember right
[5:22 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yes indeedy 🙂 There were 2 versions actually, one mounted.
[5:22 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I think that one's even tougher.
[5:23 PM]Arien Valar: but yes its getting time for me as well to call it a night .. time for op pillows 😮
[5:24 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: namarie!
[5:24 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie all 🙂
[5:43 PM]Varda: Namarie : )
[5:55 PM]Varda: Tomorrow, LotRO folks that want to reserve their favorite name or three, grab it on the new server(s) at noon Eastern or thereafter, if you can!
[6:38 PM]Sandalf13: Here is an oddball suggestion regarding non-abandonment. What about both Gimli and Legolas at the Council of Elrond? On the basis of their individual races intense dislike for the other (Dwarves and Elves), neither Gimli nor Legolas abandoned the Quest despite their easy ability to do so, citing the age-old animosity between Dwarves and Elves. I suspect that part of the reason may be their recognition that there was a greater good at work in the Quest, and that they wouls just have to deal with their mutual dislike as best they could....at the start. We all know it turns out well, but at the onset, neither Gimli nor Legolas abandoned their role in the Fellowship.
[11:35 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[11:37 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, I know I've linked all the badges for this week before... so here's a repeat! That Pokeyman Thing Your Grandkids Are Into is a top-view adventure game that parodies Pokemon, and apparently Pokemon Go, which is impressive since it only came out a month later than Go.
[11:39 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: You play an old grandpa who gets forced into playing Pokemon on his grandson's phone, in order to catch up to him. Catch Pokemon with weird names, collect experience points, investigate some secrets, and complete objectives to be able to progress further and reach the kid who's obviously much better at the game than you are 🙂
[11:40 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, and if you want a high score... gotta catch em all!
[11:42 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[11:42 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone: 150 on the reward track! Pretty much how far I usually get, though there's still about 3 weeks to the next expansion.
[11:43 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got enough gold for another skin, Sanguine Sylvanas for the hunter. Just what she needs to make her character even scarier, bloodredness 😛
[11:44 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And got the Death Knight class to 55 along the way! Almost there.
[11:46 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: With the 20 starship pieces weekly quest coming up once again, I decided to start opening some of the expansion's packs again, in order to get more pieces. Which helped, since I got 4 druid pieces out of it and a bunch more neutrals. That allowed me to get the quest done in 2 matches rather than 5 or 6.
[11:46 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Opening packs also got me to 145 cards for this expansion, and with it a new skin for the Coin, Into the Infinite 🙂
[11:47 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: actually, that's the name for the achievement... apparently the coin is a Draenei Coin.
[11:48 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl is Miniature Warfare! All minions have 1/1 stats and cost 1 mana.
[11:51 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Decided to go full in on that and drop a bunch of expensive legendary minions into the deck, with powerful effects regardless of their stats. Favorites were Alexstrasza to start off with halving your opponent's health, Sire Denathrius' initial life-draining, and apparently there's a bug with Lor'themar Theron: Normally he doubles the stats of all minions in your deck, which if working correctly, you'd think would give them all 2/2... but the way this brawl works internally, apparently it removes all but one of each stat from the mini linearly, meaning it'll give your minions their normal stats + 1/1, but keep their cost at 1.
[11:51 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That makes them quite overpowered.
[11:51 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It's a bit unfair, but if you're struggling to get your wins, it works!
[11:53 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: Collection level 56, and not too far from 57! Bunch more rares and talents to thank for that, as well as the new Priestess mini.
[11:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The Priestess event is a tricky one. Every few days a map opens up which you can play on 3 difficulties, where the levels are 2 levels below your level, at your level or slightly above, and quite a bit above your level. The latter 2 also require your minis to all be Rare, and even have 3 Epic ones.
[11:55 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm not quite there yet that I can easily play the latter 2, but at least I'm getting tickets for the first of each, as well as some daily offer and grid challenges.
[11:56 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But it's fine, since it's not a time-limited mini and will show up in the grid soon. I did manage to spend my tickets to get some gold, as well as the priestess mini and getting her up to uncommon, allowing me to at least set her up with a talent.
[11:56 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Getting much deeper into the reward tree is probably not going to happen though!
[11:58 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Good dungeon progress again! Completed level 22 with Ysera, before moving on to my fourth Cenarion leader Malfurion, getting him from level 5 to 14.
[12:00 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And in the horde dungeon, got Sneed through levels 20, 21, and 22. Despite being set up rather poorly for this particular dungeon, since he's mostly siege and my composition for him uses no unbound mini and only one mini that can target air units, the minis being 24-25 and therefore a few levels higher than the dungeon did the trick, though getting through the first fight with murlocs pummeling my base from a ridge all the way through that I couldn't reach with these minis got kind of tense. Really had to rush through to beat them to the kill.
[12:01 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Tomorrow we'll move to the next horde hero, see if we can get Sylvanas through 22.
[12:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In the heroic sigil campaign, we've got the gorilla boss pair, Uhk'loc and U'cha. Since the ranged one does massive damage and the melee one patrols around, and if you bring one down the other will go straight for your base, I've found it rather difficult, despite again being 2 levels higher. I can't seem to get the job done with Blackrock, so will probably have to find a custom composition for it soon.
[12:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Did get it done with alliance and horde, though.
[12:06 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As for quality upgrades, got the Harvest Golem, Prowler, Defias bandits, Frostwolf Shaman and Blizzard spell to rare, while getting the priestess collected and up to uncommon.
[12:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For talents, I decided to reroll the grid until I got the right talent for the priestess right away, while also picking up talents for the rares as they came by. And as luck would have it, I ended up getting the talents I wanted for every single rare that was still missing its second talent, before the right one for the priestess showed up.
[12:10 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So that's talents for Dire Batlings, Harpies, Defias Bandits, Frostwolf Shaman, Goblin Sapper, Blizzard, Harvest Golem, Prowler, Stonehoof Tauren and finally the Priestess. No wonder my collection level shot up! Now the talents are caught up to the rares again
[12:11 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Though now I'll have to save up gold again
[12:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[12:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Patch is here, and a few more days until the raiding starts! Started doing the Undermine quests to get access to the place, though I'm spreading em out a bit, only doing 2-3 quest steps a day, that'll get me there on tuesday.
[12:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Weekly is world quests, which I don't bother with right now, so that helps with time as well.
[12:14 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As mentioned earlier in the news section, I hit up the Kalimdor Dragonriding Cup to complete the trading post for February, and got a bunch of stuff from that!
[12:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The reward was Green Clockwork weapons of various kinds, as well as the Ornate Pink Lunar Festival Attire ensemble. But I also bought the Meeksi pets, Fullbelly Rollingpaw and Teatuft Tamer, and a cloak appearance in the form of a Crimson Pack of Lunar Explosives. That seemed sufficiently unique to get
[12:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I also was reminded that for the trading post's anniversary, several vendors were selling old rewards at a discount. While I already had all the free monthly rewards they were selling now, I did buy some unique appearances that had apparently either escaped my notice, or I just didn't have the currency for at the time.
[12:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That included the Crimson Glimmerfur fox mount, 3 weapons including the simple but effective Squire's Warhammer, a Burgundy Cap which might be nice for my redhead mage, 2 tabards I'd apparently missed, the Gleaming Mail Tabard and Shadowy Mail Tabard, and a Shawl of Flowing Magic cloak which I like for my future Nightborne alt.
[12:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But there's more! I decided to spend some actual money for some appealing shop bundles. Got the Sha-Infused Pack, including the Sha-Warped Cloud Serpent, Sha-Warped Riding Tiger, the Merriment pet, and the Sha-Warped Tea Set. And I bought the Marvelous Meeksi Pack, getting all 5 Meeksi mounts. Expensive, but still a good discount compared to buying mounts singly, and all 5 are very fluffy and huggable.
[12:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That's the Meeksi Brewthief, Meeksi Rollingpaw, Meeksi Rufflefur, Meeksi Softpaw and Meeksi Teatuft. I'm not sure what the exact idea is behind them, or if they're linked to the Lunar Festival or anything. Apparently they are some kind of "magical tea panda", based on different east asian teas.
[12:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Regardless, I wanted them, and I got them.
[12:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And finally gasp got some alting quests done!
[12:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Completed the Mad Duke questline with my mage in Revendreth, it only took me about a year to get it done Apparently these days you can't track quest achievements on individual alts anymore if they're already completed in your warband, so I'm stuck having to use the wowhead Quest Completion Tracker to see what side questlines I haven't done yet. But it'll have to do when I'm done with the main quests in Revendreth, with only 2 shorter questlines to go.
[12:31 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And I got back to my goblin warrioress on the Lost Isles, fighting off an alliance aerial force for Thrall, and then freeing my people from Gallywix' capture in the Labor Mine. Only thing left in the goblin starting experience is taking on Gallywix' base and getting formally inducted into the Horde. Almost done, and since she made it from level 16 to 18 along the way, that's about time!
[12:31 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Gosh, I wonder if we'll actually take care of Gallywix in this one, surely he won't be back to play a pivotal role in several future expansions up to the current Undermine patch...
[12:32 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Coincidental timing, but still good timing anyway.
[12:34 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Next up in the questing rotation, I might actually give Diablo 4 some time next week. Still working on the expansion's main story.
[12:34 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[12:35 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie @Arien Valar Ah i knew something foggy like that .thanks he was rather op if i remember right
[2:10 AM]Eönwë Valar: Ah, you're talking about the Warscout and the Warbringer that came with the Throne of Thunder patch. The Warscout did roam around a bit, but he was manageable. The Warbringer stayed in one place and while it could be beaten solo by the end of the expansion, I think for the ToT patch at least a couple of people.
[2:19 AM]Eönwë Valar: I wouldn't consider those on the same level as the Fel Reaver.
[2:20 AM]Eönwë Valar: The Fel Reaver roamed the entire zone and remained a danger throughout the expansion.
[3:37 AM]Eönwë Valar: I just realized there's a ceiling fixture in my LotRO house. What a waste I never used it, heh.
[3:43 AM]Eönwë Valar: Wasn't there a music hook somewhere around here?
[10:30 AM]Varda: Music hook is with the floor and wall hooks.
[7:52 PM]Eönwë Valar: Aha, there it is. Blended in too well with the wall.
[7:52 PM]Eönwë Valar: It's only in the main room though, right?
[9:12 PM]Eönwë Valar: YouTube - The Mask of Zorro | Zorro and Elena Exchange Swords
[March 6, 2025
[7:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: Oh lord. Poor Brann, trying to help Johnny Awesome.
[7:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ok, funny intro to the new delve season. Kudos, Blizzard.
[8:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: I'm not a fan of losing 31 coffer keys with no apparent compensation, but I do like they made the fragments sellable so I can recoup something from those. Also nice that they made the season 1 consolation tokens from the vault worth what I would've traded them for anyway.
[10:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: Wow, I've never seen an enchant fail just because I've got a full inventory before.
[March 7, 2025
[12:25 AM]Eönwë Valar: Well bah.
[12:25 AM]Eönwë Valar: The Radiant Echos got versioned too.
[6:20 AM]Eönwë Valar: Surprisingly, I survived my first confrontation with the new delve nemesis.
[6:20 AM]Eönwë Valar: And got some new boots for my trouble too.
[6:22 AM]Eönwë Valar: Don't know if I'll be ready to take on a T8 before the reset, but I'm going to try it. Worst case scenario is I don't get through at all, middle ground is I make it through with no lives left. Best case, I make it through twice and get a hero piece next week :}
[12:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Grats, and good luck
[12:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Only did a 4 and a 5 so far, checking out the 2 new delves when they were bountiful.
[4:06 PM]Eönwë Valar: Thanks. Btw. If you trying Zekh'vir this week (? = T8 and ?? = T11 just like we discussed way back), let me know how you fare. With Brann getting his abilities wiped, my first attempts weren't very successful.
[4:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm, won't be trying that any time soon. I'll try to get some ilevel first
[4:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Did finally have a bit of time for Brann's quest, though, so now I've got the Gob-trotter!
[4:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: Cool :}
[4:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: They didn't buff Zekh, it seemed to me, just more difficult with Brann starting from scratch.
[4:09 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The curios? Yeah, can imagine.
[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: I could be wrong, but yeah, picking up some ilvl wouldn't hurt to make up for it.
[4:09 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got my first normal tier piece yesterday so I'm on my way
[4:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: Congrats :} I've picked up some Champion gear, maxed out my flight stones, and waiting to upgrade anything until I settle into some new gear and can't budge my progress. It's only a week into the season, after all :}
[4:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Plenty of time!
[4:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well, three days :}
[4:12 PM]Eönwë Valar: Aye :}
[4:15 PM]Eönwë Valar: 11.1 just came out and they're already talking 11.5.
[4:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yeah, there's some datamining going around.
[4:15 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: All I know is horrific visions are coming back and... hedgehog mounts!
[4:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, don't skip the curiosities. They're worth a lot more xp now.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: In Delves? Yeah, usually try to grab every one I see.
[4:19 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yep.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Plus they might have some other consumables in them now.
[4:19 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: even better
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: In the lower tiers (4-6) it seemed like I got a bunch of the extra buffs too. T7 seemed like it was about a normal amount of the buffs.
[4:21 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Odd.
[4:26 PM]Eönwë Valar: I only did 2 T7s so it might've been luck. We'll see when I get to sit down later today and try a T8. It says suggested ilvl of 639 and I'm only at 630, but we'll see how I fare.
[4:26 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm, 628 myself, doing a 6 right now... what's the advised for 7?
[4:26 PM]Eönwë Valar: 626
[4:27 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Ah, ok.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: So yeah, you ought to be able to handle a T7 once you've got it unlocked.
[4:27 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Were the leaps this big in season 1?
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: I don't think so at the lower level so much, but the higher Tiers/ilvls weren't set with the end-game Delver in mind.
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Season 2 is supposed to remedy that.
[4:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I was actually thinking the leaps at higher tiers were only like 6 ilevels or so. Maybe I'm wrong.
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: Higher tiers in Season 1 were like 619/623/626 roundables for 7/8/9 if memory serves.
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: I might be remembering wrong.
[4:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That's low indeed, compared to now then
[4:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Huh, a curio that detects curiosities while in combat.
[4:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That seems... counterintuitive since you're less likely to be looking for them in combat.
