Sunday, January 25, 2026
5:00pm Eastern Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
[8:20 AM]Eönwë Valar: Something interesting that ended up in my feed: YouTube - First Timers -JRR Tolkien's brilliant way he made Aragorn and Éowyn friends
[11:31 AM]Eönwë Valar: Hah, didn't realize until now I had more that 600 mounts too.
[1:47 PM]Sandalf13: Currently 4 Grad F in Swan Mtn, Colorado, with an expected low tonight of -15 Grad F. But NO SNOW to speak of.
[2:24 PM]Eönwë Valar: 18F here, wind chill -4F, expecting down to 10F tonight.
[2:24 PM]Eönwë Valar: Won't go above freezing until Tuesday.
[2:25 PM]Eönwë Valar: For about 6 hours.
[3:58 PM]Varda: 28°F here right now, dropping rapidly after dark. Actual icicles since it's been raining. Amazing to see this late in February here in the semi-tropics.
[3:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: You mean January?
[3:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: Or am I misreading?
[3:59 PM]Varda: um, not so odd for Januaray. heh
[4:00 PM]Eönwë Valar: Don't tell me I lost a month, heh.
[4:00 PM]Varda: You did not!
[4:00 PM]Varda: I jumped one.
[4:00 PM]Eönwë Valar: I told Banner to give me more Pym Particles.
[4:00 PM]Varda: ahh, that fixed it!
[4:02 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya All!
[4:02 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[4:02 PM]Varda: Aiya : )
[4:02 PM]Sandalf13: Right back at you.
[4:03 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend @Maia @Vala Aiya! Valar Guild meeting time! Come say hi!
[4:03 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:03 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:04 PM]Varda: Here's hoping that all of you affected are managing well during this polar cold front.
[4:04 PM]Varda: And yes, it's January, heh.
[4:04 PM]Varda: Pym particles fixed it.
[4:04 PM]Sandalf13: The cold is here...but the snow? Not so much. Not like back east.
[4:06 PM]Varda: Discord is looking better for me after updating the computer just before the meeting. Couldn't get on at all before that.
[4:07 PM]Varda: I don't know if the polar storms also hit outside of North America, as in going to the other side to Arien and Ar-Pharazon.
[4:08 PM]Varda: Hello to Eowyn and Fangorn in StarCraft 2. : )
[4:08 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya all 🙂
[4:08 PM]Varda: Arien! Aiya.
[4:08 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Arien
[4:08 PM]Falco: Aiya
[4:08 PM]Varda: Are you being hit with the polar storm?
[4:09 PM]Falco:Snow Day"
[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar:"I'm fine, everything's fine""
[4:09 PM]Arien Valar: Portree not so much at the moment although we hear that some of the mainland is affected
[4:09 PM]Falco: The Artic has been relocated to the Midwest for a few months
[4:09 PM]Arien Valar: it is a bit cooler here but mainly dr
[4:09 PM]Arien Valar: dry
[4:10 PM]Arien Valar: mind u we still talk zero plus temperatures ^^
[4:10 PM]Falco: -8 This morning
[4:10 PM]Varda: Aiya Falco 🙂
[4:10 PM]Arien Valar: aiya Falco
[4:10 PM]Sandalf13: Winter Storm Fern stretches across over 2,000 miles of southern North America.
[4:10 PM]Sandalf13: What state are you in, Falco?
[4:11 PM]Falco: We only got 6" of snow so that wasn't too bad.
[4:11 PM]Falco: Kansas
[4:11 PM]Sandalf13: Looks like Kansas was on the northern edge of the storm.
[4:12 PM]Varda: The polar storm came down from the north pole with a lonnnnng reach.
[4:12 PM]Falco: Southern side of Kansas got most of the Snow. Usually it the Colorado Border side that gets it the hardest
[4:12 PM]Falco: The storm out of Oklahoma into Kansas brought most of the snow
[4:12 PM]Sandalf13: My cousin in NY reported 12 inches of snow so far in Central Park.
[4:13 PM]Falco: That's a normal winter day up there
[4:13 PM]Falco: My Neice lives near central park
[4:16 PM]Varda: May everyone's power stay up and all be well for you. : )
[4:16 PM]Varda: Web News:
[4:16 PM]Varda: I have been unable until today to upload files to our website. I am grateful for whatever happened to make it work!
[4:16 PM]Varda: Here's hoping it still works after the Windows update. : )
[4:17 PM]Eönwë Valar: Winter Storm Fern: YouTube - Crunchyroll - Too easy for Fern
[4:17 PM]Varda: My Discord connection has not been the best. If I fall out, please continue the meeting and I will enter again as soon as possible. This has been making difficulty in completing the transcripts, but they will be along.
[4:17 PM]Varda: Update seems to have helped Discord just before the meeting, however! crosses fingers making it weird to type
[4:19 PM]Varda: Gaming:
[4:19 PM]Varda: Messaging Pallando to see if he can jump in for a sec.
[4:21 PM]Varda: Pallando says hi. : )
[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya Pallando :}
[4:21 PM]Falco: Aiya Pallando 😉
[4:21 PM]Pallando-Valar: Nothing to report, quiet.
[4:21 PM]Varda: Ahh, thank you!
[4:22 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Pallando
[4:22 PM]Pallando-Valar: Anger Games is officially kicked off, waiting for thunderdome access to begin scrims..
[4:22 PM]Varda: Anger Games?
[4:22 PM]Varda: Is that a group?
[4:22 PM]Varda: Or an event starting? : ) I know nothing, like Jon Snow.
[4:23 PM]Eönwë Valar:angry cat
[4:23 PM]Sandalf13: It is a site designed for angry people to work off their anger.
[4:23 PM]Eönwë Valar: There's your anger.
[4:23 PM]Varda: Scary cat!
[4:25 PM]Eönwë Valar: Officiated by Tina Turner?
[4:25 PM]Varda: heh
[4:25 PM]Eönwë Valar:"This is Thunderdome
[4:26 PM]Varda: Ok, Eonwe, we will let you take the gavel from Tina Turner for the rest of Gaming. : )
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar:Captain America with Mjolnir
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: I got the gifs today :}
[4:27 PM]Arien Valar: Image
[4:27 PM]Sandalf13: That is one angry cat.
[4:28 PM]Arien Valar: a bit stressed hehe but she looks angry 🙂
[4:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, reading up.
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft
[4:29 PM]Varda: Captain America, Paladin
[4:29 PM]Arien Valar: thats Akira our cat on the day of our move after we released her from the transport cage]#
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: This week's bonus events: World Quests and Battle for Azeroth Timewalking (Turbulent Timeways IV).
[This week's PvP Brawl: Southshore vs Tarren Mill.
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hmm, I was about to link an Akira gif. Not sure if we all need to see the one I had in mind though, heh.
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: And I guarantee if you've seen Akira, you already know which one I was thinking of.
[4:30 PM]Sandalf13: Now I have to look it up.
[4:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Pre-Expansion Content Update is live.
[4:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: That includes the new transmog system, which they've recanted on prices, so you should see those have gone down since the initial launch, and 1 free transmog per char is supposed to be coming.
[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: A new short story is out: "The Void Between".
[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: See WoW Weekly for anything not mentioned above.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Overwatch 2:
[A new Director's Take is out: Call and Response.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: And that's it for gaming news from me. Back to you, Varda.
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar:Stormbringer and Mjolnir swap
[Note: Apparent time shift due to traveling and working on this in another time zone. I blame Chromie ;) ]
[3:33 PM]Pallando-Valar: Sorry, tournament. 🙂 Player run, but with some official CCP support.
[3:34 PM]Varda: Cool
[3:34 PM]Pallando-Valar: I'll be running a team as well as commentating.
[3:34 PM]Varda: Ouch! Good luck with that! Should put some real feeling into that commenting, though!
[3:36 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Alright, caught up. And we had frost and snow a few weeks ago, but are fine now. Though I believe in the coming week we'll get some nightly frosties.
[3:36 PM]Varda: Thanks, Phar.
[3:36 PM]Varda: Thank you for this shiny gavel, Eonwe. : )
[3:37 PM]Varda: Does that mean you have my axe?
[3:37 PM]Eönwë Valar: Just to be clear... CCP?
[3:37 PM]Varda: I always like the Great Axe's look in Diablo. : )
[3:37 PM]Eönwë Valar: hehehe
[3:38 PM]Varda: Pallando? Go ahead.
[3:38 PM]Pallando-Valar: Chinese Communist Party Crowd Control Productions.
[3:38 PM]Eönwë Valar: Got it, and so did you, heh.
[3:38 PM]Pallando-Valar: ...wish it was the other one, they're actually competent.
[3:38 PM]Varda: heh
[3:39 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2:
[3:39 PM]Varda: Active group or pair pretty much every evening.
[3:39 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2 players this past week: Earendil, Eowyn, Fangorn, Varda; Faramir.
[3:39 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online:
[3:40 PM]Varda: LotRO gamers this past week in kin branches:
Peregrin branch (main):
Glamdring server:
Meriadoc EU server:
Glamdring server:
Angmar temp server:
Mordor temp server::
[3:40 PM]Varda: Note that Imrahil seems to actually be back, not just a transfer.
[3:41 PM]Varda: I've seen his guardian show up again, not just a one-time, and just his guardian as if playing.
[3:42 PM]Varda: Any requests, suggestions, needs for an invitation, other?
[3:43 PM]Varda: Also good to see Earendil keep coming into LotRO despite the F2P restrictions, which are many. : )
[3:43 PM]Varda: If all minds are clear...
[3:43 PM]Varda: or sleeping...
[3:43 PM]Arien Valar: as clear as can be at this hour ?:)
[3:43 PM]Varda: Too clear! : )
[3:44 PM]Varda: It's 4:43 pm here. All in location!
[3:44 PM]Varda: What is it for you, Arien?
[3:44 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Clear as night.
[3:44 PM]Arien Valar: 10.43 pm here
[3:44 PM]Varda: Hmm, starry starry night.
[3:44 PM]Varda: Cloudy here.
[3:45 PM]Sandalf13: 1545 here
[3:45 PM]Arien Valar: listening also to a wonderful new you tube user i have found
[3:45 PM]Arien Valar: YouTube - Better than Counting Sheep - Bedtime Stories from the Dwarves of Middle Earth
[3:46 PM]Varda: Real dwarven snoozers, eh?
[3:46 PM]Arien Valar: it s a collection of short stories , fan fiction i think , but really good
[3:46 PM]Arien Valar: and no AI i think ... but hard to tell
[3:46 PM]Varda: Here's hoping it's not AI. Those tend to be bloated and dull.
[3:46 PM]Varda: Ok, on to
[3:46 PM]Varda: Tolkien!
[3:47 PM]Varda: If you have a topic, speak now before I get started with a quote. : )
[3:47 PM]Sandalf13: Qupte for it.
[3:47 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Most AI fiction channels I've gleaned, tend to use the same names anyway...
[3:47 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: so unless there's people called Chen and Ramirez all over those, I have good hopes.
[3:48 PM]Sandalf13: My neighbors next door are the Ramirez's.
[3:48 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm assuming they're not AI though!
[3:48 PM]Varda: Not androids?
[3:49 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[3:50 PM]Eönwë Valar: Chen
[3:50 PM]Sandalf13: No...real people in their late 80s. I shovel their walks for them when it snows, but it is snowing there today, abouyt 4 inches, and I am in the mountains. I hope one of their grandchildren show up to get the job done.
[3:50 PM]Varda: One hopes.
[3:50 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[3:50 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ramirez
[3:50 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Heh.
[3:51 PM]Varda: Then there's Ramirez in Dresden Files, but moving along...
[3:51 PM]Sandalf13: He doesn't look at all like my neighbor. Maybe a different Ramirez?
[3:51 PM]Varda: For this Tolkien quote, it speaks of an enchantment used in the wrong way.
[3:51 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, he's not 80 yet.
[3:51 PM]Varda: At Orthanc:
[3:52 PM]Varda: Two Towers, "The Voice of Saruman"
[3:52 PM]Varda: Quote:
[3:52 PM]Varda: The window closed. They waited. Suddenly another spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment.
[3:52 PM]Varda: Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them.
[3:52 PM]Varda: Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves.
[3:52 PM]Varda: When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell.
[3:53 PM]Varda: For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spoke to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler's trick while others gape at it.
[3:53 PM]Varda: For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them.
[3:53 PM]Varda: But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it.
[3:53 PM]Varda: End quote.
[3:54 PM]Varda: You know the story, but here is the end part that deals with the enchantment.
[3:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Charisma stat.
[3:54 PM]Varda: Aye : )
[3:54 PM]Varda: Quote:
[3:54 PM]Varda: The riders hailed the king with joy, and saluted Gandalf. The spell of Saruman was broken: they had seen him come at call and crawl away, dismissed.
[3:54 PM]Varda: End quote.
[3:54 PM]Varda: Comments welcome.
[3:56 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: If they were truly enthralled by him, shouldn't that have made them angry?
[3:56 PM]Eönwë Valar: From the movie Highlander. That's Sean Connery playing an almost 1-thousand-year old immortal. If you like '80s action movies and are old enough to vote then it's worth a watch. They're rebooting the movie with Henry Cavill last I heard, so that may be of interest too.
[3:56 PM]Varda: They were, for a bit.
[3:57 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Ok, so he was over 80 after all...
[3:57 PM]Varda: : )
[3:57 PM]Sandalf13: I often wondered what Saruman was thinking at that time. I suspect he recognized that the game was up, at least as far as he was concerned. Was he already thinking about moving to the Shire?
[3:58 PM]Varda: Plan Z, maybe.
[3:58 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I recall him actually veering towards the Shire after running into Frodo and the gang on their way back up north. He had operations already going on in the Shire of course, but he might not have decided yet before that time.
[3:59 PM]Varda: Saruman was dividing himself up between different groups in his talk, making his tricks more visible. And he was losing his voice by becoming a commander instead of advisor.
[3:59 PM]Sandalf13: Hard to tell what he was thinking. I believe that Tolkien relates that Saruman remained in Orthank after everyone left, and gnawed at his plots and devices, trying to come up with a plan to help him survive.
[3:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: I doubt he had any real bases of operations set up outside of Isengard, because then he'd have to trust someone to run them in his absence.
[3:59 PM]Varda: Sharkey aka Saruman. "Old Man".
[4:00 PM]Sandalf13: Sharku, I believe is what his servants called hime, and not in a favorable way...
[4:00 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Shire was really only one because he'd become invested due to his envy of Gandalf.
[4:00 PM]Sandalf13: Well...he did have Lotho Sackville-Baggins, I believe.
[4:01 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Sharky was an orc in earlier drafts. When Saruman appeared to fill that role instead, Tolkien must have been smiling.
[4:02 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Though it's fun to imagine the movie's Gothmog running the Shire instead.
[4:03 PM]Sandalf13: The age of the Hobbit is over. The age of the Orc has begun.
[4:03 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yes 😄
[4:03 PM]Varda: Aye, Sharku. Sharkey was the humanized version of the orcish name. The Ruffians used it.
[4:06 PM]Eönwë Valar: Saruman didn't really have much room for expansion. East and South was owned by Sauron, North of Rhovanion was dragon wastes, North of Eriador was Angmar, Eriador and Lindon were under the (more or less) direct watch of the Wise, the Elves, and the Rangers.
[4:07 PM]Eönwë Valar: Any power stirring in those areas was going to alert someone.
[4:07 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, so was the Shire, until the Rangers headed south to war.
[4:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Shire was pretty much autonomous, and some trade wasn't going to raise flags. The ruffians didn't really move in until the Rangers were gone.
[4:10 PM]Eönwë Valar: My point being again that the Shire wasn't so much a planned fallback base as it was a happenstance. If Saruman had any real fallback, he wouldn't have wasted his time on the Shire.
[4:10 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So he probably didn't really have a plan B or specific destination in mind, and probably figured he'd get by on his voice somewhere.
[4:10 PM]Sandalf13: So he was nursing his "defeat" while sitting in Orthanc after Gandalf, Aragorn, and Theoden et al decamped for home.
[4:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And looking out at the trees!
[4:11 PM]Sandalf13: I wonder if he was at all thinking about the Valar, and why they had sent him to M.E. in the first place...or had he strayed so far from his original path that that was not even possible for him?
[4:11 PM]Arien Valar: side profit i think .. he must have stumbleddover the shire when he was retracing Bilbo s steps
[4:12 PM]Sandalf13: I think that there is mention that Saruman wondered why Gandalf loved smoking pipeweed so much, and figured if it was good for Gandalf, it might be good for him too.
[4:12 PM]Eönwë Valar: Yeah. Saruman got that petty because he had no contingency for his defeat. Otherwise he would've been smart enough to nurse his power base to strength over a few years, biding his time for the Wise to get out of his way.
[4:16 PM]Varda: I agree that part of the choice was pettiness, because he was beaten by hobbits and friends of hobbits, and it was Gandalf's vacation spot. He also already had the Ruffian network operating there.
[4:17 PM]Varda: The voice enchantment that Saruman had, he probably extended some of his own power to Grima Wormtongue to control Theoden-king and the Rohirrim. Very strategic, but lessened his own power. He would be following Sauron's and Morgoth's example, there.
[4:18 PM]Sandalf13: Funny how those bad guys often overlook the consequences of their actions, even when they are right in front of them.
[4:19 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And with so many examples to learn from.
[4:20 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: "Yeah, but I'm gonna do it right."
[4:20 PM]Sandalf13: Over-confidence?
[4:20 PM]Varda: Aye, Phar. : )
[4:21 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: There's a bit of a cyclic argument there. They failed, so they're losers. I'm not a loser, so I won't fail. Even though I'm basically doing the same thing.
[4:22 PM]Arien Valar: Like Smeagol aka gollum with his birthday present nod]
[4:23 PM]Varda: I have to call it here for our official part, anyway. Please feel free to continue anyway!
[4:24 PM]Varda: gavel shivers and clonks the ice shell on the hammerpad
[4:24 PM]Varda: clink!
[4:24 PM]Varda: ice shatters
[4:24 PM]Arien Valar: melts the ice
[4:24 PM]Varda: hammerpad is grateful and starts the heater for all
[4:24 PM]Varda: thank you, Arien!
[4:24 PM]Varda: After-meeting!
[4:24 PM]Varda: Free chat!
[4:25 PM]Arien Valar: well i have to call it as well as i am getting sleepy
[4:25 PM]Arien Valar: so Namarie !
[4:25 PM]Sandalf13: Sleep well, Ariend! Namarie!
[4:25 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[4:25 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[4:25 PM]Varda: Namarie!
[4:25 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sleep well Arien.
[4:26 PM]Varda: Good image!
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: If you're looking for a feel-good anime. I do recommend Frieren. My annoyances in it are minor and short, and overall it's a fun watch (the first season at least. Season 2 is brand new and I'm not past the first episode)
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: And there's a language fun bonus for some of the characters when you recognize it.
[4:29 PM]Sandalf13: I will not say Namarie yet, but I will be checking in on and off as I want to start preparing my dinner. Too cold to go out tonight.
[4:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Looking at a page of the characters, I do recognize some of the German.
[4:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And yeah, preparing dinner would be a good idea for me too...
[4:32 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Some fun stuff though, like an ice mage translating as Avalanche...
[4:32 PM]Varda: Namarie for now. : )
[4:32 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[7:15 PM]Sandalf13: Anyone here?
[4:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Back from... a pretty good sleep, actually.
[4:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[4:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, one of my favorite series is up again, UnpuzzleR
[4:06 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Fun relaxed puzzle game where you have to dismantle a puzzle one piece at a time! Additional mechanics coming in like arrows, links, explosive pieces, and more!
[4:06 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And nice music of course 🙂
[4:07 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In a previous website update these games got a bit distorted to the point where an ad link was blocking part of the puzzle, but that seems fixed now, at least for this installment.
[4:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[4:11 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Diablo 4: Did I actually get to play a bit this week? Yes I did! After all the important WoW stuff was over (more on that later!) I had a bit of time left for D4 and logged onto the druid.
[4:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It'd been a while, but I still remember the rotation at least 🙂
[4:14 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Instead of throwing myself further into the expansion, however, I decided to tackle the old zones a bit more, completing the 3 side quests added to the Fractured Peaks zone in one of the earlier seasons. Silly priest wanted to help me expel Lilith's blood, but to no surprise, the exorcism completely failed, killed a few of his guards, and got him screaming at me to get out. Ah well, it was worth a try!
[4:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Now a good while ago - we're probably talking years - I'd set up a rotation for myself between WoW and D4, alternating between D4 questing/renown, doing a questline on a horde alt, and continuing on the main WoW storyline, in this case still Shadowlands. Now that the D4 bit has been done, it might be a while before I return. But at least the gears are turning slowly 🙂
[4:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, and D4 Calaron got to level 53 in the process!
[4:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone: Level 110 on the reward track! That got me another level 100 reward, a tier 5 skin to choose from, and I got Destroyer Garrosh. I don't really care about these last sets I've not chosen yet, and his still looked the most spectacular from what remains, so eh.
[4:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Mini-set quest event now in its second week, with the main quest being to spend mana, with a bonus to dragons. Since several of my daily quests for the event involved dragons, battlecries and expansion cards, and one of my non-event weekly quests involved expansion cards, I just combined all 3 into one efficient deck.
[4:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Next week, the summoning of minons!
[4:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl this week is A Temporus Shift, another time-dragon brawl, whereby both players get 2 turns in a row - after the first turn, to make things fair.
[4:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I never quite know what to use here, but a murloc deck usually does fine, since they can buff each other and then swarm the next turn.
[4:25 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: Collection level 68 reached! One new epic mini to thank for that, so it's a small step.
[4:27 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Continuing to do dungeons and the new pvp season - only a few more days to go for the final rewards - while watching the next event, love is in the air, creep closer on the horizon. If memory serves, that's a login reward track, which means many rewards just for logging in 🙂
[4:42 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Also continued the heroic sigil campaign, taking on Volchan in Blackrock Mountain with alliance and horde. Turns out, the main mechanic here is molten giants coming from multiple sides, which split into smaller ones on death. And the key to turning this around into an advantage is simple: Just add banshees to your army to possess the molten giants to begin with.
[4:42 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It worked for the first 2 families, I suspect it'll be enough for the rest as well.
[4:43 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And finally, one quality upgrade, as the quillboar got promoted to epic, alongside its final talent.
[4:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[4:49 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: No real raiding yet, though in the old raids we do with a small group on friday, one of the group got the mythic mount from Jaina, which is another thing we can cross of the list now 🙂
[4:50 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Weeklies are world quests and another timewalk week, which I'm saving until tuesday for the buff stacking, even though I actually had plenty of time this week, compared to previous weeks 🙂
[4:51 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Alright, let's start with... Remix. At the time of my last report we had one more day to go in Europe, and I took that day to the fullest.
[4:52 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Completed Calyaxa's class campaign, blazed through the Legionfall Campaign, including stuff like world quests, demonslaying, and other stuff out in the world alongside the actual broken shore.
[4:52 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Also did the quests for the instance and the raid, completed my last legion assault - which could be soloed at that point, fortunately - and did the mage tower quests for fury spec.
[4:54 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Turns out, the actual mage tower quest got skipped, which makes sense, since we were not able to get the appearances anyway, and it went straight to the quest where the council congratulated me.
[4:56 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I then headed to Argus, went through about half the patch's story mode, and got enough quests and world quests done to complete the Argussian Reach reputation, also completing the meta achievement for Argus, which got me all the cosmetics from that zone.
[4:57 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I didn't complete invasions or the remaining story quests because of lack of time and because all they gave for reward was more infinite power and knowledge, and early on in Argus I had hit 999 unbound, so it wasn't needed anymore.
[4:57 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I then completed the remix' efforts by finishing up the last 13 or so world quests for the 150 achievement, getting my last cosmetic unlock of the remix, and getting the Army of the Light to exalted as well just because I could.
[4:59 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I then dropped myself off at the Infinite Bazaar island, bought the mage class mount since I knew I wasn't going to get a new character to 80, bought all the remaining raid ensembles from the vendor, and then drowned myself at the decor vendor - having all the decor unlocked now - by buying at least 3 of each item, and a few more of the owl statues which I liked.
[5:00 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: If I want to get more in the future, they'll be available still, just a bit more expensive, and it was a good way to spend my remaining bronze.
[5:01 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I then did my final bazaar quests on Calyaxa, saying goodbye to the npcs (yes, there was an actual quests for that, and unique dialogue) and settling down in the center.
[5:02 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: At this point there was an hour or two remaining - maybe even more, since I think it got postponed an hour from what was expected - and created my second timerunner just for some relaxed starter quests.
[5:07 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Made a dracthyr frost mage called Calelsioca" and while the website only shows her dragon form, her elf form might give a better idea who she's based after, though I did add a few off-brand elements like the shoulders and butterfly cloak. This is her final form after remix ended and she was ported to Stormwind.
[5:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: At least she made it to level 17 and got her artifact, Ebonchill 🙂
[5:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: At this point it was still swapped out for the simulacrum rather than acquired in the actual artifact quest, but with the timeline collapsing anyway I doubt that'll be a serious issue.
[5:10 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Anyway, remix over, with Calyaxa in Orgrimmar and Elsi in Stormwind.
[5:11 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: We then had one day left before the patch, which I used to get weekly timewalks and arena skirmishes done, getting to honor level 146 in the process.
[5:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I also grabbed all the cosmetics from the Brawler's Guild, since I wasn't quite sure if it would survive the patch. 3 pieces of decor and 2 mounts, Brawlin' Bruno and Ballistic Bronco.
[5:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Then comes patch day! Bit of addon issues, a few talent reallocations to get my feline moonfire back, and what seemed like a complete overhaul on my tank spec. But I got through it and it looks fine.
[5:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Then went on to unlock the void elf demon hunter. I still had a side quest arc to do from the previous patch in K'aresh to unlock it, but I did, and then the actual unlock quests.
[5:14 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And so Calnombrus my void elf devourer was born!
[5:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And I went all in on appearances... blue and purple, with spikes and spikes that looked like tentacles, as well as one of the flaming cloaks from remix.
[5:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And when I went through suitable mounts for him, and found out an achievement had come with the patch for 600 mounts, which I already had, which gave a spiked purple owl of sorts, fitting my Nommer quite well. Picture can be found in screenshots channel!
[5:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: One good thing about the new outfit system anyway, when I have a character actually decked out and outfit paid for, they can just go through life looking like that no matter what gear upgrades they get.
[5:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: (that'll come back in a minute)
[5:20 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Anyway, witch the pre-expansion event not yet starting until the second week, I wrapped some stuff up in the brawler's guild, which was fortunately still around.
[5:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So I completed the 15 challenge bosses out of 24 for the achievement, then did all the achievements for special modifiers, though I used the easiest bosses for that, getting me the title Brawl Star.
[5:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hey now, you're a brawl star
[5:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And then I had time left and went and did the remaining 9 bosses as well because I could. I'd have had serious trouble with that before patch, but the Brawler's Guild got nerfed heavily. So if you haven't tried, go do it now!
[5:23 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And then came the trading post! I'd gotten it completed early in the month, but not gotten around to visiting the actual post to buy stuff.
[5:23 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got the Regalia of the Crusader set for free, and bought 3 ensembles that looked nice and were somewhat cheap: Sorcerer's Brick Garb, Crimson Sweatsuit, and Villager's City Collection.
[5:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That last one's the female version of the set, and I wondered if some pieces like the headpiece were suitable for my firemage.
[5:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I also bought a new mount, the Savage Crimson Battle Turtle. Maybe a bit more than I'd like to spend, but I like turtles and aquatic mounts in general to collect.
[5:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And then there was this silly thing called the Chainkini. I was going to skip it until someone mentioned it worked well for a Red Sonja character, and since I have a goblin female based on Red Sonja, I bought it and put it on her. It looks suitably ridiculous.
[5:29 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And since I was in a transmogging mood, I visited the fire mage to see if that bonnet worked on her, and I wanted to prepare her for her role in my question rotation mentioned during D4. It didn't really work but I did put another of the remix cloaks on her, as well as a full on firey set, and am happy to know she'll wear that during her questing upgrades because of the new outfit system 🙂
[5:29 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So I'm quite happy with the way Caldaera looks now!
[5:32 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So next week comes the pre-expansion event with new decors and cosmetics and gear appearances to unlock. I think I'll hit up the gear stuff with more alts again like last time, so that'll also be a good time to test how good I am with newly spruced up fire girl.
[5:32 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[5:42 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie 🙂