Why Do People Spam Incandescence?

I have a teleport themed character so I've tried very hard to find ways to use incandescence that makes it very useful, but sadly it's so situational that it's almost always better to have another destiny equipped. It's just too bad because I actually really like the power. It was nice a few times I was on master runs of level 50 TFs since temp powers were disabled (so no ATT), and I think a couple of times while fighting battle maiden in the Apex TF when I saw teammates stuck in the damage patches, but even that was probably bordering on annoying for the team.

so no ATT that's within the TF mission or anytime while you ar on the tf team?

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Originally Posted by mauk2 Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words. "Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard. Never change, E_L!

Use Incan as needed, target the area where the team is standing so no one gets yanked away. Otherwise use it to get to end boss on speed runs. Just need to use with care and it's fine.

I believe some people spam incandescense precisely because it annoys other people. You'll find these jerks in almost any online game.

I was in a BAF today, where two people were alternating...

I also realized that (in Freedom) a lot of ppl who spam Incandescence, for some reason, don't spam other more useful buffs they have like AM, SB, RA, Cold Shields, Thermal Shields, Bubbles, Fortitude, Forge, Frostwork... in most cases, you get one of said buffs at the beginning of the trial (when lucky) and then you rarely get any again during the trial, yet the incandescence tp prompt is there every 30-45 seconds (yep, I've also seen people alternating them, even once a guy with 3 accounts who got 3 chars into a BAF alternated it on his 3 chars).

Maybe some come from other MMO's where healing is crucial and don't adapt to CoH playstyle, maybe others just think it's cool so they go for it right upon finishing being AE farmed and maybe some others are just so pathetic that they enjoy annoying others.

As a toon that has incandenscence I use it for the debuffs, more than the buffs. It has a massive AoE stun and knockback which effectively disrupts a mobs so completely that it renders them useless for a good long while. As a secondary advantage, it does pull the team together, and thirdly it offers buffs suited for a recovery after a team wipes/almost wipes since it also creates a short term safe zone... This is the sort of power that was intended be used as a recovery tool when the team is scattered and overwhelmed. However, some like to use it offensively (similarly to Howling Twilight), which works too. Sure being moved around involuntarily can be annoying, but that's why they built the prompt for teleport. As a melee toon, I don't like things being knocked back from me either, but it is part of the game, and it's not going away. So sure it's not ideal, but it's no game breaker either.

I was on an ITF on Virtue a few weeks back and some ******* Dark Miasma user was spamming Incandescence and Howling Twilight to res people. This effectively meant that a Stone and I were effectively soloing the TF because everyone else was sticking around him for his heals while Stone had turned on the teleport prompt after the first time.

Me? I was getting pulled away from Cyst mobs, and consequentially pulling those cyst mobs to the group whenever I was yanked away by this dipshit, resulting in me clearing those mobs slower than I would have otherwise because I had to travel back to the cyst. It got so bad I actually had to turn the teleprompt on to save my sanity.

Part of me wanted to rant and scream at the dark user that he wouldn't need to spam the teleport so much if he actually focused on proper debuffing because then people wouldn't be dying as much.

I wish Desdemona would be tp'ed by/with Incandescence :|


I have Incan. on my Grav/Therm controller but really only for thematic reasons. It's a nice destiny power but...again, not much use for it aside from Keyes AtGS badge runs....maybe TPN too.

UG would be nice to use in but again; Des doesn't get tp'ed by it so...not good


I do like Incan because it allows me to heal my Singy pet though

I guess I've been fortunate so far in that I don't remember ever being on a league with someone who had Incan. I do agree that the minor benefit of the power doesn't overshadow the large drawbacks in probably 99.5% of the situations I've ever been in. As far as "best buff"... I have to shake my head there. Healing in general past the early levels tends to be far less useful than other buffs at keeping a team upright. The situations where it's useful are generally a patch up of damage that got through the other buffs. Of course I don't PvP at all so maybe it's different enough that healz are king.

I have been on teams where some idiot had Team TP (the tier 4 teleport power) and insisted on spamming it constantly; that was usually solved with the kick button if they didn't knock it off.

Used appropriately an assemble the team power is great, however almost all beneficial uses I can conceive of are out of combat. In combat team tp is highly disruptive and dangerous. Even with a power that obeys the prompt having that pop up in the center of the screen is disruptive and in some cases can be downright deadly.

Given the choice of Rebirth Radial for a massive heal + regen, Barrier for massive +res & def or Clarion for mez protection why look elsewhere?

I was on a mothership raid last night where this power was used to great effect. The people using it warned at the start to turn the prompt on if you didn't want to be yanked around. They used it to pull the league to pilons, then the bomb ledge and then again into the bowl when needed; the healing buff was very much needed inside the bowl. My mileage varied I guess, I can understand people not wanting it used, but there's a prompt for that. I had the prompt on and accepted everytime fwiw.

As pointed out, its a complaint with an easy solution. Turn on the TP prompt.

The power however is extremely useful if used at the right time, not just for moving teams / leagues around. Any "speed" TF or Trial can benefit from it if one of the faster / safter stealthing characters take it. Add to that for any rough encounter the negative healing resistance is always helpful.

Sure it can be misused (Prisoner escape phase on the baf anyone?) but its nothing new. Team teleport, group fly, stormies tossing tornadoes and hurricane around with no real regard have been around for a long long time.

As as annecdote to the OP. I've been on some virtue trials and had people complain about incan users in the TPN, despite the users quickly teleporting the entire league to the inside the right building to speed things up. There were shouts that "This will cause the league to fail" and generally an angry tone behind getting TP'ed around, yet the complainers always seem too obstinant to turn on the TP prompt.

Turning on the prompt means you still have to deal with the prompt, as well as the decision with whether or not you should take the TP. For people like me who use the mouse to use powers, it breaks the flow of things in the trial because I have to drop everything to deal with a prompt. It is also quite horrible when shooting a video

I find the power annoying when people spam it like most others in this thread. It is situational, but I am so done with it that if I had the option of turning this specific power and its effects off forever in an options menu, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I have been on trials where people do this to the point where it is clearly grievous. Those offenders were also kicked or voted off the map. I have also been on many trials (like UG) where it was used sparingly and appropriately.

I think most people see through the smoke of the power and realize that the buff is minor, negligible, and not terribly useful at that stage of game play. They take it because it is a team tp power that isn't disabled in some parts of the game where it might be useful. The griefers are the ones that think it is the creme de la creme and spam it.

What's really funny is that some people in this thread seem to think that it is only a problem on Freedom. Not surprising, as that seems to be the trend on the boards.

This is one of my pet peaves as well. Incan can be situationally useful, but spammed every time it comes up, it is just plain annoying. It's even worse if you're playing a Mastermind, since your pets get tp'd even if you have the prompt on and even if you turn the tp down. I have died to tp spam as a result. Even worse was that this happened on an all MM trial.

When I object to this, the incan spammers always tell me to turn my prompt on (which it already is--it's still distracting and annoying) and that the buffs are awesome (which they don't seem to be compared to the other four powers)

So yeah, boo to incan spamming, but those who use it intelligently can be useful. Some places where it can be helpful include TPN to get inside the buildings, UG to get the whole league to the right position to fight the lichen walker and moving through parts of the tunnels, and Keyes to get away from the green stuff, among others.

Incan is perfect power for a X/RAD toon (also good on an X/empathy) : it gather team in order to cast AM to affect all +20% damages +30% recharge (increase team DPS) AND it buff the heal with a -80%heal resist to everyone then zone heals are strongers (increase survivability).
Best power IG pve AND pvp.

I have never seen people on a League "spam" Incandescence. As such, I have no idea why folks would. I have it for use on Keyes and TPN, but use it rarely in any other situation.

Were I to guess, I would say that folks who spam powers that annoy others do it for one of two reasons: 1) They have no idea what they are doing and think it's fun to use. 2) They really love to annoy people.