Sunday, August 31, 2025
5:00pm Eastern Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
Attending: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Eonwe, Eowyn, Fangorn, Pallando, Sandalf, Varda (presiding)
New member: Earendil-(V)
Non-flashgaming review: Light Wanderer
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya!
[4:01 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend Valar Guild meeting time, huzzah! Come say hi, chat gaming and Tolkien. : )
[4:01 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:01 PM]Cenedra: Aiya!
[4:02 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:02 PM]Varda: Good to see you, Eowyn!
[4:03 PM]Varda: Fangorn is busy trying to repair a fan, hopes to be back soon.
[4:03 PM]Varda: Gimli-(V) phoned Varda and said his Discord and a batch of his games have been hacked. He's working on it.
[4:03 PM]Varda: But we have good news too:
[4:03 PM]Varda: New member: Earendil-(V).
[4:04 PM]Varda: He's from Texas. Central time. He's read the H, LotR, and Sil. He's partly read the UT, BoLT 1 and 2. Still reading.
[4:04 PM]Varda: Two of his favorite characters are Earendil and Beorn, so he chose the Earendil name and made a Beorning named Jagocraal on Peregrin server.
[4:04 PM]Varda: He's a friend of Varda's family and of Gimli.
[4:04 PM]Varda: He tested 4.5 with Varda while in LotRO.
[4:05 PM]Varda: He suggested adding a question to the Tolkien entry test concerning Woses. Be interesting to see if you folks think that's a fair entry question. : )
[4:05 PM]Varda: and how to ask it.
[4:05 PM]Varda: Web:
[4:05 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya.
[4:06 PM]Varda: We have a lot going on in the coding end in the works, thanks to some Eonwe guy...
[4:06 PM]Varda: O, aiya Eonwe. : )
[4:07 PM]Varda: Gaming news. Don't forget to add in your two-bits, folks!
[4:07 PM]Varda: I'm going to try to reach Pallando.
[4:08 PM]Varda: I think he's in the middle of something, but might pop up later.
[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: Image: Sam to Frodo: "Take my hand"
[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: Couldn't find a give with him saying "reach".
[4:09 PM]Varda: heh - grab a hand, Pallando!
[4:09 PM]Varda: Good one. : )
[4:10 PM]Pallando-Valar: Eve Alliance Tournament feeders this weekend. I am not commentating this year unfortunately. (note: on Twitch)
[4:10 PM]Arien Valar: aiya there
[4:10 PM]Pallando-Valar: Other than that, waiting for something to happen still. Hopefully when Vanguard's next test drops in a couple weeks.
[4:11 PM]Varda: Very cool!
[4:11 PM]Varda: Aiya Sunshine : )
[4:11 PM]Varda: They needed to give some lesser light a chance to comment this time, Pallando. : )
[4:12 PM]Varda: You still are wanted here to tell us stuff!
[4:15 PM]Varda: Eonwe, would you like to take the gavel for Gaming news?
[4:15 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sure.
[4:16 PM]Varda: gavel bounces over eagerly - more game time!
[4:17 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft:
[4:17 PM]Eönwë Valar: This week's bonus event: Battlegrounds. This week's PvP Brawl: Temple of Hotmogu.
[4:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Eastern Kingdoms Cup is going through September 9th.
[4:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out the preview of September's Trading Post.
[4:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out WoW Weekly for anything not mentioned above.
[4:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hearthstone: A new mini-set is coming September 2nd: Day of Rebirth.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo Immortal: Season 43 is going.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo 3: Season 36: The Lords of Hell will begin September 12th: preview
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Overwatch 2:
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: A new Defense Matrix is out: Peripheral Vision.
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: A new Weekly Recall is also out: Stadium Smorgasbord.
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Farmer's Faire is going through September 8th.
[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: Update 45.3 is out.
[4:21 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya all! Just completed a long bike ride...a litt;e easier than climbing Comanche Peak (about 13,000) last Sunday.
[4:21 PM]Sandalf13: Sorry I am late.
[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: And that's it from me.
[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: And heya Sandalf.
[4:22 PM]Varda: Aiya Sandalf : )
[4:22 PM]Varda: Welcome back to you and your bike. : )
[4:22 PM]Varda: Thank you, Eonwe.
[4:22 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2:
[4:22 PM]Treebeard: Hello
[4:22 PM]Varda: Gamers this past week that I am aware of: Eowyn, Fangorn, Faramir, Varda
[4:23 PM]Varda: Speaking of, aiya Fangorn. : )
[4:23 PM]Varda: Addendum to Eonwe's LotRO news:
[4:23 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:24 PM]Varda: As he said: The Farmer's Faire has been extended. Now it ends Sept 9 at 3 AM Eastern. US people think of it as through Sept 8, but running it to 3 AM Eastern is a kindness to our EU folk.
[4:24 PM]Varda: LotRO gamers that came into our kin branches this past week: Peregrin is obviously where we mainly play LotRO, with 12 showing up.
Peregrin branch (US RP):
Glamdring branch (US):
Meriadoc branch (EU-RP)
Angmar branch (temp US):
Mordor branch (temp EU):
[4:25 PM]Varda: Any other games we'd like to mention, give a plug for since we enjoy it? Membership news?
[4:26 PM]Arien Valar: moving date 12th of September
[4:26 PM]Sandalf13: Good luck!
[4:26 PM]Varda: Soon ™
[4:26 PM]Varda: Hope you love the new place!
[4:26 PM]Arien Valar: oh I will do
[4:26 PM]Varda: hehe
[4:26 PM]Varda: Tolkien:
[4:27 PM]Arien Valar: raises hand
[4:27 PM]Varda: ahh, go ahead, Arien : )
[4:27 PM]Arien Valar: when i was levelling the wee mariner on Meriadoc yesterday somebody asked an interesting question
[4:28 PM]Arien Valar: in world channel
[4:28 PM]Arien Valar: so i wondered what we d make of it here
[4:28 PM]Arien Valar: Was there something like military duty in Middlearth?
[4:29 PM]Varda: Bounder duty in the Shire.
[4:29 PM]Sandalf13: There WAS the Shire bounders and shiriffs (I think I got the spelling right), and in times of need, the Hobbits could field a small force of archers as they did in the infamous battle of 1974, T.A.
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: Seems to me conscription was a reality.
[4:30 PM]Varda: The Gondorians would have had to be in the military, constantly having to handle Mordor.
[4:30 PM]Sandalf13: I think somewhere Tolkien refers to a muster of Hobbits.
[4:31 PM]Varda: The Rangers were a force always handling the Shire boundaries as the only remaining members of their citizenry.
[4:31 PM]Varda: Aye, Eonwe
[4:31 PM]Sandalf13: Both the Gondorians and the Rohirrim had to have had "conscription." I believe that all young men were expected to serve part of their time in the militia.
[4:31 PM]Varda: The Rohirrim seemed to have eoreds handy
[4:32 PM]Sandalf13: Considering that Gondor was fighting a war against Sauron and/or his allies for almost 3,000 years, I would assume they were used to military life and duty....it was part of the price of living as a descendant of the Numenoreans in Gondor.
[4:33 PM]Varda: What about the elves?
[4:33 PM]Sandalf13: And we all know what Sauron thought about those folks...
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: I don't imagine Elves were that much different, though they had more time in their life for the perfection of both military and civilian crafts.
[4:34 PM]Varda: The different elf areas and times may have been different in handling it, but seems as if they always needed to be ready.
[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: There would have to be some standing forces to handling guarding of the border and other general duties like that.
[4:35 PM]Varda: Probably the most peaceful place to be was behind the Girdle of Melian
[4:35 PM]Varda: Aye. Like the wardens for Lothlorien
[4:36 PM]Sandalf13: Again, I suspect that Elves were also expected to educate themselves in terms of military readiness, given their experiences for over THREE ages.
[4:36 PM]Eönwë Valar: Elves, like Men, had knights, who would've spent a chunk of time perfecting their military prowess.
[4:38 PM]Eönwë Valar: Even the average Elf, though, I imagine to have enough martial training to be dangerous.
[4:38 PM]Sandalf13: As for the Dwarves, the day would not be complete without taking some time to swing the good old axe around, just to practice hewing some Orc necks.
[4:39 PM]Varda: Hammering at the forge would be enough to gain strength and aim if needed in battle.
[4:39 PM]Sandalf13: A child of late Victorian times, and a participant in the horrific trench warfare of World War One, I believe that Tolkien believed warfare to be - unfortunately - an innate part of human existence. A very sad commentary, yex?
[4:40 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Hobbits are about the only people I can see who are in a position to think they can make it through life without some rudimentary training in the use of weapons beyond hunting implements.
[4:40 PM]Varda: They had to protect sheep from eagles, using bows. Probably slings or something versus wolves.
[4:41 PM]Sandalf13: I agree with you, Eonwe. And part of their 'growing up' through the LoTR was gaining the knowledge that it IS necessary to prepare to defend oneself, even in times of peace.
[4:41 PM]Varda: Farmers tend to be hauled into battles using farm implements.
[4:41 PM]Sandalf13: As were the Hobbits of the Shire in "The Scouring of the Shire."
[4:41 PM]Arien Valar: Hobbits were mostly farmers
[4:42 PM]Arien Valar: but they were used to defend their land and family and their stocks when they had to
[4:42 PM]Varda: Aye
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: Here's a quick lesson in swordsmanship for everyone. Very pertinent to this conversation:
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: Image from training in The Mask of Zorro movie when asked if he knows how to use that thing (sword): "Yes, the pointy end goes into the other man."
[4:44 PM]Sandalf13: Indeed.
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: Probably the extent of Hobbit experience, heh.
[4:45 PM]Varda: Good advice though. : )
[4:47 PM]Varda: We have another topic that Shelob wanted to see, if we're done with this one? Give you a last chance to comment. : )
[4:48 PM]Arien Valar: always use the pointy end nod
[4:48 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well, there are advanced techniques like gripping the blade with a gauntleted hand and using the pommel to club your opponent.
[4:48 PM]Arien Valar: true enough aye
[4:49 PM]Sandalf13: Parrying and blocking, as well.
[4:49 PM]Sandalf13: Reminds me...i really need to sit down one day and polish my Navy sword.
[4:49 PM]Sandalf13: he he
[4:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: For fun, a clip starting with the scene above so you all know where it came from:
[4:51 PM]Varda: Thanks : )
[4:52 PM]Varda: Right quick let's mention the topic Shelob wanted us to bring up:
[4:52 PM]Varda: Suggestion by Shelob for today's topic is how evil happenings were twisted/straightened to good.
[4:52 PM]Varda: The long line of evil from the slaying of the Two Trees also brought great good, as in growth.
[4:52 PM]Sandalf13: Now that is something to bite into...
[4:52 PM]Varda: Sink those fangs in there, folks.
[4:53 PM]Eönwë Valar: Well if Morgoth weren't out there Morgothing, Mankind likely wouldn't have come West so soon and joined with the Noldor to fight him.
[4:55 PM]Arien Valar: Luring those he was interested in wirth praising their ability or accura cy of knowledge or just pure curiosirty and feeding them knowledge with that particluar Morgoth note on them to bend them to rely on him for information
[4:56 PM]Eönwë Valar: If Melkor weren't out there Melkoring, then Thingol might not have met Melian and had Luthien. Because Melkor out there Melkoring was totally worth some dude falling for an angel, heh.
[4:56 PM]Sandalf13: When Gollum was being guarded by the Elves of Mirkwood, they began to take pity on him. In an act of evil, a troop of Orcs attacked the Elves guarding Gollum as he breathed some fresh air in a tree above. This was probably planned by Sauron, but in any case, several Elves were slain (evil) in the battle, and Gollum escaped...and "evil" outcome. Yet this outcome was turned to the good, because at the end of the Quest, it was Gollum who seied the Ring from Frodo either out of greed or the desire to save Frodo, and in the end, destroyed himself and The Ring...and act of good, if there ever was one. So random acts of pity and kindness can indeed grow into something much larger.
[4:57 PM]Varda: The Pity from Nienna is a powerful thing. She was one of the Vala that Gandalf worked with.
[4:58 PM]Eönwë Valar: More seriously in that vein, Melkor doing what he did set up the conditions for Melian and Thingol to meet, Beren and Luthien to meet, and a Silmaril to end up in their hands.
[4:59 PM]Sandalf13: And going further down the line, through Dior and then Elwing we get the entire lineage of Elros and Elrond.
[5:04 PM]Arien Valar: thus going down eventually through Elendil to Aragorn
[5:04 PM]Varda: And boy did that play well for Sauron, Morgoth's right hand.
[5:04 PM]Varda: We are to the hour.
[5:05 PM]Varda: gavel holds up a sundial but unsure which sunray to use with all the time zones
[5:05 PM]Varda: hammerpad trips it
[5:05 PM]Varda: blomp
[5:05 PM]Varda: After-meeting!
[5:05 PM]Varda: Free chat, even about Tolkien subjects. : )
[5:06 PM]Arien Valar: offers gavel any sunray he wishes to chose and is happy with his choice
[5:06 PM]Sandalf13: On the way up Comanche Peak last weekend, we began a conversation about Tolkien and the LoTR, but had to stop at about 10,000 feet due to shortness of breath...lots of breathing required in thin air.
[5:07 PM]Arien Valar: Very apt indeed ... since i believe tolkien himself had a very impressive mountain tour in Switzer;amd at one point i believe
[5:08 PM]Arien Valar: er r Switzerland
[5:08 PM]Sandalf13: Yes. I believe that his view of Reichenbach Falls found its way into the LoTR.
[5:09 PM]Sandalf13: The imagery of his trip to the Alps is pretty obvious in some of his mountain descriptions and drawings for both the Hobbit and the LoTR.
[5:09 PM]Arien Valar: ah Reichenbach falls eh? .. i know that place from somewhere else hrm/ hrm smokes pipe
[5:09 PM]Varda: the gavel is very happy and sits up in the hammerpad - water made it a nice wading pool
[5:09 PM]Sandalf13: See my chapter on Aragorn as Sherlock Holmes....he he
[5:10 PM]Varda: Takes a lot of breath to talk Tolkien. So much there!
[5:10 PM]Varda: hah, neat way to cut the breath problem.
[5:10 PM]Sandalf13: One really has to think only about breathing when climbing at 12,000 feet plus.
[5:10 PM]Sandalf13: In and out, in and out, in and out...
[5:11 PM]Varda: Sandalf's Aragorn and Sherlock comparison article.'
[5:12 PM]Arien Valar: Well i ll go in for now .. before i get OUT tomorrow but i have to get UP first to come DOWN again tomorrow
[5:12 PM]Varda: So many directions!
[5:13 PM]Varda: ☼
[5:13 PM]Sandalf13: Good luck with your moving preparations. HOpe everything goes smoothly!! Namarie, Arien!
[5:13 PM]Arien Valar: thus for now - Namarie )
[5:13 PM]Arien Valar: thanks
[5:13 PM]Varda: Namarie : )
[5:13 PM]Arien Valar: anyone fancy to come to give a hand with the move ?
[5:14 PM]Arien Valar: ducks and flees
[5:14 PM]Treebeard: Yes, fancy...a bit far to go though. Namarie
[5:17 PM]Varda: For anyone in LotRO Peregrin, Foolscap is giving his short version of the Sil. Type /joinchannel Silmarillion
[5:17 PM]Varda: He does a chunk of it at various times during the week. (Now scheduling same time as this meeting *sigh*.)
[5:24 PM]Sandalf13: Before I move on to get a few things at Costco (they are closed tomorrow for the Labor day holiday), I made this illustration for Arien. A lot of people have moving sales, before they move...is this what they are thinking of?
[5:25 PM]Sandalf13: Image on Discord
[5:25 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie for now!
[6:00 PM]Cenedra: Namarie!
[6:01 PM]Varda: Namarie
[8:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, reading up.
[8:36 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Ooh, first time hearing of the Hearthstone Mini-Set, didn't realize it was so soon.
[September 1, 2025
[2:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Some sleep, Hearthstone and Rumble later: Here's my personal gaming report!
[2:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non) flashgaming, no new game this week, but classic fun short platformers are always good to play again.
[2:50 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Light Wanderer is a game where you play a little hexagon making your way through levels that appear to be underground or in a building. Walking, jumping, dodging fireballs, not falling in lava, the usual.
[2:52 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The gimmick however... you can't see much! You have a small circle of light around you, and soon you pick up a flashlight. You can aim the flashlight in a cone to illuminate your environment, and you can throw it in any direction to see what's there.
[2:53 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: You can also throw it at nodes of a sort on the wall, where you can transform the light in a temporary platform to get ahead. And just retrieve your light at any moment you like!
[2:53 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: After finishing it, you unlock light mode, which means you can do each level again but fully lit, for a fun replay.
[3:01 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[3:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone:
[Level 82 on the reward track now. Mini-Set is coming, which usually means new expansion isn't too far off, but we've got a while yet to get to 100 and beyond.
[3:04 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: One short quest event this week for Midsummer Fire Festival, mostly involving ranked games and fire spells. Still a total goal of 4000 xp, though, and while the quests gave more xp than usual, I still needed to play a bit more than usual, with an extra daily quest, to reach the goal. The reward is just packs, though, with the final goal being a golden pack. It's fancy, but not unique in any way.
[3:05 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: End message implied the mini-set will immediately trigger a new quest event as well. No rest for the stoners!
[3:07 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl is Ragnaros' Fire Festival, an old classic for the holiday. Goal is still to defeat the opponent, but there's a little immune Ragnaros on the board that does spread damage to the player and their minions at the end of their turn; each time it kills a minion, the amount of damage increases.
[3:07 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I like to make a fast deck for that with plenty of cheap minions with useful deathrattles, especially those that summon other minions on death. It keeps me alive while really ramping up Ragnaros' damage so it can take out the enemy.
[3:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Truly embracing the brawl mechanic, as it were
[3:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Most of my matches were wins, though one warrior had an impressive deck with armor gain and minions that did stuff on getting hit. I did not stand a chance. There's always a bigger fish, I guess!
[3:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble:
[No new levels, though a lot of minis are getting closer.
[3:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I also got my very first mini to Legendary, as the defias bandits were halfway through epic already, before a rare offer showed up in the Grid. Not a particularly powerful mini by any means, but fast and cheap and tactical, and the dice just rolled their way! Being at maximum quality, at least they shouldn't show up anymore
[3:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Should be a while until the next legendary, I don't think any of them are one offer away unless an epic offer shows up for those who are already epic. It could happen.
[3:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Daily login event almost over, and I cleaned out all the experience tomes from it. Good stuff.
[3:18 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Poked the Molten Core raid some more, getting the first 3 wings done, and getting enough valor to give diamond slots to 2 more leaders, Drakkisath and Thalnos. Just some Cenarion and Beast leaders remain.
[3:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Poked the heroic sigil campaign again, and while none of my horde decks were really up for Araj the Summoner, I found an unbound deck online which really should work with every leader provided they're 2 or 3 levels above, which I think they all are by now.
[3:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So that's one more victory there!
[3:20 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[3:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Normal raid cleared! Dimensius slain, achievement got. Not much new in gear, though I can always use the flightstones and crests at this point.
[3:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Heroic raid should be next!
[3:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, and the cloak has been maxed out as well.
[3:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Weekly quest is battlegrounds, which is going fairly well too.
[3:23 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Other than that, more delving!
[3:25 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: My ilevel was good enough for me to comfortably clear tier 9, so that's nice. I completed the second step of the delve journey, and Brann went from level 83 to 85.
[3:25 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And I got Sneef, the final pet from delves! Fun little mole creature, I like him
[3:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: With the pets out of the way, I can truly now poke any bountiful delve I want.
[3:30 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[3:30 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie :)