Luminara

Jessica and May watching cat TV.

*shrinks in terror at all of the socialization being discussed*

Are you insane? Christmas is coming! Plan something for a date 1-2 weeks before the holiday! Make it a middle of the week kind of thing so the people who go out on the weekend can attend! This is an opportunity. Use it. There won't be another time change for months, so I'll arrive promptly, I promise. 🙂

Except my failure. I logged in this morning at 1:50 a.m., figured I'd be told which server to switch to, what to do, etc. Waited for a few minutes, dug up the base info and went to the Snake Den, waited a few more minutes, no-one was around. I gave up around 2:10, changed to another character and played for a while, watching for a /tell, then logged out at about 3:20 and went back to bed. It was when I got up again at 6 a.m. and saw that the sky was brighter than it should've been that I realized my mistake. Time change was last night. I should've been there at 1 a.m., not 2 a.m. That's on me. I apologize for leaving everyone waiting and not arriving when I was supposed to. I should've checked to see when that was going to occur and prepared accordingly. I know I should've joined the channel you set up, but I couldn't. I tried, but I just couldn't do it. That's also on me, but I'm shifting the responsibility for that to my mental illness. It was in control of that decision, not me.

Possible, certainly. But would it be balanced? We're still talking about a T9 with almost all of the benefits of a unique and desirable T5 tacked on. I suspect that any caster buffs would be necessarily small and not open to enhancing, which would make them of comparatively low value. A +Recovery buff would certainly be useful, even unenhanced, but with the way regeneration works, I suspect that the amount which could be added wouldn't bring anything worthwhile to the power (meaning, it would have to be 100% or higher, or enhanceable, to have any measurable effect). Status resistance would certainly be a reasonable addition, since it doesn't prevent mez, but as with regeneration, it's not really meaningful in small amounts. Shaving 1-2 seconds off of a status effect doesn't help squishies. I think moving the Faraday Cage effect to the cast point, rather than the impact point, would address the issue of applying it to the teammates who need it most without forcing the TA to choose between debuffing AV regeneration or helping struggling squishies. It would still have to exclude the caster, in fairness, but applying a small buff of some kind to the caster wouldn't be too much of a compromise. If the nanite cloud, or magical spell, or mutant pheromones, or whatever, can affect those around the caster, some small effect would be explicable as aiding the caster as well. Recovery would be the most useful in the numerical range I would expect, as even small increases to that are typically helpful and worthwhile, and TA does still have the problem of having to reapply every debuff, rather than use any toggles, which can eat into the Endurance bar quickly. Having the T9 power help when it's most needed, during long fights when the TA might be struggling to keep the blue bar from bottoming out, would be reasonable. I can't envision the small amount +Regen or status resistance that would be likely as being worth the time or effort, though, and I don't imagine CP would add either in an amount which would be significant due to the balance problem. That would be my proposal. Spawn the Faraday Cage around the TA, continue to exclude the TA, but add a small Recovery buff which affects the TA only. That's probably not enough to satisfy everyone here, but I think it addresses the raised issues well enough and doesn't step on Elec Affin's toes. Some extra regen and/or status protection would be nice, but I've played with those numbers often enough to know that they're really only useful when they're big, and big isn't going to happen here, in my estimation.

It was like that in the I5 beta, it was changed because juggling between location- and critter-targeted was counter-productive and problematic. Macros don't show recharge times, which will force players who use macros to set up two trays, one for macros and one for actual powers to display their recharge status. Key binds, the other option, force players to change hand position away from standard positioning (WASD + number keys), which leads to errors in power usage or unintended movement when the wrong keys are pressed. Neither of these are negligible concerns, and were the primary reasoning behind changing to mostly critter-targeted powers. Moving back to a heavier mix of location- and critter-targeted powers reintroduces these unresolved issues in usability, something you should consider before finalizing this change.

Final update to provide closure for anyone who was interested. May is still somewhat skittish around me. She usually dashes under the love seat or scoots away when I try to pet her. I have to let her come to me. And she nearly panics when I pick her up. I've been holding her for a few seconds each day, so she can become accustomed to it, but it's going to take a long time for her to adapt to that. Inexplicably, she doesn't mind if I grasp her tail when she's going past, and she'll lie on the love seat next to me and allow me to pet her when she's ready for a nap. I think she's bonded with Jessica too well. She doesn't hesitate to sit or lay with Jessica, chase her, let herself be chased, etc. Jessica is her best friend, I'm not, and I suspect it will always be that way. And I'm okay with that. A big part of why I took her in was to provide Jessica with a companion, not because I needed more than Jessica was providing for me, so she's doing what I'd hoped. I'm always hopeful that she'll take to me a little more, but Jessica's happiness and well-being are what matter most, and she seems to be happy to have May as her foster sister. Play time with Jessica and May is not gentle. Jessica bites May so hard that May squeals and whines... and as soon as she breaks free, or I intercede, she pounces on Jessica and starts it all over again. Chases can be chaotic with both of them running around and under things, especially with Jessica's size and strength (bull in a china shop). May has some odd fascination with my shoes and boots, scatters them all over the place several times every day. She also, and it's absolutely adorable, vocalizes when she's playing with jingly balls. She won't do it with strings or pieces of paper or anything else, only with jingly balls. Chatters away like she's having a conversation when she's playing with those. When Jessica wants play time with me, May intrudes, which confuses Jessica. She's not sure if she's supposed to keep playing, or let May have fun instead. I'm still trying to find a way to give Jessica some exclusivity, but in a 12'x16' space, there's really no way to separate the two, so we're still working on it. She's definitely settled in and accepted that this is her life, and she seems to be aware that it's better than it would've been under that house. She's a happy kitten with two friends who love her, all of the entertainment she could dream of, warm places to sleep, plenty of food and the freshest water nature can provide. She spends most of her time playing, and she does it with the exuberance and gusto that only kittens can pull off. I'll have to take her to a vet in a few months, for shots and spaying, and I already know that's not going to be a pleasant experience for either of us. We'll get through it, and I'm sure Jessica will be a big comfort for her when she comes home. Other than that, I think there's nothing really notable left to say.

Use it on critters near the squishies. Look, at this point, EMP Arrow is essentially a T9 plus a T5. It's EMP Arrow plus Faraday Cage at the point of impact, with the caveat being that it only affects teammates/pets. It has to have that limitation to balance it in regard to Faraday Cage, the Electrical Affinity power. Balance between sets matters as much as balance within sets, and this version of EMP Arrow is pushing the envelope as it is. It's one step away from shitting on Electrical Affinity, which is what it would be doing if it were a full port of Faraday Cage crowbarred into EMP Arrow. If you don't think this balance measure is acceptable, make a viable proposal for an alternative. Seriously, I'd love to see something improve the solo functionality of EMP Arrow.

That's not the design purpose of the power, or the design purpose behind adding the Faraday Cage effect. The Faraday Cage effect is there to give EMP Arrow utility outside of AV combat, and the decision not to allow it to affect the caster was because the set doesn't inherently support players entering or using it in melee range, as there are no heals or regeneration buffs. Also, with common SOs or common IOs, no Hasten and no Incarnate recharge buffs of any kind, the down time on the buff is only ~30s. If you're using IO sets, Hasten and Incarnate buffs, you can push the recharge time as low as ~70s, which is beyond perma-. As an exclusively and necessarily solo player, I'm fine with it not affecting the caster. It meets the design goals and purposes, it gives me a reason to use it outside of Portal Jockey pursuit or a panic button and it improves the lives of my fellow TAs who can team.

Incurable pachydermititus.

Why not? Ask @Bill Z Bubba about his Stanks. Aggro galore!

I could find a way to do it with a blaster. I won't, because it would be a ridiculous amount of work and easier to accomplish with a defender. Or, you know, an actual tank. But I could.

Do the majority of people do these things, or is it a minority of people? There are over 7 billion humans on the planet. I don't see evidence of 51% of them abusing their power over others. If 51% of parents abused or murdered their children, we wouldn't be in the midst of a population boom. If 51% of priests abused children or church members, religion wouldn't exist. If 51% of people abused or killed their pets, we'd be running out of pets, entire pet industries would be out of business. Yes, people do stupid things. People can be amazingly immature at times. People can be insensitive and thoughtless. But that stupidity, insensitivity, thoughtless and/or immaturity aren't corruption. They can lead to corruption, but in and of itself, being less than perfect isn't being corrupt. You can't define all people by the actions of the minority, and you can't say that all people would be corrupted by absolute power when the majority behave in ways contradictory to that. I don't need to see the countless examples you can show for people being bad. I'm old enough to have seen or experienced most of them for myself. But for every one of those examples, there are tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of examples of people being good. There are far more tits than tats here. The majority of people are good. They're not perfect, but they try to be the best people they can be, and that gives me faith in them. And I'm not wearing anything but reading glasses. I'm looking at the people in my life right now, the people I've left behind over the years, the people they know and knew, the people I've read about in the news and history books, and I'm seeing far more than 49% good. Again, not perfection, but basic goodness and an on-going effort to be even better. I don't see the majority as being corruptible, even if they are flawed. Absolute corruption is only absolute if one allows it to be. We all have that choice, and people exercise that choice every second of every day, with the vast majority choosing not to be corrupted.

Whoa, back the truck up. Genomic Evolution doesn't buff movement speed. It buffs range. Two powers to bump noggins with the run speed cap. I'm going to pee myself.

God damn it. Now I have to make another sentinel. THANKS A LOT. 😠 P.S. ❤️

It doesn't. We see evidence of that every day, all around us. Parents aren't universally corrupt, but they have absolute power over their children. Pet owners aren't universally corrupt, but they have absolute power over their pets. Some decades back, there was a panic over a false radar reading in the USSR. One man had the power to end life as we knew it on the planet, all he had to do was push the button to launch the ICBMs. He didn't. Police officers, members of the military, spouses, there are people in whom we place our implicit trust, in whom we trust with our very lives, and for the most part, they don't abuse that trust. Selfish people or weak-willed people might be corruptible, but they aren't representative of humanity as a whole. Sorry, but no. People aren't perfect, but a hell of a lot of them are better than we give them credit for. If absolute power truly corrupted absolutely, our species would've died out ten minutes after the first society formed. And that's why I can play heroes. I still believe in the inherent goodness of human beings, and I'm determined to be one of those good people, even if it's only in a video game.

The buff effect is from Faraday Cage, and the caster is excluded from the buff in this version. No reason given.

Ignore them. They're crazy. I know they are because the voices said so. Play Archery/Energy/Ninja Tool Mastery with Cross Punch and Air Superiority. Pew pew and AAAAAAAAHHHHH all in one.

So you're saying that it only gives you the illusion of control?

I covered this in the feedback thread, but I'll say it again here for others who might be reading. OSA was deliberately balanced around being a debuff and soft control. The recharge time is three minutes faster than the nukes it was performing on par with in terms of damage when the power was created. A big part of that balance decision, not making OSA the T9 and setting the recharge time to six minutes, was due to TA not having an in-set ignition mechanism. The rules were bent for OSA. Adding an in-set means of lighting it would require a re-examination of the balance, and the end result would not be favorable. Additionally, OSA was never an under-performing part of TA, nor has it required any bug fixes since the server timing bug was located and squashed (years and years ago), so it wasn't on the list of things to adjust when the HC team started working on TA. It is what it is, and in light of the consideration given to it for being a debuff and soft control first, it's fine. There are multiple other options for igniting it beyond origin or temp powers. We still have access to *PPs with Energy/Fire damage, procs, the Sorcery pool, teammates or critter actions to defeat OSTarget and ignite the slick. You don't have to run into melee range to ignite it with an origin power, or hunt for temp powers and hoard charges.

Imagine all of the possible Boudicca/Booty jokes.

Played it for three or so years, until I moved. The basic game is easy enough to figure out in ten or fifteen minutes, understanding stats and gear and such. Some of the legendaries have nice graphics, and they're all simple enough to craft, just time consuming and heavy on materials. The meta changes frequently enough to keep it fresh. The player base isn't quite as friendly or open to sub-optimal builds as the people here, in my experience. Not a fan of open world special mobs, either, like the mushrooms who drop the invisible boots. A lot of nicer costume parts are locked behind the micro-transaction/gold exchange barrier, too (but no stat options. only skins for gear). Had to spend money to get a skirt on my thief, and grind to go barefoot. I liked it well enough, but I'm glad to be back in Co*. I do miss the fingers and toes, though.

The problem with that is, we don't know when or why the resistance was added. Legacy from when ToHit was the base for critter hit calculations, or a piece of the Purple Patch? Or something else that neither of us knows about? Was it added 17 years ago, or was it added when Benumb or Weaken were created? We need to know if it's linked with anything before changing it, because changing it might have unintended effects. The variety of interwoven mechanics which create the tapestry of the game is sizeable, and pulling threads without following them to their end tends to distort that tapestry. My instinct says leave it alone and find another debuff to replace the the ToHit debuff resistance debuff, to not yank that thread. Unless someone on the HC team has a tool which can trace it back to its source, when it was added, which other mechanics it interacts with, what else it might be doing, we don't know where removing those higher floors will lead.

If you read what I wrote, you'll note that my objection is only with the -res -ToHit. And since you agree that it needs to be addressed, I'm not missing anything. Let's get this fixed before the power goes live.