Luminara

You put waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much effort into that hand job. Next time just spend the $20.

Excellent testing. 👍

It bothers me when it's Singularity doing it. Bitch ain't gettin' paid for door sitting!

Additional statistics: There are 46 offensive toggles with differing recharge and animation times. A toggle which is duplicated across archetypes but is otherwise identical in base recharge time and animation time (blaster Beta Decay and melee archetype Beta Decay, for example) is treated as a single entry in this list, as the new system will affect them comparably. Variants of toggles which have different recharge times, animation times or both have been included. This does includes toggles from every archetype. Against All Odds - 10s recharge, 2.64s animation Beta Decay - 10s recharge, 0.924s animation Blazing Aura - 4s recharge, 2.244s animation Chilling Embrace - 2s recharge, 0.924s animation Choking Cloud - 20s recharge, 1.188s animation Cloak of Fear - 4s recharge, 1.32s animation Conductive Aura - 15s recharge, 2.244s animation Darkest Night - 10s recharge, 3.432s animation Darkest Night - 10s recharge, 2.508s animation Darkest Night - 40s recharge, 3.432s animation Death Shroud - 4s recharge, 2.64s animation Dimension Shift - 60s recharge, 1.32s animation Disruption Aura - 10s recharge, 2.112s animation Disruption Field - 8s recharge, 2.904s animation Dynamo - 10s recharge, 2.244s animation Enervating Field - 8s recharge, 1.716s animation Enflame - 10s recharge, 2.244s animation Entangling Aura - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Entropic Aura - 10s recharge, 0.924s animation Evolving Armor - 10s recharge, 3.168s animation Force Bubble - 15s recharge, 1.32s animation Genetic Contamination - 4s recharge, 1.32s animation Hot Feet - 20s recharge, 1.716s animation Hurricane - 10s recharge, 2.244s animation Icicles - 4s recharge, 1.848s animation Irradiated Ground - 4s recharge, 2.244s animation Lightning Field - 10s recharge, 2.244s animation Mud Bath - 4s recharge, 2.244s animation Mud Pots - 4s recharge, 2.244s animation Oppressive Gloom - 8s recharge, 1.32s animation Orbiting Death - 4s recharge, 2.244s animation Quills - 15s recharge, 0.924s animation Radiation Infection - 8s recharge, 1.716s animation Repulsion Field - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Repulsion Field - 40s recharge, 2.244s animation Rise to the Challenge - 10s recharge, 3.168s animation Snow Storm - 40s recharge, 2.244s animation Snow Storm - 10s recharge, 2.244s animation Snow Storm - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Sonic Repulsion - 8s recharge, 2.508s animation Spore Cloud - 8s recharge, 3.3s animation Telekinesis - 60s recharge, 1.32s animation Time's Juncture - 10s recharge, 0.924s animation Venomous Gas - 8s recharge, 2.244s animation World of Confusion - 10s recharge, 1.848s animation World of Confusion - 15s recharge, 1.848s animation 36 of those, ~78.3% of all offensive toggles in the game, have base recharge times at or below 15s, 10, ~21.7% of all offensive toggles, have base recharge times at or above 20s. I stated in the quoted post, the majority of offensive toggles have recharge times below 20s. This list verifies that, and justifies the addition of the adjective "overwhelming". The overwhelming majority of offensive toggles, more than three fourths, have recharge times below 20s. There are three variants of Darkest Night, with differing recharge and animation times. Darkest Night - 10s recharge, 3.432s animation Darkest Night - 10s recharge, 2.508s animation Darkest Night - 40s recharge, 3.432s animation There are three variants of Snow Storm, with differing recharge times. Snow Storm - 10s recharge, 2.244s animation Snow Storm - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Snow Storm - 40s recharge, 2.244s animation There are two variants of Repulsion Field, with differing recharge times. Repulsion Field - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Repulsion Field - 40s recharge, 2.244s animation There are two variants of World of Confusion, with differing recharge times. World of Confusion - 10s recharge, 1.848s animation World of Confusion - 15s recharge, 1.848s animation Here are the 10 offensive toggles with base recharge times at or above 20s: Choking Cloud - 20s recharge, 1.188s animation Darkest Night - 40s recharge, 3.432s animation (*PP variant) Dimension Shift - 60s recharge, 1.32s animation Entangling Aura - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Hot Feet - 20s recharge, 1.716s animation Repulsion Field - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation Repulsion Field - 40s recharge, 2.244s animation (*PP variant) Snow Storm - 20s recharge, 2.244s animation (*PP variant) Snow Storm - 40s recharge, 2.244s animation (*PP variant) Telekinesis - 60s recharge, 1.32s animation 2 offensive toggles have a recharge time of 60s, 2 have a recharge time of 40s, 5 have a recharge time of 20s, 4 have a recharge time of 15s, 15 have a recharge time of 10s, 7 have a recharge time of 8s, 9 have a recharge time of 4s, and 1 has a recharge time of 2s. The most common base recharge time is 10s (~33% of all offensive toggles). 2 offensive toggles have an animation time of 3.432s, 1 has an animation time of 3.3s, 2 have an animation time of 3.168s, 1 has an animation time of 2.904s, 2 have an animation time of 2.64s, 2 have an animation time of 2.508s, 17 have an animation time of 2.244s, 1 has an animation time of 2.112s, 3 have an animation time of 1.848s, 3 have an animation time of 1.716s, 6 have an animation time of 1.32s, 1 has an animation time of 1.188s, and 5 have an animation time of 0.924s. The most common animation time is 2.244s (~37% of all offensive toggles). The two "most common" statistics give us a glimpse into the development thought process. 10 / (1+0.9 (Hasten + Increase Attack Speed empowerment buff, SO-only solo build)) = 5.26. 5.26 - 2.5 (Break Free time) = 2.76s recharge time remaining. 2.76 + 2.244 (animation time) = 5.00. This is likely how they arrived at 5s for the revised suppression duration. However, 20 of these toggles, ~42.5% of all offensive toggles, have recharge times at or below 10s and animation times shorter than 2.244s (example: Beta Decay - all version have a base recharge time of 10s and animation time of 0.924s), and will experience a lockout period when the player would otherwise be able to use them (will have already recharged and had time to animate, but still suppressed). And that's only factoring SO-only solo builds. For IO builds, for builds using Alphas with RchgRdx/Ageless/Lore pets with +Rchg buffs, for builds with inherent means of global +Rchg, builds using the Offense amplifier and/or Cross Punch's +Rchg buff, and for players who team with anyone who has a +Rchg buff, toggles with base recharge times of 15s will also fall into the lockout category. Accounting for other variables, such as power slotting, IO sets, IO set global +Rchg bonuses (~79% of these toggles allow IO set usage), Alphas, +Rchg bonuses from powers in primaries, secondaries and pool powers, additional +Rchg sources, and teammates with +Rchg buffs, which we can see now was not done in the initial proposal or the revision, it would be wise to tack on another ~50%, minimum, to the Rchg value, to provide a more realistic representation. 10 / (1+1.4) = 4.17. 4.17 - 2.5 = 1.67. 1.67 + 2.244 = 3.91s. 4s would be statistically appropriate. It will still add an arbitrary penalty to toggles with shorter recharge or animation times, powers which would be better served by a 3-3.5s duration, but most of us could live with it. 5s is not balanced, it is not a duration derived from a thorough examination of the pertinent details, and it will incentivize avoidance of offensive toggles in favor of buffs, which, as I previously explained, are already grossly imbalanced by comparison and largely responsible for the power creep problem pervading the game. And if it's 5s or nothing, nothing is the superior alternative.

The majority of offensive toggles have base recharge times below 20s. Most are 8s or 10s base recharge time. With the same numbers you're using... 4s base recharge time / (1+1.7) = 1.48s recharge. 1.48 - 2.5 = -1.02s 8s base recharge time / (1+1.7) = 2.96s recharge. 2.96 - 2.5 = 0.46s 10s base recharge time / (1+1.7) = 3.70s recharge. 3.70 - 2.5 = 1.20s 15s base recharge time / (1+1.7) = 5.56s recharge. 5.56 - 2.5 = 2.06s Presuming the player has no +RchgRdx slotted in the toggle, the 4s toggle would need an animation time of 6.02s for this to be considered a buff. The 8s toggle would need an animation time of 5.54s. The 10s toggle would need an animation time of 3.8s. The 15s toggle would need an animation time of 2.94s. Darkest Night has the longest animation time at 3.432s, and a base recharge time of 10s. That leaves 0.39s of suppression. That's for Darkest Night. Every other toggle has a shorter animation time. It's not a buff unless you're using a toggle with an excessive recharge time, or just don't bother to react to mez at all. Go ahead, check the math. It's falsifiable.

I do have about a dozen people on ignore here. I decided that it was better to cut off the source of irritation, or incentive to engage in a pissing match, than to test my maturity and resolve. I'm certain the GMs appreciate my decision. But I enjoy communicating with people here. The one thing I missed more than anything else during the between years was the forums. I love the game, but I love the forums more. I always have. It's the least threatening medium of communication, from the perspective of a person with social anxiety disorder. The lack of immediacy removes one of the obstacles which I typically encounter when I'm trying to express myself. Forums also offer a degree of granularity that chat channels lack. I can choose not to read a conversation or comment on a forum, whereas I can't in a chat channel unless I use /ignore. I can read a conversation or comment when I wish on a forum, rather than catch it immediately or miss it forever in a chat channel. I can respond at my leisure on a forum, whether it's in a few minutes, or after I watch a movie, or in a week, as opposed to hammering out a response before whatever I'm responding to scrolls out of temporary storage. And most of the people using the forums display at least a basic level of literacy, as opposed to the horrible spelling, grammar and punctuation (or lack thereof) typically used in chat channels... and, again, the granularity here allows me to remove that particular headache without removing the entire communication medium. There's also a slightly higher character limit on forum posts than chat messages, and we all know how much I love to use as many words as humanly possible, at every available opportunity. Of course I don't ignore you here. I've known some of you, in one way or another, for almost 20 years. This is home, as far as I'm concerned, and we're family.

I never said that. I've never even implied it. I remove all global channels from every character as soon as I exit the character creator. And /local. And /emote. I ignore everyone, without prejudice or bias.

Even Jedi have absolutes, they're just too self-righteous to admit it.

Presumably, all of our players are decent folk who willingly abide by the requests of the developers and keep to the honor system, zero. Also presumably, the moon has a gooey chocolate center.

No. I use /ignore specifically for that reason, so I don't see what they type or feel a need to respond to them ever again. Ever. Evvvvvvvvvvvvverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Lifetime of the universe anyone coming off of the /ignore list <--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> . That's what the /ignore list is for. The only problem with /ignore, as far as I'm concerned, is that the number of entries it can contain is abysmally low. It needs a decimal shift three places to the right. Maybe four, just in case.

'k.

Automates the acquisition of rewards by using bots and macros. Which, if condoned by the developers, legitimizes bot farming, and therefore RMTs. Even if they want to permit AFK farming without allowing bot farming and RMTs, the two go hand in hand because there's no way they can prevent one without preventing the other. Tell players that they can AFK farm, but "only use X accounts", and the bot farmers will set up XXXX accounts with different IPs and e-mail addresses, use large-scale operations like zombies, and sidestep the politely phrased restriction. That would lead to heavily trafficked servers, but no real change in active players. Servers would crash more frequently, lag would be persistent even for people with high bandwidth connections and fast computers, and long queues would be common. The economy would go haywire and end up right back where it was on the original servers. And, eventually, the day would come when the servers were always full, but not a single active player was on any of them, they'd all be filled with bots (a phenomenon i have personally witnessed in another game). Homecoming would be dead, for all intents and purposes. Your gut reaction is that this game is old and relatively unknown outside of fans, so "that couldn't happen here". Wrong. Some will do it because they can. Some will do it because they'll make just a tiny bit of money. Some will do it as a learning experience so they can go on to larger and better populated games and set up bot farms there. Some will do it to be malicious. But make no mistake, the instant bot farming is condoned and one person starts, word will spread and they'll descend on these servers like a pack of starving wolves on a fawn. Because why wouldn't they, if they can get a few cents a day for zero work, or a few chuckles, or learn more about managing bots and integrating them into a game environment, or see how many they can run simultaneously from each computer they've hijacked? The developers don't give a damn what you do with your three accounts. They do care about the potential for thousands of botted accounts. As well they should.

Sky Raider base in the sky, something like a Helicarrier with multiple nearby supply platforms offering optional objectives . Inside an electronic device, reduced in size so we're running around on circuit boards, trying to reach a specific capacitor or microchip to destroy it. The Gamester's gift factory. Assuming he/she has a factory. Good opportunity for missions with the same wacky fun feel as the Mapserver event. A maze with no visible walls. Enemies can be seen, but figuring out how to reach them, or avoid them... I would say my brain, but there are enough sewer missions already.

Carnies: Dark Ring Mistresses (Petrify, mag 3 Hold), Illusionists (Blind, ranged mag 3 Hold, and Flash, PBAoE mag 3 Hold) and the Dark Servant (Petrify, mag 3 Hold) summoned by Master Illusionists (same powers as Illusionists). Malta: Gunslingers (lieutenant and boss both have Liquid Nitrogen Round, mag 3 Hold), Hercules and Zeus Titans (Gas Swarm Missiles summon the pseudo-pet Malta Gas, which applies a mag 3 Hold), and Sappers (Sapp Stick, mag 3 Hold), and that's in addition to the Tazers (mag 3 Stun) carried by minions, and the Stun Grenades (mag 3 Stun) carried by lieutenants who aren't Gunslingers. My comment had nothing to do with Endurance Drain or Recovery debuffs.

While I enjoy the doppelganger stuff more, I'd be absolutely elated if they added another dozen or so missions like this. It really does breathe new life into repeatable content.

Functional AI. We have pets deciding not to tag along because they're rather lick a spot on a wall, NPC allies who run around in circles, escorts refusing to go up a 1 degree incline or a single step, and enemies running from petless masterminds.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Special_Agent_Jenni_Adair#Stop_Protean.27s_Invasion

I'd like you to meet my friends, the Malta group and the Carnival of Shadows. Well, I say "friends"...

You have 3 minutes to defeat the two named Fortunatas to free the Bane. At the end of 3 minutes, the ambushes start. Makes no difference to the Bane if you rush or take your time, nothing happens to it.

IBTL.

Browsing through some of my characters, specifically characters with offensive toggles which are currently shut off by mez... Petless Demons/Time mastermind, one offensive toggle, total cycle time (recharge time + animation time) of 3.584s Petless Dark/Martial dominator with one offensive toggle, highest cycle time of 6.268s (build uses Cross Punch, time calculated for single foe hit, both prelim attacks in build) Street/Shield scrapper with one offensive toggle, total cycle time 6.41s Staff/Willpower brute with one offensive toggle, total cycle time 6.278s Kinetic/Willpower scrapper with one offensive toggle, total cycle time 5.998s Ice/Stone brute with one offensive toggle, total cycle time 3.434s Yeah... I won't be playing anything without piles of status protection after this update. I'm fortunate, in that I don't play with anyone else, so I won't have to explain or apologize when aggro goes haywire after a taunt aura drops. And that I can afford Defense Amplifiers for leveling squishies. And that I have a handful of level 50 characters who don't have many veteran levels, so I can quickly acquire Empyreans to immediately craft Clarion Core Epiphany for those squishies. The rub is that all of these toggles would be available almost the same time the mez expired, if not immediately, requiring only the animation time (0.924-3.168s). And now I'm going to be locked out of access to these toggles for some arbitrarily assigned duration, because Cryptic, who ignored animation times and how they impacted the game and eventually had to admit that they fucked up, ignored how everything was balanced around toggle mutual exclusivity, axed it and eventually had to implement GDN to compensate for that fuck-up, also ignored the way buffs and debuffs interact with caps. And we're treating that oversight, that mistake, as gospel, despite their own adjustments when they realized they'd failed to account for variables. Anything longer than the animation time of the toggle affected is too long, as far as I'm concerned. But, as I said two paragraphs ago, I'll just work around it by never playing anything without a truckload of status protection, so whatever.

ARTHUR HAS RETUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNED! Yes, my hiking buddy finally decided that he wasn't going to be separated from me by a few mean girls. He's still wary, and Naomi glares at him when she sees him, but he maintains a safe distance and waits for me to come outside. As soon as I step onto the porch, he sprints in my direction, so I have to dash over and meet him halfway. Pretty certain he thinks I'm overjoyed to see him and running to give him scritches... which is true. Bonnie is over the moon, too. She starts cavorting as soon as he comes out of the forest. She's usually very laid back, doesn't even blink when the other cats hiss at her, but she just goes bananas when her uncle Arthur is close. Emily moved three of the kittens under the cabin last week. I came home and saw two in the bed box, instead of five, and went all "DINGOS ATE MY BABIES!" for a few seconds, then thought to look under the cabin and saw them. She came out for another one a few minutes later, and I brought her the last one, which Naomi grabbed by the scruff and took to Emily. I'm constantly worrying that black snakes might get the kittens, but Naomi's proven to be an aggressive defender, facing down possums and raccoons, so I'm trusting her to keep them alive. Violette is better than fine, she's fantastic. She's starting to nibble on dry food and drink water. I haven't had to bottle feed her for a week. She finds a way to get up onto the porch when she hears me, runs over as fast as her little legs will move and looks up at me with those adorable kitten-blue eyes, purring at full throttle. After she's had her fill of pets and kisses, she goes looking for something or someone to play with, either Naomi or, happily, Bonnie. Sara's showing signs of going feral. She doesn't spend much time at, under or around the cabin. She'll come find me when I'm outside, but she seems to prefer not to be around the other cats. The only one she doesn't hiss at is her mother, Naomi. She's still crazy about me, but I'm concerned that she's going to wander off and never return one of these days. On the other hand, she's not much of a hunter. She caught a mouse a few nights ago, but just batted it around. I killed it and offered it to her, but she showed no interest in eating it. So as long as she's still content with cat food, she's likely to stick around. The Bunny/May/Jessica situation has settled somewhat. I have to intervene frequently, push Bunny away from one of the other girls, but they seem to have settled into a sort of equilibrium. Jessica has actually played with Bunny a little, the chase game, but she becomes frighteningly aggressive if it goes on for more than a couple of minutes. May will deign to let Bunny sit near her, as long as she doesn't move... or look at her... or breathe loudly... such a drama queen. May will even groom her, if she stays very, very still. She's just shy of six months old, so "still" isn't in her vocabulary yet. Bunny is oblivious to the other cats' tempers, though. She's the most happy-go-lucky cat I've ever known. She's perfectly comfortable making up her own games and entertaining herself, or playing with my hand. Keeps trying to eat my toes and ankles when I pet her, and becomes twice as determined if I move my feet. Never meows, either. She squeaks. I think she's just so used to using body language that she doesn't feel much need to vocalize. Her fur is developing a faint white ticking here and there, like she lightly brushed up against wet paint. She'll have a gorgeous frosted look when her adult coat is finished growing, with grey and orange dappling underneath, like a tortie that was printed with an almost empty toner cartridge. The only real problem I have with her is... Well, she farts. I mean nose burning farts. Something crawled up her ass and died farts. As far as I can tell, she's in perfect health, she just... farts when she's happy. I never hear her fart, but oh my god, do I smell it. She'll be in my lap or at my feet, purring as I pet her, and out of nowhere, it wafts up. No warning, no change in posture, not a heartbeat's hesitation in her purr, just BAM, I'm in Stink City. And she's just purring away, nuzzling and leaning into scritches while I'm gasping. Go ahead. It's okay to laugh. I do. It's so surreal, I can't help but to laugh. Something this small pumping out room-clearing poots like a German Shepherd? Hilarious.