Am I reading something wrong or is Tempest fighter just better?

[Spatula]

but neither TWD or the Defensive weapon property grants a bonus to Reflex.

Two-Weapon Defense
Benefit: While holding a melee weapon in each hand, you gain a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex.

 

[chitzk0i]

Khopesh is moderately broken, axe+heavy blade,

omg Deadly Axe + Heavy Blade Opportunity so strong! There was a thread about that. Unlike, say, hammer rhythm, there isn't too much that axes have going for them.

 

[HeirToPendragon]

omg Deadly Axe + Heavy Blade Opportunity so strong! There was a thread about that. Unlike, say, hammer rhythm, there isn't too much that axes have going for them.

I'm just not seeing the combo here.

 

[dammitbiscuit]

You have to keep the cost of feats in mind all the time, because as common as they are, you don't get infinite feats. Sure, eventually the sword-and-board fighter runs out of defense boosting feats and the tempest fighter catches up (or nearly), but by then the sword-and-boarder is farther ahead in damage, or more flexible, or whatever. Feats aren't free, and that's an important consideration.

That's a significant point. We're currently talking about Class, here, but characters also have Race. There are now a large number of effective and compelling racial feats. Nabbing an appropriate multiclass feat is nice for the only-3-trained-skills fighter. Style feats that boost your at-will powers are very potent at low levels, and at higher levels you're looking at all manner of interesting paragon feats as well as 2 to 4 AC/defenses-boosting feats if you want to hold your own as a defender.