TLDR: Empathy and Pain are still very viable. From 1-50.
Folks who say that is isn't, probably have set teams with decked out friends or other 50s who recipe up and have incarnates. Thing is that's still the minority of our server player base, NO ONE EVER THINKS OF THAT.
Everyone on forums are folks who probably deck themselves out. A lot players don't come here or barely come here, they just log into a "FREE" game and play. Most have busy real lives that don't give them the time to do what again the minority does.
When your in a PuG, of various levels, builds, & experiences. Those powers are very valid and very useful at all levels. Never assume everyone decked out like you are. A lot are not even remotely close to that.
I've noticed folks tend to forget that stuff, they are use to their echo chambers here on the forums of the same faces saying the same shit over & over. When it's smaller percentage of a small percentage of our player base that lives here on the forums compared to actual player base in total.
So we all say same shit, smell same farts, and hear same stuff hashed out in some different way that is basically same.