There is absolutely no way to make everyone happy on this point. So here is my best (maybe obvious?) suggestion from a QA perspective.
Would it be possible to add Power Customization options for:
The previous brighter and flashy vfx version
The current vfx version
A dark vfx version
A very minimal vfx version
AND
Add all those options as official mods to Michiyo's City Mod Installer tool?
This would potentially give an option to control the brightness to all players, even if they are just teaming with others playing the set and not playing it themselves.
It would not a perfect solution:
Not everyone will want to use or manage mods.
It would be "all or nothing" situation for those who are impacted by the vfx but also want to play the set themselves, since a mod would probably (as far as I understand it) override their own customization choices as well. Not sure if there is a way to "load" a power customization file to apply to all instances of that power?
But it seems like maybe the broadest way to address the issue?
Thank you