Month Day, 2026
5:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
[9:12 AM]Eönwë Valar: The Guild Pic in the Screenshot channel should be the last, unless someone sends in something before October 15th. That's the deadline because if anyone else wants in it I have to have time to try and remove the background, make sure nothing important is clipped from the character, and if necessary ask for redos.
[9:12 AM]Eönwë Valar: 4k, flat ground, contrasting background is my recommendation. If you want to try and get the background out yourself and send me a png of your char with a transparent background, great.
[9:14 AM]Eönwë Valar: Don't take the pic from too far back, and of course not too close. I'd rather have plenty of detail in the character and have to shrink it than have to increase its size, but I need the full body.
[9:14 AM]Eönwë Valar:Image
[9:14 AM]Eönwë Valar: That's too far.
[9:15 AM]Eönwë Valar: (Name that movie)
[3:56 PM]Earendil: A league of their own?
[3:59 PM]Treebeard: Yep. Looks like that movie.
[4:00 PM]Treebeard: I count only two rings handed out in that movie. There was at least one elf and, definitely a goblin in that movie.
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya : )
[4:01 PM]Treebeard: Hello ! 🙂
[4:01 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:01 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:01 PM]Varda: Hi there, Fangorn. : )
[4:01 PM]Varda: Aiya to Earendil : )
[4:01 PM]Earendil: Aiya guys.
[4:02 PM]Earendil: (...and gals! Almost forgot!)
[4:02 PM]Varda: It's a good generic, no worries.
[4:02 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend @Maia @Vala Yay! It's time for the Valar Guild meeting! Chat about gaming, Tolkien, and just say hi!
[4:02 PM]Varda: Eonwe's work schedule will mostly wreck his ability to make meetings between November and March, hopefully not past that. He still helps us out during non-meeting times.
[4:03 PM]Varda: We celebrate the Valar Guild's 29th Anniversary on October 4th. Additions to the Anniversary page will continue to be accepted for all of October, and a number of these also go into the guild's Tolkien Site where possible.
[4:03 PM]Varda: Any other membership news?
[4:04 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya frim germany
[4:05 PM]Varda: Aiya Arien, Far Traveler!
[4:05 PM]Treebeard: Hello Arien 🙂
[4:05 PM]Arien Valar: 😀
[4:05 PM]Earendil: Aiya!
[4:06 PM]Varda: Now that's membership news. : )
[4:07 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Fangorn and seafarer 🙂
[4:07 PM]Varda: On to...
[4:07 PM]Varda: Web News:
[4:07 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[4:07 PM]Varda: Eonwe!
[4:08 PM]Varda: Glad you could come in somehow! With one of your great GIF's. 🙂
[4:08 PM]Treebeard: Hello Eonwe. 🙂
[4:09 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya. Btw, everyone who guessed "A League Of Their Own" was correct :}
[4:09 PM]Varda: Grats to the winners!
[4:09 PM]Varda: New Story by Arien-(Valar): An Apple's Adventure. Emailed Oct.4, 2026, posted Oct. 9, 2026.
[4:10 PM]Varda: New Story by Eonwe-(Valar): Adventure or Errantry, that is the story question. Emailed Oct. 6, 2026. Posted Oct. 10, 2026.
[4:10 PM]Varda: Enjoy reading those two! Lots of fun. 🙂
[4:10 PM]Varda: Some updates on the Anniversary page this week:
[4:11 PM]Varda: Also to be put on the Anniversary page is the "photo" of our guild folk that sent in their pictures to Eonwe. Currently, you can see it in the screenshots sub-channel. This should be the final version, with Falco added at the top middle.
[4:11 PM]Varda: Take a look. : )
[4:12 PM]Arien Valar: Will do when bak 😃 so small ob mobikw
[4:12 PM]Varda: Okies : )
[4:12 PM]Arien Valar: Mobile
[4:13 PM]Varda: Have to get a friend to let you borrow their computer, maybe, sometime. : ) Phones are tiny screens, aye!
[4:15 PM]Arien Valar: Mum is technophobiac so i ll have to be patient 😛
[4:16 PM]Varda: ah ok. When we go elsewhere, it can be tough to find a connection or computer. Later then. : )
[4:16 PM]Varda: On to
[4:16 PM]Varda: Gaming!
[4:16 PM]Varda: Thank you to Eonwe for putting the Gaming News up for us!
[4:16 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya All! Sorry to be late...heavy duty work outside!
[4:16 PM]Varda: Way it goes. : )
[4:17 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya sandalf !
[4:17 PM]Varda: Aiya Sandalf 🙂
[4:17 PM]Varda: the Gaming Gavel launches to Eonwe
[4:17 PM]Treebeard: Heya ! 🙂
[4:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: Starting with the GSMU:
[4:19 PM]Varda: (Games Site Mass Update)
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Data has been tabulated and posted. If your gaming info isn't up there, let me know.
[4:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Updates accepted throughout the year.
[4:19 PM]Varda: sorted by Honor"
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: State of Valar Gaming Report is up.
[4:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: Highlights:
[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: 161 members, 44 emails sent out, 11 respondents (about the recent average), 2 undeliverable.
[4:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: Make sure your e-mail on the Members Page is correct.
[4:22 PM]Eönwë Valar: But if you're here, chances are it is, heh.
[4:22 PM]Varda: If you want it confidential, be sure to mention.
[4:24 PM]Eönwë Valar: Aye. Confidential is fine. You can even make an e-mail just for mail from us, but you're not going to be flooded with it. I send one e-mail annually and that's the Games Site Mass-Update e-mail.
[4:24 PM]Pallando-Valar: I've got a draft that I never finished, whoops.
[4:25 PM]Pallando-Valar: I'll send that when I have a few minutes..
[4:25 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya paĺando 😀
[4:26 PM]Eönwë Valar: Us having an e-mail gives us a way to contact you before resorting to sweeps in cases of long absences. Responding to the GSMU e-mail counts as activity, even if all you do is tell us you don't play games right now but you still want to be a member.
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: As far as what games members admit to playing, LotRO is still the most numerous by a longshot (21 members). Next highest is Starcraft 2 with 5.
[4:28 PM]Varda: Aiya Pallando 🙂
[4:28 PM]Treebeard: Heya !
[4:28 PM]Falco: Aiya!
[4:28 PM]Varda: I don't "admit"! I proudly proclaim gaming in LotRO and SC2. 🙂
[4:28 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hehe.
[4:29 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Newcomers!
[4:29 PM]Treebeard: Heya Falco 🙂
[4:29 PM]Varda: digs through shelves for a few minutes, buried under stuff
[4:29 PM]Varda: (Aiya Falco!)
[4:29 PM]Falco: Wait What... There are other games besides LOTRO out there in the Wild...
[4:29 PM]Varda: It's like that tiny film around the outside of Texas called "the rest of the world".
[4:29 PM]Treebeard: Games? Not really, pass times maybe...
[4:30 PM]Eönwë Valar: On a final note, I'm considering changes to what I ask for and how it's displayed over the next year, but we'll see. That I ask for games you play and want to find members in won't change, of course.
[4:31 PM]Falco: Wonder how many of us are Beta and how many are founders in LOTRO....
[4:31 PM]Eönwë Valar: I played in beta, and I'm a Founder.
[4:32 PM]Varda: Same.
[4:32 PM]Falco: Same.
[4:32 PM]Eönwë Valar: I played in beta on a pone line.
[4:32 PM]Varda: (phone line sitting on corn pone)
[4:32 PM]Arien Valar: Founder
[4:33 PM]Varda: Treebeard is also.
[4:33 PM]Falco: I don't miss the 300baud days... Phone line crossing multiple rooms...
[4:33 PM]Varda: Once you come, you stay!
[4:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Also, the Peregrin Kin Table is up and mostly updated.
[4:34 PM]Falco: LOL someone sure has a lot of toons on that list...
[4:34 PM]Varda: (Varda may have to remove some of those out of courtesy to the Games Site.)
[4:34 PM]Arien Valar: Errŕrr...
[4:34 PM]Varda: Three accounts.
[4:35 PM]Eönwë Valar: Glamdring Table still TBA.
[4:35 PM]Varda: (I may have to do the same for poor ol' Glamdring. cough)
[4:36 PM]Varda: (They didn't fit into Peregrin, lack of character slots.)
[4:37 PM]Varda: Might have to just show the top 160's or whatever the top is at the time.
[4:37 PM]Varda: Not the rest of the levels.
[4:37 PM]Falco: I track mine in excel...
[Discord Image
[4:37 PM]Varda: That's wonderful. 🙂
[4:38 PM]Eönwë Valar: Before I move on to individual gaming news, any questions on any of that?
[4:38 PM]Varda: I made a stab at it:
[4:38 PM]Varda: (Note: wrong url, see below instead). https://valarguild.org/community/NewsArchives/extras/2025/PeregrinKinmates.htm
[4:39 PM]Varda: ohh, that's an old one
[4:40 PM]Arien Valar: I track my yawn rate at this moment ...imagines madky flickrring light
[4:41 PM]Sandalf13: Is it steady anr regular?
[4:42 PM]Arien Valar: Not very , but signallingbit is moring time for the barge 😀
[4:42 PM]Eönwë Valar: Ok, moving on to the regularly-scheduled gaming news.
[4:42 PM]Varda: ( corrected url for a Peregrin kinmate 2026 code-helper list, messy code and updates by Varda" )
[4:42 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft:
[4:43 PM]Eönwë Valar: This week's bonus event: Mists of Pandaria Timewalking.
[This week's PvP Brawl: Arathi Blizzard.
[4:43 PM]Varda: There we go, 2026
[4:43 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie frpm me for now !
[4:43 PM]Eönwë Valar: Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary is getting the Gods of Zul'Aman content update on October 22nd.
[4:43 PM]Treebeard: Bye
[4:43 PM]Varda: Namarie, Sunshine! ☼
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: Two more sets of WoW: Forever Class Deep Dives are up: the Mage and Shaman and the Rogue and Warlock.
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: There's a third Episode of the WoW: Forever podcast.
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: There's also 3 more blogs on WoW: Forever:
[4:44 PM]Eönwë Valar: World of Warcraft: Forever - The Future of Skyborne Visual Updates
[4:45 PM]Eönwë Valar: Battle for the Darkspear Islands in World of Warcraft: Forever
[4:45 PM]Eönwë Valar: How PvP Progression in World of Warcraft: Forever Works
[4:45 PM]Eönwë Valar: See WoW Weekly for anything not mentioned above.
[4:45 PM]Eönwë Valar: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: Diablo 4: A new patch is coming out Wednesday.
[4:46 PM]Sandalf13: NAmarie Arien!
[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: Overwatch:
[A new blog is out: Feed Your Hunger in Reign of Talon - Season 5: A Grim Doctrine.
[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: Hearthstone:
[So apparently there's a "brand-new way to experience Hearthstone": Journey.
[4:46 PM]Eönwë Valar: Starcraft 2:
[Patch 5.0.17 is live.
[Eönwë Valar: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:47 PM]Eönwë Valar: Harvestmath is going through November 1st.
[4:47 PM]Eönwë Valar: Update 49.7 is out.
[4:47 PM]Eönwë Valar: Wolves of Mordor is now expected to release October 28th.
[4:48 PM]Eönwë Valar: And as a final note, don't forget what I posted in here before the meeting about sending char pics in for the guild photo. Deadline is October 15th if you want to be in.
[4:48 PM]Eönwë Valar: And with that, I turn the mic back over to Varda.
[4:49 PM]Varda: Thank you
[4:49 PM]Varda: A bit more on SC2:
[4:49 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2: Eowyn, Fangorn, Faramir, Varda
[4:49 PM]Varda: and more LotRO:
[4:50 PM]Varda: Kinmates showing up this past week:
Peregrin branch:
Glamdring branch:
Meriadoc branch EU:
Angmar branch:
Mordor branch:
[4:51 PM]Pallando-Valar: Hello!
[4:51 PM]Varda: Aiyata, Pallando. : )
[4:51 PM]Pallando-Valar: Eve news! I missed this last week due to being busy elsewhere, but The Crimson Harvest is here.
[4:52 PM]Pallando-Valar: The usual annual sites are back, with some new twists added.
[4:52 PM]Pallando-Valar: 90% loot drop outside of HS and 50% implant drop.
[4:54 PM]Pallando-Valar: The Major Update hit as well, I don't think I talked about that. That included the Ansiblex nerf, insurgencies going to 7 days/3 days, with only 10 systems needed for a win, and a variety of PvE tweaks in Wormholes and Pochven. 4:54 PM]Pallando-Valar: A very minor balance pass as well.
[4:54 PM]Pallando-Valar: Crimson Harvest: The Bloodgates Are Open
[4:56 PM]Pallando-Valar: Major Update patchnotes.
[4:57 PM]Pallando-Valar: In upcoming news, the AT finals will be 31 Oct/1 Nov (I will not be playing or casting, didn't make either opportunity, unfortunately).
[4:57 PM]Varda: Ouch.
[4:58 PM]Pallando-Valar: Vanguard (the latest attempt at an FPS from FCCP) will be open to paid players (ie, Eve subscribers) starting Nov 10. Steam EA that is F2P is slated for next year.
[4:59 PM]Pallando-Valar: No news on the fall/winter expansion yet, but we'll probably get that teased during the finals.
[4:59 PM]Pallando-Valar: With a little luck and some work on my part, I'll also be announcing my tournament then. Stay tuned for that.
[5:00 PM]Pallando-Valar: I'm going to be traveling the next few weeks, but I'll be back to do Eve updates around the AT Finals weekend. 🙂
[5:02 PM]Varda: Enjoy your travels!
[5:02 PM]Sandalf13: Safe travelsQQ
[5:02 PM]Sandalf13: !!
[5:03 PM]Varda: Thank you, Pallando. : )
[5:04 PM]Varda: It's after the hour. Those that need to leave, please feel free to do so.
[5:04 PM]Varda: Going to switch to Tolkien in After-meeting.
[5:04 PM]Varda: On to
[5:04 PM]Varda: After-meeting
[5:04 PM]Treebeard: Have fun gaming, Namarie!
[5:04 PM]Varda: And on to
[5:04 PM]Varda: Tolkien!
[5:05 PM]Varda: Here's a topic for you all:
[5:05 PM]Varda: The Valar in the books seem to be an amalgam of Tolkien's research into other cultures from far back and even into his own Catholic religion. Does this seem to be correct?
[5:05 PM]Varda: (feel free to post comments here even on other days. They will be read. )
[5:05 PM]Earendil: I love this topic.
[5:05 PM]Varda: : )
[5:06 PM]Earendil: You know my feelings, which are yes.
[5:06 PM]Eönwë Valar: Those are your feelings, but what do you think? heh
[5:08 PM]Earendil: Just my opinion, but Tolkien drew from everywhere around him for inspiration and I definitely see that he drew on Christian faith as well as other historical pantheons in crafting the lore of the valar.
[5:08 PM]Eönwë Valar: (I kid)
[5:08 PM]Earendil: (I know, 😆)
[5:09 PM]Earendil: I mean a council of a small number of divine beings defined by ideological association with elements could describe the Valarie or olympians.
[5:10 PM]Earendil: Typo...
[5:10 PM]Earendil: VALAR...
[5:10 PM]Sandalf13: I think that might be a stretch too far...I agree with the idea that Tolkien used his knowledge of other, older cultures to help form his concept of the Valar, but I think he kept his Catholicisim out of it.
[5:10 PM]Earendil: auto correct...
[5:10 PM]Sandalf13: I agree, Earendil.
[5:11 PM]Earendil: Yeah even though I DO see signs of his own faith, I'll I'm reading between lines.
[5:11 PM]Eönwë Valar: Reverence of Varda can be directly correlated to reverence of the Virgin Mary in Catholic tradition.
[5:11 PM]Earendil: Still, it just seems so present to me.
[5:11 PM]Earendil: Yes, right there.
[5:12 PM]Earendil: It's subtle, and not a 1:1 comparison but I see a parallel.
[5:14 PM]Earendil: (I am open to other theories if anyone wants to add...)
[5:15 PM]Sandalf13: Yes, but in the traditional Biblical narrative, only G-d himself creates/destroys creation. The angels, even the Archangels, are powerless to create anything, unlike the Valar.
[5:16 PM]Sandalf13: I think that Earendil may have summed it up best...parallels, but not exact copies.
[5:16 PM]Eönwë Valar: Of course.
[5:16 PM]Varda: Eru was the only one with the Secret Fire in his make-up, that gave life.
[5:17 PM]Varda: Just saying that JRRT's research went into many places, giving us the Ainur as they currently are portrayed.
[5:18 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Valar aren't copy-paste archangels. They do share commonalities with the gods (small g) of other religions, because they're meant to explain the gods of other religions. It says in different places that the Valar "were called gods," though right now my mind is jumping to BoLT.
[5:18 PM]Varda: The Ainur have a kinder streak than most of the old mythologies and folktales, yet have many things in common.
[5:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: The Valar can affect creation that exists; they cannot create ex nihilo, which is the specific domain of Eru.
[5:19 PM]Varda: Eru made the Song of Creation; the Valar executed it with some embellishments.
[5:20 PM]Sandalf13: That ex nihilo business gets me every time!
[5:20 PM]Sandalf13: Yet the Valar did raise mountain ranges, and so on...
[5:22 PM]Sandalf13: Not to mention Yavanna singing the Two Trees into existence...
[5:22 PM]Eönwë Valar: The absolute peak damage Melkor could ever do was to level all of creation into its most basic blocks and scatter the blocks, and then he would have to preside over the blocks to ensure they remained scattered. He could never ultimately end creation.
[5:23 PM]Eönwë Valar: And that's assuming the Valar did nothing to stop him.
[5:25 PM]Earendil: YES! This is what I'm talking about, there are so many parallel elements, even just in the scale of power over matter (only all of matter could be scattered...) trumped subtly by the mere fact of the ultimate impermanence of said effect because you simply don't create, you can only control.
[5:25 PM]Varda: And then the new Song of Arda sung aright would fix the whole mess, later. : )
[5:25 PM]Earendil: Yep. All power of matter can fixed with one the bosses jaunty tunes.
[5:25 PM]Varda: This current Arda is a learning phase.
[5:25 PM]Varda: heh
[5:26 PM]Varda: ♪ ♫ ♪
[5:28 PM]Varda: Pantheons tend to have similarities all through time and place. JRRT looked at a lot of them for his work.
[5:28 PM]Varda: List of pantheons
[5:29 PM]Earendil: You could also see the power of Eru compared to his faithful servants as a comparison of the deepest meaning of "all poweful" versus the notion of power in or over archetypes.
[5:30 PM]Varda: Aye. There is usually one of the greatest power as the original creator, then hierarchies of those under that being.
[5:30 PM]Earendil: Powers and principalities right?
[5:30 PM]Varda: That concept, aye.
[5:31 PM]Sandalf13: Indeed.
[5:31 PM]Varda: Seen also in our earthly set-ups.
[5:32 PM]Earendil: Mm hm. Again, I personally wonder if these parallels were rooted in the structure as a kind of (and do forgive my use of a visual medium term here) show don't tell story device.
[5:34 PM]Eönwë Valar: As much as I'd like to continue, I must be off. Take care all, good night, sleep well, and have fun. Enjoy the chat, and enjoy stories.
[5:34 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie, Eonwe! Enjoy the week and your work!
[5:34 PM]Earendil: As in a story where facts or assumptions about facts in the story are presented for you to register without direct reference because the characters just accept these elements in there world. NAMARIE!!
[5:35 PM]Varda: Namarie Eonwe!
[5:36 PM]Varda: The background of the world, for depth.
[5:38 PM]Earendil: Aye.
[5:39 PM]Earendil: Who payed more attention to the depth of his world than jrrt,
[5:39 PM]Earendil: ?
[5:43 PM]Treebeard: Leaving the subject of JRR Tolkien. I thought that J. K. Rowling did a very nice job of world building.
[5:44 PM]Varda: Aye. Just not as big. Well-done.
[5:45 PM]Treebeard: The Dragon Lance series comes to mind.
[5:45 PM]Sandalf13: I did enjoy reading her Potter books, but they were aimed for a slightly younger audience than Tolkien addressed, I believe.
[5:45 PM]Varda: See: The Hobbit
[5:45 PM]Treebeard: ...ah, me, I suppose
[5:46 PM]Sandalf13: I would like to add the name of Ursula LeGuin here as well...her Earth Sea Trilogy is a gem, and all in a created world as well.
[5:46 PM]Varda: I know a lot of adults that enjoyed the Potter books. : )
[5:47 PM]Varda: When we get into the big fantasy and science fiction books and series, we see a ton of world-building. JRRT was a master of it.
[5:47 PM]Treebeard: I thought that the JRR Tolkien books were very consistent and well thought through. He did have some very hard listerner/reader/influencers in his kids.
[5:48 PM]Earendil: I would categorize the potter books as a kind of coming of age tale respectively, as in the end they do deal with heavy topics. Harry and co. deal with death, living in a world where it's not always easy to do right and so on.
[5:49 PM]Earendil: I loved growing up around Potter, but I waited until the last book was released to read all of them.
[5:50 PM]Treebeard: That makes me want ice cream. C'y'all next time. Namarie 🥳
[5:51 PM]Pallando-Valar: Really? Because somewhat famously she didn't. She didn't even think she was writing fantasy...
[5:53 PM]Earendil: I'm heading out myself. An evening walk on a beautiful October day.
[5:53 PM]Earendil: Namarie.
[5:53 PM]Earendil: 😁
[5:53 PM]Pallando-Valar: I never enjoyed Harry Potter and din't like the morals or writing.
[5:54 PM]Varda: We don't have to like or dislike a book or series to consider how they handled the idea of whatever were considered higher powers.
[5:54 PM]Pallando-Valar: Very true!
[5:54 PM]Varda: That tends to be behind their ideas of good vs evil.
[5:54 PM]Pallando-Valar: Just was surprised to see it referneced as a series with good worldbuilding
[5:55 PM]Varda: People have different opinions. : )
[5:55 PM]Pallando-Valar: But I personally don't like it so that's probably why 🙂
[5:55 PM]Varda: Good as in Dumbledore (more or less) or Harry vs Voldemort.
[5:55 PM]Varda: Manwe vs his brother Melkor
[5:56 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie, Earendil!!! 🙂
[5:56 PM]Varda: This gives the basic behind the conflict of the story
[5:56 PM]Varda: Enjoy your walk, Earendil. : )
[5:56 PM]Pallando-Valar: I don't much care for WoT but it's hard to argue there isn't strong worldbuilding there once he finished ripping off LotR. 🙂
[5:57 PM]Varda: heh. It is said many used JRRT for a basis. Some more blatantly than others.
[5:57 PM]Pallando-Valar: And a lot of people don't care for the Cosmere, but that's nothing but worldbuilding (which is the primary issue people have with it)
[5:58 PM]Sandalf13: I too am bailing...I need to get ready for my semi-annual trip to Boise, ID this week. Plan to leave Wed, drive to Boise, then start my return trip late Thursday, staying ovenight in Brigham City, UT. Home on Friday. Still a long trip, and I am adding another 1,800 miles to my new SUV. Then in December I will drive to New York in it, and that adds another 4,000 miles. I should hit over 10,000 miles well before the first year anniversary of my new Buick during the last week of May.
[5:58 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie everyone!!!
[5:58 PM]Sandalf13: 🙂
[5:59 PM]Pallando-Valar: The Eye of the World is almost beat-for-beat LotR in a (slightly) abridged format. Don't think Robert Jordan ever really denied that either, given how blatant it is. Certainly managed to turn it into its own thing after that (for better and worse..)
[5:59 PM]Pallando-Valar: we should have dinner or a beer or whatever. 🙂
[6:00 PM]Sandalf13: Where are you?
[6:00 PM]Pallando-Valar: nyc
[6:00 PM]Sandalf13: Fantastic! You are on. I will see you, I hope, in December!!!!
[6:00 PM]Pallando-Valar: Hopefulyl the days work out, some of Dec I am in Finland. 🙂
[6:02 PM]Sandalf13: My appt in Manhattan is 17 Dec. I will arrive on Tuesday, 15 Dec, and leave after my Thursday appt.
[6:02 PM]Sandalf13: And a beer sounds really good, too. Coffee works also...
[6:05 PM]Pallando-Valar: Not to me!
[6:05 PM]Pallando-Valar: that works, I'll be back by then. 🙂
[6:08 PM]Sandalf13: We shall keep in touch about this, then...Namarie!
[6:25 PM]Varda: Namarie : )
[9:32 PM]Varda: Here's our forum post. Sorry it took me so long:
[9:32 PM]Varda: Feel free to comment there too!
[10:57 PM]Varda: Just saw Thingol-V on Bnet while signing off from SC2. : )
[October 12, 2026
[12:44 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, reading up!
[1:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Eep, look at those LotRO characters. And I thought I had many WoW alts...
[1:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone journey looks interesting. I do hope it doesn't take too much more time compared to current quests and events.
[1:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hopefully just a more streamlined and story-active version.
[1:11 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That preview picture is giving me such a Rayman: Origins vibe.
[1:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm. I thought the idea of a tiered pantheon with one true creator god at the top was basically a monotheistic if not purely abrahamic viewpoint, but thinking about it, the more classic pantheons generally had one or two deities at the base of creation, even though they tended to be more absent in the more detailed legends of the pantheons themselves. Like Gaia and Uranus. Eru would certainly fall under that as well. So perhaps the Catholic angle is indeed less obvious than I thought.
[1:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As for Harry Potter, never read the books, but the movies were fun enough 🙂
[9:39 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[9:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, something actually new this week!
[9:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Doesn't even have badges yet, but was announced on the kongregate discord, and I've just been addicted to it for the past week.
[9:42 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Find Hidden Pets is a puzzle game, sudoku variant, wherein you must locate the hidden pets in the grid in each level. There's one in each row, one in each column, one in each color, and they can't touch, even diagonally. Those rules are enough to figure them out without guessing! PetDoku: Find Hidden Pets on Kongregate – Play Now Launch PetDoku: Find Hidden Pets on Kongregate and start playing right away. Free online, browser-based fun with no installs.
[9:46 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: There's over 2000 stages - I'm over 120 levels done now - as well as daily generated puzzles on a calendar going back to january, and you get a trophy for each month you complete. And if you need more incentive, every time you collect a number of hidden pets - going up to 150 per reward, so far - you get to add a new pet to your collection out of 100, starting with dogs and cats and getting more exotic later on, and you can use them for the hidden pets in the levels.
[9:47 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It's a bit silly, but fun, and if you know the patterns a bit, the levels don't take too long 🙂
[9:54 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[9:57 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone: Level 131 on the reward track now. Expansion should be just around the corner.
[9:58 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got enough gold that way to buy a new hero skin, and I chose the Sire Denathrius Bat for warrior. Seemed the most unique among those offered 🙂
[9:59 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Black market's over now! Apparently the haggling is only an option when you don't have enough currency at the end, but if you offer too low, apparently you don't get a second chance. So I'm glad I didn't risk it and just got enough currency to buy the remaining stuff.
[10:00 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Looks like it's going to come back as a feature, according to that Journey post, so I hope we'll get to see more no longer available card backs and signatures and the like 🙂
[10:04 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: New quest event is up! The War of Old & New, about the 4 Old Gods waking up. Final reward will be Zek'voz priest skin, with Zek'voz being a boss in WoW's Uldir raid. Giant bugs are always fun!
[10:05 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The experience required to get the final rewards in the 2 week event is rather tight, though, so best not to skip any daily quests.
[10:07 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And the brawl is "Servant of Yogg-Saron" Tryouts, where you pick a class, and get a bunch of minions that cast a random spell at a random target. It's... very random indeed. You need more luck than your opponent, definitely, as these spells can sway the board your way very easily, but also simply destroy the minion that cast it 😄
[10:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: No new collection level, but did reach the 90k experience threshold to get another level on Deep Breath, my latest spell. Now all minis are on the final 200k track, though the rest are above 100k now, so Deep Breath still has some catching up to do.
[10:10 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In the meantime, getting more stars and gold and valor, with the October reward track getting into the better stuff, and the Hallow's End event just a few days away. I wonder if there's any new goodies in there!
[10:11 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[10:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: More raiding, as we plunge deeper into heroic difficulty. Apparently heroic boss kills give mythic-track rewards in the vault, and I got a tier headpiece from that! Ilevel steadily growing.
[10:14 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Weekly quest is pandaria timewalks, which feel a bit easier again, though I wonder if the reward will help me much 🙂
[10:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Finally, Gnomeregan Run was this weekend! Updated my pink gnome warlock's outfit for it, as seen in the screenshots channel - most of her gear wasn't even pink before this! - and earned the new toy, Gnomatic Projector. It creates a hologram of your character, which can stack on other people's holograms as well. I've seen it go up to a stack of 6 at the run's finishing line!
[10:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Only useable by gnomes and mechagnomes, though.
[10:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I guess a stack of tauren holograms would be too high 😄
[10:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[10:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie 🙂
[9:02 PM]Varda: Thanks, Phar. : )