Why play a Force Field now when there is Time Manipulation?

I have been wondering this for quite some time now:

What is the positives of Force Field that would make someone choose it over Time Manipuation?

Seeing as Time Manipuation can apply the same(SUPERIOR??!?!?!?) benefit that force field to its teamates with the sole exception of the mez protection bubble, AND deliver a full suite of buffs and debuffs on top of that...

Force Field is looking pretty sad.

I just am trying to understand what the point of the set is now.

Why play? Concept. Not everything has to be min/max.

Because you want to.

Seriously, nose out of the spreadsheets and just make a *character* to have fun with.

See my Guides and Tutorials

I have a feeling that PBU and the +Defense power that Time offers are not going to be compatible for that much longer.

Other than that, you answered your own question: FF gives mez protection (other than sleep) to squishies. And -END drain protection. If they want those things, then they would choose TM over FF. It's what I did on my FF/Beam defender.

Not to mention, isn't Time Manipulation a rather busy set? FF is pretty simple and straight forward: cast bubbles, stand by squishy and play.

With Time, do you not have to make sure to call your team so that everyone is in range of the +def? Then you're casting a ST debuff that makes your other debuffs better, then casting a ST buff that makes your buffs better, then heals and more buffs/debuffs...

I figure, that bubbler will be tagging along behind your time, shooting stuff and keeping you from getting mezzed while your time is busy trying to 'outclass' him, ultimately making *their* job easier (is that possible?) but your job more tedious?

On a sidenote we also had cold before. Not a whole lot changed - underdog is underdog.
So you can still roll FF for pretty much the same reasons as before, which is - as mentioned - concept and fun and all that.

Is that a monthly topic or forum meme? Whether a new set is released or not, there's always a 'why play FF' topic here or on the Defender forums.

Why play Force Field since VEATs exist?

This seems kind of like asking "why ride a horse when we could have a Segway?" If people are still riding horses after all the time we've had all the other modes of transport that came along between when everyone rode horses and when they invented the Segway, the answer it probably either because they specifically want to (concept) or it does something they want specifically that the alternative doesn't. (Try to get a Segway to jump a fence.)

Time Manipulation characters can't enable a toggle power that automatically repels all nearby baddies, and then set a Brute or Scrapper to auto-follow.

'Nuff said.

*Insert shameless plug for bubbler buffs here*

Oh wait, I just did.

OH I didn't factor in the "fun" of being able to bug indoor missions at will with Force Bubble.

Never mind then!

I know people roll stuff for concept... but i mean come on Force Field is rather sad.

Force Field needs a buff.

Technically its not completely comparable to Time because FF provides better defense to teammates. On a Controller the defense numbers from Farsight with Power Boost are better than Force Field without PB, but Force Field can (and IMO kind of has to) also PB and bring that up to fairly astounding levels. The -End Drain is also somewhat useful. Force Field also has a sweet spot between around levels 15 and 40 where it is awesome because other sets haven't matured yet.

However, what really stands out about FF is that most of its powers are not buffs. They are attacks and control powers. They are just so awful that the set has become known for its buffs only. Force Field actually has exactly as many offensive powers as Cold Domination and Time Manipulation. By its rights Force Field should be a clicky set. It just isn't because the game has never gotten serious about making knockback, intangible, or repel legitimately desirable in mass quantities versus what you could get by just using a Nemesis Staff temp power.

I won't say it doesn't need a buff, but FF is really fun to play and it's never seemed bad to me. It gives you more self-defense options with the KB powers. It'll keep your team alive longer during the leveling process, which originally was what the game was really about...FF still offers some things that Time doesn't in force bolt/force bubble/repulsion bomb, I guess it just depends on your preferred playstyle.