May 10, 2026
5:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya!
[4:00 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend @Maia @Vala Yay! It's time for the Valar Guild meeting! Chat gaming, Tolkien, and just say hi!
[4:00 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:01 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:01 PM]Treebeard: Hello 🙂
[4:01 PM]Varda: Aiya Fangorn 🙂
[4:01 PM]Varda: Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the guild, all the mothers of those in the guild, and all the moms in general!
[4:02 PM]Varda: Since it is that day, we may have folks unable to attend.
[4:02 PM]Varda: Also, potential special gaming events in our various game. Enjoy those too!
[4:03 PM]Varda: Web News:
[4:04 PM]Varda: We do work at keeping up with the general News and the Games Site, so there should be new content weekly.
[4:04 PM]Varda: Gaming:
[4:04 PM]Varda: Thank you to Eonwe, for keeping up the gaming news even when he has to be at work or an event.
[4:05 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya 🙂
[4:05 PM]Varda: Aiya Arien : )
[4:05 PM]Treebeard: Hello Arien 🙂
[4:06 PM]Varda: Asking Pallando if he can slide in for EVE news.
[4:06 PM]Varda: He can, yay!
[4:06 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Fangorn 🙂
[4:06 PM]Pallando-Valar: So I said not much but then I remembered it's actually a lot
[4:07 PM]Varda: hahaha - I hear that!
[4:07 PM]Pallando-Valar: So first up, Fanfest is this week. I'll be there. Keynote is Friday.
[4:07 PM]Arien Valar: that s like shopping
[4:07 PM]Varda: Oh wow! Enjoy! 4:07 PM]Pallando-Valar: I'm still deciding if I'll put my blood in the book... probably, this game has taken 20 years of my life why not some blood too?
[4:08 PM]Varda: Fanfest 2026 - Harpa Concert Hall - Reykjavik, 14-16
[4:08 PM]Varda: heh, that's up to you!
[4:08 PM]Pallando-Valar: Next up is that CCP Games is no more
[4:08 PM]Pallando-Valar: They bought themselves from Pearl Abyss
[4:08 PM]Pallando-Valar: And are now Fenris Creations
[4:08 PM]Varda: Great name : )
[4:09 PM]Varda: Sounds like Standing Stones Games buying themselves from Turbine et al
[4:09 PM]Varda: Worked well for SSG, so maybe for Fenris!
[4:09 PM]Pallando-Valar: It's somewhat silly because "FC" in eve means "Fleet Commander". So it's very confusing. and also throwing away almost 25 years of name recognition. but hey, whatever.
[4:10 PM]Varda: oops
[4:11 PM]Pallando-Valar: Finally, in in-game news, the Caldari are taking control of Syndicate and are hunting the leadership of the same, claiming they're behind the Jita gate problems
[4:11 PM]Pallando-Valar: The Intaki tried to bribe their way out through Gal space but the Caldari put out bounties and got most of them.
[4:12 PM]Arien Valar: sounds like nothing has changed there over the years 🙂
[4:12 PM]Pallando-Valar: I expect more to follow on that front in the coming days, and probably also something to happen in Min/Amarr relations, but we'll see.
[4:12 PM]Arien Valar: even in my time i was warned to go to jita although it is a market hub all right
[4:16 PM]Pallando-Valar: It's the onlyhub!
[4:16 PM]Pallando-Valar: If you read between the lines it looks like they're going to try and make Jita neutral and cement its status as the only market hub in the game which I disagree with strongly
[4:16 PM]Pallando-Valar: but anyways that's the news
[4:17 PM]Treebeard: Thanks !
[4:17 PM]Varda: Thank you. That was a bunch of news!
[4:17 PM]Varda: The crowd pics for that last fan fest do not look like little kids. : )
[4:19 PM]Varda: Aiya Eonwe 🙂
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: I would have to assume in those cases there's legal constraints that prevent them from retaining their original name, Otherwise, I'd agree it odd to give up the name recognition.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: And heya all and Happy Mother's Day.
[4:19 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Eonwe 🙂
[4:20 PM]Treebeard: Hello Eonwe 🙂
[4:20 PM]Pallando-Valar: I mean they bought themselves back, and PA is just the latest int he last line of owners. I think it's a thin attempt to try and shed the baggage of being "CCP the makers of Eve online that half-dead MMO that has a terrible reputation among most people"
[4:21 PM]Pallando-Valar: Hillmar hates that he's never made anything like Eve.
[4:21 PM]Pallando-Valar: anyways
[4:22 PM]Eönwë Valar: There's that too.
[4:26 PM]Varda: I think Pallando has completed his topic?
[4:26 PM]Varda: Eonwe, your gavel. : )
[4:26 PM]Eönwë Valar: Thanks.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft:
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: This week's bonus event: Battlegrounds.
[This week's PvP Brawl: Arathi Blizzard.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Spring Balloon Festival begins today and runs through May 13th.
[4:27 PM]Eönwë Valar: See WoW Weekly.
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo Immortal:
[A new event is starting May 13th: Battle for Beyond.
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo 2:
[Ladder Season 14 begins May 22nd.
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Overwatch:
[A Weekly Recall is up: Nice Ice, Baby.
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hearthstone:
[Patch 35.4 is out.
[4:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Lord of the Rings Online:
[Update 48.2 is out. Release notes.
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: And that's it for the gaming news I have.
[4:33 PM]Varda: Thank you, Eonwe. 🙂
[4:33 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2:
[4:33 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2 players this past week: Fangorn
[4:33 PM]Varda: A bit more on LotRO:
[4:34 PM]Varda: Update 48.2: The Glorious Hunt. The hunt with Mizadi comes out in stages. The current second stage area of Hatokáli can be reached going around the cave tunnels, on a side road by the dry river canyon.
[4:34 PM]Varda: I found that out after trying to make it through those cave tunnels for a couple of days. Got to the last? door with a bunch of baddies, died and got kicked out far into the landscape. So happy to find that little road!
[4:35 PM]Varda: YouTube soundtrack for Update 42: Legacy of Morgoth
[4:35 PM]Varda: https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-u42-soundtrack-en
[4:35 PM]Varda: The 19th Anniversary event runs between April 23 to 3 A.M. May 12. Effectively, tomorrow is the last day.
[4:36 PM]Varda: Rivendell housing opened April 30. (Still trying to collect barter items for this. Anyone have a Riv house yet?)
[4:36 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online gamers in kin branches this past week:
Peregrin branch (US-RP) 9:
Glamdring branch:
Meriadoc branch:
Angmar temporary branch:
Mordor temporary branch:
[4:36 PM]Varda: Any other Membership or Gaming news?
[4:39 PM]Arien Valar: our wow midnight rp is slowly catchhing up with the game content ~
[4:40 PM]Varda: Hope that won't be a problem.
[4:41 PM]Arien Valar: nah 🙂 it gives me the chance to play the content before we go there in rp , so i got at least a little what to expect
[4:41 PM]Arien Valar: carry on please ::)
[4:42 PM]Varda: ok
[4:42 PM]Arien Valar: Before i have to set
[4:42 PM]Varda: On to...
[4:42 PM]Varda: Tolkien Discussion!
[4:42 PM]Varda: Here's a topic to play with:
[4:42 PM]Varda: o wait. Here's two:
[4:43 PM]Varda: Interesting comment from a LotRO player in World Chat:
[4:43 PM]Varda:
[World] Liariel: 'I think that's right. That's also iirc why elves can see such long distances. They knew the world before it was curved and their eyes still see it as such'
[4:43 PM]Varda: So, could she be right? Elves have eyes adapted for long distance for a flat world?
[4:43 PM]Treebeard: Ha
[4:44 PM]Varda: Food for thought. Don't know of any substantiation.
[4:44 PM]Varda: Eonwe, go ahead.
[4:44 PM]Treebeard: Line of sight, is line of sight.
[4:44 PM]Varda: True.
[4:45 PM]Varda: All those trees and mountains can block such a long line of sight, too.
[4:46 PM]Varda: Second topic before the sun sets:
[4:46 PM]Varda: What do we see of the idea of family in Tolkien?
[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: I guess I would need some solid frames of reference for Elven sight.
[4:46 PM]Varda: Agreed, Eonwe.
[4:46 PM]Varda: Too much speculation.
[4:48 PM]Treebeard: Hobbits have children as do all of the other races. Mom take care of the children. Children are adopted and raised. I'm not sure what Dad's do 🙂
[4:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: Dads take care of the family.
[4:50 PM]Treebeard: White hand Orcs are grown in vats?
[4:50 PM]Varda: Only in the movies. : )
[4:50 PM]Treebeard: Ha and Ha Ha 🙂
[4:51 PM]Varda: That would have made Saruman their "father", though.
[4:51 PM]Arien Valar: i seem to have read in the books that they breed in the fashion of elves
[4:51 PM]Varda: In the fashion of all life, aye.
[4:51 PM]Arien Valar: and we know of at least one father / son pair
[4:51 PM]Arien Valar: of orcs
[4:52 PM]Eönwë Valar: Good point, Arien.
[4:52 PM]Arien Valar: Azog and his dad
[4:53 PM]Arien Valar: or was he the father and the other the son .. u know the Moria guy#
[4:53 PM]Eönwë Valar: Bolg, son of Azog led the orcs in the Battle of Five Armies.
[4:54 PM]Eönwë Valar: Very easy to forget that little mention. It would seem to indicate even orcs take some pride in their patrilineage.
[4:55 PM]Varda: Giving legitimacy of a sort, like royalty.
[4:56 PM]Varda: Aye. JRRT gives interesting short bits and suggestions on purpose, for his readers. : )
[4:58 PM]Varda: Ok, guess that topic really didn't have any legs. : )
[4:58 PM]Eönwë Valar: Can Elves have freckles?
[4:59 PM]Eönwë Valar: Asking the real questions here.
[5:00 PM]Treebeard: If they have a broad enough imagination, they can "glamor" up a few.
[5:01 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heh, so Elf ladies, jealous of mortals, decide to dot dark makeup on their faces to give the appearance of freckles, heh.
[5:01 PM]Varda: There were some redheads, so maybe?
[5:01 PM]Arien Valar: The question is how freckles start? are they a skin reaction to the sun or are they a dns playform?
[5:02 PM]Varda: Instead of a regular overall tan, skin reacts to sun with freckles.
[5:02 PM]Treebeard: I don't know much of what Elves think on what's humorous.
[5:03 PM]Varda: They may also have some deadpan humor, with all those years to develop a Poker face.
[5:06 PM]Eönwë Valar: I don't imagine Elves' sense of humor to be that foreign to ours, but I can imagine in particular the Noldor (being lovers of language) would love some lines from Dickens: "There's more of gravy than of grave about you."
[5:06 PM]Varda: : )
[5:07 PM]Treebeard: 🙂
[5:07 PM]Varda: And we have reached the hour!
[5:07 PM]Varda: the gavel wanders around looking for the camouflaged by freckles hammerpad
[5:07 PM]Varda: the hammerpad bops the gavel
[5:07 PM]Varda: thonnk
[5:08 PM]Treebeard: Nice to see everyone on mother's day. I will take my leave and wish everyone HAPPY GAMING !!! and Namarie 🙂
[5:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: Take care Fangorn.
[5:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: Just remember, in the words of Ben Wade in 3:10 To Yuma: "Even bad boys love their mamas."
[5:09 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie fangorn 🙂
[5:09 PM]Varda: Namarie!
[5:09 PM]Arien Valar: and i have to vanish as well . rest well when u get to it 🙂
[5:10 PM]Varda: Namarie : )
[5:10 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie 🙂
[5:12 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sleep well Arien.
[5:15 PM]Varda: afk
[6:05 PM]Xavier: Hi happy mothers day
[6:11 PM]Sandalf13: Happy Mother's Day, y'all. Had to finish my work in the gqrden today. HAD to get it done. Got almost all the tomatoes and peppers in, as well as the cukes. Also planted some flowers. A Mother's Day tradition.. Interesting topic today: I don't think that the hypothesis that the El;ves have better sight than Men is that they saw the world when it was flat. Nonsense and poppycock. Round or flat makes no difference...visual acuity is a function of the ability to control focal length, and have sufficient nerve networks to transfer information from the retina to the good old noggin. The Elves were just better wired in that regard than Men, although the Numenoreans, like in everything else, had far better sight (no pun intended) than regular Men.
[6:50 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, happy mother's day, and reading up 🙂
[6:51 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Ar!
[6:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So there's Caldari in Eve Online, eh... reminds me of my WoW alt Caldarion (Argent Dawn) ❮Innovation❯ - 35 Gnome Protection Warrior, 51 ilvl
[6:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Named after Pharazon's ancestor, by the way, seemed like a good warrior name.
[7:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Elf humor... other than Dickens, I imagine they might like Shakespeare's comedies as well, even though Tolkien was not particularly fond of his portrayal of them.
[Eönwë Valar started a thread: Anniversary Themes 2026. See all threads. — 5/10/2026 11:57 PM
[Anniversary Themes 2026
[8 Messages ›
[Ar-Pharazon-V
[21h ago
[11:57 PM]Eönwë Valar: Thread for Anniversary Theme has been started.
[11:58 PM]Eönwë Valar: Like last year, make suggestions in that thread, we'll compile them, weed out ones that were a theme too recently, and then run a poll on the remaining options to choose the theme so creative minds can get started on their contributions..
[May 11, 2026:
[4:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[4:41 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, bringing back a logic puzzle game this week with many many levels, Mine of Sight Online
[4:43 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Based on minesweeper, but with no guessing. Every bunch of levels you get a new logic math rule introduced, and the combinations can become quite tricky 🙂 But they're always doable!
[4:43 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So find all those mines, and don't click the wrong tile!
[4:54 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[4:57 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone:
[Level 83 on the track! Slowly getting there.
[5:00 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: New quest event is up, Forging the Dragon Soul, as we prepare to take down Deathwing at the end of it. The weekly quests are pretty standard, with a focus on cataclysm cards, but the draw and spend quests get extra from spells, and the minions quest is now about battlecries with a focus on dragons. Makes sense for the theme, I suppose.
[5:02 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: While they are not tied to the 4 classes of the new mini-set, the 4 classes do have class packs in the event's rewards, as well as a special legendary, Dragon Soul, Shattered, and a new coin. No skin this time around.
[5:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I bought the 4 class minisets in a bundle, which did include a new hunter skin, Volcanic Krush, a fire version of our favorite devilsaur.
[5:04 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A new darkmoon faire is up, with the main prize being a Alexstrasza skin for both druid and mage. Not sure if we've seen dual-class skins before.
[5:05 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Rewards have been reduced from 10 to 7 for this one, which was apparently the only way to prevent me from just ending up with a card pack for the fourth time in a row. Got a signature epic card instead.
[5:06 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl this week is Nefarian Rises. A cooperative brawl to take down Nefarian in the middle of the board, I got quite lucky in the end with my first match, and luckily I didn't have a quest to win more. Because cooperative brawls can be quite horrible 😄
[5:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Still, if you're going for it, take note that there's a phase 2 that brings Nefarian's health back up and does 30 damage to the entire board. So don't waste all the big guns early if possible.
[5:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Caught me by surprise, but luckily we could combo the heck out of one minion that was able to finish off Nef on its own.
[5:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: No new collection level. That'll be a while!
[5:13 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: New login reward track is starting to progress nicely, with lots of gold, and the new pvp track is about to begin as well.
[5:14 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Did some Molten Core fights again, getting the valor out of it, but holding off on heroic for now as I focus on the campaign first.
[5:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Where I got 3 fights done, finishing Starblaze and Omnuron, as well as defeating the famed psychotic faerie dragon, Brightwing, with alliance and horde families. 13 fights remain!
[5:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And all the gold I got through this event is starting to stack up, but have not seen any epic cores since I was able to afford them, so I've now got enough gold for 4 of them. Considering I need 18 more, I might as well continue saving up.
[5:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And with no cores, no quality upgrades!
[5:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[5:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Level 87 reached! Finally some progress.
[5:18 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Finished up Harandar, restraining the Lightbloom in the zone and then preventing an invasion into Eversong. Then I chased the leader of said invasion into his dungeon in the heart of the Lightbloom in Harandar, and ended that threat for now.
[5:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I then reported back to Silvermoon and helped out Umbric for a bit, and am now preparing to follow Arator around for whatever he's going to do, in the final chapter before the Voidstorm.
[5:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, and I bought Roofus, the special charity pet, along with a bunch of decor pieces. Along with the Harandar decor pieces I've gotten this week through the story, I might also set those up when I get my evening sky room.
[5:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[5:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie 🙂