1) Status effects over damage. In general if you have a power that does damage vs a power that does less damage and has a rider effect, the second one wins. I think it’s the fact that the damaging powers don’t do enough damage, the difference isn’t that great, and the rider effects are often a lot of fun.
I agree that this is one of the biggest problems. There are good damage powers, and it can be worth taking the damage option sometimes, (you have to actually kill the monster eventually, afterall) but too often, you have Damage+Effect vs Damage+5 and no effect. I mean....come on. One extra die isn't a fair trade most of the time.
Powers pretty much dictate the classes adn their roles, and there are so few that really separate the classes, such as those of utility use. I don't really know what utility power a fighter could have as the melee classes are mainly for combat, but this is something I have been trying to figure out, and would guess game makers have to, for years. As many have said the powers boils down to only a few things:
-Damage
-Damage+Effect
-Effect
Zzzzzzz
This though, I think is unfair. You could classify almost any spell/power system the same way. 4th edition just breaks things down to the point where this a bit more obvious. The abilities may all read the same, but the differences are much bigger in play, and each class definately has a "theme" when it comes to power design.
Now, I do think the core rulebook is destined to be much more conservative about power design compared to what is going to come later, which is a bit disappointing, but it's probably invevitible. Just like 3rd edition, we're going to get more cool and experimental stuff in the later products, as the designers become more comfortable with the system. Hopefully the power source splats (Eg Martial Power) will be creative enough to keep the older classes from being too overshadowed by the later stuff.