Incandescence: Do's and Don'ts

[Oklahoman]

Over the past few days I've had extensive discussions via tell with 2 different players about using Incandescence. I thought I might throw this out to the community to discuss your thoughts on when, and when not, to use Incandescence.

 

In general, my thoughts are that if you are the league leader, do whatever you like. But if you are on a team in a league, most times it is best to ask the league leader first before using Incandescence. Using Incandescence at the wrong time can mess up the flow of a run, or potentially cause failure of the entire run.

 

DON'T:

• Set Incandescence to autofire. I can't think of a single place this is useful. And I've seen people do it.
• Use it just because it's cool or fun
• Assume the entire league has TP permissions set to "ask" or "accept all"

 

GOOD PLACES FOR MOST PLAYERS TO USE IT MOST OF THE TIME:

• On Lamda runs, if you are one of the first ones through the door to fight the guard
• On Lamda runs, if you are working on ANTACID or WELL STOCKED and find yourself at the last cache or chamber
• On Lamda runs, if you are one of the first to make it outside because that freakin' door is easier to get in to than out of
• On Lamda runs, if you are one of the first to arrive at Marauders new location after he jumps
• On Dilemma Diabolique runs, if you know for certain you are at the correct AV to save and are one of the first ones there (be careful! Different leaders use different routes)
• On Dilemma Diabolique runs, if you are one of the first ones inside of Mot
• On Dilemma Diabolique runs, after you get transported to the final battle (to address a bug where some players are left behind in previous room, and for the buff)
• On Behavioral Adjustment Facility runs, if you are pulling the AVs to the tennis court
• On Magisterium runs, if you are one of the first through Dream Doctor's portal and BEFORE the IDF timer comes up
• On Magisterium runs, just before Black Swan appears (to gather, and also to buff)
• On Magisterium runs, after the cutscene (for the buff)
• On a Mothership Raid, if you are one of the first into the bowl after U'kon has spawned (arguably - some league leaders like to plant all 6 bombs before facing U'kon)

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. What do you think?

[TheZag]

I got incan shamed once on a MSR.  I would incan after the last pylon was downed so everyone was in a quick group for buffs and having the incan buff before splitting up to drop bombs.  The league leader let them know that i was allowed to use incan on his raids whenever i wanted.  I always use incan responsibly but it still sucks when someone that doesnt know what it can be used for in combat decides to be wrong and tell you whats what.

 

Im also amazed at the amount of people that have teleport set to automatically accept.  Incan the league when hami spawns and 20 people appear instantly.

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

1 hour ago, Oklahoman said:

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. What do you think?

 

Who are you again?  I don’t think I’ve ever seen you post in General before.

[Doomguide2005]

40 minutes ago, TheZag said:

I got incan shamed once on a MSR.  I would incan after the last pylon was downed so everyone was in a quick group for buffs and having the incan buff before splitting up to drop bombs.  The league leader let them know that i was allowed to use incan on his raids whenever i wanted.  I always use incan responsibly but it still sucks when someone that doesnt know what it can be used for in combat decides to be wrong and tell you whats what.

 

Im also amazed at the amount of people that have teleport set to automatically accept.  Incan the league when hami spawns and 20 people appear instantly.

 

Mine is routinely set to accept.  Two main reasons.  First if you are a person who likes to grief folks by teleporting them off buildings etc. then I'll know that as soon as it happens.  For the record I've had that happen once since i3 so it's not common enough to even worry about.  Second I ran with several RO sg's where it's pretty much required (Faithful Fans of Fallout in particular).  Hard to rapidly reposition a corpse for Fallout if it is not enabled.   Both of those basically amount to if someone wants to port me they probably have a valid enough reason that taking the time in a pop-up is for me just wasted clicks (until they prove otherwise).

[lemming]

51 minutes ago, TheZag said:

Im also amazed at the amount of people that have teleport set to automatically accept.  Incan the league when hami spawns and 20 people appear instantly.

I have been doing some dual boxing and tend to turn off the query since a lot of my chars have TP Target now.   After the first Incan, I turn on query unless it's Keyes where Incan has an important role.

 

My view is, the team/league lead sets the conditions for when to use it.

 

I was on a team some time back where the lead had incan on auto so his pets were always with him.  While that was annoying, they were more annoying elsewhere.  If I was Snarky, I would have quit and written up a rant. 😉

[Oklahoman]

1 hour ago, lemming said:

I have been doing some dual boxing and tend to turn off the query since a lot of my chars have TP Target now.   After the first Incan, I turn on query unless it's Keyes where Incan has an important role.

 

Talk more about this... I don't run Keyes because I hate it, but I've been in several because I was bored and it was either that or a DFB. 😄 I don't recall the leaders really using Incan except to gather us all for the final battle. At what points there would it possibly be good for a team member to use Incan?

[Lazarillo]

24 minutes ago, Oklahoman said:

At what points there would it possibly be good for a team member to use Incan?

On Everlasting, MoKeyes have a team of cycling Incan-ers to ensure the team avoids the green stuff, so that everyone can earn the badge, Avoids the Green Stuff.

They typically test check before the run starts to make sure everyone's got auto-accept on so that the strategy can work.

[srmalloy]

2 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Mine is routinely set to accept.  Two main reasons.  First if you are a person who likes to grief folks by teleporting them off buildings etc. then I'll know that as soon as it happens. 

The problem that I have with Incandescence is that, because of a design flaw, its use is inherently griefing unless you are set to 'accept'. Why? It's simple — all your pets automatically accept the teleport, regardless of the character's setting. One Incandescence in the middle of combat, and your character is standing there facing opponents without their pets, at best with a confirmation prompt they may be able to click on fast enough not to die.

[SeraphimKensai]

It has a use for stuff like the holiday events to quickly warp the league to the objective (Halloween for instance). If I'm on a toon with it slotted I'll occasionally Incan a league back to the safe rock areas in the hive or abyss once Hami pops (it saves maybe 30 seconds so it's not the most important but since aegis and rebirth stacks are usually capped and barrier doesn't do anything, I figure its better than barrier in that situation).

[carroto]

4 hours ago, TheZag said:

Im also amazed at the amount of people that have teleport set to automatically accept.

 

*raises hand*  I wonder sometimes if other people really have vastly different experiences in the game than I do.  99.9% of the time people use Incan well (or at least well enough) and it's just more convenient to not have to bother with the prompt.  If I'm grabbing a snack or taking a quick break and someone gathers the team I'm not left behind.  If someone starts using it inappropriately I can turn the prompt on easily enough, but I'm pretty sure I could count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the number of times I've needed to do that in my years on HC.

[lemming]

4 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

On Everlasting, MoKeyes have a team of cycling Incan-ers to ensure the team avoids the green stuff, so that everyone can earn the badge, Avoids the Green Stuff.

They typically test check before the run starts to make sure everyone's got auto-accept on so that the strategy can work.

Same deal on Excelsior usually.  (Back when I hung out there)

[lemming]

4 hours ago, srmalloy said:

The problem that I have with Incandescence is that, because of a design flaw, its use is inherently griefing unless you are set to 'accept'. Why? It's simple — all your pets automatically accept the teleport, regardless of the character's setting. One Incandescence in the middle of combat, and your character is standing there facing opponents without their pets, at best with a confirmation prompt they may be able to click on fast enough not to die.

Most of my chars don't have pets, but I could see this as an issue.

[lemming]

One place that Incan is useful, but it is seasonal.

 

GM hunts during Halloween.  Hunters Incan to the GM, someone back at the motel ports everyone back.

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, lemming said:

Most of my chars don't have pets, but I could see this as an issue.

It affects Lore pets, too; in the Hami raids that Confusion? runs on Excelsior in the afternoon, I've taken to waiting until after the Incan that comes right after Con calls for Lore summons to summon my Lore pets, just because I don't like them getting ported randomly across the league group.

[Oklahoman]

33 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

It affects Lore pets, too; in the Hami raids that Confusion? runs on Excelsior in the afternoon, I've taken to waiting until after the Incan that comes right after Con calls for Lore summons to summon my Lore pets, just because I don't like them getting ported randomly across the league group.

 

Weird, I don't think it affects my Lore Pets (unless I accept the TP), but it definitely does affect my Dark Servant. I usually unsummon him since that has a fast recharge. I wonder if it's only certain Lore Pets that get tp'd automatically? I always have my TP settings set to ask permission.

[Clave Dark 5]

14 hours ago, srmalloy said:

The problem that I have with Incandescence is that, because of a design flaw, its use is inherently griefing unless you are set to 'accept'. Why? It's simple — all your pets automatically accept the teleport

Not exactly griefing, which implies intent, if I didn't know this fact until right now.  That should be changed, it's BS. 

 

As I don't often get deep into the Incarnate areas, I've only ever taken it on one toon, which was for Halloween (I was a GM scout, "Pink Bampfer" says hello!).  I usually set my toons to auto accept because I got tired of having to click it. 

 

Haven't used it hardly anywhere else that I can think of, really, maybe only a handful of times at best.  I alt a lot, so it's not like Pink sees constant use.

[Oklahoman]

Napoleon Bonaparte famously declared: "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." Some of this is just incompetence with the use of a pretty powerful power, hence the educational component of this post.

 

Having said that, I don't trust other players enough to set my tp settings to auto accept.

[Techwright]

I realize this may be an unpopular opinion, so be it, but aren't we dancing around a fundamental issue here?

 

TP AUTO-ACCEPTANCE SHOULD DEFAULT TO "NO".   

 

Not just Incandescence, but every form of TP.  I see this problem often in task forces:

 

Player 1: Just making a quick run to the trainer.  Be right with you guys.

Player 2: (Having not paid attention) - Group teleport

Player 1: Awww, mannn!

 

Like it or not, there's a lot of players out there who've not figured out that they can make teleportation subject to their agreement, or perhaps they simply are confused and not really sure how to go about setting that.  Yes, the message pop-up is a tad annoying, but as this whole thread attests, there are worse things.

[ZemX]

3 minutes ago, Techwright said:

Player 1: Just making a quick run to the trainer.  Be right with you guys.

 

Off topic, but often when I see this I try to preach about the virtues of building one's own SG base and putting a trainer inside it.  Go to the next mish door, tp to SG base, train, sell, stock up on insps, fix your hair-style,  leave.  Oh look.. you're right where you were when you base teleported... at the next mission door.

[Techwright]

3 minutes ago, ZemX said:

 

Off topic, but often when I see this I try to preach about the virtues of building one's own SG base and putting a trainer inside it.  Go to the next mish door, tp to SG base, train, sell, stock up on insps, fix your hair-style,  leave.  Oh look.. you're right where you were when you base teleported... at the next mission door.

True, and good point.  I've this myself on my supergroup, but not everyone runs with a 1 or 2 man supergroup.  Some have larger SGs with no control over the build process, and others don't even have an SG.

[Lazarillo]

57 minutes ago, Techwright said:

Like it or not, there's a lot of players out there who've not figured out that they can make teleportation subject to their agreement, or perhaps they simply are confused and not really sure how to go about setting that.  Yes, the message pop-up is a tad annoying, but as this whole thread attests, there are worse things.

One might argue that this should apply to anything that interacts with movement.  Group Fly, for example.

[srmalloy]

12 hours ago, Oklahoman said:

Weird, I don't think it affects my Lore Pets (unless I accept the TP), but it definitely does affect my Dark Servant.

I can say with authority that it affects BP, Longbow, and Polar Lights Lore pets, as well as the indeterminate variety of Lore pets getting teleported back up to the monsters after clearing the buds (almost entirely BP and Longbow, so that may not be adding additional data).

[ZemX]

5 hours ago, Techwright said:

Some have larger SGs with no control over the build process, and others don't even have an SG.

 

Possibly, though I'd expect any SG to have at minimum all the teleporters and NPCs in a base.  But there's always one of the publicly available SG base codes one could use, I suppose.

[Oklahoman]

On 5/26/2023 at 10:28 AM, srmalloy said:

I can say with authority that it affects BP, Longbow, and Polar Lights Lore pets, as well as the indeterminate variety of Lore pets getting teleported back up to the monsters after clearing the buds (almost entirely BP and Longbow, so that may not be adding additional data).

 

I double checked yesterday, and my Robotic Drones Core Superior Ally do not get Incan'd away. Like I say, my Dark Servant does, though. Weird that it affects different lore pets differently.

[Ironblade]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:03 PM, TheZag said:

Im also amazed at the amount of people that have teleport set to automatically accept.  Incan the league when hami spawns and 20 people appear instantly.

I have it set that way on every character.  I can't be bothered with an extra pop-up.  What's the worst that can happen?  I die in a game?  Big deal.  Also, it hasn't happened yet.

 

As for when I use it, two situations:

1)  I'm leading.

2)  Requested by or pre-arranged with the leader.