Luminara

The recharge time on Blizzard, Blackstar, Thunderous Blast, Nova, Inferno, Psychic Wail, Atomic Blast and Dreadful Wail was 360s when TA went live. And for the rest of the lifetime of the game, until the day it shut down. Those recharge times were adjusted in I24, which was still in beta on the original servers. OSA's recharge time was not, because despite having the capability to deal as much damage as some of those nukes, it was treated as a defender primary power, a debuff and soft control. K.

The world needs more spiders like the Argiope genus (banded garden spiders). Fewer tarantulas and wolf spiders. I could do with an outhouse, if the world is taking requests...

Missions being cleared from the navigation window when changing zones. FIX THAT BUG! FIX IT! I'm 48 years old, I don't need any help forgetting where I was going or why I was going there! Players shouldn't have to go through extra steps to lock the mission into the window, or select it again and again and again. It's UI, not a mini-game. On the rare occasion that I have to open my Team window for some reason, "You are no longer seeking a team" pops up in the chat window. Seeing that is unnerving for people with social anxiety disorder. It implies that we're automatically added to LFG, without our consent or knowledge, and even the implication is detrimental for people with this mental health issue. If that were actually happening, I'd set this laptop on fire. Do something to get rid of that unnecessary and incorrect notification.

Map zoom changes in mission maps. I despise that. The netgraph display can't be moved. Makes it difficult to see what's going on in tray 1 during when latency/ping is bad, unless you relocate the entire power tray window to another location. The navigation window really should be attached to the map window, or built into the map window, or the nav turned into a HUD element and the map into a transparent overlay. More HUD elements, instead of discrete windows, would go far in making the game feel more immersive and saving screen space for more important features. The player health/endurance/buff window isn't eye-catching, it doesn't stand out, it doesn't draw the player's attention to it when health or endurance is going down, and it can't really be placed in an out of the way location where it also remains immediately visible without distracting from the fight. There should be something that notifies the player that kissing the floor is imminent, and looking at the health/endurance/buff window means looking away from the 10 jerks on the screen who are trying to turn you into a meat popsicle. Those are my oldest complaints about the UI. That's not to say that my nostalgia reflex doesn't kick in when I see it (still), but it's never been a good UI and time hasn't improved it.

How are you going to impose Knocked Up on robots and ghosts if you don't get into them?

*steals @Ironblade's exes and peas* *munch munch*

If OSA were balanced around the damage it deals, it would have a minimum recharge time of 6 minutes (360s) and a minimum 33% higher endurance cost, in line with powers which dealt similar damage when it was created. But Castle stretched the balance budget to the limit and granted the power discounts to recharge time and endurance cost to bring it down to expected defender stats for primary powers because it's a debuff and soft control with optional bonus damage.

*moves into all of the other parts of the head* I want a banana hammer skin for maces. That plays clips of Bananarama songs when attacking. A Bananarama banana hammer. *queues up the '80's tunes and grabs the hair brush*

I would've been running through the house, screaming and naked. Okay, I might occasionally do that anyway, but still...

The bonus half. The half we can activate or not, as we choose. The half that isn't accounted for in the balance of the other half, specifically because it's not automatically granted, either within the power or within the set. OSA without OSBurn is a powerful Defense debuffer, Slow and Knockdown patch, with a long duration and reliable effects. It is, in that half alone, appropriate for the set, and for a defender primary, and the set was designed around that. Not around OSBurn's potential damage output, not around the players' ability to defeat OSTarget and summon OSBurn, but around the debuffing and soft control that OSA itself does. Amp Up requires a teammate or pet to use in order to deal damage, both from the perspective of a player dealing damage, and from the perspective of the power itself dealing damage. It's balanced around that limitation. The player can't use it on his/her character, it has to be used on an ally of some kind, a proxy damage dealer. OSA is balanced around its debuffing and soft control effects, and allows players to use it for extra damage if they choose to, without affecting the balance of the debuffing and soft control. Different powers, but the same basic concept for balance - give it something extra, don't take away from the other effects, but impose a limitation. Every power is balanced in multiple ways. Everything a power does is balanced against everything else a power does. Every + comes with a - in some way. OSA's - is having to actively do something to initiate ignition, using the appropriate damage type. This is the balance applied for the + of dealing damage. It exists as a + without applying a - to the other half of the power because that + requires player initiation with a power from another source, regardless of what that source is. And many other sets do have access to those damage types. 10/13 defender secondaries and corruptor primaries, 5/7 mastermind primaries, 3/9 controller primaries have access to Energy/Fire damage in at least one power. Controllers have the fewest options, and they still have the ability to select one of four *PPs, the Sorcery pool, temporary powers, origin powers, procs, teammates or lucky (unlucky) actions by critters. OSA isn't restricted to only being usable by specific primary/secondary combinations. If anything, it's less restrictive than sets with actual combo mechanics, because you can choose to use another power to ignite OSA. I can't choose to use Cross Punch to build Frenzy or the combo builder in Street Justice, I have to use the appropriate power to access the set's mechanic. Should we change all combo sets to allow pool powers, other primary/secondary powers, temporary powers, procs, teammates and pets to build up combo mechanics? Would that be balanced? No and no. They're restricted in the way they are for balance reasons, the powers are balanced around those restrictions and reworking them to remove the restrictions would lead to imbalance. Those sets would have to be rebalanced around the new combo building capability, which would mean lowering damage, increasing endurance costs or recharge times, reducing hit chances or something else. You say there are restrictions. There are, but not the restrictions you envision. OSA not being ignited by a TA power isn't a restrictions, it's a freedom, it means none of TA's powers are balanced around having an in-set ignition mechanism, OSA isn't restricted to only being ignited by an in-set mechanism, and players don't even have to select a specific power or perform a predefined combination in order to access that extra damage. The restrictions are that you have to choose whether or not you want to use the extra damage, and how you do so. Not that you have to select "the right" primary or secondary, or limit your build in any way.

Control is binary. It's limited because of that, which has led to its over-use in critters. If control were the result of stacking lesser controls, or debuffs, though... stacked Slows would become Immobilizes, for example. Sleeps could stack to Stuns, and Stuns stack to Holds. There are a lot of variations which could be explored, reducing the binary effects of control from critters while still allowing them to enhance the difficulty. Controllers and dominators would retain full control options, to differentiate them from defenders and corruptors while also allowing them to be more powerful than critters (because that's the point of a super-power MMORPG, isn't it?). By making control less binary, it becomes more flexible, and the players' approach to dealing with it becomes more flexible as well. Critters could be threatening without being either bullet sponges or insta-mez jerks.

Well, TA received a buff to -Regen, and has -Regen resistance debuffing now. TA is a Regen nerf in I27.

The patch note indicating 15% is incorrect.

Slow is a debuff. KB and KU being controls is debatable (hence the term "soft control"). Are you asking for opinions on how controls rank against one another, or imagining an entirely new control system in which stacking controls doesn't increase magnitude, but turns them into "better" controls (i've been thinking about that for over ten years)?

Redundancy can be redundant sometimes.

I want the sound. I want my characters to say, "Yoink!" every time they use it. Dead serious. I might have to go find a suitable clip to turn into a mod.

Rage, Unleash Potential. Technically, every Resistance debuff which deals 0 damage, and is within a set with no other powers which deal damage, and has a duration of less than infinite, requires the use of one or more powers which deal damage in order for the debuff to reach it's full stated function. Those powers can come from the user's other set, from pools, from *PPs, from pets, from teammates, or even from other enemies (Confuse), but until and unless damage is dealt, the debuff is, quite literally, nothing more than an emote. Yes, it might functionally do what it was designed to do, but functionally, it's useless in a vacuum. It absolutely requires the use of another power to functionally be of any value, and for most Resistance debuffs, that means using a power outside of the set which contains the debuff. That's the problem with your question. You're placing OSA in a vacuum and suggesting that it may not be working properly because it's different. No-one plays in a vacuum. No-one is restricted to one set (even Kheldians have two sets, a primary and a secondary), or denied access to temp powers, or locked out of pools, or barred from the market. No-one is forced to play without access to a means of igniting OSA, nor is anyone forced to make a macro or bind, or take a specific set. Outside of the artificial limitation introduced by putting OSA in a vacuum, this problem, OSA having zero potential means of ignition, doesn't exist. I played TA/Dark as my main for years. I know, conclusively, that this vacuum doesn't exist.

As I've posted several times, you do not have to use an origin power. Every player has access to numerous temporary powers which deal Energy or Fire damage. Every player has access to procs which deal Energy or Fire damage. Every player has access to pets in PPPs which deal Energy or Fire damage. Every player has access to teammates which deal Energy or Fire damage. Any player may choose not to use a primary or secondary with Energy or Fire damage and still have access to numerous options for igniting OSA. No-one "has" to use Apprentice Charm or Taser Dart.

Always. Since most animations lock the character into that time, rather than the activation time, I just use animation time + Arcanatime as my default. I'm tired. I've been gardening all morning. I saw the 45 and my brain said 43. I need to make coffee.

43 seconds. EMP Arrow has a 1.98s animation time. Still a lot.

The set isn't balanced around having OSA specifically as a damage power. It's balanced around having OSA specifically as a debuff and soft control, and also having the option to deal damage. Reworking the set to include an in-set ignition method for OSA would require rebalancing the set as a whole, because the set would no longer be balanced internally. And you're right, it would be a quality of life change, but it would reduce the quality of life for every player who uses OSA as it was designed and intended to be used. Every player who drops OSA and uses OSTarget as a focal point for further debuffs, or for cone/AoE attacks. Every player who uses OSA in unexpected ways, such as a Dark Miasma character using OSTarget to rez teammates. Every player who lays down OSA at a chokepoint, uses OSTarget to set up further debuffs and tops it off with Disruption before pulling a spawn into it. Everyone who isn't struggling under the misperception that OSA is just a damage power would have to give up whatever debuff ended up with Energy or Fire damage because it would make using OSA with that debuff impossible. Everyone who doesn't start shouting because one mild inconvenience is the price they have to pay to get a bonus from a power. It's not a nuke. It's a Defense debuff, movement speed debuff and knock-down patch which also happens to be capable of dealing damage under the correct circumstances. That is how it was designed and balanced, and the set balanced in conjunction with the expectation that it works and is used in that manner. It's extra damage on top of everything else TA does, but that extra damage comes with the requirement that we, the players, actively pursue it. That's the balance cost of that damage. If you want it, you have to do something to get it, and that something has to be more than "shoot another debuff". That's why we're against it.

Corruptors use a lower debuff scale than defenders. So do controllers and masterminds.

I work Sunday and Monday mornings. When I woke up yesterday (Sunday), it was raining. Not a big deal, I've worked in the rain before, but it was also 48 degrees Fahrenheit, and I didn't have a fire going because it was almost 70 when I went to bed. So the 48 degrees outside meant 48 degrees in the cabin. Since the last three weeks have followed the pattern of being chilly in the early morning (early being 4 a.m. onward), I figured I'd tough it out and warm up later. So I had my coffee, responded to posts and prepared to go to work. Walked outside to start my bike at 7:45, remembered that I wanted to fill the tank and did that... It wouldn't start. A few months ago, I would've expected that. I was riding a rat bike I built, and it wasn't the most reliable transportation (in fact, it died on the way to work at the end of August). This bike is brand new, though. Fresh off of the factory floor, first butt in the seat is mine, never been ridden anywhere by anyone else new, and it shouldn't have any problems. In fact, in the three weeks I've been riding it, it hasn't. So I was really worried, and more than a little annoyed, and it was raining. I'm intelligent, though. Or maybe I'm not, it could just be that I understand machines the way I understand animals, intuitively, and I'm actually a complete moron. I wouldn't know if that were the case, and it wouldn't bother me. Point being, I knew I could fix it, once I found the issue. So I set about finding that issue. I checked the hoses and wiring, made sure there wasn't anything obvious like a loose spark plug boot, and noticed that the drain for the carburetor bowl was easily accessible. Hey, might as well spend the 15 seconds opening that. No fuel. What the fudge factory? I just poured over a gallon of gasoline into the tank, and the tank was 1/3rd full before I did that. Fuel should be streaming out of of the drain. The fuel lines were good. The vacuum lines were good. The tank was free of detritus. Finally decided the problem was the vacuum-operated fuel pump/petcock. I'd read many complaints about them going bad on similar bikes, but I hadn't expected a problem to manifest this early in the bike's life. I tried tapping it, I tried massaging the vacuum line, I tried massaging the fuel line, still no fuel going into the filter. Then I remembered that I had an unused fuel line of the correct inner diameter, and long enough to reach outside of the housing. Popped that in place, stuck the other end in my mouth and started pumping with my breath. Create pressure, reverse pressure. Gas rushed into the fuel filter. I kept going for half a minute, to be sure the carb bowl would be filled, reattached the vacuum line to the petcock, stuck my foot on the kick starter and... it started on the second kick. To boil it down, I had to do a suck and blow job to get a ride yesterday morning. 😧 This morning, I caught up on relevant posts and decided to play a bit, since I couldn't yesterday (didn't wake up until 5 a.m., and spent all of my time before work posting). I'm sitting here on my love seat, walloping things with Cross Punch/Air Superiority/Sting of the Wasp on Antianeira, listening to the cats to the cats playing in the sink. Oh, yeah, I installed a sink this past spring. Still no running water, and the frame I built to hold the sink is... well, a bunch of scrap wood I had lying around, and it looks like scrap wood, but at least I don't have to wash dishes in a bucket now. Then the cats started doing something next to the sink. My mind connected dots. They weren't interested in the water in the bowl and pot in the sink, or clinking the spoon in the bowl, there was something else drawing their attention. I looked over at Jessica and May. Huge fucking wolf spider. Huge. Body the size of my thumb. Leg span as large as my palm. H U G E . Now, I respect spiders. They're amazing, they really are. They keep insect populations under control, and some of them are extraordinarily beautiful, like the banded garden spider. That's actually my favorite spider, and one of my favorite living creatures, I love looking at them. But big, hairy, creepy spiders... I had a 7 year old child moment. It's a damn good thing I live in a forest, because, if I had neighbors, there'd be half of a police precinct outside, investigating what they thought to be a homicide in progress. I grabbed Jessica and May, unceremoniously deposited them on the love seat, and found a small semi-opaque container to put over the monstrosity. Found something to slide underneath, flipped it over and slammed a cover on the container. Took it outside and convulsed as I was shaking the container out... that spider may have entered orbit. I didn't mean to fling it that hard, I just couldn't control the spasm that rippled through me. NOT A GOOD WAY TO START THE DAY. It's not raining any more, the bike ran perfectly every time I started and rode it yesterday after the petcock problem was resolved, my wood stove is still putting out heat and the weather report indicates a high of 70. Hopefully, today will be less... eventful.

Useless. No, I'm going to be blunt, it's crap. Even enhanced, it wouldn't provide 0.000001% increase in survivability or combat effectiveness. It accomplishes absolutely nothing. It's not even 5%, which might be leveraged by a full team using sapping techniques, it's just 5 endurance. I'm sincerely hoping it's a placeholder for something worthwhile, or at least interesting.

There are no changes to OSA being made in this beta, and no other indication that @Captain Powerhouse screwed something up and accidentally altered OSA in any way. Do you have screenshots of the damage numbers, or a combat log to post? A defender should be seeing roughly 6.5 damage per tick, accounting for enhancements (95% Damage), with no -Res on the targets and no buffs (Aim, Assault) on the caster. The cast time is for OSA, the power which creates OilSlickOil and summons OilSlickTarget. OilSlickBurn's tick rate isn't tied to the power's cast time. OSBurn has no cast time to summon, beyond the 0.132s server tick (Arcanatime), it's spawned as soon as OSTarget is destroyed. It then ticks off 75 pulses of damage checks (95% hit rate due to the 25% Defense debuff on OSOil), at full enhanced, or buffed (buffs on the caster are transferred to pseudo-pets for whatever duration remains on the buff), value. That's how it works. The cast time isn't related to pulse timing.