Do people look at Empathy and only see the first three powers? I mean people that play it and people the criticize it. Do they only see the first three powers?
EM is terrible, but it doesn't need much to fix. It doesn't need heaps on AoE. I'm with you there. It needs a T8/T9 that isn't worthless. Maybe a small cone somewhere. It does need much to make it usefully good. We don't need OP. EM doesn't need a weird gimmick. We don't need all the procs in the world, I'm with you there. We just want better.
Mace hits like a truck, but is endurance heavy early on. Elec has three toggle before level 12, and that eats endurance like candy. That's gonna be a problem until you hit 22 and can use Single-Origin enhancements. Just hang in there, any maybe team a bit to cover your soft spots. Maybe don't run Conductive Shield unless fighting enemies with elemental damage.
I'm convinced that the old devs paired a number of 'underpar' sets to vex people claiming it. Ruin Mages are Earth/FF trollers, and I should probably roll one.
Katana, much like Dark Melee, improves every set it can be used with. The synergy isn't always the greatest, but Katana is NEVER a bad choice. You'll get more mileage out of pairing with a resist or regen set, but have fun.
The set is indeed a "late" bloomer. Your attack chain isn't long enough to stack the -ToHit on top of the defense. Also, you will still have holes to psy and toxic damage. Things will pick up one you get Siphon Life, Soul Drain, and Energize.
DM/EA is really great. Two Heals, two endurance drains, an instant softcap button that isn't the t9, great recharge before SOs, and the AoE hole can be patched by any good APP/EPP,