Pretty much every time you say "creative" I just hear "broken". Sure, there are lots of uses for being able to fly for an entire combat. However, it invalidates a large chunk of any character without ranged combat options (like many "mundane" characters), or any character who invested in movement skills like jump, climb or swim. There are lots of uses for being invisible for entire combats at a time, but again, it completely invalidates sneaky characters. There are lots of uses for having an army of servitors to fight for you. However, the "mundane" characters have no way of emulating this within the rules (unless you want to use another broken set of rules such as the leadership feat).
It really sounds like unless your character is able to do a hundred game-breaking things with six seconds of notice, you can't enjoy a game. Perhaps Ars Magica would be more your style? At least in that players who aren't magical are expressely described as inferior to the mages, rather than the extremely fallacious idea of game balance in 3e.
"You mean, I can travel from any point in space to any other point in space?! That's amazing!"
"Ah, but you're forgetting, it will take you... ten minutes!"
"Damn, I thought I had a useful power there for a second, but that time constraint brings it all crashing down!"