I'm a Force Field and Psiconics(Forgot the proper name...) Defender, and I spend most of my time in groups, as I realise my character isn't best suited for Solo work, don't get me wrong, I can solo, and do it good, I have a quite high damage output(at least I think it is...) and I always have the Personal Force Field to use in case things get a bit tough and I need to retreat.
But, well, all in all, I think Force Field is a great power set to choose, I recently got that Point Blank Area of Effect that does Knockback, and it's unbelievably useful in missions and such, it's kept many of my team alive when we get swarmed.
I've only been playing a couple of weeks and only reached Security level 22, so maybe my opinion doesn't account, but all in all, Force Field is a great powerset and I'm glad I picked it. 
Well... Knockup/-down is always cool, but I find knockback very situational. It heavily depends on the team setup. When I play one of my nukers or brutes I almost have tears in my eyes when there are knockbackers around...
And I think many have been in a team with a knockback-happy fool at least once. It´s astonishing how much aggro these guys can accumulate when they start what I call "spawn bowling"...
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
Thankyou unthing for sticking to the point and not drivelling on about the benefits of knockback or resorting to sarcasm as a meritable answer. I think it's also worth pointing out that I merely posed the question 'Death of a bubbler' in regards to the PFF being tampered with and that I never once said the pool wasn't worth peoples' time. - End of discussion
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With regrds to the effectiveness of PFF i used to be able to park in +3 mobs and my regen (2 heals in health) would take care of the damage b4 the next hit. Now, if i didnt have heal self, i'd be dead in 30 seconds. i believe there has been a modification to the resistance/defense that has been 'slipped in' without due notice.
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You still haven't answered my non-drivelly question regarding what enemy types you were fighting when you noticed that PFF wasn't as effective as before. If you were fighting an enemy group with known high accuracy or were sitting in the middle of a devouring earth mission surrounded by those eminators that increase mob accuracy than it would impact how PFF performs. If you've noticed this across a wide range of enemy types then maybe you're on to something. It's hard to know without knowing the test conditions used.
Defiant 50�s: Generalissimo, Righteous Bob, Splortch, Brutus Cayuga
Union 50's: Chimera Obscura, Diet Anthracite, Grim Proctologist, Puny Little Minion, Raging Bitumen
In Soviet Russia, mission farm you!
Well given that +3 enemies have a base of 65% to hit, 74.75% for lts and 84.5% for bosses, he's getting hit 30% more by minions, 50% more by lts and 70% more by bosses. I think this explains enough as it probably means he is taking at least 30% more damage from a given spawn and 60-70% more against those Warhulk + Fake Nemesis spawns you find in PI.
PS to hits from Dr Rocks AT comparision chart for minion, lts and bosses
+0s 50.00 57.00 65.00
+1s 55.00 63.25 71.50
+2s 60.00 69.00 78.00
+3s 65.00 74.75 84.50
+4s 70.00 80.50 91.00
Removed base from the title, these are mob to hits verses undefended heroes
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
That are old numbers.
As of I7 critters no longer gain a to hit bonus for higher rank and level (well,unless you are fighting +6 or higher).
Instead they gain an accuracy bonus.
Sorry, I edited the original post to be more accurate, these are base to hits in I6 and to hit against undefended toons in I7. The final to hit against people with no defence is the same in I6 and I7.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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FF is an amazing solo defender!
It might be a little slow, but with knockback, blasts and more defence than any other defender gets, it´s a mighty easy grind, imo anyways!
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I totally agree. My FF/sonic solos (I don't solo often but do now and then) on unyielding and between forcebolt, detention field, dispersion bubble, combat jumping and acrobatics, he's a really safe soloer. I rarely ever have to use PFF.
I absolutely adore detention field. You can just totally remove one mob from the equation and keep the rest at bay with force bolt worked into your attack chain.
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The final to hit against people with no defence is the same in I6 and I7.
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Only the same for Minions against someone with no defence. There has been a subtle increase in the others accuracy for +levels.
Lt. I7 (I6):
+0 57.50 (57.50)
+1 63.23 (62.50)
+2 69.00 (67.50)
+3 74.75 (72.50)
+4 80.50 (77.50)
Boss I7 (I6):
+0 65.00 (65.00)
+1 71.50 (70.00)
+2 78.00 (75.00)
+3 84.50 (80.00)
+4 91.00 (85.00)
Basically they moved from a +5% tohit per level to a +10% accuracy per level. Which is only equal for Minions.
Just thought I'd pop back into the thread to say, "OMGOMGOMG FORCE BUBBLEZZZZZZ"
My storm defender is bowing his head in shame, with his limp, little hurricane. The difference in herding is a bit like... well... using a spoon instead of chopsticks. 
Only rice doesn't one-shot you. 
You still haven't answered my non-drivelly question regarding what enemy types you were fighting when you noticed that PFF wasn't as effective as before.
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It's a general versus all - the worst scenario was when a -3 DE crowd of 8 were hitting me as if the shield wasnt there.
A single quartz eminator dropped by the DE in that fight would have meant that your shield may as well not have been there.
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Quartz eminators - the eminators dropped by DE LTs - is even more exceptional. Quartz eminators emit a tohit buff to all DE within its buff radius. The tohit buff eminated from quartz eminators is extremely large - by some estimates several hundred percent. To put Quartz eminators into perspective, I3 SR scrappers running perma-elude and the toggles combines were running with more than 150% defense - and still being easily hit by Quartz-eminator buffed DE minions.
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From Arcana's Guide to Defense from the US forum.
Defiant 50�s: Generalissimo, Righteous Bob, Splortch, Brutus Cayuga
Union 50's: Chimera Obscura, Diet Anthracite, Grim Proctologist, Puny Little Minion, Raging Bitumen
In Soviet Russia, mission farm you!
Also IIRC Quartz Enimators were broken for most of I6 and didn't get spawned.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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Also IIRC Quartz Enimators were broken for most of I6 and didn't get spawned.
[/ QUOTE ]All eminators, in fact.
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Also IIRC Quartz Enimators were broken for most of I6 and didn't get spawned.
[/ QUOTE ]All eminators, in fact.
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Yup, so it would have been a shock to the system for anyone who hadn't encountered them before.
Defiant 50�s: Generalissimo, Righteous Bob, Splortch, Brutus Cayuga
Union 50's: Chimera Obscura, Diet Anthracite, Grim Proctologist, Puny Little Minion, Raging Bitumen
In Soviet Russia, mission farm you!
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Well... Knockup/-down is always cool, but I find knockback very situational. It heavily depends on the team setup. When I play one of my nukers or brutes I almost have tears in my eyes when there are knockbackers around...
And I think many have been in a team with a knockback-happy fool at least once. It´s astonishing how much aggro these guys can accumulate when they start what I call "spawn bowling"...
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Bwahahahahahahaha!!! Says the Energy Blaster.
Having played with and against some of the great bubblers, both controllers and defenders I have seen what they can achieve. i7 IMO has made little diiference to bubblers that don't rely on a single power.
Knockback vs Fake Nems, I got the badge using three attacks, one of which knocked them down, the other two killed them. Knock back/down is as I said before one of the most useful status effects in the game and its even better since rag doll was introduced.