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Sonic/sonic: Looks like forcefield with differently named skills on paper, and people say the secondary set isnt all that. Other people mention sonic/sonic purely as a -res debuffer, and doesnt mention the shields (rings?) at all, leading me to believe the shields arent all that.
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The 2ndary is great when combined with the Resist Debuffs in the primary. Each blast does around 15% resist debuff AFAIK, so is worthwhile for those few seconds you are able to stack them. 
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Storm/* : Storm seems interesting, well particulary hurricane, that whole knocking enemies into a neat bunch of helpless victims in a corner somewhere. Is hurricane really that powerful ? Could you take a theoretically unlimited amount of enemies and push them all into a corner ?
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Yes Hurricane is that powerful. However, you will find that it's not the be-all/end-all of the set. Through combining your primary Storm powers (EG: freezing rain/snow storm combo) you will be a force to be reckoned with. 
I have also found it to be a great solo-er for a Defender.
Be weary of powersets like FF and Sonics though. Although there are powers in your primary (and your blasts of course) you can use mid-battle... your downtime will be mostly taken up as a buff-bot. The shileds are worth it though for contributing towards a healthier team.
Hope I could help. 
Well, rad/ is the second best defensive defender primary, dark/ being the first.
Going with what you said, I'm not sure if you have Lingering Radiation or not ; it's the third debuff, and it's very good.
You'll *have* to heal often if your team is horrible, but usually it shouldn't be that bad. I've played my last rad/* defender from 1-20 only with PuGs when I wasn't solo, and my experience is when you explain politely how anchors work and use binds when people hit it, everything works smooth.
If you want to keep playing your rad/rad, maybe you should post your build so we could see if there's something you could change.
If you're really not having fun with him... There's something you have to ask yourself : do you want to blast alot and defend some, or do you want to be able to defend/control and still be able to solo? Controllers can surpass defender's single target damage with containement, while giving more protection to the team with controls as a primary and defender primaries as secondaries.
For example, you said you're interested in Storm/*, and Storm has so many controlling powers it's actually better as a controller secondary than a defender primary (This is going strictly by numbers, I'm not even taking in consideration the better synergies and the control primaries).
As for defenders,
FF and Sonic will give less protection than Rad, but it's easier to use. /sonic is a decent blast set with some controls, but it has very long animations and poor accuracy.
Storm/ can be very good, however it's harder to use than any other primary.
You're only level 17. Until you can get to 22 and buy SOs, you're not really going to see the greatest benefit from the -acc in Radiation Infection. It IS a fantastic debuff once you get there, though. Both of those debuff toggles are nice against AVs in the late game, too. A lot of sets don't really feel that great until you get SOs in, to be honest. Personally, I'd give it at least until then, because sets can really change in feel once you get to that point. Also, toggle-based debuffs like those in rad, as you may well have noticed, tend to get knocked off by teammates who don't realise that killing the anchor is a bad thing. Try explaining, if that's part of the problem you're having... and if nothing else, you can take some comfort in knowing that later in the game, more people will understand how they work.
If you still find you're not having fun, then roll another Defender, and try again. There's no way to know if you're going to enjoy a character until you play it, so it's not really any loss. You can always leave the rad/rad, and try going back to it at a later time - some characters I've had I've ended up leaving for a while, and found that going back to them fresh really helped.
And yes, Storm is fun, and you can push mobs around to your heart's desire. It's also quite easy to annoy people with until you get the hang of not sending the mobs flying everywhere with various powers, but if you've already got the idea of shoving things into a corner, that's a good start.
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It never really has felt like i contribute all that much to a team
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As has been said, SOs will make a huge difference here. Plus Lingering Rad (when you get it). Sad fact is you have to play most builds up to 25 or so (22 if you can get inf from somewhere else) to see how they play slotted up with SOs.
As for not making a contribution, I was on a team once with my /Rad controller (so had the debuffs) where someone made a crack about them 'carrying' me (didn't have enough end to do anything once the debuffs were on). I explained this and said I'd switch to full time controlling/blasting.
So for the next fight I stood back and held/blasted while they dived into non-debuffed mobs. Team wipe. Try it again. Team wipe. They eventually figured out what was going on and asked me to switch back to debuffing 
Synaesthetix:if your mum wasn't already dead I would go kill her for bringing
you into the world
You could take Dark Miasma as a primary. There's a powerful heal, two debuffs and a lot of tricks (a res thats useful soloing as it also does an AOE disorientate, a cone Fear and a single target hold). You could combine it with Dark Blast to floor accuracy and the two blasts & snipe would give you good single-target damage (for a defender). In teams you become a debuffing monster with a more powerful heal (that needs an enemy to hit off).
Storm is a good set but doesn't provide as much defense as Rad or Dark. Its big hitter is a Snow Storm & Freezing Rain combo to slow them down, apply a bit of knockdown & debuff defense & damage resist. But you wouldn't really be a soloer, even with Hurricane. Plus Hurricane can get you killed quite easily with the aggro it picks up, accuracy debuff or no. If I was to be a Storm defender I'd pick up Dark Blast to go with it (Tentacles & Freezing Rain) but again thats a Team based set. And and a Stormie the last thing you'll be doing is Healing really. O2 Boost is a quick top-up heal. You'll be able to save Squishies but there's no way you'd be able to keep a team standing on your own.
I've had extensive experience with kinetics/elec and dark/dark.
In terms of making the team think you are doing something, Speed Boost from the kinetics set is very "obvious", as is the row of icons from Fulcrum Shift. Transfusion is also an enormous AoE heal, possibly the biggest in the game, but people don't really notice that as much, it just gives you personal satisfaction to lay down a constant healing blanket (which you can do with kinetics pretty well).
Fearsome Stare from the Dark Miasma Primary and Tenebrous Tentacles from the Dark Blast secondary are both also very "obvious" powers. Unfortunately, the most awesome debuff in the DM set, Darkest Night, is not so "obvious".
Alternatively, you might think about rolling an Ice/Ice blaster - very controllery. If you dug into the Medicine Pool you could roll yourself a Blastrollerfender (lol). Then you'd feel pretty mighty (the Ice blast, Bitter Ice Blast, is a truly awesome single target attack), Ice Patch and Ice Storm being very "obvious" controllery powers, and just having the ability to heal others and rez might fulfil your defendery hankerings enough to be getting on with.
Another thing you might consider is that it's maybe some combination of the sound effects and the graphics that don't feel "oomphy" enough to you somehow - might be worth considering trying some other powersets from that angle.
Think most people have covered relevant points - SOs making a massive difference etc. On the Forcefields point I think it's a horrible defender primary -- as you say -- the higher level powers are pretty rubbish compared to most other sets, mostly becuase of their team annoying potential -- and I found it boring to play -- buff everyone, blast for tiny damage, repeat. If you fancy FF you probably really would be better off playing a Controller...
If you want to play defender though but want a more interactive game then you might try kinetic too - that's a really hectic play style and might suit ya.
Dark and Storm are also fun I think -- my def is a Dark/Psi and I really enjoy playing her -- just build in some stamina as the toggles are a real end hog! Haven't tried Storm but have teamed with a few and it looks a good laugh
Haven't tried Rad but it's rated as a really powerful set... I'd be tempted to stick with it a little bit longer. And definitely get some key binds for your anchors -- at the lower levels there is a high chance of teaming with folks who don't know how they work so having a pop up message expalining who not to arrest first is definitely worth it!
Lots of sound advice here
Also some things that propably are true, but i didnt necessarily want to hear, hehe, but certainly made me re-think the reasons why i picked out a few sets that i was interested in trying.
I must admit i had never really looked at the kinetics set. It does seem like a pretty fun set, but it looks like its more damage oriented than anything else ? Wouldnt kinetics fit better as a blaster primary ? (swap out that heal with an aoe for example)
Maybe i shall try it, i get a heal, and some buffs that sounds pretty fun.
How does the speed/jump powers work as travel powers ? Are they durable enough and powerful enough to let you actually skip on travel powers ?
What would be a good secondary for kinetics ? (id rather not do dark, and im definately not doing rad as i already have a rad secondary)
Kinetics is about buffing team damage (and speed and stuff), not doing damage, it's nothing like a blaster set.
I know of quite a few kinetisists who don't have a pool travel power.
I really should do something about this signature.
It's definitely not a blast set!
Electric is considered a pretty good blend with Kinetic, drop a Tesla cage on someone and siphon your heart out... or a Psi maybe?? If you dont care about practicalities take an archer just for looking cool
On my kin (controller admittedly...) I took superspeed rather than rely on siphon speed - it missed so often in the hollows I bottled the decision to go without I wanted hasten anyway ... then its just a question of waiting for inertial reduction so you can actually move about in places like Terra Volta.
I think there's a build for a Kin/Elec Scrapfender (...) on the US boards somewhere if you want to try a really mad design.
As a kineticist, you can built up a fairly Blasterish amount of damage, but only if you are teamed really.
Fulcrum-shifting a big mob is easy, surviving the aftermath isn't (cue big pink psychic nuke).
I'd definitely agree that a kineticist can build up a huge amount of damage compared to other defenders, even solo. To my surprise, at about lvl 38 or so my kin/elec was able to solo invincible fairly easily.
It does take a bit of time building up the necessary "momentum" though - you have to keep the mobs held, at bay, etc., while you build up siphon speeds, thereby stacking a couple of fulcrum shifts and several siphon power, then with a few reds on top you can use your bigger AoE blasting powers to great effect, finishing off with your nuke.
My thoughts on playing a rad - defender:
Lvls 1-10: Who cares? spam of your AoE heal now and again, everyone happy.
Lvls 11-20 Absolute agony. Full of unskilled /new players, bad groups. No one understands anchors, players screaming "HEAL", silly people hypnotised by big green numbers produced by empaths.
Lvls 21-30 Getting better, more people have experience / wisdom. Some will understand anchors, and many others will listen when you explain. The game is starting to get sufficiently challenging that people are not prepared to swing through with bad tactics, and the increasingly rare bad player will get kicked. However, all your debuffs will be in place with SO pretty soon.
Lvl 31-40. Probably your heyday. Experienced teams, will be good at clustering. Teams do not want heals as much by this point, they want to not need healing in the first place. Nearly everyone knows what an anchor is.
Lvl 40+ slight dip. Mez attacks very common and Rad's weakness is not protecting vs Mez. Clustering not so easy with mobile scattered groups. However, everyone by this point is skilled and knows about anchors. You are certainly no worse of than any other defender.
Stick with it, you are in the "torture" period of 11-20. Around 25-35 you will probably be having a ball and people who know you will much prefer you to silly empaths. My advise is:
Make freinds with a couple of tanks, who understand debuffs/anchors. They will feel fair safer basking in green light with all enemies aorund them than with an empath behind them (I know I do when i tanked to lvl 30).
Set up binds/macros saying "Anchor is $target! please leave till last!".
Don be shy explaining anchors to people. I even have 5 macros set up explaining anchors in 5 chapters.
If all else fails, show them what debuffery can do - try without debuffing, and watch the team face plant.
In extremis, I have actually tanked. Put on choking cloud, debuffed everything and sat in the middle of 8-10 mobs in relative safety. Pick your time for this carefully, but nothing sold me more than reading a newspaper whilst 6 minions +1 flailed useless at me / choked on the cloud and I explained to the befuuddled 4 other team members that I had NO DEFENCE POWERS.
As I final resort, leave team.
Stick with it, dark/rad debuffery (or even TA) is extremely potent in a GOOD team, and will appear gimped in a bad team (I could say the reverse for empathy, but thats another story! )
Could you post those macros? Would be usefull to see how someone else explains it.
G-Force
Ah, the good old empathy knocking rears it's predictable head. It is the player that makes the powerset, not the set itself. I've played all the defender primaries, either as actual defenders, or as trollers/corruptors/mastermind secondaries, and they are all equal in the hands of a skilled player.
Kinetics is fun and increases damage, Empathy provides you with the tools to buff your teammates into arresting machines, rad and dark debuff enemies into submission, forcefield provides useful tools to protect the team and lock up the mobs, trick arrow has a multitude of "tricks", storm is ace.
None is better/worse with someone who understands the set. So practice!
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Could you post those macros? Would be usefull to see how someone else explains it.
G-Force
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Using Cognito's Example and binding to 1 on the number pad:
/bind numpad1 "team Anchor is $target! please leave till last$$powerexec_name Power Name"
have a look here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...o=&fpart=1
Im not knocking empaths at all, I love them...
Im just fed up of teams and other people thinking that empaths are head and shoulders above all other defenders. They are in a bad team, they are not in a good team
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I've played all the defender primaries, either as actual defenders, or as trollers/corruptors/mastermind secondaries, and they are all equal in the hands of a skilled player.
Kinetics is fun and increases damage, Empathy provides you with the tools to buff your teammates into arresting machines, rad and dark debuff enemies into submission, forcefield provides useful tools to protect the team and lock up the mobs, trick arrow has a multitude of "tricks", storm is ace.
None is better/worse with someone who understands the set. So practice!
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You didnt mention sonic
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Ah, the good old empathy knocking rears it's predictable head. It is the player that makes the powerset, not the set itself. I've played all the defender primaries, either as actual defenders, or as trollers/corruptors/mastermind secondaries, and they are all equal in the hands of a skilled player.
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That is your opinion only. Numbers and facts show they aren't equal.
No matter how "skilled" you can be, knockback and 30-40%def doesn't give as much protection as 100-150% acc debuff, AoE fear, 37,5-50% damage debuff, and heals, and there's nothing in FF to increase your team's damage (be it -res, or +dam).
There's only so much "skill" you can have, especially when both of your mitigation sources are totally negated (AVs are almost immune to knockback and have high enough accuracy at +2/+3 to ignore bubbles alone).
Arguably, every powerset could be as useful as any other given the proper situation (the problem is still that there's some powersets that are good 100% of the time while some are ok 10% of the time), but to say every defender powerset is equal is misleading.
Scaling defence in issue 7 is about to give bubblers their heyday... i strongly suspect that SR/Bubblers/Ice tanks will be over powered because of it...
Bubblers mez protection is rather tasty IMHO. And i know the detention bubble annoys a lot of playes, but it is also rather tasty in a good team... very tasty actually.
I still say that all sets are balanced, or at least will be come issue 7 and scaling defence.
Hmm come on now. As much as I find my FF defender slightly dull to play I do think that there is a lot to be said for the fire and forget nature of the bubbles and the great status protection the set provides. Your DD has to be mobile and the mobs all have to be within range of each other to provide those debuffs and the big one is toggle based and prone to dropping at the worst possible moment.
My stormie is crazy but all he needs is one of those annoying mushroom heads to mez or hold me and bang goes the snow storm and the hurricane.. shortly followed by the health bar if I'm holding back a big bunch of purples in a corner.
Also, detention field is lovely assuming you can communicate with your team. Stick it on the boss and mop up the trash first. You can save yourself a lot of drama with that one power.
You mentioned people dying left and right, well the No1 killer in CoH isn't any particular mob, nor is it lack of a defender powerset it. No, the biggest killer in the game is... player ineptitude.
Rad/rad IS a good set and I realise that at the lower lvls empath is more coveted than the other sets, but with or without an empath a good team can succeed in any reasonable mission the game throws at them, with minimal casualties.
So, my advice to you is, cur yourself some slack and stick with it until you get into SO territory as it's not until then that you get a good picture of what your toon is capable of.
(\_/)
(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
My rad/rad is level 17 and a half now, and i have never really felt that useful to teams. I originally made rad/rad because i read on the US forums that they were good soloers, i wanted a defender and team mainly but didnt want to be stuck unable to solo so i chose rad/rad.
It never really has felt like i contribute all that much to a team, i drop my 2 green swirly cloud toggles on 2 enemies, and watch my team mates kill things while requiring vast amounts of healing, something i cant really provide.
I thought my debuffs was supposed to remove the need for heals, but clearly not...It propably has some to do with me not getting past the "newbie stage" of teams/teammates yet, but people die left and right and i cant really prevent it from happening, even though ive 6 slotted the team heal.
I dont really have fun playing rad/rad, but im not sure what else to choose either. Defenders appealed to me right from the start, mostly because you can protect a team by means that are not healing, so i dont want an empath. (yes i know several of the defender sets have heals, but the empath seems like the "healer" of the bunch)
Sonic/sonic: Looks like forcefield with differently named skills on paper, and people say the secondary set isnt all that. Other people mention sonic/sonic purely as a -res debuffer, and doesnt mention the shields (rings?) at all, leading me to believe the shields arent all that.
Storm/* : Storm seems interesting, well particulary hurricane, that whole knocking enemies into a neat bunch of helpless victims in a corner somewhere. Is hurricane really that powerful ? Could you take a theoretically unlimited amount of enemies and push them all into a corner ?
Forcefield/* : seems to have a few interesting powers, but also many powers that should be avoided, and some that would even [censored] off your team mates if used, i dont quite get why they add such powers to a team based AT...Forcefield also seems pretty interesting but im not sure i want to play a hero where i would only select 3-4 powers from the primary set, a set that actually has TWO powers (detention field, repulsion bomb) that annoys your team mates.
Does anyone have any input ? Ideas ? Comments on my perceptions about the 3 mentioned alternatives ?