Why play a Force Field now when there is Time Manipulation?
By
BrandX,
Posted on: 2011-09-22 13:09 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
I agree with the original poster's general sentiment.
Force Field appears to have been designed as the ultimate defensive set - you make your team very safe up front at the expense of no reactive heals and no offensive force multipliers.
It's territory has been encroached on by both multi-purpose sets like Cold, Traps and Time, which provide similar levels of defence, and the ability for characters to build up defence independently. I've got a Blaster at capped Smashing/Lethal and 30%+ to Energy in her low 40s - that was unthinkable when Force Fields was designed.
I would suggest keeping Force Fields as the ultimate defence set by giving it Defence Debuff Resistance (as suggested before) and probably some resistance as well, maybe in Dispersion Bubble, maybe in other powers like Force Bubble providing Smashing/Lethal resistance to everyone inside it.
(Personally, I liked the minimal power pick investment)
Defence alone is easily neutered, and it sucks to have your role defined as the ultimate safety-giver and then face a room full of Earth Thorn Casters or Devouring Earth and realise the bulk of your power set is useless due to some soggy Quicksand floor or a little pink crystal humming away.
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Originally Posted by Test_Rat
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. |
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Virtue: @Santorican
Dark/Shield Build Thread
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Right now Cold overshadows all the other sets so point?
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Originally Posted by Laevateinn
Even if time manip doesn't exist, forcefields has long been overshadowed by better, more versatile powersets e.g. Cold.
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He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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I shall be sure to inform my Bots/FF Guy he is useless and can be replaced. Not like he is effective and can solo much of the game content. The AOE cast for bubbles really messed him up too I have to say. Why save all the time and endurance for other things. Bah.
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Originally Posted by Test_Rat
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. |
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Not being snarky... but so what? The point being that yes, I *do* use those powers in that way. They're part of why I choose the set overall when I do. I don't play a set for a single power. I play for the entire set. I don't *care,* for instance, that Cold also gives shields if I want to also have the ability to position (in a few different ways) or provide a mez protection bubble - Cold can't do that for me. Similarly, if I'm going for a cold theme (concept again) or want to do END recovery, I won't look at FF. If I want to stay at range, I won't look at Kinetics. And so forth. And there are times that FF fits just what I'm looking for.
I don't care that "other powers sub in reasonably well" if they aren't part of a set with the capabilities I want. People want to praise Cold - and yes, it's a good set - but it doesn't give me the mez protection of Dispersion Bubble, for instance. I pick the sets that *over all* do what I want. I don't sit and obsess over spreadsheets or multi-billion post-50 IO builds (especially since those do me no good from 1-49) looking for that last 1% defense or whatnot. |
What you are seeing from me is honest doubt that Force Field's knockback is a useful tool worthy of eating up build slots for something other than costume reasons. If Force Field's KB powers were free powers I probably would use them from time to time. But when they eat up a slot in a build and I have a choice between Force Bolt and Tactics, Repulsion Field and Weave, Force Bubble and Aid Self, Detention Field and Recall Friend, Repulsion Bomb and taking 5 powers out of the APP, these powers are too hard to justify. And IMO they shouldn't be. My original point was that FF is known as a "buff" set when in fact it has as many assault powers as Cold Dom and Time. I stand by my assertion that until I see an actual video of someone rocking the knockback in this set in a manner that rivals these sets, FF is struggling.
I apologize for assuming you are against buffs to the set. However, I still want to see a video showcasing the alleged talents of FF's knockback. I said earlier that Storm Summoning actually can leverage its KB powers. I find the Repel in Hurricane legitimately useful--although in part because it comes packing additional debuffs. With Force Field I keep hearing about how "skilled" users can make the knockback and repels shine, but I have never seen anyone do it. I went into my Pinball Blizzard character wanting to do something like that, built up on the reassurances of people saying that all KB takes is talent.
I am not the best player in the game, but I like to think I'm not terrible. And for all my trying, I have never been able to come up with a strategy for FF that uses its numerous knock and repel powers in a way that is better than the alternative of just replacing them. I am not against knockback--I would love to have an excuse to use it. If I could throw an AV or other serious threat on its butt occasionally while its purple triangles were still up then I would use Force Bolt. If Force Bubble had some purpose besides scattering enemies and aggroing the whole map on the weakest defended team member I might use that as well. But until these powers work on enemies that aren't handled much more efficiently using other means, IMO they are costume accessories.
I have a very high tolerance for weaker-than-normal sets, and still play FF despite its limitations, but I also have an eye for realism. It is not that players are simply bad at knockback or too lazy to figure out how to work it. Its that at best FFs knockback is a small advantage. The secret trick does not exist. It is easy to talk about how FFs knockback is an amazing tool that can accomplish great things on par with what is available elsewhere, and something else to actually demonstrate it. And since no one can produce a video showcasing the effectiveness of its techniques, I'm inclined to believe they are the same kind of board swaggery as posts touting the effectiveness of "pure healers."
Seems to me this has degenerated into the classic pros and cons of knock-back discussion.
Some people like it and some dont. Both are emotional and dedicated to their viewpoint.
I solo a great deal. FF is awesome for bots and just plain works. FB knocks annoying mobs away. Repel knocks lots of annoying mobs away and can keep multiple bosses shut down if you have a corner handy - most or all indoor maps do. Force Bubble makes a nice no-melee zone that keeps my bots nice and safe. Well except for when they go berserk and want to go hit the AV or EB in the face with their hands. Stupid Robot.
Time manipulation is nice, no question. Would I want it on a mastermind, I am not so sure.
The problem with comparing apples to oranges is some people just plain dont like on or the other and a few more people are just plain allergic.
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I recently played a Gravity/FF Controller to 50 and I got a lot of use out of my secondary, especially when I soloed content.|
Originally Posted by BurningChick
Yes, the devs have added situations in which FF's lesser powers are genuinely, non-ambiguously useful, but the examples given are all (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) from high-level and end-game content ... and Detention Field opens up early.
IME, it says something about how situational Force Bubble and Detention Field really are that the devs have to add specific content tailored to make these powers look good (and, honestly, there IS a dev post from a few months back promising to make rarely used powers useful in the trials). IME, the devs have never sat back and said, "Damn, we gotta add some content to make people take Tar Patch ..." And we're talking about fewer than a dozen missions in a game with thousands. |
Detention Field: Solo
Detention Field was the whole reason I was able to solo harder content at lower levels. I could either take on a small group without a boss in it, or one solo boss. I upped my difficulty and took on both. When I first engaged the mob, I'd keep the Boss bubbled until I was ready to handle him.
Detention Field: Team
I wouldn't always get on a steamroller team, and bubbling one of the multiple bosses in one group was helpful in many situations. When I did get on a steamrolling team, at least my buffs were useful (which is more than some sets can say).
Detention Field: Other
Arch-Villains and Elite Bosses don't just show up at level 50. Both in teams and solo my strategy is to keep them bubbled until we have cleared out everything around them so we are ready to take them on with less of a hassle (Anecdote: The teams I was on seemed to like that strategy). While not all of them can be bubbled, I found that many I engaged could be, especially when you Wormhole their minions away and stack Detention Field with Dimension Shift.
Some things are just really nice to have bubbled. You can forget all about Cairns, Quartz, Portals, Turrets, etc. and continue on defeating things that matter.
Edit: Oh I also went on a Sewer Trial and while we defeated the spawns around the generator I bubbled the generator itself. I got compliments for that because people didn't have to watch their AoE damage or pets due to fear of taking it down too soon.
Force Bolt: Solo
I won't pretend that Detention Field was permanent right when I got it, or that it hit every time I used it. When it failed me, Force Bolt was a very nice alternative. I also chose hover so that Knockback became Knockdown when positioned well. Between Force Bolt, Lift, Detention Field, and the one I could keep held, bosses really didn't stand a chance.
Force Bolt: Team
Can't say I used it *that* much. Basically I tried using it like I did when I was solo, but since the boss wasn't attacking me and people would use their own Knockbacks and -Knockback, it didn't get as efficient use as when I was solo.
Repulsion Field: Other
Didn't take it. I don't really get in melee all that much. I personally don't like it currently, but others have described some uses.
Repulsion Bomb: Anytime
Repulsion Bomb is one of my favorite powers in FF. Not only does it synergize perfectly with my Crushing Field, but it is just plain awesome! An AoE attack that has a chance to stun and does knockdown. What's not to love? Even if all the mobs are already controlled and have -Knockback on them it still does damage, which my Controller is happy to provide.
Not all sets will synergize as well, but the chance to stun with damage is still a nice follow up for an AoE immobilize (Or just plain soft control for those Mind/Illusion types
).Force Bubble: Multiple
The thing that I like most about it is that it's *not* useful in every situation.
When situations *do* arise then you get more credit for having it. Remember when Croatoa first came out? There is a mission where enemies are constantly trying to escape and you have to kill them before that happens. People quickly realized how useful Force Bubble could be in that situation, and getting praise as a FFer with it was quite enjoyable.
I also typically use Force Bubble to maneuver mobs (especially in BAFs when I force all the adds into a nice little pile in the corner to be sent to their doom.) who I've missed with Wormhole.
Favorite Hero: Computer (Empathy/Energy Blast Defender)
Favorite Villain: Gimp Computer (Fire Control/Psionic Assault Dominator)
FF/Sonic Resonance may need more diversified tweaks like other sets are able to do (eg -Reg and -Dmg) but other than that they are fine.
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Yes and no. I think there is an often overlooked problem with the concept of making all sets able to do all content in that it's easier for people to point out that a set has better numbers and flocking to it. The problem isn't that they added content that specialty powers excels in. Rather, the problem is that it took them 7 years to do so and players have gotten used to dismissing them wholesale. I think that most of FF's problems are similar to what Stalkers have to deal with. While underpowered they have a few niches they can fill, however so much of the rest of the game runs counter to their design. As said, I can think of a number of things that could be done in the current engine but I doubt will happen.
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Originally Posted by BurningChick
IME, it says something about how situational Force Bubble and Detention Field really are that the devs have to add specific content tailored to make these powers look good (and, honestly, there IS a dev post from a few months back promising to make rarely used powers useful in the trials). IME, the devs have never sat back and said, "Damn, we gotta add some content to make people take Tar Patch ..."
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... ok, I've told you flat out how I use it. I'm not sure why you're insisting you "need a video" to understand the usefulness of the powers. Like I said, if I claimed to be soloing AVs using nothing but Force Bolt or something, I could understand the claim causing rather a lot of doubt - that would be rather "out there." But they're fairly simple examples saying "I do this here." |
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I stand by my assertion that until I see an actual video of someone rocking the knockback in this set in a manner that rivals these sets, FF is struggling.
I apologize for assuming you are against buffs to the set. However, I still want to see a video showcasing the alleged talents of FF's knockback. |
Honestly, I end up having to think about where I use the various powers, because they're just so ... how can I put it, work-a-day, when using the set, I don't really have to think "oh, NOW I use Force Bubble... ok, now I use Force Bolt... Repulsion Field, go!" As opposed to "This is an opportunity to use a nuke," say, where the downside (the crash) is noticable enough to have to think about use.
I mean, if I told you I used Bonfire to block a door, would you insist you need a video to figure out someone using it that way? I see it a fair amount, personally. Or how about pinning mobs to a corner with Hurricane or (fewer mobs, of course) Repel? You must have seen that, right? So why would you need a video of me using, say, Force Bubble to do the same thing before you believe it? Hell, play Redside, watch a Ballista knock enemies back with Repulsion Field - then imagine someone with an actual *brain* doing it, toggling it on and off as needed.
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My assumption is that it's not about is it usable at all. Rather it's coming from a min/max mindset of is it the best at something. One of the problems with positioning is that it's more qualitative than quantitative in nature.
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
... ok, I've told you flat out how I use it. I'm not sure why you're insisting you "need a video" to understand the usefulness of the powers.
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It could as easily be said that one of the problems with any character is that it's more qualitative than quantitative in nature. |
Originally Posted by Zamuel
One of the problems with positioning is that it's more qualitative than quantitative in nature.
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You could give the worst player in the game the best possible build in the game and they would still find a way to lose. On the other hand, you could give the best player in the game the worst possible build in the game and they would still find a way to win.
For instance, when the Apex TF first came out, I was amazed at the number of players who simply didn't understand that at some point they would actually have to move out of the danger zone or die. It was simply beyond their realm of experience, as their senses had been so dulled by the fact that their build could carry them through 99% of the game by simply standing in one spot, pressing buttons non-stop, until they achieved the inevitable victory.
To quote Clapton, "It's in the way that you use it."
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That would make sense, actually. (Especially in an "X is useless!" thread.) Seems to be a recurring theme in anything dealing with knockback, it seems.
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Originally Posted by Zamuel
My assumption is that it's not about is it usable at all. Rather it's coming from a min/max mindset of is it the best at something. One of the problems with positioning is that it's more qualitative than quantitative in nature.
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Originally Posted by Zamuel
My assumption is that it's not about is it usable at all. Rather it's coming from a min/max mindset of is it the best at something. One of the problems with positioning is that it's more qualitative than quantitative in nature.
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Actually one of the problems is it leads to arguments like this one where it is claimed that with infinite skill you can accomplish infinite things.
The specific reason I want a video is I want to see what happens for true believers. If they do a grand slam, that's motivation for me to learn how to do it. If, as I suspect, what they produce is as paltry as "sometimes you can knock a boss backwards twice in a row which is faster than a temp power even though it does one eighth as much damage" then my point has been illustrated that these powers are costume accessories. I have no problem with costume accessory powers, only with preposterous claims backed by insults about other players skill level, mind set, or dedication.
I also can't help but wonder why, if Repulsion Field is indeed a worthy power, an exact clone of it is allowed to exist in a travel pool. Maybe almost everyone is a terrible player and only a select few can unlock the magic. :P
Howdy folks,
Pressed for time, so I'll just toss some things up ... errr ... out.
One of the design problems with FF is that, the more def it provides, the less good the rest of the set seems. I.e., a blaster bubbled by a defender running maneuvers has, IME, more survivability than my WP scrapper. The same buffs used by a controller or MM have less than HALF the effectiveness. When I see mention of how effective FF's non-buffs are, the comments disproportionately come from non-defenders, in part, IME, because they have to look elsewhere to provide survivability to their pets and teammates.
The way FF's buffs work for a defender allows her blaster pets to become borderline unkillable blappers -- and blappers have some of the best raw DPS in the game. Anything to disrupt the blappy goodness is ... unfortunate. One of the best things in the game is teaming my bubbler with a nub blaster ... and watching him slowly realize that he can get scrapperlock and just run around punching mobs in the face without consequence.
Further, I've seen mention of bots / FF as an effective combination. My rejoinder? Bots are ranged. They have additional (de)buffs to fill in FF's gaps. The two were designed to work together, thematically AND from a min / max perspective. That kind of synergy is completely lacking between FF and any defender secondary. FWIW, the classic bots / FF combination is one of ... what ... 20 different possible FF combinations? Again, it points to the idiosyncrasies of the FF that the set FF works best with is one designed to work with it.
Some other things ...
Force Bubble was designed to be an always on power. No, seriously, it was. It was NEVER intended to be situational. FF, as far as I can tell, was supposed to go from a buff set to a distance / buff hybrid, the way Empathy evolves from heals to general purpose buffing.
In this view, the squishies would huddle around the bubbler, protected by distance and Dispersion Bubble. The original 3 ST buffs (fire / cold and NRG / neg would collapsed into Insulation at release) were on 2 minute timers -- i.e., it was the BUFFS that were supposed to be situational. My guess? Just the melee toons were supposed to get the ST buffs once Force Bubble was out -- they honestly didn't need much more to be unkillable at release.
Further, mobs tend to get spread out by Force Bubble. Remember me saying that Taunt was single target also? I'm going to say that the design was for the tanker to hunt down and taunt the boss in the spawn, everyone else would focus on taking out the mobs at the perimeter, sharing the non-boss aggro. Anyone, at the time, under Dispersion Bubble could take hits from a ranged mob and survive. Anyone. And, FWIW, an overachieving tanker with Provoke could grab /ranged/ aggro from other mobs, leveraging the game's innate 20% non-lieut damage debuff from distance.
This game was single target, tactical, and would require some degree of understanding and cooperation.
Much of this isn't really speculation -- it comes straight from Castle and Jack, with sides of info from people who did beta.
By about 2 hours after release, the game had become an AoE-fuelled zergfest. And one of the first tanker buffs nearly eliminated high mag tanker KB. And the devs have never, AFAIK, increased a power's KB mag.
And Issue 5? When the devs capped AoE targets, Jack came onto the forums and pitched FF's non-buffs. Interestingly, he didn't mention positioning mobs -- that was never a design feature of FF. Instead, he talked up distance as defense. Caging a problematic boss. Saving a squishie from melee with the old, ally-targetted Repulsion Bomb.
The devs got FF wrong because they got their game wrong. If the game were about small numbers of strong mobs (say, 2 or 3 at a time), FF would make more sense. But it isn't -- it's about mowing down huge numbers of ridiculously weak mobs.
And then devs went for theme over performance (what does FF do? it shields and keeps stuff away!) ... and FF went along for the i7 def buff ride.
What should the devs have done? When the I5 feedback was in, the devs should've had a long look at the set and tweaked the set to better fit in with the game the players were enjoying. But, instead, they crossed their fingers and hoped that they had created the tactical game they had intended.
And, with all that said and done ... FF has a lot of cool powers -- Force Bubble is spectacular. But "cool" and "useful for how most people play" are sometimes different.
I don't think I would play a force field defender, but I sure love the set on controllers and masterminds. Can't really say the same about Time right now.
Paragonian Knights
Justice Company
Force Field has too many situational powers in the higher end tiers. I like my Ninja/FF a lot and only because Ninja is so darn squishy and I like how the defense "stays" on them. The group buff change makes FF a lot more bearable. I got bored casting 6 shields and upgrades.
I haven't tried Time so I won't comment on it.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Actually one of the problems is it leads to arguments like this one where it is claimed that with infinite skill you can accomplish infinite things.
The specific reason I want a video is I want to see what happens for true believers. If they do a grand slam, that's motivation for me to learn how to do it. If, as I suspect, what they produce is as paltry as "sometimes you can knock a boss backwards twice in a row which is faster than a temp power even though it does one eighth as much damage" then my point has been illustrated that these powers are costume accessories. I have no problem with costume accessory powers, only with preposterous claims backed by insults about other players skill level, mind set, or dedication. |
OK. Again.
1. Do you agree that someone using Bonfire can block a doorway?
1a. Have you seen it done?
1b. Would you believe someone who said that was possible when they SAID it was, or would you insist on a video?
2. Do you agree that someone with Hurricane can keep mobs pinned in a corner, nicely set up for AOE, and/or push them into things like debuff patches?
2a. Have you seen it done?
2b. Would you believe it without someone having to post a video?
3. Do you agree that knocking *down* a spawn can be useful more than once-in-a-while? Especially if it has some other effect(s) such as disorient, slows, etc?
3a. Have you seen it done?
3b. Would you believe someone who said it was useful or would you insist on a video first?
If you can believe, *at face value,* any of those statements without insisting on a video, WHY are you being so pigheaded about it with force field? When Force Field does ALL of those things? Hell, you say you do some of the same things Force Bolt does with Nemesis Staff - so you KNOW what the Nem Staff can do, and Force Bolt does it faster (recharge wise) than NS does. FB +NS do nothing but *complement* each other, for that matter.
Is it SO hard to believe, for instance, that my Earth/FF controller will knock something that WASN'T in an earthquake/VG/QS patch (or managed to get out) back INTO it with Force Bolt? Or that she'll push an otherwise spread out group that's been immobilized into a nice, tight pack with Force Bubble? Is this REALLY such an incredibly difficult concept you won't believe it without a video? Or that my FF/DP Defender will use Repulsion Field - just having to "blip" it - to knock enemies that go after HER back towards something else, when Force Bubble's radius would be too large? Or that my Bots/FF Mastermind will use Force Bubble to keep things out of melee for his Ranged pets, and Force Bolt on things that get too close? These are just standard, everyday usage - no "infinite skill" hyperbolic nonsense needed.
Seriously. *What the hell* is so hard to believe about these that you need video proof?
On top of it, I find *more* of the set useful SOLO than I do some other, more highly praised sets like Thermal. And not just on my mastermind. Solo, my Dark/Therm Corruptor used *three* powers - the heal at Tier 1, and the two debuffs at 35-38. That's an AWFUL lot of unused set. My FF/DP defender? PFF, Dispersion, Detention, Force Bolt, Repulsion - and with another few levels, RBomb and Force Bubble. Yes, that means the solo build will only be lacking *two* powers - the ally shields. And yet Thermal is praised as one of the decent sets while FF is slammed? Really?
Test Rat, that is a stupid question.
I fail to see how the power of one set has any bearing on the playability of another set that looks and acts totally differently.
Concept, friend... character concept.
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WOW, good to know, my Grav/FF just got a lot happier and more useful for that Trial.
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Originally Posted by ketch
Adding to this: in the Underground trial, you can cage the regenerating Lichens during the battle with the LIWW. That's a heck of an easy way to cut off some of it's regen. If you have two bubblers with DF, pull the LIWW to the corner, and it should be a relative breeze.
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Grav/FF is awesome! Don't let anyone tell you that it's not!
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Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven
WOW, good to know, my Grav/FF just got a lot happier and more useful for that Trial.
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Seriously. *What the hell* is so hard to believe about these that you need video proof?
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It's a little unfair of me to mention this, but you're begining to give me flashbacks about the last time you yelled at me about Force Fields. That would be the one where you said AoE shielding was bad for the game and would never happen because casting individual buffs was critical to the strategy and balance of shield buff sets, and the developers changed the powers right in the middle of the debate. Good times.
But more seriously, if knockback is so great, why isn't everyone clamoring to take Whirlwind? You can talk all you want about Repulsion Field being a great power, but when its sitting there for anyone to take and no one does, I require a bit more documentation than just saying it's effective. If it is such a great power, Cold Dominators could just take it out of the travel pool. But they don't, because it isn't.
/Thermal is one of the most hardest secondaries (maybe even primary) to level as the goodies come late, and you have a heal that doesn't root you to work with till then. At least /Cold has something to work with until it reaches pivotal powers late in the game.
Hi Bill,
Bonfire is superior to Repulsion Field since it doesn't have an end cost / mob, does damage, and is stationary -- i.e., it's better for blocking. It can even be used to knock mobs towards the caster.
As for me and my FF defender? When i5 hit, I spent hours trying to work out how to use FF's Final Three and got, IME, pretty good at using for positioning mobs on teams (mob position is largely irrelevent to my FF / rad, but more useful for controllers). Here's what I found ...
Solo, Force Bubble dropped incoming damage by about 20% / second, but it would take about 33% longer to finish a given mish (Force Bubble pushed mobs out past the standard range of Cosmic Burst, Haze and Irradiate). The net effect was a significant drop in my DPS AND an increase in total damage dealt to my bubbler over the course of a mission.
Repulsion Field reduced incoming damage by an even third ... but it was impractical to use because of the 1 end / hit cost of the power (digression: because of the way the power works, using it on a group of mobs that have been granted kb protection by a controller is one of the game's fastest ways to drain yourself of end). On the bright side, it didn't have such an intense effect on my dps. But, again, missions went slowly because I couldn't deal with the end drain.
Repulsion Bomb, until its most recent incarnation, was useless to me.
Detention Field should have been a toggle.
It's great that you can make FF work with your toons, Bill. But my defender doesn't have any patches to push mobs into. And keeping mobs at 50' invalidates some of my secondary. Defender FF does not play at all the way it should. And some of the parlour tricks people talk of with mob positioning and such just aren't all that important when your teammates are soft-capped to everything for which there even is defense.
I don't care that "other powers sub in reasonably well" if they aren't part of a set with the capabilities I want. People want to praise Cold - and yes, it's a good set - but it doesn't give me the mez protection of Dispersion Bubble, for instance.
I pick the sets that *over all* do what I want. I don't sit and obsess over spreadsheets or multi-billion post-50 IO builds (especially since those do me no good from 1-49) looking for that last 1% defense or whatnot.