So I really think most of this hullabaloo is because of one edge enhanced thief that uses high end ingredients. I don't think he should be the basis for any kind of change but I do have one complaint.

I managed to kill said thief with my rankin group. We were stuck waiting until after he unghosted to let the affects wear off and he was actually able to come at us again befor we were fully recovered from killing him.

Hence the ghost rule.

Their should be a duration cap on any affect to make the max possible the ghost timer - 3 ticks. This should also apply to plague a well as trap/poisons. I don't think anything else other than power word decay lasts that long and I think the power word could be one exception to the rule.