New player, Force Field/Beam Rifle.

Here is the question for all of the +4/8 lvl 50+3 purple/pvp IOed toons with 59% defense already, maxed out resist and who simply look at the enemies causing them to simply drop dead...., would you say, "oh, you are a bubbler... kick em from the league?" I really doubt it. FF does need some love, and it is not the best set in the world, but it has it's use, and for a new player who likely does not have a ton on influence, it is actually a decent choice. The group mez protection and endurance drain resist is really nice for large groups where some players are not going to be as maxed out as others. I don't mind extra defense (on many toons I do not need it, but some I do...).

Tips to the OP (feel free to ignore as many good tips have been given already and this is merely one player's opinion):

(1) Watch the repel powers. They piss people off and unfortunately have some cool animation and feel fun. If I was reading a comic, I would love to see people getting knocked back through buildings or off ledges, but in CoH, this is taboo. KB powers are great if used properly, but as a new player, I advise you to be careful with these until you get a good feel for the game. Hint: KB into walls and structures, use corners.

(2) You absolutely need to take dispersion bubble and your two small shields (no argument here). I agree with taking Repulsion bomb (do not slot for KB though and be careful using if other have KB powers going (like earthquake or Freezing Rain, etc. as KU can become KB quickly). All other powers are skippable IMHO, especially for a beginner.

(3) Go redside for a bit and get scorpion shield. Softcap defense is essential to avoid sleeps (your kryptonite) and you just do not need to IO out to get softcap defense. Protect yourself first and you will protect the team better.

(4) Do NOT ask teams to gather for bubbles. Learn to do it on the fly mid battle. Usually two applications can get the whole team (assuming someone ran ahead out of range). Also, if someone keeps out of your bubble range, that is not your problem. They either know what they are doing and can handle it, or they will die and they did it to themselves. Learn the approximate timing on the bubbles too and get a feel for re-bubbling. If you aren't bubbling, you aren't defending as much as you could be.

(5) Team a lot, so pick a more populated server. FF won't solo quickly, and not getting a new power is what leads to alt-itis. Get in a good SG/VG (especially if on an unpopulated server) that is active and team up with folks. IF you want to solo, then think MM, scrapper, brute as better choices for a beginner. Hey with a MM, you can have bubbles too (goes well with bots for concept and actually works well with them too). You can solo, but it will be slow. Servers with low populations are harder to find teams on.

(6) Learn to lead teams and start leagues early on. You are FF, so you got defense & mez protection covered for the team. I find myself on teams of pure offense which means once and awhile, we do get our butts handed to us, so it is nice to get some support once and awhile.

(7) Have fun. Concept is awesome. BR has a unique mechanic, enjoy it. FF allows lots of other choices if you want from power pools. Look forward to having your bubbles protecting me and my teammates.

Two words: mez protection. All the reason you need to take FF/.

**Sets two pennies on the table**

While I will agree that on your typical team of IOed to the gills veterans won't have too much use from FF, Freedom is bringing in an influx of fresh newbies without acess to IOs. To them the extra defense makes things so much better, and FF is very 'Set It And Forget It' (For four minutes anyway).

FF is also one of the few sets that let's you softcap (Or nearsoftcap at least) your positional defenses. The other set being the afformentioned Traps.

Also on the new iTrials what's softcapped to normal content is NOT softcapped to Incarnate content. Your little bubbles can fix that issue for far longer than a Barrier destiny (Although if two or three people are hitting a Barrier your use is mitigated). Even then your STILL an extra set of blasts.

Also consider taking Assault from Leadership to give your team an attack boost. On a Defender that's 18% attack boost. The endurance drain can set you back, but it's worth thinking over.

FF's knockback abilities won't have that much use, save it a few situations like an Imperious Task Force while attacking the Control Device or a Statesman Task Force to keep Repairmen from fixing the towers.

FF really shines in the early levels and whenever you exemplar down. Even the best IOed out builds will likely loose a lot of defense going do to 35, 25. Even down to 40, where level 50 IO set won't give out their bonuses.

What you might stop to consider for a moment is that you generally want your primary power set to be the one you use primarily.

Which isn't the case with Force Field. You've got some target-ally buffs you use every 2 minutes or so, a toggle buff you just leave on all the time and a bunch of knockback/repel powers you probably won't even take. It's a power set that screams 'secondary'.

So if you were to play such a character, you'd ordinarily want to play a Beam Rifle/Force Field Corruptor (rather than Defender). Since you can't, may I recommend the next best thing: Beam Rifle/Sonic Corruptor?

Sonic Resonance gives you the same benefit as Force Field for personal defense. Resistance is actually better than Defense for your purposes since you'll already have the status protections. Sonic Resonance also gives you -resistance debuffs to increase your damage. But Sonic Resonance is still a 'bubble' set that is mainly long duration fire-and-forget powers that won't interfere with blasting away.

I'm a 6 year vet and always hated FF but I wanted to try something with Beam Rifle and this pair looked good to me. After 4 runs through the Sewers I am completely sold on it and I belive this will now be my full time project.

Oh how it'd be nice to see some more bubblers.
Defenders (with lack of empath and time) are dying.
I see less and less every time I get on. I know I won't stop playing them though

Dont pay attention to those saying its useless at higher levels. There is a WHOLE game outside iTrials and 20+billionbuildguys. I always love a FF in my group, no matter what character im using. Be it for the def, for the mezz prot, for the -end draing, I always have use for it. Even if im softcapped