[Scawire]

Well sorry if you didn't like my post but I always have used the Power Focus that way and I was trying to put forth my reason why I felt it should work the same as it always did.

Now it is time to ditch the Mystic Adept since they don't work any where near as good as they did back in 3rd edition. You basicly have to always over cast to have an decent effect with your spells

As for a mage being too powerful because of the power focus, each new edition does strip power from mages spell locks become sustaining focus (2nd to 3rd), getting a high level focus is now out of the question for 4th edition. A mage no longer starts at 6 magic at the start. You have to use drugs to lower your -2 dice to sustaining instead of a quality that would do it before. Mystic Adepts with out power focuses working they way they use to are almost a waste of time. Cost of leveling up in now pay for the initiate level then you can pay on top of that for the magic rating.

I would have like it if it became cannon that like a hacked autosoft that the GM decides if it downgrades or not. Since this increase to the magic rating like 1st to 3rd edition is now only a house rule I can see that GM will more then not never use such a rule.

 My Mystic Adepts are now a thing of older editions. I didn't look to build a character that had 13 agility, (elf muscle toner 4, genetic optimized agility) 6 ( automatics with smartlink and the APDS rounds via restricted gear. I personally wanted my Mystic Adept that would hold his own with the rest of the characters out there.

[Michael Chandra]

From what I hear, the entire Magic system has been changed up. So of course Power Focus won't stay the same. Things change and you can't let items stay the same if the mechanics they work with have changed themselves. Hacking has changed and will once more with 5e coming 'round the bend, ware has been changed quite a bit, damage changed and far more, not just the Power Focus. And if things have been tuned down, that's even more reason for the Power Focus as well to have a lessened effect, since it's already usable in the place of many Foci all in once.

If you think it should work the same as before, that's between you and your GM. But the rules are clearly written on this and Power Focus, like so many other things, has gone with the times. The way you'd like it to work likely would completely break the balance, so I can't say I'd disagree with a GM keeping things according to RAW.

That doesn't mean Mystic Adepts aren't doable, it just means you can't be as good as a magician and as good as an adept at the same time.

Just a side note, isn't a Force-6 Stunbolt still just 2P drain? Even at 9 resistance dice that's only 0.17P damage on average.